loveofrose
Well-Known Member
I've used oak in my meads for a long time, but I've never actually done a side by side experiment. I feel this is necessary to "know thy ingredients" a bit better. I also would like to test oak mixtures in a controlled fashion. I thought this would be useful to everyone, so I'm posting it here.
The Oak Experiment
I have a 2 year old OB Traditional that was made with Wyeast Dry mead. This mead will be sacrificed to the science gods for this experiment.
I put 1 cup of mead in 3 mason jars while reserving 1 cup for unoaked control sample. Each of the 3 jars will get 1 cube of medium toast Hungarian, American, and French oak. I'm not a fan of heavy toast, hence the focus on medium toast. This works out to slightly less than new barrel extraction rate.
I will do a time course on the tasting. Tasting will tentatively occur on Day 3, 8, 12, and longer if needed. At the end of 12 days, I will probably go longer depending on what it's like at that point.
I also plan to mix the mead from each group to determine which oaks can compliment each other. It's not exactly like how it would turn out when you mix the cubes in a mead, but it can give a good idea of what does and (more importantly) does not work together.
Oak Experiment - Day 3
I took 10 ml of each group and generated the following tasting notes:
Un-Oaked Control
Aroma: Orange blossoms and butter.
Taste: Buttery OB with a healthy dose of tartness on the finish. Warms the throat on finish.
Hungarian Oak
Nose: Hints of cognac and vanilla reduce the amount of OB in the nose.
Taste: Creates a fullness to the flavor with hints of vanilla; very faint cognac note. Improvement!
French Oak
Nose: Vanilla with a honeysuckle note. Completely negates all OB aroma.
Flavor: Raw oak flavor (the good) that tastes like oak smells. Musty. Removes some of the tartness, but has a harshness on the finish (the bad). Maybe better with aging after the oak is removed. Not an improvement.
American Oak
Nose: Vanilla with strong OB aroma. Remove some of the sour smell (good).*
Taste: Removes the tartness (good) and adds a fullness with notes of vanilla. Much improved.
1:1 Mix of American:Hungarian
Nose: Complex with vanilla, cognac, OB and something else un-identifiable but good.
Flavor: More tart than American alone. Very rounded with vanilla. Cognac not detected in the taste.
Improvement, but I think a 2:1 American: Hungarian would be better.
Oak Experiment - Day 8
Control (No oak)
Aroma: Sweet OB, Beeswax
Taste: Tart with OB, alcohol on the throat, thin body.
Hungarian Oak
I will preface this one by saying the extraction rate is much slower for Hungarian as compared to American or French. My observation in this has been confirmed by numerous others.
Aroma: Sweet Orange Blossom, subdued beeswax, faint cognac.
Taste: Not a lot of change from control in flavor, but it is less tart and has more body. There is very faint cognac and maybe some bitter chocolate notes.
French Oak
Aroma: Oaky OB, faint whiskey.
Taste: Lots of oakiness (think how oak smells). Tart is reduced. Body improved. Brings out a sweetness with vanilla notes.
American Oak
Aroma: Cotton candy with OB. Vanilla. Faint beeswax.
Flavor: Vanilla, cotton candy, and roses(?!). The tartness is removed and body increased.
The Oak Experiment
I have a 2 year old OB Traditional that was made with Wyeast Dry mead. This mead will be sacrificed to the science gods for this experiment.
I put 1 cup of mead in 3 mason jars while reserving 1 cup for unoaked control sample. Each of the 3 jars will get 1 cube of medium toast Hungarian, American, and French oak. I'm not a fan of heavy toast, hence the focus on medium toast. This works out to slightly less than new barrel extraction rate.
I will do a time course on the tasting. Tasting will tentatively occur on Day 3, 8, 12, and longer if needed. At the end of 12 days, I will probably go longer depending on what it's like at that point.
I also plan to mix the mead from each group to determine which oaks can compliment each other. It's not exactly like how it would turn out when you mix the cubes in a mead, but it can give a good idea of what does and (more importantly) does not work together.
Oak Experiment - Day 3
I took 10 ml of each group and generated the following tasting notes:
Un-Oaked Control
Aroma: Orange blossoms and butter.
Taste: Buttery OB with a healthy dose of tartness on the finish. Warms the throat on finish.
Hungarian Oak
Nose: Hints of cognac and vanilla reduce the amount of OB in the nose.
Taste: Creates a fullness to the flavor with hints of vanilla; very faint cognac note. Improvement!
French Oak
Nose: Vanilla with a honeysuckle note. Completely negates all OB aroma.
Flavor: Raw oak flavor (the good) that tastes like oak smells. Musty. Removes some of the tartness, but has a harshness on the finish (the bad). Maybe better with aging after the oak is removed. Not an improvement.
American Oak
Nose: Vanilla with strong OB aroma. Remove some of the sour smell (good).*
Taste: Removes the tartness (good) and adds a fullness with notes of vanilla. Much improved.
1:1 Mix of American:Hungarian
Nose: Complex with vanilla, cognac, OB and something else un-identifiable but good.
Flavor: More tart than American alone. Very rounded with vanilla. Cognac not detected in the taste.
Improvement, but I think a 2:1 American: Hungarian would be better.
Oak Experiment - Day 8
Control (No oak)
Aroma: Sweet OB, Beeswax
Taste: Tart with OB, alcohol on the throat, thin body.
Hungarian Oak
I will preface this one by saying the extraction rate is much slower for Hungarian as compared to American or French. My observation in this has been confirmed by numerous others.
Aroma: Sweet Orange Blossom, subdued beeswax, faint cognac.
Taste: Not a lot of change from control in flavor, but it is less tart and has more body. There is very faint cognac and maybe some bitter chocolate notes.
French Oak
Aroma: Oaky OB, faint whiskey.
Taste: Lots of oakiness (think how oak smells). Tart is reduced. Body improved. Brings out a sweetness with vanilla notes.
American Oak
Aroma: Cotton candy with OB. Vanilla. Faint beeswax.
Flavor: Vanilla, cotton candy, and roses(?!). The tartness is removed and body increased.