Oak chips, cubes, spirals?

[Sttifyd35]

Trying to take all the notes i can on my new hobby here. For my wine, im making one gallon batches. How much oak do i use? Also which is better of chips, cubes, or spirals?

 

[DoctorCAD]

Take this as a note. Make more than 1 gallon, it takes just as much work to make 1 gallon as it does to make 5 gallons.

That said, the answer to your first question is: It depends, how much oak do you like? Remember, wine is an art-form, not a commodity. It will take you several batches to figure this out, but in my tastes, a little 1 ounce pile of oak can overwhelm a wine.

The answer to your second question is: It depends, see a trend here? Chips and dust work well in the primary, cubes work well in the secondary and spirals just expose the wine to more surface area of oak.

The answer to your third question (how long does oak last? come on, you know you want to know) is: it depends, surprised? Chips and dust are one-time use. Cubes may last 2 uses and spirals last a few batches. Even oak barrels only impart oak flavor for a few uses. The wine sucks the flavors out.

Enjoy, and don't fret over too much, it is supposed to be a fun hobby!

 

[fuelish]

As to which is better, can't speak personally as I've never used anything but chips.....from reading, I gather that cubes and spirals give you a lil more "control" over how oaked it becomes and how quickly...ummmm....it depends???!!!???

 

[Sttifyd35]

Yeah i guess im not really concerned on which is better, opposed to how many chips to use. I have a bag of chips. Im doing an experimental jar of blackberry wine. Its going to be in a 32 ounce jar. How many chips would you throw in to mot overtake the wine flavor but have a little oak in it?

 

[pumpkinman2012]

This is copied directly from a PDF on Morewine.com, click here to open the full PDF.
The amount to add is as follows:

Oak Chips -.1 to .2 grams per liter
Oak Cubes - 2 to 2.5 ounces of oak cubes per 5 gallons of liquid wine.

The difference in how fast the oak is extracted :

• Chips (around 7 days)
• Cubes (2 months minimum, up to 1 year of useful life)
• Segments (3 months minimum, 18 months of useful life)
• Staves (3 months minimum, useful life of 2 years)

Remember, the amount of oak is a personal preference, the oak will dissipate slowly with time so waiting until the oak is just beyond what you enjoy is a good practice, when adding oak, adding it during fermentation is the best time to add it, the yeast metabolizes and buffers the oak much like a barrel fermentation (Thanks to Bzac for that tip), and last but not least....Nothing compares to barrel aging, you will be amazed at how much the wine will improve in a barrel.

I hope that this helps.

 

[bmd2k1]

Trying to take all the notes i can on my new hobby here. For my wine, im making one gallon batches. How much oak do i use? Also which is better of chips, cubes, or spirals?

Curious what you've learned about oaking in the past couple years?

Cheers!