oaking

[edues]

When is a good time to oak a wine and how long? 5gallon cranberry,dark colored spiral cut oak. Also is there a difference besides 20.00 between a 5gallon plastic carboy and a 5 gallon water jug?

 

[Yooper]

Oaking is done when the wine is completely clear and no longer throwing any lees. (You don't want yeast and other sediment on the oak). Then, it's done to taste and when it's just a little bit too much (as it will mellow in the bottle), the wine is racked off of the oak. I wouldn't like cranberry oaked, and definitely not on dark oak, but if you do that's fine.

As far as vessels, alcohol may leach things out of the plastic, so it's important to use PET bottles that are impermeable to oxygen as well as that won't leach out things from the plastic. Some plastic water bottles may be ok, many will not as I believe their recycle # is 7, and not PET bottles.

 

[edues]

The one water bottle I have is the blue ones an has the #1 on the bottom. I think I could use them kinds for racking but I think I'll do glass for the aging. That cranberry went from 1.100 to 1.049 in two weeks. Slow but steady its been cool in the house. Gonna skip the oak and when I rack again going to add raisins and orange zest. That should be good.