Ok, so I found a great deal on 5 lbs of dehydrated tart cherries, I got them for $8 because they were past their sell by date at a local market. I am planning on making a nice sweet cherry dessert wine out of them, and thought I would add some homemade Oak chips to the brew, 4oz white Oak 4 oz red oak that I harvested, cut into strips, dried , and toasted myself. my question is should I add the chips during fermentation or during aging , or both? I should add I am just making a 2 gallon batch.
Oaking
- Thread starter johns455
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
That is a lot of oak. Red oak is also not usually ideal as a flavor wood. For a small batch like that try 1-2 oz of white oak after primary fermentation and leave it on until it reaches your desired flavor profile.
thanks for the advice, I will adjust my amount, this is my first time oaking a wine so I probably went a little over board on the amount lol
Masbustelo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2015
- Messages
- 72
- Reaction score
- 11
Many do use the oak chips in the fermentation and then use cellaring tannins in the aging process.
So rinsed the cherries with a couple gallons of boiling water to get the sunflower oil off them, then put them in a carboy with 2 gallons of water and 2 lbs sugar, the must has already turned into the most beautiful dark blood red. I'm really happy with it so far. Do I need to add a campend tablet before pitching my yeast using dehydrated fruit?
