If I am aging less than a barrel, I find I prefer using oak staves -
inserts about two inches wide by a foot long. These drop easily into a
stainless steel keg or, if split lengthwise, fit easily into a carboy.
I use French medium toast for almost everything I oak.




On 2008-01-10 19:13:37 -0800, said:



There are a bunch of choices for adding a bit of oak to wines and
meads, such as barrels, cubes, chips, liquid essence, and powder.
There are also numerous choices in oak varieties, such as French,
Hungarian, and American.

I'm curious what are the favorite methods employed by members of this
forum. How do you prefer to age with oak and what variety do you like
the best.

From my wine tasting ventures, I've gotten pretty good at picking out
wines that are aged on American oak. It has what I can only describe
as a "sharper" oak flavor. It seems that the Australians are still
fond of American oak, but winemakers elsewhere tend to go with French
or Hungarian oak; these varieties have a much "rounder" flavor. Even
in Missouri, they don't age on much American oak, and that's where
much of the American oak comes from.

I've been aging on a mix of oak varieties in chip and cube form. I'm
still focusing on other aspects of winemaking so I haven't given oak
too much thought.

I think I'm starting to get ahead of the MI5 Persecution guy. :-)

Greg