On 1/27/2008 6:22 AM, merrydown wrote:
[thread snipped]

I was going to post a fresh thread but thought you might not mind me
jacking this one to ask a tangential question or two...

I live in the UK (yes its UK Jim again with his 'Little Britain' tales
of woe ) And I find it hard to get some products here which I would
like to try. I forgot to ask my American dwelling friend to bring
some over for me when he visited recently so....

1) Do any of the UK wine-makers who visit this group know where I
might get oak beans, spirals, cubes or staves in the UK? Oak chips
and liquid oak seem to be the only types available on the internet or
in shops here. I have tried oak-chips and they seem to do the job ok,
though I have under-oaked so far.

2) I have read a few past entries in this group saying that it is hard
to tell much difference between some oak styles and methods. DO y ou
need a very advanced nose to tell much difference between the French/
Hungarian/US oaks and size of oak pieces (chips/beans/etc)? If not,
maybe I should stop mithering and just use oak chips or try liquid
oak.

I don't make any claims to having the nose of a sommelier, but I can
tell the difference between French and American oak fairly
easily,comparing the effects in the wines of Stavin oak beads. French
oak is softer, rounder, smoother and more vanilla while American oak is
jagged and rough edged. I know those descriptions don't convey well,
but that's as best as I can do. My spouse and I have a semi-secret code
word for when we're tasting wine and it has been over oaked with
American oak (or perhaps under aged, as it does mellow with time). We
call the flavor "plank", and it's not meant as any kind of compliment.


3) If you use larger oaking pieces such as cubes, staves or spirals;
can you really dry them out, toast them and use thedm again? I
wouldn't try doing that with the oak chips, though I could throw them
onto the barbecue next summer...

I would never try to reuse oak beads, they are made to a size which
allows all of the oak to be extracted. I have no experience with staves
or spirals, but unless transferred immediately between batches I'd fear
the possibility of contamination much more than I'd try to avoid the
expense of buying enough oak for each batch I wished to oak.


Many thanks for any info offerings, Jim in the UK (mostly harmless)

The Vogons will be arriving soon to build their interstellar bypass...


Cheers,
Ken