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