Two weeks back I forgot to add the inert weight to my oak tea bag and was
resigned to it floating on the top for the duration. Today the thing is not
on the top and not visible anywhere in the carboy of merlot. Do oak chips
finally reach a saturation point and then become denser than the wine?

In a word, YES! The cellulose fibers in wood have a specific gravity of
around 1.25-1.60. Wood floats because of the amount of air it contains in
its structure. As you suggest, as the wood becomes "wine-logged" its
specific gravity increases and eventually will be greater than the wine and
will sink.

CHEERS!

Aaron

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> Two weeks back I forgot to add the inert weight to my oak tea bag and was
> resigned to it floating on the top for the duration. Today the thing is
> not
> on the top and not visible anywhere in the carboy of merlot. Do oak chips
> finally reach a saturation point and then become denser than the wine?
>
>

In a word, YES! The cellulose fibers in wood have a specific gravity of
around 1.25-1.60. Wood floats because of the amount of air it contains in
its structure. As you suggest, as the wood becomes "wine-logged" its
specific gravity increases and eventually will be greater than the wine and
will sink.

CHEERS!

Aaron

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> Two weeks back I forgot to add the inert weight to my oak tea bag and was
> resigned to it floating on the top for the duration. Today the thing is
> not
> on the top and not visible anywhere in the carboy of merlot. Do oak chips
> finally reach a saturation point and then become denser than the wine?
>
>

Certainly, they are water logged (or wine logged). The most common thing
that sinks boats in rivers are logs that have become waterlogged and suck to
the bottom in shallow water where a boat will hit them. Only dry wood
floats.

Ray

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> Two weeks back I forgot to add the inert weight to my oak tea bag and was
> resigned to it floating on the top for the duration. Today the thing is
> not
> on the top and not visible anywhere in the carboy of merlot. Do oak chips
> finally reach a saturation point and then become denser than the wine?
>
>

Certainly, they are water logged (or wine logged). The most common thing
that sinks boats in rivers are logs that have become waterlogged and suck to
the bottom in shallow water where a boat will hit them. Only dry wood
floats.

Ray

"J F" > wrote in message
.. .
> Two weeks back I forgot to add the inert weight to my oak tea bag and was
> resigned to it floating on the top for the duration. Today the thing is
> not
> on the top and not visible anywhere in the carboy of merlot. Do oak chips
> finally reach a saturation point and then become denser than the wine?
>
>