Aging in American Oak Barrel - 5 gallon

Jan 07, 2006 2 Replies
E

Hi Everyone - As a newbie at winemaking I really appreciate all the info in this group - I'm on my first shiraz batch and plan on doing as instructed without adding anything. However, the next batch I want to start adding oak - I've read many of the postings concerning oak and have decided to add it pre fermenting. I wonder if anyone has experimented with letting the must (with 1/2 cup of toasted oak chips) sit without adding yeast for a couple of weeks and then adding the yeast? Also I was thinking for the third batch instead of racking to a carboy I would like to try an american oak barrel - have any of you done anything like this ? Thanks



Eric T



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T

You can do this, but if it's a kit wine there's no point in it. OTOH, if you're fermenting fresh fruit it won't sit still for a couple of weeks unless you were to refrigerate it to 40°F or so to prevent spontaneous fermentation.

Also I was thinking for the third batch instead of racking to a

Many of us have done that, but as someone new to this I'd recommend that you ferment on oak chips first and see how that goes.

FWIW, ½ cup of chips is a pretty light dose for ~5 gallons of wine - especially if you like oak flavor. I suppose you can add more later in carboy though.

Tom S

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Hi Tom - Sounds good - I'll try using chips first and adding more than

1/2 a cup - thanks for the info.
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