Oaking

I am interested in oaking my next batch if wine. Problem is I have never done so before and have no clue how, what kind, and for how long. For example the wine I want to try is a 1gal batch of welches. Any ideas, suggestions?

Oaking Welches is waste of oak, but if you want to try, get some oak cubes in different styles from your favorite home brew shop and let the wine sit on them for 2 weeks. There will be oak flavor, its up to you to find the oak you like.

My favorite is light toasted Hungarian oak. Just not in welches...

DoctorCAD said:

Oaking Welches is waste of oak, but if you want to try, get some oak cubes in different styles from your favorite home brew shop and let the wine sit on them for 2 weeks. There will be oak flavor, its up to you to find the oak you like.

My favorite is light toasted Hungarian oak. Just not in welches...

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Would this be because its a cheap wine or the already present tannins in the juice?

thejudge said:

Would this be because its a cheap wine or the already present tannins in the juice?

Click to expand...

To me, it simply tastes like grape juice with moonshine added. Not very "wine-like". With oak, it would taste like wooden grape juice with moonshine added.

Yeah I've had it before, it taste like purple passion that ever clear use to have out(or still does) but I figure why not play with it and see if the flavor can be improved.

I will say that I made a recent wine, fermenting a mix of Welch's White Niagara grape juice and Knudson's Black Cherry juice. It, like all wines of this ilk, was not (nor was it meant to be) a fine wine.

But I oaked it, and while the oak flavor was very light -- almost imperceptible -- I believe it helped the flavors to meld in a complex and pleasing way. It turned out to be a nice wine, one I will make again.