St Emilion wine

[Volty]

There are a couple of types of chips. Karl sells nice chunky chips which work well, Youngs so called chips are almost like sawdust and splinters and whilst these work pretty quickly I find them less convienient.

I am also currently producing a St Emillion style blend (which is generally merlot dominant Claret). This is based on a California Conoisseur Cabernet Sauvignon kit made to instructions last summer blended with merlot from grapefest. The CC is reasonably true to type but lacks a little body, however the merlot from grapefest is an oaky blockbuster (grapes were pretty ripe) so I am expecting good things. The free run wine is really good. Am going to start bench blending trials shortly so will keep you posted.

Sounds very interesting, I will look forward to your updates. I have just recieved today some chips from

http://www.hobbywinesupplies.co.uk/index.php

These are far superior to the normal sawdust I get from local HBS. I am looking forward to doing some experimenting with them.

[bzac]

chips and sawdust are really intended to be added prefermentation , and can produce a kinda rough character when used post ferment durring bulk ageing which is when cubes or stave segments work best.

so I reccomend either adding a larger chip dose preferment or a smaller addition durring bulk aging.

[Cellar_Rat]

I think the word 'plywood' has been used before, but I agree. Chipings and dust can easily get away.

Oaking is much easier to manage while ageing and for this you need staves (or cubes).

I toast my own staves on the fire 18 inches long 2 x 1/2 inch. In a 54 carboy works a treat.

[Volty]

I think the word 'plywood' has been used before, but I agree. Chipings and dust can easily get away.

Oaking is much easier to manage while ageing and for this you need staves (or cubes).

I toast my own staves on the fire 18 inches long 2 x 1/2 inch. In a 54 carboy works a treat.

Where do you guys buy your cubes or staves, not been able to find any yet, only chippings. Certainly none in local HBS's

[SiSandrine]

Volty - suggest you use the chips that Karl sent you (HobbyHomeBrew). They are all that is needed. Per DJ I would add 10-15 grams of the chips post primary fermentation and monitor weekly. I have removed this amount after a week for some wines and 6 weeks for others. As soon as you have the right amount of oak (for me it is a combination of taste and aroma) rack them off. I made a couple of muslin socks to put them in which makes removal easier.
I have never seen cubes here and to be honest I wondered whether american cubes = the same size chips as Karl sells and that chips are the fine splinters that Youngs sell. Perhaps someone will clarify.
I have also made some of my own from french oak see last post here:

http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4934

[NorthernWiner]

I have never seen cubes here and to be honest I wondered whether american cubes = the same size chips as Karl sells and that chips are the fine splinters that Youngs sell. Perhaps someone will clarify

The cubes that are sometimes referred to are made by a company called StaVin. They look like this, and come in French, American, or Hungarian oak:



We're also able to purchase oak stave segments (made from used barrels, they're planed and re-toasted), as well as oak "infusion spirals," which look like this:

[bzac]

The cubes work well for carboy use , I like to get some french american and hungarian and make a blend of oaks . ie 15 - 20 cubes of each for a big red .

you can also get segments like this

http://morewinemaking.com/view_product/18797/103254/French_Oak_Stave_Segments_-_5_lbs_Med._Plus_Toast

or chains of staves (and split them up) like this

http://morewinemaking.com/view_product/18800/103254/Oak_Barrel_Replica_-_American_Med._Plus_Toast

there is a guy on winepress (Hammered) named steve who gets an old neutral barrel from a winery and rips the staves into thin strips and toasts them on his BBQ , one barrel will produce years worth of mini staves .

[David]

I find the WE kits to be good kits, in my humble opinion the only wiorthwhile addition could be maybe some quality grape skins.

That could be the answer to a question that I've been wondering about for ages - just how do red wine kit producers get 'everthing' into their concentrate without fermenting on the skins (or do they)?

[bzac]

they soak the skins and the juice together and use enzymes to extract the colour etc out of the skins then press .
teinturier juice or concentrate is also added to the blend to darken it , this is the juice from red fleshed grapes.

Bob's right , my favorite red kit tweak is to add 5-10 lbs of crushed and stemmed grapes or pomace to a red kit before pitching the yeast.

I freeze them in ziplock baggies than add to kits later. works great.

[David]

they soak the skins and the juice together and use enzymes to extract the colour etc out of the skins then press .
or concentrate is also added to the blend to darken it , this is the juice from red fleshed grapes.

Thanks for that. I always suspected it must be some form of extraction involving enzymes and your mention of "teiturier juice" enabled me to find the thread on Winepress with Tims Vandergrift's explanation.