Moved to secondary, oak chips added. How long now?

HI,
I have 3 red wines each in 6 gallon carboys. Two of them I am trying MFL in hope of getting a better wine. All three have 7-8 oz of oak chips in them. I hope to add body and flavor. I was thinking about sampling them in a month. If the oaking flavor takes I’ll rack them to a clean carboy and continue aging. At this point , is there anything else I could do to make a better wine? The only thing I have read is the addition of glycerine for body. Then K metsabisulfite and possibly K sorbate prior to bottling.Also, how long should I go with the bulk aging step. Right now I have airlocks on the carboys filled with vodka. I have accumulated enough wine bottles but need to order corks.

Thanks again,

   Bassin75

IME the majority of homemade wines I have tasted are results of rushed fermentation and aging. 6-8 weeks is really the magic number with oak, where the ligins in the wood begin to be broken down into tannins and other phenols. The tannins really help to give the beverage some structure. I find, however, that with wines and ciders, the real magic starts to happen after 6 months to a year. The only way to know is to taste (and get something else fermenting that is good young!)

Hi, Thank you for the reply. I will keep the oak in the wine 6-8 weeks and start tasting it. From what I have read oaking flavor lessens with age so I’ll rack when the taste is at its peak for my taste.Also, when do I remove the airlocks I filled with vodka to solid plugs?

It really isn’t the “oak” flavor that you want, its the flavor of the compounds in the oak that are broken down by the acidity and alcohol in your wine. Yes, it won’t taste like oak in a year, but it will in all likelihood taste DIFFERENT in a year!

As long as gravity is stable, you are ok moving to the solid plugs. You just want to make sure there isn’t any CO2 coming out of solution as it will build up headspace pressure and eventually pop the solid top off.

Hi Pietro,

 I checked the wines temp this morning and saw small bubbles floating the the top. This my be the malolactic fermentation in progress. After one more month I will degass the wines and add some Kmetabisulfite. Once the oaking is done, I will rack to another carboy and continue bulk aging in my cellar that is 55-65F. Thank you for the replies.

Bassin57

[quote=“bassin75”]Hi Pietro,

 I checked the wines temp this morning and saw small bubbles floating the the top. This my be the malolactic fermentation in progress. After one more month I will degass the wines and add some Kmetabisulfite. Once the oaking is done, I will rack to another carboy and continue bulk aging in my cellar that is 55-65F. Thank you for the replies.

Bassin57[/quote]

Could also just be nucleation sites for CO2 coming out. The only way to know is by checking/monitoring gravity, but I would leave it alone as you say.

Might also be a change in barometric pressure allowing some CO2 to escape. If you haven’t degassed the wine it’s probably still saturated with CO2 and low pressure will often allow the wine to release some if it’s still under airlock.

Bassin,

7-8 ounces per 6 gallons is a lot of oak. If you like oak and are using a big, flavourful grape that’s cool, but I’d taste the wine asap to make sure it’s not getting a dose of plywood flavour.

Also, what was the base material you made the wine from? Grapes, juice or kits? and did you have a pH reading and an original SG (influences malolactic fermentation rates).

While NB does sell glycerine, I’m not a fan of adding it for body–it tastes slightly metallic to me.

Bulk ageing is up to you. Personally, when my wine is finished elevage (all the steps that you do to it to influence flavour) and it’s stable and clear, I age in bottles–that’s how cellars are built, plus, it frees up your carboys for more wine.