Looking for solution to bring down oak levels

**Mikeymu** · 10-29-2013, 06:08 PM

I brewed a blackberry melomel and put some oak chips (about 10g) in once it reached full strength, cleared and had been stabilized, leaving it in there twice as long as I originally planned to. The trouble is the oak is too much 'up front' and not in the background where it belongs.

I've oaked another wine and found that 3 days with around 10g french toast oak chips per gallon turns out fairly balanced - i.e. how I like it.

I do have enough honey and frozen blackberries to brew another gallon (which would not be oaked) to blend at some future date but wondered if the oakiness would lessen over time anyway, and by how much if so?

**Vance G** · 10-29-2013, 06:15 PM

I wouldn't hold my breath while the oak goes away. I don't think it will any time soon. Blending is probably your best option.

**joemirando** · 10-29-2013, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeymu

I brewed a blackberry melomel and put some oak chips (about 10g) in once it reached full strength, cleared and had been stabilized, leaving it in there twice as long as I originally planned to. The trouble is the oak is too much 'up front' and not in the background where it belongs.

I've oaked another wine and found that 3 days with around 10g french toast oak chips per gallon turns out fairly balanced - i.e. how I like it.

I do have enough honey and frozen blackberries to brew another gallon (which would not be oaked) to blend at some future date but wondered if the oakiness would lessen over time anyway, and by how much if so?

Can I ask how long "twice as long as I originally planned to" is? I ask because I just added about 7g (guessing) of oak to a gallon of lower-ABV mead, and don't taste/smell anything yet. Are you saying that you had intended 3 days but went to 6? I've heard a lot of differing opinions about both quantity and duration, and I suspect that a lot of that has to do not only with duration, but with the ABV and the other flavors as well.

Thanks,

Joe

**Medsen Fey** · 10-29-2013, 07:18 PM

How large is your batch?

Oak will mellow a lot with a year or two of aging. If you give it some time, you may not need to do anything else.

**Mikeymu** · 10-30-2013, 04:58 AM

Originally Posted by Medsen Fey

How large is your batch?

Oak will mellow a lot with a year or two of aging. If you give it some time, you may not need to do anything else.

It is a 1 gallon batch that I added oak chips to for 7 days instead of the 3 days I originally planned.

It tasted of nowt so I left it longer, but then after racking I can taste more oak than I'd have preferred.

Do you think if I left it a year or two it would mellow so much as to be not so obtrusive?

**fatbloke** · 10-30-2013, 07:05 AM

Doesn't fining with egg white help reduce tannins and oak influence ? Or am I remembering incorrectly ?

**Medsen Fey** · 10-30-2013, 11:24 AM

Egg white fining will reduce tannins and help with excessive astringency and bitterness, but won't cure an over-oaked mead. Age will definitely reduce the oak aroma/flavor impact. If time alone is not enough, you can blend it.

**Mikeymu** · 10-30-2013, 02:11 PM

Ageing it is methinks. I'd rather use the blackberries for summat else - blackberry & elderberry wine for example, and the local honey is so delicious i'd rather brew a traditional with it.

Thanks all.