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The use of oak chips


Les Trois Clocher

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Do any of you age your brandy using oak chips rather then barrels? I know it is very common among small vineyards so was curious if small brandy producers might do this as well. Is so do you follow the same rule as wine (2-10g/l)?

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I believe that when wineries do this they generally age in containers that prevent exposure to oxygen (or minimize it). Spirits often benefit from slow exposure to air through aging--which barrel aging provides. Chips will leach tannin and other wood flavors but will not provide the other benefits of aging. Others please correct me if I am wrong.

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interesting, because I've been told the same thing for wine. The slight oxidation that occurs due to the barrel breathing helps the flavor of the product. That being said on small scale production the difference doesn't outweigh the extra effort needed to handle the barrels (keeping them flush and rotating/ maintaining them.) I wounder if you just left some head space in the tank or bubble a small amount of air through the product from time to time you could achieve the same result...

That being said barrel aging is by far more romantic and much better when doing larger production scales since they don't use up possible fermenters

does no one do this?

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Jedd, do you care to share the parameters you used in your trials? what kind of oak chips, how much and for how long?

did the bad taste give a kind of super drying sensation to your mouth? (caused by way to much tannin action) I've heard it's better to stick to a lower amount of chips for a longer time then more chips shorter time since it takes time for the nicer flavors to come out.

At the vineyard we always age a smaller portion of the wine with chips then blend.

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I would guess that oak chips come from kiln dried oak, not oak that has been left outside to season/dry over time. French coopers generally let their oak weather outside before constructing the barrel--as some off flavors leach out this way. I don't know if American coopers do the say thing, but I would guess they do.

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