If you are looking to enhance complexity in your wines, try some oak chips. These oak chips are exactly what some professional wineries use to make their wines taste like wines that are aged in expensive oak barrels.
These french oak chips will darken the colour of your wine & may speed up the maturation process. They may impart a certain sweetness and help roundoff wines that are too acidic or harsh.
Also suitable for making your own spirits and other culinary applications eg smoking.
Use 5 to 10g per 5 litres of your homemade wine (1-2g/L). You can always add more oak; but you can’t remove it, so experiment with less until you have established your preferred dosage.
Options for use (or as per your recipe):
1/ Add to the primary fermentation at the same time as your fruit.
2/ Soak in boiling water, strain & add strained water to your primary fermentation (for a subtle flavour).
3/ "Rack" (siphon your wine off the sediment) your wine for aging. Soak the oak chips in potassium metabisulphite for 20 minutes. Strain. Add the oak chips during aging (after racking). Taste your homemade wine regularly. Rack off when the desired level of oaking is achieved.
4/ Rack your wine for aging. Soak the oak chips in boiling water for 5+ minutes. Add the water & the oak chips to the carboy. Taste your homemade wine regularly. Rack off when the desired level of oaking is achieved.
