TCA development in bottle?

[mannp...@gmail.com]

We made a batch of oaked cider using toasted oak chips. At the time of bottling the level of oak was nicely balanced and pleasant. 6 months later there is a nasty off flavor, reminiscent of cork taint; to the point that we are going to have to discard those bottles.

I understand that TCA can be present in barrels and by extension in oak chips. I'm surprised though, that the effect would only show up with such a delay. Has anybody else experienced such a time-delayed onset of off-flavors with oak chipped cider?

We did not do any pre-treating of the chips, e.g. boiling or soaking in vodka. Now I wonder if that might have helped prevent this issue.

Patrick
1785 Cider

[Taylog1]

I tried oak chips last year, but as I was using oak from a tree in the garden; I dried the wood for two days in the bottom oven of our Aga (around 140 C). This would have also sterilised it, and I didn't get any off flavours - rather I found quite a lot of the tannin precipitated out over the next 3-6 months, which was a bit annoying. So you could try heating the chips next time to sterilise them ?

Gareth    

[rkreev...@gmail.com]

I always use oak adjunct in my cider as it's a flavor profile I enjoy. I use two products in every vintage: dusty chips of unknown provenance (from my local ferment supply shop) in the primary ferment, then Stavin oak beans during malolactic and ageing. I do not treat the oak before use. I've never experienced a taint issue in my ciders (knocks on wood). I cork finish so I doubt I'd know from where the taint came from if I did. I have never heard of oak adjuncts tainting a cider or wine before but they don't let me out of the house much. 

[mannp...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the input so far. The oak chips are the only ingredient that is different from other unaffected bottles which use the same base cider, so it seems the likely culprit. 

I am just really puzzled by the delay until onset of the problem. I would have expected it to show up immediately upon steeping the oak chips. Once in bottle, the cider is not exposed to any potential contaminants. So far I've not found any mention of TCA evolving within the liquid - it is either present or not.

Since this is an unfiltered product (though clear to the naked eye), perhaps there are minute amounts of oak dust still in the bottle, from which TCA could be leached over time? Just grasping at straws here.