Oak Blocks for Extracts - American Heavy Toast (Retail) - 2oz

American Heavy Toast 2oz Pouch: This oak block is often used for red wines when wine makers are creating a rich, caramelized, carbonized oak flavor. Many extract makers will add this flavor for 1-2 days and up to 1 month to add a subtle, rich taste to their extracts after having added their regular addition of medium oak.

Oak Blocks for at-home extract making provide important benefits:

1. They help to mitigate the strong alcohol taste and smell
2. They provide added flavor for bold extracts
3. They enhance the vanilla taste and aroma of your extracts 

VanillaPura Oak blocks are approximately 1 cm square so they will fit into most extract bottles. (Some cuts may vary to be larger or smaller than 1cm based on the shape of the oak at cutting.) Recommended usage is 1/4oz of oak blocks (6-10 blocks) for every 8oz of alcohol. After rinsing the oak blocks in water, simply place the blocks in the extract with the alcohol and the vanilla beans and wait.

We recommend leaving the blocks in the extract for a minimum of 2 days and up to two weeks to mitigate the medicinal alcohol smell and taste. Leave them in your extract for 3 - 6 months if you would like to extract the flavor of the oak into your extract. The longer contact time will lead to a more complex combination of flavors. Makers of fine spirits, wines, bourbon's, cognac's, brandy's and more have leveraged the unique taste of various oak casks resulting in elegant tastes and aromas that are entirely new. 

When using oak for the first time, we recommend monitoring your extracts daily for smell since taste and smell are subjective. Some people may love a strong oak presence while others may not. 

We currently offer 3 additional different types of oak blocks, each with unique advantages:

American Medium Toast: This is our most popular oak block. It provides a soft oak flavor and character without changing the overall taste of the extract. It's a nice choice to simply mitigate the "medicinal" alcohol smell and taste. 

French Medium Toast: Made from seasoned French Oak and produced in the USA. French Oak naturally has sweeter undertones to provide the benefits of American Medium oak blocks, but with a hint of grapes and dried fruit. 

Hungarian Medium Toast: This super unique oak is in high demand with commercial wineries all around the world. Its DNA results in a rich, caramelized taste and smell that can make sweet extracts even sweeter, but with a richness that teases of caramel and mocha.   

Learn more about oak blocks in extract making by clicking here. 

Please note that this is a co-op product offering. Orders are bundled with other customers and will require 4+ weeks to fulfill and ship. Learn more about our co-op on the co-op section of our website located in the menu.