Using oak chips/cubes...

I use the Jack Daniels BBQ chips that have a few charred chips in them and also some bourbon flavor left from what was in the barrel. I soak the chips in more JD bourbon for 4-6 weeks. I may start reducing that length of time because I'm beginning to think that the oak flavor is more than I like. I fill a pint glass with the chips and than add the bourbon to within a quarter inch of the top, and then cover the glass with plastic wrap. I also punch a few holes to allow for evaporation so that the underside of the plastic wrap does not accumulate moisture. If I don't get at least 10 oz. of liquid when it's time for bottling, then I'll add fresh bourbon to what was in the glass and add that liquid to my bottling bucket. The result is not a 'BCBS' effect, but it works for me.

 

Not too much to add here, but I left an imperial stout on oak cubes for 2 months and the oak flavor was overpowering for a while. It really mellowed over time though, was best after about 4 months in the bottle.

 

I have only brewed once with oak (a Bourbon Barrel Porter) and I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

I did a fair amount of research before making that batch. There are a fair amount of variables when brewing with oak/spirits:

· Format of the oak: chips, cubes, spirals, etc.

· Type of oak: American, French, Hungarian, etc.

· Amount of toasting: medium toast, heavy toast

· Amount of oak

· Contact time: how long do you expose your beer to the oak

· Soak the oak in spirits or wine? Amount of spirits/wine? Add the spirits/wine to the beer or just the oak?

· Etc.

So, for my Bourbon Barrel Porter I made the following decisions:

· Oak cubes

· American oak

· Medium toast

· 2 ounces

· 2 weeks of contact time

· Bourbon soak

I also decided to perform a two stage bourbon soak: a few days soak with Jim Beam Bourbon to extract tannins from the oak cubes (I dumped the Jim Beam Bourbon after this soak). I then soaked the oak cubes for 1 week in 16 ounces of Makers Mark Bourbon. I used the oak and Makers Mark Bourbon for the 2 weeks of contact time.

Cheers!

 

Chips suck IMO. No depth of flavor, and it extracts mainly just that harsh oak tannin, and does so really fast.

Spirals I'm not overly impressed with.

Cubes are by and far the best way, IMO, but you need to rinse, boil, and then soak them. Removes some of the "yuck" tannins from the oak, and then it really melds.

medium toast american oak is pretty tasty if you are going for that good ol' vanilla oak flavor.

 

Im looking to do Red Wine soaked oak cubes in a sour to attempt and replicate used wine barrels. Sorry to hijack haha, but how much would you guys recommend for 5 gallons? never used Oak chips/cubes in a beer before at all

 

Well, you want oak, but most of those cubes and chips are fresh un used oak. Fresh oak has a really aggressive tannic flavor to it. I suppose if you want that, go for it. I've found that most of the time people use the oak with a spirit or wine, to get the flavor of a beer that was put INTO said barrel.

The beer would be the second use, or even third use through the barrels. You get a smoother, richer ( IMO ) flavor. Not the fresh oak flavor that was initially put into the bourbon/spirit as it aged.

Boil a cube in a small cup of water. Then taste the water, and see what I'm talking about.

I rinse them to remove the dust/debris, boil them for just a few minutes to extract some of the harsher tannins, and then use them. Some would also add that the surface of the wood would be cleaner after a hot boil, but you'll never get wood completely sanitized for your beer.

 

Your other option is to do a dual stage Bourbon soak as I posted previously: “I also decided to perform a two stage bourbon soak: a few days soak with Jim Beam Bourbon to extract tannins from the oak cubes (I dumped the Jim Beam Bourbon after this soak). I then soaked the oak cubes for 1 week in 16 ounces of Makers Mark Bourbon.”

Cheers!

 

i do this with hotdogs.

 

for proper flavour, you should be soaking it for months, not weeks. high charred wood needs up to 6 months to get the liquor to penetrate the wood properly.

the longer the liquor sits on the wood, the more flavour there will be in the wood.

dumping the jim beam or whatever into the beer is basically negating the subtleness of the soaked chips. you don't even need to add the wood.

 

I suppose this is the case of: there are lots of ways to skin a rabbit.

I am sure that you like your way of ‘skinning a rabbit’ but I am happy to report that soaking 2 ounces of Medium toast American Oak in 16 ounces of Makers Mark for 1 week and adding the soaked oak and Bourbon to the Porter resulted in a nice flavorful Bourbon Barrel Porter. It had nice flavor contributions of the American oak and Bourbon which melded nicely with the dark malt flavors of the Robust Porter.

I was very pleased with the results.

Cheers!

P.S. As a ‘reminder’ I did extract excess tannins from the Oak Cubes via a pre-soak with Jim Beam Bourbon (I tossed the Jim Beam Bourbon).

 

I'm planning on making some toasted mini-staves out of some 'Merican White Oak I have, cut down last summer. I'm going to toast them over a charcoal chimney as I'm getting ready to grill. Should they be taken all the way to the char of a bourbon barrel, or is medium toast enough? And also this boiling technique, should I do that before or after the toasting? Thanks.

 

not saying you're wrong. i used to do what you did.
but if you look at how long distillers soak their spirits in barrels, vintners store in barrels and breweries like Cascade keep in barrels, you see that time and subtlety is their MO.

i am of the school of thought of having oak cube/chip banks made in advance and using those. it doesn't hurt to do it and i'd encourage brewers to try it so the low-and-slow method may give them a more balanced, subtle beer

 

For your long term soaks, do you then just age on the wood (i.e., do you not use the liquid)?

Cheers!

 

correct. otherwise, you're just adding woodjuice. kills the subtlety of the wood and the spirit

 

Thank you for your response.

Cheers!

 

If fresh, unboiled oak is so tannic/harsh, then why isn't bourbon tannic? Bourbon always goes into fresh, unboiled oak, so shouldn't it be full of harsh tannins? What about oaked wine for that matter? Most chardonnay goes into fresh, unboiled oak, why isn't chardonnay harsh and tannic?

I'm not an expert on oak, just trying to wrap my head around it.

 

all of your answers are here:

http://morebeer.com/public/pdf/wbarrel.pdf

the summary:
new barrels are soaked before use.
the first few batches of white wine made in barrels are more tannic. batches 3 and 4 yield the best tasting wine.