So, after a bunch of yearsbrewing 8+ abv beers it's looking like those days are falling behind me. So, the plan is to brew beers 6 abv and lower and my question is, Should I be adding less wood to to less abv,,, or are they not related?
Yes, they are related...but I'm not sure directly related. Interestingly, the wood could actually be adding abv if previously used for barreled liquor. You can always add more so take it easy initially I would say. Good Luck
Ive been interested in this as well because i dont have any experience making high abv beers but want to experiment with wood chips/cubes/spirals + liquor.
I've made lots of 8+ abv beers using anywheres from 1-4 oz of oak, maple, cherry and hickory wood. I think I'm going to just add wood as usual and keep notes. We will see.
Would you think the wood could add (create additional) ABV because there's a reaction among the fermented beer and the wood itself, or could it add ABV because of leaching residual alcohol from the chips or cubes or stave parts from a barrel that contained liquor? If the latter it would seem pretty minuscule....maybe even non-detectable by a home brewers hydrometer. (IIRC @GormBrewhouse puts wood in the secondary.) Maybe one of our beer chemistry majors can comment about whether increased alcohol level enhances or minimizes the extraction of woody notes?
There are a few possibilities, depending on the beer and the barrel. - residual alcohol in the barrel, as you mentioned, though it would have to be a pretty fresh, "loaded" barrel to make much difference - brett hiding in the barrel - primary fermentation yeast left in a "finished" beer that wasn't really finished before it went into the barrel I don't know for sure, but alcohol extracts most things better than water does. I'd be surprised if barrel woody stuff is an exception.
^ETA: It occurs to me that I should have said that alcohol (ethanol) improves extraction of many things (a wider variety of things), because it is both polar and non-polar.
Gorm...I would say that the beer body, character and finishing gravity has almost as much (or more) to do with it than the actual ABV number. You can produce a nice meaty milk stout with high finishing gravity and low abv that in my opinion could handle a modest of wood character without overwhelming, while that imperial pilsner at 8.5% abv would only handle a little of oak character before overwhelming. I can't imagine the abv will affect extraction rates much at all...plain water can still extract plenty from wood...just look at water you soak those wood chips in for a bbq'ing after a one hour soak...but still agree with Vikeman's assessment.
Yeah, I've got plans for the wood after I heal up. Seeing I use my home toasted wood, there is no alchohal from booze, 4 oz of wood, even Suger maple will yeild little Suger. It is interesting that the wood my make the yeast work more or do something to boost ferment. When I get on it, I'll post. Thanks guys
