I want to do a big, dark saison on some rum-soaked oak soon, but would like to avoid a transfer to secondary for aging. I know that it's common practice to add oak in secondary, but is there any reason for that outside of getting it off the yeast to avoid autolysis? FWIW, I usually leave my saisons in primary for at least a month to make sure they're done, and subscribe to the "less for longer" school of adding oak.
The only things I can think of are removing yeast for harvesting and/or to avoid autolysis. Especially if you are looking to leave the beer on oak for longer than 4 weeks.
Yep, for harvesting yeast, otherwise never done it. Always in the secondary for me,,,,, but u may be on to something.
Assuming you can add the oak without splashing, I don't think there's a reason (other than autolysis if it will be an extended oaking) not to oak in primary.
As long as you aren't leaving it on oak for an extended period of time, I don't see any issues. and as VikeMan said, try to be careful not to splash when adding the oak.
i've had good results putting bagged home-toasted oak in the primary for a week to 10 after it reaches FG ...
Is this a clean or wild saison? I always oak in primary for my wilds unless I'm splitting batches or transferring on fruit. If I remember correctly, wild yeast will feed on the enzymes from the dead yeast cells which should prevent off flavors. If its clean, I'd still oak it in primary unless you're planning extended aging (over 1 month).
To clarify: when I say primary, I mean PRIMARY, as in, the oak will be going in with the wort and yeast, and fermentation will be occurring with oak in there. Does this change the calculus at all?
I assumed similar but wasn't initially clear on when the oak was being added. @MrOH's most recent post kind of suggests the oak would be added within seconds/minutes of pitching the yeast. Just a guess here, but is it possible some/most of the oak/rum character will be scrubbed away during robust fermentation, similar to hop aromas?
Hmmm. Yeah, I wasn't thinking seconds/minutes, but reading again, I think you're right. I probably wouldn't do that, as some of what's picked up from oak (like lactones and vanillans) are fairly volatile.
Thank you for helping me clarify. I was actually planning on having the oak already in the carboy, racking wort, and then adding yeast. New info has caused me to rethink this.
Yeah, kind of how DBA doesn't really taste like a barrel aged beer. Personally I look at it this way: Adding oak to primary = post fermentation in primary vessel Fermenting on oak = oak in primary vessel (or is primary vessel) from beginning.
I fermented this Kölsch on 2 Oak spirals and the wood flavor was fantastic and very present. I did have a lot of diacital present which was not from the spirals I think. I added these right after pitching yeast or before. It all basically went in together wort/yeast/wood. Stayed in there for 2 weeks then a few days cold crashing. I would do it again.
A couple days ago I recovered an old box of brewing supplies that I thought was lost and gone. Sure enough, it contained my old oak cubes! They smell nice. I was going to make a beer just like the one pictured above. I plan to use Weyermann Pilsner Malt and Kolsch WY2565. It's nice to come across such a fresh thread that I will use to guide me in making an oaked Kolsch, too! Thanks!
