barrels vs. chips

Well if the barrel has held spirits or wine prior to beer that will definitely add something different than fresh chips (or fresh barrels).

 

barrel aged prices are ridiculous so if chips are cheaper i'm all for it

 

Super Kitty is proof that chips can work better than barrels. Unless I'm wrong about how SK is aged.

 

To add the characteristics your speaking of, what if breweries soaked oak chips in spirits, then added them in? Would this produce equal results as the article's? I think it would help cut down on costs. We have already seen beers that only a percentage of the beer is aged in barrels. Would it make a better beer to age the entire brew on chips, instead of 25% of the beer being aged in barrels?

 

Depends on the beer. 100% barrel aged brews are not automatically better than blends.

 

Yeah I have two casks aging beer right now and there are certainly things a barrel presents that chips do not. For one if you look at the charr inside of a toasted barrel then look at "Medium Toast" chips you would know there is a difference one looks like it was on the grill for a month and the other looks like cherry wood. So all in all oak barrel vs chips... You can use barrels over and over chips you use once. The right brewer can make barrels cheaper then chips with the right string of beers going in and out of them. However for the home brewer casks are $$$$$ so is it worth it? Hell no but much more rewarding than chips!

 

Just giving my .02 cents from homebrewing experience. I have a 8 gallon American Oak barrel and have also tried using the oak chips. The oak chips seem to not add as much of an oak taste to your final product. It has to do with the amount of surface area that your brew is in contact with the wood. Small barrel > oak chips - in surface area. Also the amount of time makes a difference, but largest factor I have noticed is again the amount of surface area of wood in contact with your brew.

Hope that made sense. Just my .02 cents

 

Yeah well I have yet to see one that was made cheaper as a result. Save brewery $$ so they can charge the same and make more $$. Sure that is not all breweries but the ones I have seen.

 

Where did you get your barrel

Sorry to thread jack . Got mine from http://tuthilltown.gostorego.com/barrels.html

 

Won't opine on which is better, but chips CAN have a greater surface area by simply using more chips. A barrel is what it is - calculate the surface area and there you are. But you can then calculate the surface area of the chips you're using (take an average size chip and do the math if needed) and exceed the barrel surface area by using the number of chips required to do so. Not saying this is a better way to brew a beer, but the limit on chip surface area is determined by your secondary or aging vessel.

Oak cubes, rather than chips, make this easier. And they have four surfaces to include in the calculation.

 

that's the complete opposite of my experience. chips will give you even more surface are contact with the beer than a barrel. I've found that chips give the most oak flavors, then barrel, then cubes. of course, it depends on how much (weight) of chips you use.

 

A 5.5 gallon barrel is waaaay to much surface area for prolonged aging on oak so I guess it is a matter of what you are doing... blending etc... also how much surface area you want is static with a barrel and easily adjusted with chips. I think predictability goes in the order of cubes, barrel and chips. I think at this point we are talking semantics vs rather one is better than the other on the pallet if executed properly

 

“To add the characteristics your speaking of, what if breweries soaked oak chips in spirits, then added them in?” That could certainly be done. I recently homebrewed a Bourbon Barrel Porter where I used medium toasted American oak cubes that were soaked in Makers Mark Bourbon. I added the oak/bourbon to the secondary fermenter and aged the beer for 2 weeks. The beer turned out great with interesting oak induced and bourbon flavors. Would it have been ‘better’ if I aged the Porter in a Bourbon Barrel? Who knows?

Cheers!

 

A local brewery here did an old ale aged on oak chips. It turned out a wonderful, massive 'bourbon bomb' with notes of vanilla and a litle oak and that was on chips so I will say in my limited experience with aging on chips that it can add alot of flavors. I've heard spirals add more flavor because of more surface area vs. Chips but not had any experience with those.

 

good thing I use 3 gallon barrels

 

I've had good results with oak cubes in home brewing. Not quite the complexity of a barrel, but it can be close. Of course, when I soak oak in liquor, I dump some of the liquor in with the oak to give more spirit character. Commercial breweries aren't allowed to do this, IIRC, so a long barrel aging is the easiest way for a brewery to get the spirit character.

 

That is more surface area than a 5.5 gallon barrel. More oak coming in contact with the beer..... SA=(d)("pi")(h)+(2)("pi")(r2) ?? maybe I missed the point....

 

Chips will add flavor for sure, but you lose out on the micro-oxidation which is key to some styles

 

I think my assessment of this thread is 2+2 = I read this opinion someone else formed on the internet. I think execution is key. Have had A++ beers using chips, cubes and barrels for sure.

That is my final .02 worth. Give Hill Farmstead chips, cubes and barrels and Shawn will make a damn good beer with all of them better than someone else using a superior product because his method is solid.