I just bought some oak chips and I want to start experimenting with tinctures in the glass before I add to a whole batch. Looking for suggestions and methodology. Boil and/or soak the chips before? Also what tinctures have you made successfully? Red wine? Bourbon? Smokey scotch? What else? All responses are appreciated
Tinctures for beer: I've done oak before. Now I realize I should have spend the extra $10 on more oak than on bourbon to soak the oak in. A quick boil removes a lot of the harsh flavors that are in oak. It probably makes the oak a little less effective than soaking in a spirit, but I'd guess you only get 2 or 3 uses out of cubes or staves anyway. I just toss chips after a single use. I wouldn't think they could add much after a soak in beer. The bourbon tastes pretty crummy after a good soak in extra oak too. So you'll probably not want to add that to your beer or drink it later. Ryan's got a write up on some good stuff here: @ryane http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2011/10/fat-washing-using-fatty-or-oily-foods.html I'll probably try a cheese tincture here in a few weeks. I'll make sure I throw that at some beer and I'll try to post back.
Here's a simple thing to do that helps you understand what your oak is going to taste like. I've done this a few times before. Get three small jars, put a few chips in each, fill with beer (I used busch lite), fill very full to minimize O2, put them in the fridge. Try the first jar in a few days, second jar a few days later, and the third jar a few days later than that. The beer might be a bit oxidized but the oak flavors will still be dominate. You will get a good idea of what flavors those particular oak chips will bring. I've never done alcohol soaks or boiling, I just do a quick soak in starsan to get the surface clean and then add to beer.
Which part? Cheese? Not sarcasm. I'll start out with some parm in big chunks. I have to go buy vodka. Blech.
