So I brewed a smoked weizenbock on Dec 19. Had a vigorous ferment with 3068 and successfully held the temp at 62-64. The temp hasn't gotten above 65F. OG was ~1.080, and just did a reading yesterday and it's sitting around 1.014. I've been toying with the idea of oaking this. I've got 2 oz oak cubes soaking in some bourbon, and after a month of this beer conditioning, I was planning on oaking it in the keg using this method: http://www.brewgeeks.com/add-oak-and-bourbon-to-keg.html Good idea for this style, or no? I know Camba Bavaria has a good example of a bourbon barrel aged Weizenbock (no bourbon barrel for me, sadly..), as well as The Livery's Bourbon Cask Aged Trippelbock. Granted, my recipe uses smoked malts, and if it even comes close to tasting similar to one of these I would be happy. Just seeing what y'alls thoughts were. Appreciate the vote!
I'd probably dose a sample with some of the oak'ed bourbon to see how it is and make a call on the fly.
Thanks. I've done that before in the past, but sometimes it's hard to gauge the amount of oak'd bourbon to add to such a tiny portion.
I dosed a Weizzenbock with an already oaky rum with 2oz of med toast French oak cubes soaked for a few weeks (50 drops to the 12oz bottle, I figured it out in ccs but I didn't write it down). I enjoyed it and it did well in a local comp. The consensus was it needed a little more. I would def dose a sample first. I use drops per 2oz to start off then scale up to 12oz then retaste and fine tune. The rough est started at 6 drops per 2oz. Then I scaled up and had to increase the amount.
never made a weizzenbock, but I have made smoked beers and some I have oaked. If I was to oak a smoked beer again, I would use the lightest toasted oak available. smoked malt and heavy char oak lends itself to rough tasteing beer even after 7 months in the bottle. Also if you are boiling the oak before using, boil it for at least 8 minutes, 10 might be better unless you want super astringent tasting beer. good luck
I could see bourbon working with bananas and clove (Alton Brown has a bourbon bananas foster recipe, for example). I could see oak working with bananas and clove. Both can lend a vanilla presence, which could be very dessert-like, depending on balance of flavors. I do have problems imagining smoked weizenbock, though. I just haven't branched out very far with smoked beers, and I think that flavor would not work well with banana and clove. I could be just be suffering from insufficient imagination. So I am voting to give it a try, but if you gave me the option, I would vote for a split batch. And if you gave me the option, no smoke.
I say go ahead and oak it. I don't think the banana/clove characteristics will be strong enough to conflict with the oak flavor. Just don't overdo the oak.
Thanks for the replies. The sample I tried the other day tastes good - the smoke is definitely there. I used hickory wood, so it's got a meaty, bacon-like flavor to it. Not overwhelming though. With all the weird desserts they're putting out lately that incorporate bacon, it could be interesting with the other flavors/esters that a weizenbock puts out. Over time (2-3 months) the oak could lend a vanilla/coconut flavor to it that could meld nicely. I'm only using 2 oz of medium toast cubes, and just enough bourbon to cover them in a jar, so I don't think it will be overpowering in a ~8.5% beer. I am leaning towards oaking!
