My dad and I recently cut down some apple trees and I saved some if the wood to make chips with to use with brewing in some way. I have some ideas as to how to go about this, but I was hoping to gain some insight from some more experienced brewers and people who have done something like this before, before I go off and potentially ruin a good batch of beer. My main concerns are when to use them, and their size. Any tips, pointers, thoughts on using another kind of wood, or even recipe ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all in advance.
Flavoring with woodchips
- Thread starter AWelly
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AWelly said:
Use them in secondary and make the pieces small and thin as possible. This will increase the surface area of the wood touching your beer which will attribute more wood character to the beer in a quicker amount of time. I also figured out with my recent spanish cedar IPA that its easier to get the chips out of the carboy in the end. I haven't used apple wood yet but I want to. Just make sure you taste a small sample every other day so you don't overdue the wood flavor. Lastly, the wood flavor will fade over time, noticeably each month.
ILBMF
Well-Known Member
Never used that wood, but I've found that when using toasted oak I prefer the cubes and spirals over the chips. The chips tend to take more time to mellow.
On another note, steam them before you drop them in and re-steam them if you plan on transferring them to a keg after the secondary.
On another note, steam them before you drop them in and re-steam them if you plan on transferring them to a keg after the secondary.
I second on steaming them so that you kill off any baddies on the surface... you may want to toast the chips in the oven prior to using to extract some of the natural sugars in the wood.
aiptasia
Well-Known Member
First, break up your chips to increase the surface area. Take out a cookie sheet and spread a thin layer across it and toast them in your oven for about 20 minutes or so at 250 * f. Not only will this help develop some tasty flavors in the wood chips, the heat will sanitize the chips. Look for a nice light toast on your wood and give your beer about an ounce about one week prior to bottling. You can save your extra wood chips and steam sanitize them later for future beers.
patthebrewer
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another thing to try is soaking them in wiskey, for a week. Will serve not only kill the bugs, but impart a bourbon barrel flavor to your beer. Makers Mark or Tullamore Dew would be good. IIRC there was an piece on using wood in the latest issue of ZYMURGY. It was very informative.
ILBMF
Well-Known Member
I like the whiskey soaking idea. I make a bourbon oak red ale, but I just add 5 shots of Jim Beam to the keg before I rack into it.
UofMontanaAlum
Well-Known Member
I also soak in whiskey. I put my 1oz of cubes in a large glass container with 16oz of Templeton Rye Whiskey and let them soak for a week. I then dump it all in secondary and let it sit for the last 2 weeks. I did this with a rye porter that turned out great and I'm planning on doing the same with the imperial red that I just brewed.
You guys really only use 1oz of wood? Ive only done one wood aged beer and definitely used more than 1oz of wood. Its been in the bottle 2-3 months now and has balanced out quite nicely.
ILBMF
Well-Known Member
I use 3 ozs medium toasted cubes or about 3 ozs oak spirals (2 spirals)
Anybody here ever used a little cedar?
Anybody here ever used a little cedar?
UofMontanaAlum
Well-Known Member
Yes, but only because I don't care for a beer that tastes like a block of wood. If I'm brewing a rye whiskey porter, I'd rather taste the $40 bottle of rye whiskey I put in it vs the $2.50 bag of wood cubes. I love this hobby because I can make a beer that tastes good to me. :rockin:
