Tips on Wood Aging.

Nice thread. It's got me thinking.
What beer styles are best to oak?

Stouts and Porters work best with Oak!

BeerCigars said:

Stouts and Porters work best with Oak!

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Those would be the obvious ones, any other styles that would be good candidates?

Some brewers have oaked IPAs but I really havent found one that I really like.

I'm not sure that there's a style that I wouldn't oak really. I have had great experiences with oaking a saison, barleywine, pale ale, IPA, and american brown. It all depends on the recipe and the intention. I even think that you could oak an american light lager and it would be nice. Given the right recipe.

My thought is that earlier styles were all oaked.
Early man must have had some wild variables in his beer

eschatz said:

I'm not sure that there's a style that I wouldn't oak really. I have had great experiences with oaking a saison, barleywine, pale ale, IPA, and american brown. It all depends on the recipe and the intention. I even think that you could oak an american light lager and it would be nice. Given the right recipe.

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Thanks a lot man.

Just wanted to say thanks to the OP. Very helpful!

gingerdawg said:

Nice thread. It's got me thinking.
What beer styles are best to oak?

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I've heard of people oaking ciders and I know I've read about people oaking Brandon O's graff.

mmm oaked saison sounds amazing as does a good cider....

I'm off to the home brew store be back later.

thanks for posting this. I find it very helpful. I may barrel age an old ale or barley wine soon. The only thing that seems to be a bummer is the life of these barrels.

Just more input, I oaked a half gallon of pale ale along with a second round of dry hops. The oak took over quickly, I let it sit a week. Didn't measure the oak, just a pinch. It was a nice change of pace but I'll probably continue to oak in small batches just for fun...not sure I'd like a whole batch of something oaked.

This thread was really helpful. I actually used the information in this to oak age a russian imperial stout. I aged about 3 gallons on approximately 2 oz. of american light toast chips for ten days, and it made a HUGE difference. Really mellowed out the brew. It was so good I poured myself a glass at bottling time and drank it warm and flat.

That looks like red oak. Is that a problem? Barrels are made of white oak. I have some California coast live oak (quercus agrifolia) and California black oak (quercus kellogi) that I intend to toast and try.

The main reason they use white oak for barrels is due to lower porosity than red oak, meaning the barrels leak less, but putting the oak into an already sealed keg opens up more room to experiment.

Just found this thread.

Thank you very much eschatz. It is great to have just about all my questions answered in one post.

Got the toasted live oak beer done. Oak flavor is great, used 2oz in 5 gallons, heavy toast. Burnt Oak Amber Ale will be in SD county fair homebrew comp so I can see what they think.

I've been thinking of a walnut wood stout and a torrey pine brown. Anyone here gone down the alt wood route? Only thing i could find was a dogfish head extreem ale fest mentioning a walnut wood aged beer, with no mention of how it came out.

Brett

I think DFH has another beer aged on wood. Palo Santo Marron, a good beer.

Great thread on wood aging. Thanks..I will be adding Oak cubes to my Russian Imperial Stout that I am brewing this weekend.

great post

Wished I would have read this in Feb. I brewed up a Imperial Stout before I left on deployment and left oak chips on it. By the time I get home they will have been sitting in the beer for 6 months... Hopefully it will be drinkable.

I disagree with the premise that cubes are pointless if aging one month. I made an Imperial Porter that I aged on bourbon soaked french oak cubes for 1 month, and the oak flavor was precisely what I was looking for. The beer is now 9 months bottle aged and still has very nice, subtle oak notes. It got 2nd place in our homebrewers competition in its category, and the points taken off were unrelated to the amount of oak (I didn't know that the bourbon would thin the body a bit).

Correction***: In our local club's homebrew competition

To the question if walnut, imho if I can't use it to smoke food because of a toxin, I wouldn't think I'd want it in my beer.

This thread has been an excellent resource. But I have some additional questions regarding an English-style barleywine, I am considering aging.

OG - 1.104
FG - 1.024
IBU - 85 (East Kents and Brewers Gold for bittering; East Kents for aroma/flavor)
SRM - 14

It has been sitting in secondary since late May with the plan to bottle it in September or October for Christmas gifts. I've stolen a couple of tastes from the carboy and it reminds me of a smooth scotch, which initially put this idea in my head; this thread only sealed the deal. The plan would be to rack off 1-1.5 gallons of the brew in to a couple growlers during bottling and age on oak chips for a couple months longer. These would be a limited spring 2012 release for my nearest and dearest. I want a slight to medium effect from the oak. I've already settled on French oak (unless anyone wants to convince me otherwise), but I want to know what kind of char I should get so I can my desired effect for this beer. Also, I was thinking about 0.5 oz/gallon. Is that a good guess?

I know I have lots of time to figure this out, but I'm the kind of person who likes to have all of his bases covered ahead of time. Thank you for all the work put in thus far and all the answers I am (hopefully) to get.

smarks2327 said:

I disagree with the premise that cubes are pointless if aging one month. I made an Imperial Porter that I aged on bourbon soaked french oak cubes for 1 month, and the oak flavor was precisely what I was looking for. The beer is now 9 months bottle aged and still has very nice, subtle oak notes. It got 2nd place in our homebrewers competition in its category, and the points taken off were unrelated to the amount of oak (I didn't know that the bourbon would thin the body a bit).

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Sorry to revive this old thread...but it is a good'n! Question on this post from Smarks: how much oak did you use?

Also, I'm curious about what you learned from your bourbon addition. Should you have added less to lessen the impact on the body?

It aged a total of 5 weeks. I used Denny Conn's Imperial Porter (minus the vanilla) as the base. I soaked 3 oz of French oak cubes in bourbon (just enough to cover the cubes) for 2 weeks, and then added it all to the secondary for 5 weeks. I would not have used less bourbon- I thought the amount of bourbon flavor was perfect. Instead, I would try to mash higher next time. I mashed at 152, and I think something more in the range of 156-158 would be better. A little more unfermentable sugar would help balance the beer further, in addition to the improvements to the body. This beer was best about 6 months after bottling, as well. Everything mellowed out substantially with the aging.

smarks2327 said:

It aged a total of 5 weeks. I used Denny Conn's Imperial Porter (minus the vanilla) as the base. I soaked 3 oz of French oak cubes in bourbon (just enough to cover the cubes) for 2 weeks, and then added it all to the secondary for 5 weeks. I would not have used less bourbon- I thought the amount of bourbon flavor was perfect. Instead, I would try to mash higher next time. I mashed at 152, and I think something more in the range of 156-158 would be better. A little more unfermentable sugar would help balance the beer further, in addition to the improvements to the body. This beer was best about 6 months after bottling, as well. Everything mellowed out substantially with the aging.

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Awesome. Great info. Thanks so much!

I'm about to oak my first beer. An Imperial stout that's evolved into a Double Chocolate Imperial Stout. I was at the Festival for Barrel Aged Beers a few weeks ago and got a sample of this guys honeycomb barrel alternative.

Black Swan Cooperage

My goal is coconut flavors so I'm using white oak but here is the list of flavors he says wood will impart depending on species which he has or can do:

Cherry - Butter brickle,ripe cherry,fresh grass,meringue,light fried bread/Belgian waffle.

Hard Maple - Maple candy,light spice-nutmeg,cinnamon,syrup,bread/bakery,cream,hint of cocoa

Hickory - Honey,BBQ,hickory smoked bacon,apple sauce,cocoa,coconut

Red Oak - Red berries,toasted marshmallow,light grass,baking bread,butterscotch

Soft Maple - Yellow cake,light smoke,banana,nut,toasted bread,hint of orange spice

White Ash - Campfire,marshmallow,light grass,rising bread dough,light sweetness(adds different mouthful dimension)

White Oak - Vanilla,toasted coconut,cinnamon,pepper,sweetbaked bread,caramel

Yellow Birch - Toffee,butterscotch,honey,croissant,light lemon,and tropical fruit

These tasting notes may vary,dependent on the type of beer being aged.

With my Kate the Great RIS Clone I ended up using 2 oz of Med Toast American Cubes. I soaked the cubes in Bourbon for 4 weeks. Just added enough Bourbon to cover them in Tupperware. I think I added Bourbon 3 times.

When I was ready to add the cubes to the beer I drained off most of the liquid and dumped the oak. Some Bourbon got in but it was a small amount.

I noticed the oak flavor right away. I think the perceived "Oak" flavor spiked at 2 months and slowly started to decline. It was in the keg on the cubes for a total of 6 Months. The beer is on draft now and it is awesome. If you know the oak was in the beer you can taste it, if you don't people notice vanilla and a slight oak flavor. Right where I wanted the beer to be.

Here is the recipe I did. and Here is the oak processing.

I bought oak chips from LHBS the don't appear toasted. How would toasting them in the oven work, maybe 350 degree for 10-15 min. any thoughts?

The chips probably have a light toast already, but yes you can toast them some more in the oven.

I just did my first oak beer. Bought medium toast chips and i had it in the secondary for just under 2 weeks. I would say taste it ever day. I didnt do this and turned out to oaky.

would toasting them in the oven be enough to call them sanitized?

Jon112 said:

I just did my first oak beer. Bought medium toast chips and i had it in the secondary for just under 2 weeks. I would say taste it ever day. I didnt do this and turned out to oaky.

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+1 on that. I learned this from experience, unfortunately. Also, a great piece of advice is to start small on the oak amounts until you've done it a bit and know how much flavor it's going to impart in your brew.

well an update for me I steamed 2 oz. med. toast chips. put in the secondary tasted after 4 days can taste some woody undertones I think i'm gonna keg after 5 days...
BTW I am oaking a dunkel so i dont want to much oak just a little

Thanks for the info. I am planning 10 gallons IIPA. I'll oak 5 gallons and leave 5 gallons without OAK

I think i used the whole package of oak. I would say use half a batch. 5 days max. Taste ever two days. Maybe even bottle one prior to the oak and compare with the oak sample.

I went old fashion and made my own chips from an oak from my yard. Toasted them to slightly over medium and have had them in tupperware with about 4 oz of whiskey. Plan to use in an imperial stout. Not sure if I will use chips in the secondary for a week, or discard chips and add some of the whiskey. Any suggestions?

I did an imperial stout with 2 ounces of American oak cubes and had them soaking in whiskey for about three weeks. I ended up using the actual cubes, and left them in secondary for 10 days. This worked well for me - but adding the whiskey itself might be an interesting way to do things! If you happened to have two 3 gallon carboys, you could try both, and maybe even blend at the end...?

I did a porter at a brew it yourself establishment about a year and a half ago. Their recipe used just the whiskey that had been sitting with toasted oak chips soaking. They added it one week into the 2 week fermenting process. We were very happy with the finished product. Very slight oak and a pronounced but not strong whiskey subtleness. It was a 10 gallon batch and I'm not sure how much they added.

I will be brewing today and will update as I go along.

Thanks for the input.