smarks2327

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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).

smarks2327

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

BuzzedBomber

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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.

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dougdecinces

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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.

rivertranced

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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?

smarks2327

Recipes 

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.

rivertranced

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Awesome. Great info. Thanks so much!

RandalG

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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.

lewybrewing

Recipes 

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.

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hamrd

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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?