Using Oak In Beer?

After enjoying a gorgeous day of sun and beer at Seattle International Beerfest yesterday I came away with a couple of new beers that ranked among my favorite. Both were Imperial Stouts that made use of oak. Ivan the Terrible out of Big Sky Brewery and Sick Duck out of Flyers brewery. The Sick Duck said they use rum soaked oak chips in the keg.

So I was wondering how I would incoporate that into my own Imperial Stout? With all the brewers around here I'm sure some of you have used oak in your beers. Do you have to treat the oak in any way before using it? How much should I use for a five gallon batch? Do i just drop the chips into the keg?

Thanks for any feedback. These were really great, well balanced beers and I think I'm going to attempt something similiar for my next beer.

Hey Drunkagain, I have used oak pretty extensively in different beers, the latest being a Scotch Oaked Scottish Ale and A Bourbon Oaked Stout. I use Stavin brand oak cubes as I find they add a more rounded oak flavor to the beer. You can get these at Mountain Homebrew and Wine Supply in Kirkland (shameless plug )

No special treatment to the oak if soaking in alcohol. The scotch oaked scottish ale consisted of 2 oz. of French oak cubes soaked in The Macallan Forties for 2 months, the Bourbon oaked stout consisted of 2 oz of American oak cubes soaked in Knob Creek single batch Bourbon for 6 months. Both were added to the secondary, discarding the liquid and just adding the oak.

Hope you had a good time at SIB, that festival is always a good time.

Brewtopia said:

Hey Drunkagain, I have used oak pretty extensively in different beers, the latest being a Scotch Oaked Scottish Ale and A Bourbon Oaked Stout. I use Stavin brand oak cubes as I find they add a more rounded oak flavor to the beer. You can get these at Mountain Homebrew and Wine Supply in Kirkland (shameless plug )

No special treatment to the oak if soaking in alcohol. The scotch oaked scottish ale consisted of 2 oz. of French oak cubes soaked in The Macallan Forties for 2 months, the Bourbon oaked stout consisted of 2 oz of American oak cubes soaked in Knob Creek single batch Bourbon for 6 months. Both were added to the secondary, discarding the liquid and just adding the oak.

Hope you had a good time at SIB, that festival is always a good time.

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Awesome man. Thanks.

Yeah, SIB was great. Good beer, music and loads of beautiful beer drinking women. On a sunny Northwest day. It doesen't get any better.

The brewing network has a podcast where they talked about barrel aging. Link below:

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/archive/dwnldarchive04-15-07.mp3

Allan

Another question, when I do an IRS I usually bulk age in the secondary for a couple of months. Will having the beer aging on oak for that long be a problem?

Thanks.