Hello, new guy here. My F.G. and primery fermentation are only guesses right now, get that out of the way. At the risk of being flamed, here goes; my second batch ever is a barleywine that I mixed and matched from different recipes. After being put in the fermenter Sunday night at 9:00, it has been very busy since about 5:00 Monday morning.
My question is, ever since I saw a particular recipe for barleywine that called for whiskey-soaked chips, I wanted to do this for mine. I soaked some chips in water, then blackened (think charcoal) them on the grill the other night as I was cooking ribs. Into some whiskey they went, awaiting their call to duty. The recipe calls for the chips to be placed in the secondary fermenter. I plan to follow this. Does this sound okay to you experienced fellows to place my whiskey-soaked oak charcoal chips in the secondary, or did I blacken the chips to much? I'd rather not have a hopefully good barleywine ruined by this experiment.
Hmmm...blackened? Sounds risky, if you ask me. I've put toasted oak chips in bourbon before, then added that to a winter ale, but I'd be a little scared of the "charcoal" flavor in a barleywine.
.planned:
•Scottish 80/- •Sweet Stout •Roggenbier .primary | bright:
98: Moss Hollow Soured '09 72: Oude Kriek 99: B-Weisse 102: Brett'd BDSA 104: Feat of Strength Helles Bock 105: Merkin Brown .on tap | kegged:
XX: Moss Hollow Springs Sparkling Water 95: Gott Mit Uns German Pils 91b: Brown Willie's Oaked Abbey Ale 103: Merkin Stout
98: Yorkshire Special 100: Maple Porter 89: Cidre Saison 101: Steffiweizen '09 (#3)
I just went with plain old oak chips. I put them in bourbon at the same time that I pitched the yeast and will let it soak for the 3 week primary then put it in the BW when I rack to secondary.
I made a barleywine and I'm aging it on old scraps from whiskey barrels from Kentucky. So here was my process on this, I cut the slates from the barrel into 10" pieces. Then I seperated the back from the inside, I don't want the dirt, of course. Then I soaked the pieces in Bourbon and water(to reactivate the flavors) for about 2 days. Then I boiled them to sanitize, and boil off the alcohol. All you want is the flavor, not the hotness I think it would add if you left it like it is. It's still aging now, It'll be on those for about 3 months. I can smell the bourbon flavors coming through the bubbles in the airlock!
As far as oak chips, I've used the same method for wine-making. They soak them for a day, then put them in the oven on broil until the edges are black. Then boil them, then into the secondary. They were in there for 2 weeks and it was great. I used an ounce for a 5 gallon batch.
@madtowndmd1: how did your beer turn out with the soaked/boiled oak chips? Can you tell me how you boiled the chips (i.e. poured soaked chips into pot and boiled for 20 mins)
Thanks
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Work is the curse of the drinking class.
First of all strat thru marshall, barley wines are often aged for at least a year. Therefore in this case it makes sense to inquire about older threads. Second, at least you can't complain about people not using the search bar.
Extract - Barleywine with whiskey-soaked oak chips
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