heard a story once about oak chips and whisky...

I heard (or read somewhere once) about using oak chips in the secondary, but steeping them in whiskey first. Sounds pretty good, the guy I brew with wants to try it with half of a double batch we did. How long should we steep it for? I'm assuming you want most of the alcohol gone before you dump it in because of killing the yeast? Should we bring the whiskey (maker's mark) to a boil?

sorry I'm of no use for actual information, but I would say send me a sample of that Makers Mark to make sure the flavor profile will be right for your beer. :cross:

For the oak cubes I have heard of soaking them in whiskey for a few days, then burning a few sides of the cubes to caramelize the whiskey and add that charred barrel taste. then adding the cubes back into the whiskey to soak a bit more and toasting them again. then just adding then to the secondary..Just remember, you can always add more cubes and just secondary for longer...its alot harder to get the taste out if you put to much in

The amount of whisky that makes it into your fermenter won't be enough to hurt the yeast. You won't be dumping all of the whisky in, just the cubes you've soaked in it.

Try soaking the whiskey into pre-toasted oak cubes for at least a couple weeks and figure on adding a total of 1 - 1 1/2 cups of whiskey to secondary along with the cubes. This should get you in the ballpark and you can adjust accordingly on future batches.

brackbrew said:

I heard (or read somewhere once) about using oak chips in the secondary, but steeping them in whiskey first. Sounds pretty good, the guy I brew with wants to try it with half of a double batch we did. How long should we steep it for? I'm assuming you want most of the alcohol gone before you dump it in because of killing the yeast? Should we bring the whiskey (maker's mark) to a boil?

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You are not going to add enough alcohol to your 5gal batch to hurt the yeast. Even a whole bottle of whiskey would be only a minor increase in ABV of the beer and you would still be well below the tolerance of the yeast. No need to boil the whiskey just dump it in with the chips. The whiskey help to sanitize the chips/cubes before adding them to the beer.
Craig

I am doing this right now. I bought a piece of red oak, cut it into chips and roasted it with a blow torch. I then dumped them in some tupperware and soaked them for 2 weeks and 5 days in Jack Daniels. I dumped the soaked chips as gently as I could into the secondary on the day I racked from the primary. It will sit like that for three weeks - then I'll keg it. I have no idea how it will taste - but thats what I did.

(GET NON PRESSURE TREATED - IF YOU USE PRESSURE TREAT IT WILL TURN YOUR BEER TO POISON AND YOU WILL PROBABLY DIE OR SOMETHING)

drsocc said:

POISON AND YOU WILL PROBABLY DIE OR SOMETHING)

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lol...yes...CANCER

I did a Bourbon stout last year. Fermented it for 4 weeks and during that time I had 2oz of oak chips that I burnt with a torch and soaking in bourbon (10 oz) then I racked it to the clearing tank where I added the chips and bourbon. It sat there for 2 months before kegging.
It is strong, very strong. But has got better as the months pass by. When I do this again I will drop to 4 oz of bourbon.

Evets said:

Try soaking the whiskey into pre-toasted oak cubes for at least a couple weeks and figure on adding a total of 1 - 1 1/2 cups of whiskey to secondary along with the cubes. This should get you in the ballpark and you can adjust accordingly on future batches.

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We've made two batches of Old Bourbon Barrel ale this way and it worked quite nicely. One batch was made with Woodford Reserve (very good) and one batch with green label Beam's choice (it was what we wanted for a particular party but yeeesh!). Basically you get the essence of the whiskey without the harsh burn and the oak adds that perfect something to the brew.

drsocc said:

I am doing this right now. I bought a piece of red oak, cut it into chips and roasted it with a blow torch. I then dumped them in some tupperware and soaked them for 2 weeks and 5 days in Jack Daniels. I dumped the soaked chips as gently as I could into the secondary on the day I racked from the primary. It will sit like that for three weeks - then I'll keg it. I have no idea how it will taste - but thats what I did.

(GET NON PRESSURE TREATED - IF YOU USE PRESSURE TREAT IT WILL TURN YOUR BEER TO POISON AND YOU WILL PROBABLY DIE OR SOMETHING)

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its not a good practice to use processed lumber . The oak has been treated with chemicals to control shrinking and cracking. Best is to use fresh cut oak as the oak flavor does dissipate from the log over time.I heat with wood and when you split fresh oak you can really smell the aroma if it's aged then split the aroma is almost non existant.

If this will get me something that tastes like Avery's Samael's Ale, I'm so there...

springer said:

its not a good practice to use processed lumber . The oak has been treated with chemicals to control shrinking and cracking. Best is to use fresh cut oak as the oak flavor does dissipate from the log over time.I heat with wood and when you split fresh oak you can really smell the aroma if it's aged then split the aroma is almost non existant.

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Where do you get fresh cut oak? As much as I would love to get my hands on this - I don't think I'll be able to get it short of putting on the ski mask and black clothing and making a midnight run to chain saw the neighbor's oak tree.

I used 4 oz. of American Medium and 2 oz. of French medium that I had left over. Added these to Jim Beams Black Label and soaked for 2 weeks while the beer was in primary. Just cover the oak with the whiskey. Toss the whole thing into secondary and let it age. Mine secondaried for 7 months and keg conditioned for an additional 5 months. I'm down to 2 gallons so I need to do it again. The only thing I'll do different will be to bottle it. That way it won't hold up a keg and I can send them off with snifters as gifts. This was an Oak Aged Bourbon Porter that went well with a Camacho Triple Maduro.

Wild

We're also in the process of doing this right now. We have 2 oz. of medium toasted oak chips soaking in Wild Turkey 12 right now, been that way for about a week, and are planning on transferring our RIS to secondary tonight (if the FG is kosher). I can't believe how many threads I'm reading about people doing this right now. It's helping us out immensely.

I do have a question about adding the whole bourbon/oak chip "solution" to secondary. I have read conflicting reports on whether or not to add both the bourbon and the oak or just the oak. Right now we're planning on just adding the oak, reason being that, according to what we've read, the bourbon leeches out some of the stronger tannins from the oak that could potentially add off flavors to the beer.

Anyone else heard anything like this?

Sorry about the thread-jack, but I thought it pertinant to the discussion.

Cheers,

IndyPABrewGuy said:

Anyone else heard anything like this?

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Nope, I tossed all of it in and I'm gonna do it again!

Wild

drsocc said:

Where do you get fresh cut oak? As much as I would love to get my hands on this - I don't think I'll be able to get it short of putting on the ski mask and black clothing and making a midnight run to chain saw the neighbor's oak tree.

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You can buy fresh oak cubes online or just use chips intended for smoking . Most tree cutting outfits will give you a couple of pieces, I get mine from the town

Personally I like to use scraped telephone poles.....cheap and complex flavor profiles. Ryno

If you boil the whisky you'll lose 45% of it rather quickly, leaving you with NO alcohol taste whatsoever. Alcohol boils at 171º (depending on elevation) so once it's hitting water boiling temp the alcohol evaporates.

drsocc said:

Where do you get fresh cut oak? As much as I would love to get my hands on this - I don't think I'll be able to get it short of putting on the ski mask and black clothing and making a midnight run to chain saw the neighbor's oak tree.

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Don't know about fresh cut, but several barbeque supply stores will carry oak, frequently the remains from a charred bourbon barrel. Makes for really good barbeque, and should be just about everything you want.

I order from the Charcoal Store (google it).