Oak chips, just throw in the whisky?

Hey,

Quick question, I hope

Next beer on my list is gonna be probably a pale ale, a little on the sweet side and planning to soak some medium toast french oak CHIPS in some scotch for a week or two and add to the ferment.

Two questions:

100grams (4-ish ounces) for a week in secondary, sounds about right?

Do I have to drain off the whisky or can I dump all the chips in, with the whisky, with any luck impart a little more of that sweet scotch goodness.

It wouldnt be much, just barly enough to cover the chips. But I'm worried adding 100proof booze in any ratio might be detrimental to my poor yeasts.

Priemus said:

Hey,

Quick question, I hope

Next beer on my list is gonna be probably a pale ale, a little on the sweet side and planning to soak some medium toast french oak CHIPS in some scotch for a week or two and add to the ferment.

Two questions:

100grams (4-ish ounces) for a week in secondary, sounds about right?

Do I have to drain off the whisky or can I dump all the chips in, with the whisky, with any luck impart a little more of that sweet scotch goodness.

It wouldnt be much, just barly enough to cover the chips. But I'm worried adding 100proof booze in any ratio might be detrimental to my poor yeasts.

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The way I had it explained to me by a guy at my local HBSS

Boil the chips for 10-15 minutes to extract unwanted tannins and sanitize. (BTW this left some funky residue in my pot that I had to remove with an abrasive cleaner)

Then put the chips in a mason jar and put in enough whiskey to cover and let the chips soak it up for a week


I was also told to only use 1 ounce per 5 gallons

From what I understand you should be adding the whiskey and chips in AFTER fermentation is done. And you should rack on top of the chips, not dump the chips in.

If you're worried about alcohol killing the yeast beasts, add it to the beer rather than racking on top of it. And like Alehouserock said, the oak will leave a residue, so use a nonstick pot and definitely not ceramic! SWMBO was pissed to see a ring on her ceramic pot.

r_flagg said:

If you're worried about alcohol killing the yeast beasts, add it to the beer rather than racking on top of it. And like Alehouserock said, the oak will leave a residue, so use a nonstick pot and definitely not ceramic! SWMBO was pissed to see a ring on her ceramic pot.

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Bar keepers friend worked great for me for removing that. I don't know how if it would damage ceramic though

I have never boiled my oak chips. I always soak them vodka to sanitize them then drop them into a sanitized hop bag and into secondary. I would agree that racking onto them would be better than throwing them into the beer in secondary. I would think that the whiskey would do the same thing as the vodka. If you boil them, you lose flavor and aroma. At least that's what I've been told and I've never had any problems so far. Plus it sounds like I avoid a lot of clean up!

Ok.
1oz only (not sure on this point yet) add whiskey age a week.
Dump chips, whisky and all into secondary.
rack to secondary on top of chips/whiskey.
wait a week.
Bottle.

Jason_Merritt said:

I have never boiled my oak chips. I always soak them vodka to sanitize them then drop them into a sanitized hop bag and into secondary. I would agree that racking onto them would be better than throwing them into the beer in secondary. I would think that the whiskey would do the same thing as the vodka. If you boil them, you lose flavor and aroma. At least that's what I've been told and I've never had any problems so far. Plus it sounds like I avoid a lot of clean up!

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I was told it was to remove tannins so you get more vanilla ans other flavors from the oak.

Did/Have you finish beer(s) have a lot of tannins?

Alehouserock said:

I was told it was to remove tannins so you get more vanilla ans other flavors from the oak.

Did/Have you finish beer(s) have a lot of tannins?

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I guess I don't know what a tannin tastes like. The couple of beers I have used oak chips in were great. A friend actually said that one of them was the "best beer he has ever had". We drank almost 2 full cases of that one night. What do tannins taste like?

Alehouserock said:

Bar keepers friend worked great for me for removing that. I don't know how if it would damage ceramic though

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Luckily it wasn't permanent, it just took ALOT of scrubbing. I should get some of that bkf, I keep hearing about it.

@ Jason, I've heard to boil the chips because there's so many cracks and crevices that soaking in alcohol wouldn't do the trick, and also it helps to boil off tannins. But then again, I've also heard "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

I always boil for about 15 minutes to eliminate tannins (if you don't know what they taste like, bite a banana peel for a strong example--it's a puckering astringent taste).

1oz is fine for 5 gallons of a pale ale, maybe up to 2oz if you want a really heavy oak flavor--it takes a _long_ time for oak flavors to age out, so start low. You can always taste a sample and add more if needed.

Ok, ill throw in the boil first, I didnt want a heavy oak flavor and I hate looking at homebrew age dont have the pataince to wait it out.

Note that some people like a bit of tannin--it's very common (intentionally) in big red wines, and getting a hint of it works okay in some styles. But if you're oaking for the first time, I'd boil first to minimize it.

I did an IPA with 1oz of oak chips and I didn't boil or soak them in alcohol. Rookie mistake on my part, but I definitely did not get any tannin flavors in my beer, I just got an overwhelming vanilla oak flavor. It wasn't unpleasant at all, but it covered up EVERYTHING else. Unfortunately it didn't last long enough to see how long it took to age out (my friends loved it.)

What happens when you let the oak age on the whiskey for 2 months?

Great discussion on using oak. I just racked off to a secondary using cubes soaked in Wild Turkey for two weeks; just enough to cover the cubes. I just dumped the cubes and whiskey into the carboy and racked on top of them, though I doubt it makes any difference as the cubes will float anyway (at least for some time). Did not boil, did not think to, and since I am still a noob I was just following kit instructions. The smell of the Turkey and oak was pretty amazing, cant wait to see how this one turns out.

Gee, I almost feel like splitting up this beer when I make it, .5oz boiled, .5oz not boiled just to see what the difference is.

FiddleTilDeath said:

What happens when you let the oak age on the whiskey for 2 months?

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I did 1oz medium toast oak in 8oz Maker's Mark for 2 months. I did nothing to prep the oak. Added the liquid to a 2.5 gallon batch of "Imperial" Haus Pale Ale. The oak flavor is a little bit strong, yet delicious. Smooth, not astringent at all. It would probably be just right for a 5 gallon batch.

¤update¤
Was horrible after 4 weeks fermeting, 10 last days on the oak chips then 5 weeks in bottle, it was HORRIBLE. Had a strange spicy flavour, like a xmas pudding with pepper on it.

Went to New Zealand a few months, back now and hadnt brewed for almost 6 months and so was running out of beer. Tried one of the old oak ones again.....

wow?

The pour looks like an anchor steam, kinda translucet gold.
The smell is exactly like a Innis and gunn, actually had one in the fridge for comparison.
The taste, if its a little bit on the tounge it tastes very similar, nice vanilla and oak, smooth, finishes really bitter.

....if you take a swig you lose all the oak and just get a way to bitter tasting beer I know it was too bitter in the first place, used way too much bittering hops, more like 60ibu out of habit than the 20 it probably should have been.

Wish, oh i wish, id tried one in the middle, as it changed DRAMATICALLY from 5 weeks in bottle to 6 months.

I boiled it in some water then found out someone use the same amout for 5 gallon and he thought it was too strong, so i drained some of the liquid after tasting it and just used the chips in primary the last week and it turned out really really good.Makes me want to oak many beers.

I'm getting ready to toss the Southern Comfort soaked chips in on my whisky stout that I'm doing. I don't have a secondary. See any issues with letting this soak while in the primary?

Nope dump them in