OAK Chips - Charbroil Whiskey Smoker

Hey guys, I just picked these up from a local BBQ grill shop. I'd never heard of these chips before, but they look very interesting. Supposedly come from American whiskey barrels.


I figured these might impart a different flavor than home-soaked chips/cubes. However, I wanted to hear other opinions on whether this is a good idea or not.

I guess some specific questions are in order:

1. These chips look pretty light. I think it might be best to roast them a bit. How long should I roast for a medium toast?

2. At what temps should I roast for sanitation? For how long?

3. Does anyone have actual experience with these chips?

I have a small experimental batch that's lacking complex characteristics. I boiled the chips as they are and added it (No roast). The whiskey scent is very strong now and smells fantastic.

Looking forward to the outcome.

Nice find! I think I want to do an Arrogant Bastard Oaked next. That might be just the ticket. Keeps us updated please I hope it works out.

I'm gonna leave the oak on the beer another week or so. I'll keep you updated

I use Jack Daniel's brand smoking chips to oak my beers, tthey work great.

Lately I've been steaming them in a small collander for 20 minutes, and then I soak them in a mason jar full of more jack for a week or two, then dump them bourbon and all into the secondary. And at 7 bucks for a huge bag, you get a lot of uses of them.

I got that trick from biermuncher.

I've also been dry toasting them lately. I use one of my cast iron pans, get it hot, and then drop them in the pan and move them around for 5-15 minutes or so. They will darken, and toast up really nice. I've just been going by nose more than anything.

I do that, then steam and then soak in jack.

I wouldn't leave them more than a weak...they are strong, the longer you leave them in the longer you'll need to let them age out.

Revvy said:

I use Jack Daniel's brand smoking chips to oak my beers, tthey work great.

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I'll have to find these and run some tests. I plan on splitting my next few brews into 3 or more batches and experiment with different Oak and Oaking techniques.

Any large brand-name stores that carry these?

Revvy said:

Lately I've been steaming them in a small collander for 20 minutes, and then I soak them in a mason jar full of more jack for a week or two, then dump them bourbon and all into the secondary.

I got that trick from biermuncher.

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Good idea. Thanks for the info.

Revvy said:

And at 7 bucks for a huge bag, you get a lot of uses of them.

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Hell yeah. This giant bag of chips only cost me $4.99. It will take me forever to finish this off.

Revvy said:

I've also been dry toasting them lately. I use one of my cast iron pans, get it hot, and then drop them in the pan and move them around for 5-15 minutes or so. They will darken, and toast up really nice. I've just been going by nose more than anything.

I do that, then steam and then soak in jack.

I wouldn't leave them more than a weak...they are strong, the longer you leave them in the longer you'll need to let them age out.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all of the tips. I really want to experiment with different toast levels too.

I can't imagine how long it's going to take me finish all of the experiments I'm planning

Used to find them at Wally World all the time. Now that I've wanted to use them for brewing, I can't find them there anymore. Go Figure

Just racked the beer to a bunch of bottles with carbonator caps. I should be able to sample the final product in a week or two.

Keep us posted, I am very interested in this and might do this to a gallon of my braggot. Subscribed!

Finally got around to tasting this.

As I mentioned before, I was looking to spruce up a session beer with some off-flavors from the local tap water. Overall, this tastes much better with the oak and helped make it drinkable. The oak was balanced well by only being placed on the beer for about a week.

Very happy with these chips and I plan to use them again real soon.

So i used these chips, as per recommendation from Haputanlas, in my big (~9.8 abv) RIS...i finally bottled today after 3 weeks in primary and one month in secondary (about 3oz of the chips soaked in some Bulleit). I tasted it and it tastes absolutely amazing...reminds me of an oaked yeti. Was surprised the oak wasnt overwhelming, but i didnt use that much after all. Thanks for all the info! Definitely using these chips again...i mean, i have a few pounds of them

Glad to know this worked out for you.

do you think you could get a big smoky flavor by smoking those chips with some other ones? how do you think that would taste in the beer?

I'm sure you could get a lot of smoke that way. The beer would definitely reflect the smokey flavor. However, I've never tried it on these chips.

i will have to try when i return home in a few months. over the summer i tried making a smoked style beer without reading into the style much. but i never got the smoke i wanted.

Damn, these chips have saved my ass a few times. Really works well on Milds and Dry Stouts.