Applewood chips?

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emr454

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So, I've got it in my head that I want to try to make a wild/sour/spontaneous cider. From what I've read, some folks on here use wood chips/cubes in secondary for their sour beers.

I have an apple tree here at home that needs pruning. If I chop off a section and cube it up, could I add it to a cider and eventually end up with a sour cider, due to microorganisms in the wood? I assume they would have to be left alone, ie. unsanitized for this to work.

Eric
 
I would suggest using wild yeast strains from your LHBS instead of letting local stuff infect your beer. 9 times out of 10, it won't taste well. That's why most of the worlds sour beers that are truly spontaneously fermented are made in belgium. For some reason, the organisms in their air provide a great brewing enviornment.
 
The wood is added for a few reasons. The number one reason is to provide the wild yeasts and bacterias a place to stay. And for some styles to add a flavor component but very much a background taste.
I'm not sure how likely you are to get any wild yeast or bacteria from the wood but the apple skins are a great place. But as the above poster said most of the time they don't taste all that great. You should try but I would try a small portion and if you like it then add to your main batch.
Good luck.
 
I've got a bunch of apple wood from a tree that was blown over by a fierce storm a couple weeks ago. I'm planning to make a sour pale ale using the Wyeast 3763 Roeselare Ale Blend this weekend, and the idea occurred to me to try and age the beer on wood chips from this apple tree. Any thoughts on a) how to make chips/strips from this wood and b) how they might affect the taste of the beer?
 
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