yellow pine mash paddle

My dad brought me some wood from the company he works for, which is a trus factory. I began making a mash paddle and im almost done with it. However the wood is yellow pine and im not seeing much information on yellow pine for mash paddles. Is yellow pine ok to use? Or should I just bail on the project and start over with some maple or oak?

Softwoods like pine aren't going to last very long in that environment... it's too soft. best to go with maple (not oak).

I would also be concerned about off flavors associated with pitch in the wood. When working with wood and food related items, it is always better to use hard woods. In this instance, maple would be excellent. There are other choices too.

Mark

While yellow pine is perhaps not the best choice of wood for a mash paddle, it will likely work fine IMHO. I would boil it for while to try and release any of the piney oils....come to think of it a little pine aroma might not be a bad thing in an IPA. Give it a try if you are so inclined...but you might be able to pick up a more suitable piece of wood for like five bucks! I made one out of red oak which is not the best choice either...it has worked fine for me FWIW

Bahumbug!

So long as there's nothing poisonous in the base wood who cares! I challenge anybody to identify a pine pitch off flavour in a beer because it was stirred with a piece of pine lumber for 5 minutes during the mash.

Obviously a hardwood would be better for longevity but I've got my 3 years on my pine mash paddle with nothing more then a rinse with the sparge water.

Thanks for all your comments. But I think that I am just going to go for it and keep the yellow pine mash paddle, I already have it almost complete. Plus my father said he had made thousands of wooden spoons made of pine, years ago when he owned a wood crafting business in Portugual. He never had any problems. He said just boil it in water for a bit, and no need to put any type of finishing oil or anything like that

relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew.

AndMan3030 said:

relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew.

Click to expand...

Yes, yellow pine will likely only last one lifetime, as opposed to maple lasting two or three

It will work fine.

Post a picture of the finished paddle.

I have a Maple tree I need to take down,may have to make one out of it.