My First Wood Aged Beer

Hi everyone!
So I thought I'd report my first ever wood-aged beer. I wanted to do a beer that would be smokey and woodsy, so I tried a munich dunkel base recipe, subbed out some of the crystal malt and used .25 lb of smoked malt instead, and then aged with cedar for one week. I ended up using cedar wood plank (The kind you buy to smoke salmon with) because no hardware store/lumber yard had a little chunk of cedar I could buy (suprising, I know). So I ended up lagering for 5 weeks at around 45-50 degrees. The first 4 weeks was just beer, and then I added in cedar for the final week. I ended up cutting a piece about the 3/4 inces wide, half an inch thick, and 5 inches long (alightly bigger than my index finger). Sorry that's the best description I can give. That sat in the secondary for the final week. Then the night before I bottled I added another piece of the same size. Finally, as I bottle, I mixed in the primer using a piece of cedar about 4 inches wide, 5 inches long, and 1/2 an inch thick just to give it a last cedar blast of flavor. I let it float on top as I bottled, occasionally stiring it in so the cedar flavor didn't sit on top the whole time.
I tasted it for the first time last night. 4 weeks to condition was plenty, it seemed fully carbonated. It did not have the woodsy, smokey flavor I was going for; it actually tasted a lot like Sam Adams Boston Lager -- interesting. It was clear, a little darker than expected (about a 24-25). The taste was very good though, even if not what I was going for. It was complex with the cedar and slight smoke flavor, but still crisp and not overwhelming. And like I said, a lot like Sam Adams.
So that's all I got. For my first experiement with wood-aged beer, not too shabby. I think to get the taste I was going for I'd need to pick a slightly more bitter base recipe and sub in more smoked malt, perhaps with more cedar and for 2-3 weeks to compliment it.

Here's my guess, and remember I'm just another guy on the internet. If you put the wood in the fermenters dry, they probably didn't do much more than absorb liquid. I did a bourbon oaked porter and soaked the oak for several weeks, then put the cubes into secondary. The much lower gravity bourbon in the cubes then works it's way back into the solution, bringing the oak flavor with it.

You may just be another guy on the internet, but that makes good sense! I researched a little before actually doing the beer, but it was mostly an experiment and I hadn't thought of that ahead of time. I'll definitely keep that in mind! Thanks!

I think another point is that small cubes offer up more surface area that is in contact with the solution. That and they are easier to get back out of the carboy

MetuchenBrewerNJ said:

It did not have the woodsy, smokey flavor I was going for.... It was complex with the cedar and slight smoke flavor, but still crisp and not overwhelming.

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Is this a typo? Did it taste woody and smoky or no?

i think his point was that it was not AS woodsy and smokey as he would have liked, but still had hints of cedar and smoke.

krumb said:

i think his point was that it was not AS woodsy and smokey as he would have liked, but still had hints of cedar and smoke.

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Maybe char the cedar before adding it? Hey woodsy and smokey at the same time!:rockin:

Sorry about the typo- yes, I did get a hint of the cedar and a small hint of the smoked malt, but no where near what I was going for. I think the surface area of one small piece of wood is a valid concern, and probably what did me in - there is a reason everyone else uses cubes, afterall. And I hadn't even thought of charing before adding it. Oh well, it still tastes good!

Be aware that not all smoked malts are equal. German beech/alderwood/cherry smoked malts can be used to a much greater percentage, up to 100%, than a scottish, peat smoked malt, < 16 oz in a five gallon batch.

1 week isn't a whole lot of contact time to bring out the wood characteristics (oak spirals for instance mention 6+ weeks to get the full effect IIRC). next time I'd recommend tasting it as it goes to figure out when to pull it off the wood.

What percentage of smoked malt was in your grist bill? I'm working on a smoked and Oaked recipe myself but mine is a robust porter. In talking to Jamil Z, I learned that he thinks 20 pct is a nice figure for that particular style. Also, in listening to the old Sunday Session episode with Shea Comfort, he recommended putting oak cubes( covered )in the microwave to boil. Then add both the cubes AND the water.