Liquid Smoke & Burboun soaked Oak Chips?

So I have a new idea I would like to try with my home brew. I know a lot of people soak oak chips in bourbon to give that barrel aged flavor, but what if I added American Oak Chips to a combination of Jim Beam Devil's Cut (just a personal favorite) with some Wright's Liquid Smoke?

From what I read in other forums I seen people say that if you're going to use Liquid Smoke use Wright's because there is no additional ingredients and no more than 1 tbs to a 5 gallon batch.

So my question would be if I wanted to age oak chips in a mason jar how much Jim Beam would I add? Should I pour enough in so the oak chips are completely covered, or just a certain amount of ounces. I think if I add the tablespoon of liquid smoke in the mason jar as well I'll loose all the flavor with a large amount of bourbon.

So my idea was: Soak the 2 ounces of oak chips in liquid smoke for a week, then drain out all the liquid smoke and fill the mason jar with bourbon, let sit for another week, that way both flavors are absorbed into the chips. Then drain out the bourbon and add the oak chips to the secondary carboy.

This would be for a Stout Beer Recipe by the way

I always find liquid smoke homebrew to taste distinctly like liquid smoke. Why not replace 10-20% of the pale malt in the recipe with rauch malt? That will give a far better smoke flavor.

I personally wouldn't use it, but your idea of presoaking the oak prior to the bourbon soak is the route I'd go.

Will the rauch malt work as well with steeping? I've read the flavor really comes out in the mash but I haven't upgraded to all-grain brewing yet.

No, it needs to be mashed. It wont work in an extract/steeping batch unfortunately.

though it will self convert so you could do a mini mash...

Are you going for a smoked beer or just barrel character? If you're just looking for barrel character I would just soak the oak in bourbon and add the oak and bourbon to the beer.

If you're going for a smoked beer then rauch malt is the way to go like the above poster said.


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I'm actually looking to try something new and combine the two ideas, I would like a smoke flavored beer that has that barrel character.

I figured brewing is all about trying something new so I wanted to think outside the box

ScottyDog423 said:

I'm actually looking to try something new and combine the two ideas, I would like a smoke flavored beer that has that barrel character.



I figured brewing is all about trying something new so I wanted to think outside the box

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Nothing wrong with that!

I wonder if using heavy charred oak cubes or pure char from a bourbon barrel would give a smokey character? Or would it just taste burnt? I live close to Buffalo Trace and they sell bags of barrel char in the gift shop.

Your beer sounds pretty tasty.


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Smoke the chips. Don't use liquid smoke, it'll taste nasty and artificial. You could also smoke some of the specialty malts.

Cyclman said:

Smoke the chips. Don't use liquid smoke, it'll taste nasty and artificial. You could also smoke some of the specialty malts.

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^^This. Say no to liquid smoke and do this the right way. wet your grains with distiller water then smoke for 30-60 minutes at low heat, 200-250F. You almost definitely won't get it perfect so adjust on your next batch. Smoked beer isn't simple, but it's very rewarding.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I think I'm going to avoid the liquid smoke and try to smoke my grains and oak chips...I'll post again to let everyone know my recipe once complete and how it came out!!

McUbermensch said:

Nothing wrong with that!

I wonder if using heavy charred oak cubes or pure char from a bourbon barrel would give a smokey character? Or would it just taste burnt? I live close to Buffalo Trace and they sell bags of barrel char in the gift shop.

Your beer sounds pretty tasty.


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I just did the same Buffalo Trace Tour and purchased a bag of the char. Did you ever come to a workable solution using the char?

dallasd9 said:

I just did the same Buffalo Trace Tour and purchased a bag of the char. Did you ever come to a workable solution using the char?

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Yes, a week after the 1st fermentation was complete I added two full cups of the char into a secondary using a hop bag then did a closed into the secondary. I also added 6 ounces of Buffalo Trace. I let that set for a couple weeks and did another closed transfer into a corny keg where it will have for at least six months. I did a taste sample last week and it's coming along nicely. A little edgy but better than the day I put into the keg.