using oak chips

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JBrady

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hello, my next beer will be my first with oak chips. I was just wondering how many ounces would be considered a normal amount for a 5 gallon batch of beer? I do want a strong oak flavor so I am going to use austinhomebrews french oak chips. Can oak chips be added to the end of the boil? If adding to the fermenter, do you need to sanitize them? Thanks for any info on using oak.
 
You want to add the oak chips to the secondary! You definitely don't want to boil them in your boil- you'd have tannin beer. Once fermentation has stopped, rack onto the oak chips in secondary. No need to sanitize them, especially if you're opening a new fresh package.

One ounce for 2-3 weeks or so should be about right. If you leave them too long, you'll have to age the beer longer. I oaked an Imperial Amber last year for 10 days (3 gallons with one ounce) and it took 5 months for it to age enough where it didn't overwhelm you with oak tannins. After those 5 months, though, it was heavenly!

Taste a small sample after 10 days. If it's not quite enough, leave it another 4 days. If it's a bit too much, but just a bit, it's perfect! That's the goal. If you love the flavor, that is ok too, but it'll fade and mellow with age, so you want just a hint too much.
 
I've used oak chips once. I used about 1oz. along with 2 vanilla beans for a fairly high gravity stout. I soaked them in bourbon for a few days before adding them to secondary. I then left them in secondary for around a month. I would say it produced a moderate to strong oak flavor.

I don't remember why specifically, but I know I was strongly warned against adding oak directly to the boil.
 
thanks yooper, I don't secondary so I'll just add them to the primary after one week when fermentation slows, then I'll bottle the beer after another two weeks keeping me on my 21 day primary technique. Does that sound good enough?
 
thanks yooper, I don't secondary so I'll just add them to the primary after one week when fermentation slows, then I'll bottle the beer after another two weeks keeping me on my 21 day primary technique. Does that sound good enough?

Seems kind of rushed to me, but it really depends on a variety of factors like OG of the beer and ingredients.

I don't do many secondaries, but I would for oaking. You probably want to get the beer off of the yeast cake, and move it onto the oak. If you just drop the oak into the primary, it'll settle in the trub and you will be "trubbing" your beer, not really "oaking" it.
 
Ive used oak chips in a Black Lager that I also soaked in bourbon for a week prior to using, I did give them a quick sanitizing in a screen strainer
over boiling water for about 15 minutes. I think better safe than sorry..I added them into my secondary. And yes the chips will float.
 
Ive used oak chips in a Black Lager that I also soaked in bourbon for a week prior to using, I did give them a quick sanitizing in a screen strainer
over boiling water for about 15 minutes. I think better safe than sorry..I added them into my secondary. And yes the chips will float.

That's strange- I've been brewing for years, and winemaking for even longer, and my chips sink. Weird.
 
Yea mine floated, had maybe a few sink, but all the rest floated on top or were clinging onto the side of the carboy..Maybe it has to do with the size of the chips ?
 
I was just about to start a thread about this and what do you know, I come here and it's the first thread I see.

I oaked an IPA I made and I'm drinking a pint now. Left it on 1 ounce of oak chips for 7 days. 3 weeks later and I have vanilla beer. It's not horrible but the oak is just about the only thing you can taste. I was going to ask how long I'd need to age it to get a normal flavor, but that appears to have been answered in this thread. I figure by 5 months the hops will have mellowed way too much for me anyway, so may as well just drink it now.

I could see using them again if I were going to make a barleywine or an imperial stout, but I'll never use them again for a lighter beer that doesn't need as much aging.
 
well i may have to do some more research into this, cause if they do float i would rather just put them in my primary since i have never used a secondary ever and really don't want to start now. The recipe I'm doing is orfys oaked smash beer which is a 1.072 Marris Otter/Fuggles beer with about 20 IBU's. I want to use burton on trent water salts in it though to kinda cut my teeth with water building
 
I used 1 oz of chips soaked in a shot of bourbon in my 5 gal. version of Oaked Arrogant Bastard and people say it is one of the best beers they have ever had. You can't specifically taste the oak, it just sits in the background. It is so subtle, I am tempted to kick the oak up to 1.5 oz next time, just to see what happens. I have read lots of posts where people said 2 oz's was too much oak flavor, but the happy medium is probably somewhere between 1 and 2 oz's.
 
In my experiences some will float and some will sink. I believe it has to do with the density of the wood, how long it has been soaking, gravity of beer, chip/cube sizes, and what ever you can think of. I have always moved my beers over to a secondary when dry hopping, oaking, or adding anything after fermentation.
 
I used 1 oz of chips soaked in a shot of bourbon in my 5 gal. version of Oaked Arrogant Bastard and people say it is one of the best beers they have ever had. You can't specifically taste the oak, it just sits in the background. It is so subtle, I am tempted to kick the oak up to 1.5 oz next time, just to see what happens. I have read lots of posts where people said 2 oz's was too much oak flavor, but the happy medium is probably somewhere between 1 and 2 oz's.


I have this beer in secindary. it is going on 8 days on the 2 oz of toasted oak. and about 4 oz of bourbon.
 
I wasn't going to soak my oak chips in anything before putting them in the fermenter. Shouldn't that make them less dense where they will float a little bit longer?
 
Sorry to bring up an old post, bust i can see my oak chips laying on the bottom in the trub. Will it still impart the flavor of the oak if they are buried?
 
When I oak a beer, some sink and most some float for some time before sinking. I would think they would still be imparting flavor...just make sure you don't over do it. 7 days should be plenty with chips because there is so much surface area, maybe up to 10 or 14, but be careful. You can't ruin it with too little, but you could ruin with too much.

As far as getting oak chips out, I just rack (whether they are sunk or floating) and the chips dump out with the trub and gunk.
 
If the chips get buried in the trub,they're not really imparting any flavor. I made my dark ale recipe,& soaked 4oz of medium toast French oak chips in 5 jiggers of Beam's Black in a tight lidded plastic container in the fridge the whole time the ale fermented. The chips soaked up 2/3 of the bourbon. When the ale hit FG,I poured the chips,liquid & all,through a hop sack into secondary,tied off the sack,& dropped it in the secondary. Then racked the ale onto them. 8 days later,the taste was a little strong. The bottled ale to 9 weeks & 6 days to mellow. And 2 weeks fridge time for decent head & carbonation.
If I did it again,I'd cut the oak down to 2-3 ounces. If bourbon flavor isn't wanted,just soak said amount of chips in 23-3 jiggers of plain vodka. Done the same way I just described. That would give a better oak flavor,not to mention putting said flavor on the back. That'd let the rest of the ales' flavors stand out more.
 
I guess I made a cardinal mistake when i "ass"umed the chips would float. I'll check it at 7 days and just go from there. I guess another thing is I am calling them chips, but they are a little smaller than sugar cube sized.
 
I boiled American oak chips for 15 min., strained and then added the tea with priming sugar before bottling a 7.5% IPA.
 

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