Oak chip update

I posted a few weeks ago about oak chips.

Here's what I decided to do with the IPA in question...

I soaked a little less than an ounce of oak chips in water with a little bourbon for about 12 hours, then steamed them (in that same liquid--the smell was heavenly) for about 20 minutes, then threw them in along with the dry hops.

That was about 10 days ago: I'm bottling this batch tonight, so I'll get to taste it. From what I've read, I expect the oak flavor to be pretty intense, but it should mellow in the bottle.

It should mellow if it's too intense. I had an oak stout that was too oaky. Now, 6 months later some of the bottles are about right, others still too oaky. I won't repeat this particular recipe, but I may try oak chips again in the future.

Baron von BeeGee said:

It should mellow if it's too intense. I had an oak stout that was too oaky. Now, 6 months later some of the bottles are about right, others still too oaky. I won't repeat this particular recipe, but I may try oak chips again in the future.

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Did you soak them? That's also supposed to tame the oakiness (simulating an old barrel rather than a new one).

cweston said:

Did you soak them? That's also supposed to tame the oakiness (simulating an old barrel rather than a new one).

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Nope, and perhaps that was an issue. I steamed to sanitize and plopped them in. I also used 3.5oz instead of 2oz that the recipe calls for (although weight shouldn't be as important as surface area which was not specified).

Incidentally, I smoked a tenderloin on pecan wood last weekend and got to thinking about pecan chips, or even pecan smoked malt...really great flavor. Think I'm burned out on hickory for a while.

I did an IPA with 2oz of oak in it. I just nuked them for a couple minutes in some water and threw them in secondary for two weeks. It's been bottled for four weeks now and I tried one the other day and it tastes like oak-juice. Totally overpowered. I love the learning process!

Do you use oak chips that are intended for BBQ?

I bought mine at LHBS, though many others here use the BBQ versions.

Update:

I bottled this beer last night. I only tasted the leftovers in the priming bucket, so it was also sweet, but...

The oak flavor was more subdued than I expected. It was a little stringer than you'd like, which means in 3-4 weeks it'll probably be about right. My guess is that soaking them made a big difference.

Another factor is that this beer had a lot of finishing hops and also was dry-hopped with an ounce of columbus, so the hop flavor and aroma was especially intense and actually overpowering the oakiness, at least for now.

2 F-ing boilovers while boiling the DME for priming. Thank God SWMBO was gone at the time.

Baron: Pecan is my favorite wood for using on the smoker. It seems especially suited to pork and to spicier preparation. (Ribs w/ lime, garlic and NM chile, smoked over pecan and glazed with chile bourbon sauce--add plenty of beer and go directly into orbit.)

cweston said:

Baron: Pecan is my favorite wood for using on the smoker. It seems especially suited to pork and to spicier preparation. (Ribs w/ lime, garlic and NM chile, smoked over pecan and glazed with chile bourbon sauce--add plenty of beer and go directly into orbit.)

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That sounds great...I grill/smoke a lot of loins (pork & beef). Usually mix up some chopped rosemary/sage/thyme/garlic with dijon mustard and a little olive oil. Seems to work equally well for pork and beef. I've been using hickory and cherry, but I agree the pecan was really nice.