Black Swan Honeycomb Barrel Alternative

[AndMan3030]

A buddy of mine gave me one of these to try out. Its a charred stick of wood with holes in it, used for accelerated barrel aging flavor. Has anyone used these? I am wondering how much beer to put this 'stick' in... I was thinking of adding it to a 5 gallon carboy full of Barleywine or Porter.

 

[dcHokie]

A buddy of mine gave me one of these to try out. Its a charred stick of wood with holes in it, used for accelerated barrel aging flavor. Has anyone used these? I am wondering how much beer to put this 'stick' in... I was thinking of adding it to a 5 gallon carboy full of Barleywine or Porter.

Dragging up an older thread, hoping to get feedback on your, and any others, experience with these honeycomb cut wood chunks. I just picked up a few and right now am planning:

White Ash soaked in dark rum for use in Belgian Dark Strong
Cherry soaked in chardonnay for use in Brett Rye Saison
Hickory soaked in rye whiskey for use in Baltic Porter or RIS
Soft maple soaked in bourbon then maple syrup (to replicate twice used barrel) for use in Old Ale
White Oak soaked in cab sav for use in aged dark sour (nothing new here)

The Sept/Oct 2012 issue of Zymurgy had a side-by-side comparison article on all the wood varieties in a blonde ale; their feedback/tasting notes below:

• Cherry: Dried cherry, earthy, additional sweetness in finish, light vanilla, fried bread. Phenols muted, alcohol persists, slight tannic astringency.
• Hickory: Light woodsy character, light hay-like aroma, slight honey-sweetness. Phenols not muted, slight tannic astringency, alcohol softened.
• Hard Maple: Woody aroma, maple-syrup character lingers in finish, light nutmeg. Had a thinning effect on body, alcohol subdued.
• Soft Maple: Caramel, yellow cake, light pear-like esters, maple sap (rather than syrup). Phenols and alcohol only lightly subdued, thinning effect on body.
• Red Oak: Red berries, woodsy, peppery, resinous. An authoritative and dominating wood. Alcohol and phenols heavily subdued slight oil contribution to mouthfeel.
• White Oak: Soft esters (orange, pear), chardonnay-like, light earthy and spicy (peppery). Moderate repression of alcohol and phenolics.
• White Ash: Light dried fruit (plum, pear), breadiness, lingering wood sweetness on finish. Alcohol and phenols subdued, considerable creaminess and smoothness contributed to base beer.
• Yellow Birch: Toasted marshmallow, caramel, wood aromatics strongly reminiscent of base wood varietal, aroma considerately more prominent than flavor. Not effective at subduing alcohol and phenols, moderately tannic.

 

[ewebb]

Id like to know how this turns out, as ive got some honeycomb on order with similar designs....

 

[dcHokie]

Id like to know how this turns out, as ive got some honeycomb on order with similar designs....

All of the varieties we got smelled really nice. I've already put the cherry and white ash into the beers mentioned above. I'm going to let them sit for the 6 weeks recommended for ideal extraction and I'll post results in a few months.

I can also heartily recommend the vendor I linked, Black Swan Barrels, the product seems great and they shipped quickly. I had a large order that was short by 1 or 2 staves and when I called them they were super apologetic and overnighted the missing staves along with a free extra.

 

[BBBF]

I bought a few of them to try out with some mead. I think they recomend 1 stick per 5 gallons. You will have to sample and take the beer off when it's to your liking. You can always leave it on the wood for more flavor, but you can't take the flavor out.

 

[ndrice]

I just got a full on 8 gallon honey-combed barrel. I'm wondering if I leave the beer in there for more than a day or so if it will get to much wood character. That's a lot of surface area!

 

[AndMan3030]

Wow! I want to hear how that pans out!!! What kind of beer are you filling it with?

 

[BBBF]

I just got a full on 8 gallon honey-combed barrel. I'm wondering if I leave the beer in there for more than a day or so if it will get to much wood character. That's a lot of surface area!

Sample often is all I can say.

 

[ndrice]

Wow! I want to hear how that pans out!!! What kind of beer are you filling it with?

I think I'm going to make a Rye Wine. Seemed fitting. Planning on brewing this up in a couple of weeks. We'll see how it goes. The recipe I made has this clocking in at an OG of 1.115. Should be a beast.

 

[fxdude]

Anyone have any luck with these? Most of them I've seen are not charred which I thought was an important part of the flavor that a barrel gives.

 

[tmendick]

I have used the Oak, Cherrywood, Soft Maple so far, and have several others ready to go for future brews.
Depending on style they do infuse flavor really quick. I've made 2 oak saisons with them and after about a week and a half they were almost too oaky since they are pretty dry.

 

[WavePuckRiker]

I bought an 8 gallon Black Swan barrel from a whiskey maker. The barrel had bourbon in it. I aged my RIS in it for 5 weeks. I sampled at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and at 5 I thought it was ready. From there I bottled it and it is fantastic. I bottled in champagne bottles and gave them away during the holidays. The feedback I received was excellent. I still have a dozen or so bottles left and plan to save them for special occasions.

Since I had great luck with the barrel, I ordered some oak staves from Black Swan to add to 6 gallons of Montepulciano and Nero D'Avola. The wine started as fresh juice in buckets and I now have the staves in the carboys. I am going on 3 weeks with the oak, and should probably sample them soon. I'll post an update after sampling.