Question regarding working with wood chips

[blarsen71]

I'm making a bourbon barrel porter. It calls for 2oz of bourbon soaked oak chips along with 12oz of Makers Mark. Has anyone used wood chips before and do you have any pros and cons of using them? It will be a good 6-8 weeks before I get to try it, so I want to make sure I don't screw it up.

 

[Jtbrown54]

I've used wood chips a few times.

Fairly simple to use...lets the wood chips sit in your liquor for a day or so ahead of time so the chips absorb as much of that bourbon or whatever flavor your using, then pitch the chips and bourbon right into the secondary.

Some people use a muslin bag to contain the chips, but I just added to the secondary and had no issues whatsoever.

Thinking back the only thing I wish I'd done when using wood chips was use more of them when I did it as I didn't get a ton of character from them. So don't be shy...

Maybe list out your whole recipe so we can see it and someone can suggest a proper amount of chips to use.

Best of luck.

 

[duboman]

I would recommend soaking them for several weeks so they really absorb the bourbon. Then place them in secondary and rack beer onto them.

IMO you should sample once per week to evaluate the flavor and get the beer just where you want it.

 

[blarsen71]

I've used wood chips a few times.

Fairly simple to use...lets the wood chips sit in your liquor for a day or so ahead of time so the chips absorb as much of that bourbon or whatever flavor your using, then pitch the chips and bourbon right into the secondary.

Some people use a muslin bag to contain the chips, but I just added to the secondary and had no issues whatsoever.

Thinking back the only thing I wish I'd done when using wood chips was use more of them when I did it as I didn't get a ton of character from them. So don't be shy...

Maybe list out your whole recipe so we can see it and someone can suggest a proper amount of chips to use.

Best of luck.

Thank you! BTW, did you toast your chips?