Questions about adding Oak chips

[shamfein]

Afternoon all,

I am currently fermenting an Imperial stout and im going to be adding oak chips to this. This will be my first time adding oak chips to any of my beers and i had some questions. Any help or assistance from yer experience would be a great help.

1) Sanatise? i have read different ideas from boiling the chips for a few mins in water to putting in the oven for a few minutes. Does boiling them in water not reduce the oak flavour your adding to the beer?

2) Whiskey, alot of people soak them in whiskey for sanitation and flavour. i didnt really want a whiskey stout but what are peoples experiences.

3) how long should i keep the oak in the beer. Its a 25 Litre batch. Does leaving it longer add more depth of flavour, vanilla or spice notes?

4) how much should i add to my 25 litre batch? i have 100g of Heavy toast american oak chips. I didnt want the oak to be the dominant flavour, just a nice rounded backround.

Thanks a mill for any hints, tips, slagging and insights.

Cheers
Ian

 

[MaxStout]

1. You can boil them in water for a few minutes to sanitize if you don't want to use whiskey. That shouldn't diminish the oak flavor much.

2. Whiskey tends to lend itself to the flavor. If you don't want that flavor, skip the whiskey part.

3. Since it's chips, which are thinner and have a greater surface area, don't keep it in the beer longer than about 2 weeks. Otherwise, tannins from the oak can leach out.

4. I think 100g of heavy toasted oak will give a pronounced oak flavor in 25l. No idea if it will be overpowering. I used 2 oz (60g) of medium-toasted oak cubes in 5 gallons (19l) RIS, and it resulted in a moderate oak flavor. But those were cubes, and they were in the beer 4 months. I had soaked the cubes in bourbon prior to adding them. Maybe you could use a little less than the full 100g, and/or limit the time they are in the beer.

 

[MaddBaggins]

I've used 4oz of toasted French Oak chips in a quad a couple times. No boiling. I soaked the chips in a bottle of cabernet sauvignon for a month prior, took them out of the wine, put in a hop bag and dropped in the beer for 1 week, then bottled. Very nice oak/wine flavors come thru.
Thats my only experience with using wood in beer.

 

[hunter306]

Just got done with a 'bourbon barrel' inspired Baltic Porter and used oak chips the first time. I soaked them in whisky, no sanitization prior, for about 14 days.

Poured off excess whiskey before adding them to the secondary with the beer. aged for 90 days, and the beer came out excellent. Nice subtle heat/whiskey notes and the flavor we were hoping for.

 

[LKABrewer]

Boiling will reduce the vanilla/oak flavor substantially. I tried it once and did not get the flavor from the oak that I was looking for. Soaking the oak in spirits seems to keep the oak flavor much more.

 

[shamfein]

After much deliberations (ha ha) i decided to go the whiskey route, i am currently soaking about 50g of the oak chips in a nice unpeated scotch. ill let them soak for a week before i put them into the stout. Ill leave it sit then for two weeks before i bottle

 

[slym2none]

I was going to point out that if you don't want the whiskey flavour, you can always use vodka.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I was going to point out that if you don't want the whiskey flavour, you can always use vodka.

that's what I'm doing with some cocoa nibs. the whole thing is going in my Imperial Stout.

 

[unionrdr]

I use bourbon, but vodka would be better if you just want the oak flavor. I use 2-3 ounces of oak chips in just enough liquor to cover them in an airtight container in the fridge during primary fermentation of the ale. The sanitize a hop sack, laid open in a radiator funnel to pour the bourbon & chips through into secondary. Tie the hop sack closed & push down into the secondary Better Bottle. I let them sit 7-8 days before priming & bottling. The reason I use the liquor too is that while the chips soak up any liquor flavor, the liquor is also soaking the resins out of the wood. So I use both for maximum effect.

 

[bobeer]

I've oaked many beers over my time homebrewing. With the chips I find it's best to put them into a muslin bag so when you rack the beer out of the fermentor they don't get clogged in your racking cane.
If you don't want any liquor in your beer I've used starsan before and it worked fine. I just soaked the chips in about an inch of starsan and left it for a couple hours. No issues. I've also just tossed the chips in the beer right out of the bag, also with no issues, but if you want to be sure they're sanitized then spray them down with a little starsan.

I've oaked a beer for over 3 months using oak chips and I can't say there's any tannins in the beer that I can detect.

I usually don't weigh them out either. For a half batch (2.5 gallons) I just grab about a fist full. For 5 gallons I grab a heaping fist full. I know it's not very accurate but it's what I do. There are many different ways in which we all do the same thing. If you care about consistency then you can grab a handful and weigh it out so you know exactly how much you used so you can up it or scale it back next time. It's really just about finding how much oakyness you like!

Good luck!