Used Wooden Keg Aging Simulation

[KPatton]

I have been toying with the idea of a quick and inexpensive way to simulate used wooden kegging of some of my bigger beers. After watching a segment of Brew Masters where Dogfish Head Brewery used wood and steamed it before adding it to the beer, I thought the same technique could be adapted to simulated aging.

One could take oak chips, steam them to open up the pores and sanitize them, then soaked them in a container of whatever liquor or wine whose kegs you were wanting to aging your beer in, merlot, whiskey, port, cider, you name it.

After say a month or two, the chips should be saturated with the spirit. Now, the chips could be taken out, drained and added to your beer for aging. I make barley wines and Belgian Noel type ales, that I age for at least a year. I think this would work for adding a bit of additional complexity to those beers.

Comments?

 

[beeber]

Sure, that would work fine. I usually boil my oak chips and add the water and all to the bucket. By the way, american oak has a much stronger flavor than french oak. So use sparingly at first, then increase to suit your taste.

 

[malkore]

I'm no chemist, but that sounds like a hell of a good idea, worth trying and reporting back on for sure!

those wooden spirals might be easier to work with too.