Using Palo Santo (aka Holy Wood)

[azukoff]

Hi everyone,

I've been brewing for a year as of this month, have 15 batches under my belt and have learned a tremendous amount from reading the forum. Thanks everyone!

Anyways, I just wanted to post some results I've had using palo santo wood in a beer I've recently bottled.

I've had several chunks of palo santo sitting around for two years, I received the bundle as a gift to use as incense. It definitely is an amazing smell. Ever since I tried some Palo Santo Marron, I've been curious about using this wood in a brew. All I could ever find regarding using it was on this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/last-ditch-advice-palo-santo-marron-clone-292366/

Though I was not making a Palo Santo clone, I used the final advice in the thread and used half of what they did for half the amount of time. I used chips that I cut from a large chunk. The chips were roughly .5 x .5 inches and 1/4 inch thick. I used 6 chips for a total of .2oz. I threw the chips into 5 gallons of beer that had been sitting around for 3 weeks and had reached final gravity. I let it sit for 48 hours and bottled.

At bottling, the palo santo flavor was definitely prevalent, but not overbearing, seemed really smooth. A really interesting flavor to say the least. It definitely obscured the aroma of the citra hops I had used in the recipe as well, but they were still detectable.

I plan on posting more notes after the beer has carbed and conditioned.

Cheers!

Recipe: (may look strange; I had a pale ale kit sitting around and decided to add some things I had left over from other batches to it to make it more interesting)

3lb 5oz hopped pale lme
3lb light dme
1lb Jaggery
6oz Crystal 20 (steeped)

.5oz First Gold (60min)
1 oz Citra (15min)
.5oz Citra (5min)
.5oz Citra (0min)
.5oz First gold (0min)

Added .2 oz of palo santo chips (steam sterilized) at 3 weeks, let sit for 48 hours, bottled.

OG 1.057
FG 1.012

Est. IBU 58

 

[Guzdaman]

Hey, I know this is kind of an old post but I'm curious as to how it came out? would you change anything in your recipe?

 

[azukoff]

This beer has only been in the bottles for 5 days, I'll be sure to post some notes after its been carbed/conditioned. Cheers!

 

[azukoff]

After 10 days in the bottle this beer is quite nice.
I think I detect a very slight amount of palo santo in the nose, but mostly the hops. The palo santo flavor is most noticed at the finish and has definitely mellowed out nicely since bottling time. The flavor really blooms over a few seconds in the back of your mouth....tastes just like how the wood smells. Overall, for this recipe, .2 oz for 48 hours was perfect. This is definitely a recipe I will make again and improve upon, seeing that it was just a kit pale ale with things added. I will definitely keep the Citra hops and the Jaggery. I think I can detect some of the Jaggery in the nose and through the middle.

Cheers!

 

[Guzdaman]

Nice! i'll definitely have to try this out some time. Thanks for sharing!