Why soak your oak?

[JackiePaper]

I have an enormous Belgian (1.112 OG, currently 1.012) that I would like to add some mild oaky flavors too. It seems most everybody soaks their oak in some type of spirits prior to adding (some even adding all the soaking liquor to the beer!). But, why soak the oak? I'm certain it adds the flavor of your favorite liquor, but is it always an improvement over the 'bare' wood by itself? I would love to hear experiences from batches with oak that was not soaked!

Cheers!

 

[MrPowers]

A lot of people do it to sanitize the oak cubes without heating/boiling which can extract harsh tannins. The spirits flavor is just an added bonus. Personally I steam my oak cubes if I don't want any spirits flavor in a particular beer and it's worked well for me so far.

 

[SpikedLemon]

With wine: I toss it right in from the bag.

Or, if I've got any concern, it gets a spritz of KMS and sits for a little bit.

 

[jurgenph]

A lot of people do it to sanitize the oak cubes without heating/boiling which can extract harsh tannins. The spirits flavor is just an added bonus. Personally I steam my oak cubes if I don't want any spirits flavor in a particular beer and it's worked well for me so far.

i threw some oak cubes straight into the 2ndary, no sanitization. the cubes bas is kept sealed in a ziplock, in a sealed container to minimize contamination risk. this was into a %7 alc beer though. worked out just fine. apart from me putting a few too many in, they added a tad more flavor than i really wanted! hah.

when you steam them, how long do you steam them for? just long enough to sanitize? do they still have the same amount of flavor impact for the same amount on non steamed cubes?


J.

 

[JackiePaper]

I'm not worried about sanitization. I probably won't even steam since this batch is over 13% ABV. I was more curious if anyone had ever, for instance, split a batch into oak+spirit and oak only.

I've read that people will steam about 20 minutes. I also came across (I can't remember where) someone saying they bake their oak cubes in the oven for a short time. I'm sure that would take care of any bugs, but it could also alter the toast of the oak if not done judiciously.

 

[RM-MN]

Soaking your oak in spirits may extract more flavors as well as sanitizing.

 

[MrPowers]

i threw some oak cubes straight into the 2ndary, no sanitization. the cubes bas is kept sealed in a ziplock, in a sealed container to minimize contamination risk. this was into a %7 alc beer though. worked out just fine. apart from me putting a few too many in, they added a tad more flavor than i really wanted! hah.

when you steam them, how long do you steam them for? just long enough to sanitize? do they still have the same amount of flavor impact for the same amount on non steamed cubes?


J.

I usually steam them for 10-20 minutes. The steaming does extract some flavor from the cubes, but I don't think it would have any noticeable impact on the flavor when you add them to the fermenter. I always do it when I'm planning on aging a beer for a long time and I don't want spirits flavor.

 

[xpops]

Soaking your oak in spirits may extract more flavors as well as sanitizing.

agreed. people will soak in specific spirits to "duplicate" the effects of aging beer in a wood barrel, without actually having a barrel.

bourbon barrel aged stout? no barrel?...soak your oak in bourbon for 2 weeks prior to adding to secondary.

i've done it with chardonay for a "barrel aged" sour blonde, and i've done cab sauve for a "barrel aged" ol' english sour ale.

i also boil them first, to sanitize and mellow out some of the potential initial harsh tannins from being extracted into my precious brews.

cheers,

 

[JackiePaper]

i've done it with chardonay for a "barrel aged" sour blonde, and i've done cab sauve for a "barrel aged" ol' english sour ale.

I hadn't considered using wine. While I don't think this is the best batch for it, I'll definitely keep it in my repertoire for later.

 

[applescrap]

I hear you and i agree. I just made a Belgian of some kind from a recipe at the Brew store. I don't want any bourbon in there I'm just going to toss some oak in when I secondary with maybe raspberry too. I'll judge the sanitation of them when I see them. If they were the chips that hang outside all year as I smoke, i think I would probably steam or boil.

There is a giant tea ball that i would like to play with. Leave the oak in for a while and then pull it based on flavor. I think aih sales it, had a long talk with a nice kid there about it. Also it is illegal to my understanding to add liquor to liquor, so commercial Brewer's have to add liquor through wood. This practice has likely stemmed from this. As home Brewer's we don't have to in fact we could do whatever we want. However it is my experience that most do not while some do. Michael tonsemyire (sp?) I think it is talks about this. There's all kinds of great things like wine and or whiskey that we can add to a simple glass of our beer and scale from there. Tinctures, teas, wood, and flowers, happy brewing.

 

[JackiePaper]

I hear you and i agree. I just made a Belgian of some kind from a recipe at the Brew store. I don't want any bourbon in there I'm just going to toss some oak in when I secondary with maybe raspberry too.

It just so turns out this batch has raspberries in it! I had a pound of wild black raspberries my dad collected frozen from last year that I added once I reached FG.

In hindsight, I wish I would have split it prior to adding the berries. The sample I tasted (prior to berries) when I took a reading already had some subtle fruity flavors from the special B and yeast with a little 'sweetness' coming through from the high alcohol content.