My boyfriend is defending his PhD thesis next May, and I'm going to brew a celebratory beer for the occasion. He wants a Biere de Garde with red wine soaked oak chips added. He wants to use a heavy, tanniny red wine for the oak chips, because that's the kind of wine he likes. I could see this resulting in some harsh flavors in the beer, so I wanted a second opinion on this before I agree to do this! I know tannins are typically an off-flavor in beer.
Adding red wine soaked oak chips
- Thread starter Brewddah
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I'm not an expert and have not oaked many things but usually you don't get a lot of the wine/spirit character in the beer from soaking in oak cubes/chips. Soaking the cubes in wine, spirits, etc. helps sanitize the oak and pulls some of the oak flavors out faster.
If you are looking for some wine flavor to the beer then you may be better off blending some wine into the beer. Maybe buy some commercial beers similar to what you plan to brew and then do some blending to see if something like this will work.
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2007/03/treatise-on-oaking-homebrew.html
If you are looking for some wine flavor to the beer then you may be better off blending some wine into the beer. Maybe buy some commercial beers similar to what you plan to brew and then do some blending to see if something like this will work.
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2007/03/treatise-on-oaking-homebrew.html
