How long to soak oak chips before adding to secondary?

[mkory]

Some have said to boil or steam the chips, some just soak them in liquor prior to adding them to the secondary. If I don't heat them, how long of an alcohol soak is necessary before adding them in? Seems to me as long as they soak through they should be good to go. A few days maybe?

 

[HalfPint]

Some have said to boil or steam the chips, some just soak them in liquor prior to adding them to the secondary. If I don't heat them, how long of an alcohol soak is necessary before adding them in? Seems to me as long as they soak through they should be good to go. A few days maybe?

I would think a few days would do it. I don't usually oak anything that's low gravity, so I don't really worry about it. I've thrown them straight into a 6% porter without soaking or heating, and didn't have any problems.

 

[mkory]

Cool... this is going into a 6% chocolate stout, along with the whole bottle of whisky.

 

[devilishprune]

Cool... this is going into a 6% chocolate stout, along with the whole bottle of whisky.

I think that when you add that bottle of whiskey, it will no longer be 6%

It does sound like a good idea though, I love a good bourbon stout.

 

[HalfPint]

I'm not sure if I'd add a whole bottle of whiskey either! That's a lot of booze for a 5 gallons batch.

 

[mkory]

eh, it works out to only half an ounce per 12 oz serving, and since this is the goal, it should be pretty tasty!

Plus, it's only going to raise the alcohol content from 6% to just a hair over 8%, so it's not THAT bad. I'll post the recipe in the thread once it's done.

 

[hamiltont]

Cool... this is going into a 6% chocolate stout, along with the whole bottle of whisky.

When making a bourbon/oak beer I just soak the oak chips in bourbon for at least a couple of weeks, strain the chips out & just add the oaked bourbon to the beer.

 

[DKershner]

When making a bourbon/oak beer I just soak the oak chips in bourbon for at least a couple of weeks, strain the chips out & just add the oaked bourbon to the beer.

This seems smarter to me. After a few days, there will be very little oak left in your chips, they transfer FAST.

Or do the other methods and use oak cubes instead.

 

[HalfPint]

This seems smarter to me. After a few days, there will be very little oak left in your chips, they transfer FAST.

Or do the other methods and use oak cubes instead.

Agreed.

I do know that chips lose their flavor very, very fast, so I'd use cubes as well. Considering that this beer is definitely a long ager, I would use cubes as well.

 

[smokinghole]

Another vote for cubes. I have a 10.5% sort of english barley wine with peat smoked malt in it at and oak cubes. I gave it a small taste today and got some oak after 1.5 months. I'll let it get to the end of july and see where it's at. I may let it go through August and then bottle and age.

 

[mkory]

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to let this one age in the bottle, since I'm not brewing on my own equipment and don't want to keep it tied up that long. It'll have a good few months to age in the bottle if needed though. I'll soak the chips for a few days, secondary with with the whiskey and chips. (in case there is anything left in the chips) There is also be a split vanilla bean in the chips/whisky that will be going into the secondary as well.