Need some help with an oaked saison

[popsicleian]

I have to submit a beer with oak character (no specific style or other guidance) for an upcoming competition. I already had a saison brew day planned for yesterday, so I split that batch so I can oak part of it. The total batch size was 7 gallons, which I split into two fermenters. I have about 3 gallons in the fermenter that will get the oak treatment. I have a few questions I'm hoping some people can help me work through.

1) For reference, the grain bill for this beer is about 66% Pils, 22% Wheat malt, 5% Vienna, and 7% sugar (though I'm planning to add the sugar after fermentation is underway--I usually add at the end of the boil, but forgot). My yeast is second generation WLP566. The OG (minus the sugar) is 1.049, and with the sugar should be 1.055. I'm considering not adding the sugar to the oaked batch--I'm concerned that the increased dryness might exacerbate any astringency or tannins from the wood. Any thoughts?

2) I ordered some medium toast french oak chips that should be arriving today. My plan is to boil them, then soak in white wine and add to fermenter after fermentation is mostly complete along with the soaking wine. I'm having trouble deciding what kind of wine to use. The chips are going to have at most a week of contact time before I have to bottle (I only found out on Sunday that I had to brew something with oak, and I only have until July 14th to submit. Don't get me started on the timelines...). Given the time constraints and the reputation that wood chips have for giving one dimensional flavor, should I choose a wine that already has oak character, or one without?

3) I'm thinking I'll use 1/2 oz of chips--does that seem like a reasonable amount? I've been a part of a large group barrel aging project for an 11% beer, but otherwise i have no experience working with wood.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[rhys333]

If you wanted to oak a saison, I would go on the lighter side as it could overtake the saison character quite easily. Also, instead of boiling the chips, I might just do a long soak in hard liquor and then dump all of it in and rest for a few more days. I should qualify I haven't done this myself with saison, but it's probably the method I would use.

 

[Mainer]

1/2 ounce is pretty light, as is appropriate for a saison. Good call using the French oak, as it's milder than American.
I second the previous commenter's concerns about boiling the oak. You might get an excessively tannic character that way. Foregoing the boil and soaking in something stronger with a neutral flavor like vodka would be safer. Or, if you're looking to add some flavor from the alcohol, gin might work nicely. I can see the juniper blending well with a peppery saison. Even white rum might be an interesting choice.

I think you're on the right track

 

[popsicleian]

That's interesting, I had assumed that boiling would reduce the tannic character. I hadn't considered gin because I'm not really a fan, but I can definitely see how the flavors could be complimentary.

 

[JF_HBrews]

I think your plan for soaking them in white wine is excellent, we have a local brewery that makes a saison and an oaked version of the saison. They generally use used white wine barrels though occasionally whiskey barrels. I would not be afraid of using the entire once of chips though I would check the flavor daily starting at 7 days and be ready to rack off of them.

Gin seems to be the new black. That said I do love a nice gin and gin oak aged beers can be fun. It works better in lighter beers for my palate though a recent stout aged in gin barrels was interesting.

 

[popsicleian]

I sampled this beer for the first time last night. I'm really pleased with the results.

I ended up sticking with my original plan--I boiled 1/2 oz of the chips for 10 minutes, put them in a sanitized hop bag, put the whole thing in a pint mason jar, and filled to the top with an oaky, fruity Italian white wine (Grillo), and let the whole thing sit for about a week in the fridge. After the beer had been in primary for about week, I dumped the whole thing in, along with a little bit of sugar (my hope was that the yeast would consume the oxygen I had just introduced).

There is just a little bit of oaky vanillin in the aroma, and the flavor has delicious, but fairly subtle oak flavor. The oak (and wine) added a fair amount of tannins, but it's not at all astringent. I think the level of oak is perfect for my personal enjoyment, but I don't know how well it will fare in the competition--might be a little too subdued. The wine adds a tropical fruitiness that works really well with the WLP566, plus a little bit of acidity.

I think it will be better with a little more aging, but I have to submit tomorrow. There are two things I didn't like about the beer. I don't know if it was the oak or the wine, but the head completely faded very quickly--that's not what I would have expected with 22% wheat in the grain bill. I'm hoping it was just my glass, or maybe insufficient chilling time/incomplete CO2 absorption. There is also some sulfur in the aroma. I'm not sure where it comes from--my only thought is maybe the sulfites in the wine. I'm not even positive the wine had added sulfites, and the bottle is long gone, but that's the only explanation I have. I'm hoping that will fade with time, too.