Oak Aging Brown Porter

[wintermute2]

I'm planning to brew up a "traditional" style brown porter, after being inspired by a BYO article. According to the article, back in the day these porters were stored in vats (I'm assuming oak). So this is making me think aging on oak cubes might be a cool thing to do. The question is, is this aging wasted on a brown porter and more suited to a Baltic porter?


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[Talgrath]

I'm planning to brew up a "traditional" style brown porter, after being inspired by a BYO article. According to the article, back in the day these porters were stored in vats (I'm assuming oak). So this is making me think aging on oak cubes might be a cool thing to do. The question is, is this aging wasted on a brown porter and more suited to a Baltic porter?


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Aging is never a waste of time, in my opinion. But then, I love aged beers. That said, generally speaking aging any sort of dark beer on wood has good results.

 

[BrewingViking]

Never a waste to age a beer on oak. My favorite recipe is a brown porter and I just began aging it in a bourbon barrel every time I brew. It comes out great.

 

[Jaybird]

Depends.. Do you like wood aged beers? Some cant stand them. Me on the other hand will oak age anything! and I have been known to soak them chips in spirits of all kinds too...

The thing you just have to remember is you cant un-oak so keep a close taste on the batch along the way..

Cheers
Jay

 

[wintermute2]

Thanks guys. Any suggestions on where to start for a 5 gallon batch? I was thinking 2 oz. of medium-dark roast American cubes for about 3 months


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[indianaroller]

Thanks guys. Any suggestions on where to start for a 5 gallon batch? I was thinking 2 oz. of medium-dark roast American cubes for about 3 months


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That seems like a good start based on my experiences.


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[Roundhouse]

Back when those old Porters were stored in wood, a goal of theirs was to NOT pick up wood flavor. Wood was just the most convenient material to use for beer storage. They worked hard to flush the wood flavors out of new vats. They may have still had some. I don't know since I wasn't there but it most certainly wasn't anything dominant if it was even noticeable at all.

Saying that, there's nothing wrong with oak flavors in beer if that's what you are going for. There are some very nice ones out there. If your goal is to try to reproduce a more traditional porter though, I'm not sure that they would be appropriate.

 

[JF_HBrews]

That seems like a good start based on my experiences.


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^^ X2! 2-3 months on the cubes and it will be delicious

 

[wintermute2]

Back when those old Porters were stored in wood, a goal of theirs was to NOT pick up wood flavor. Wood was just the most convenient material to use for beer storage. They worked hard to flush the wood flavors out of new vats. They may have still had some. I don't know since I wasn't there but it most certainly wasn't anything dominant if it was even noticeable at all.



Saying that, there's nothing wrong with oak flavors in beer if that's what you are going for. There are some very nice ones out there. If your goal is to try to reproduce a more traditional porter though, I'm not sure that they would be appropriate.

Ok, so it's more of a romanticized version of an old London porter....

Anyway, I brewed up the batch on Monday using Wyeast Ringwood yeast. How does this sound for a basic schedule:
- Let it sit in primary for three weeks to allow the yeast to clean house
- rack to secondary over 2 oz. of oak cubes
- let it sit 3 months
- rack into bottling bucket over priming syrup and 0.5 pack S-04

Is that the best way to repitch yeast for priming? Never done it before, but I assume it's necessary after so long a period. Thanks.


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[Roundhouse]

What kind of oak cubes? French oak for instance is far more intense than American oak and even more so if it's heavily charred. Keep in mind that the amount of beer in contact with the surface area of a cube is much higher per weight than it is for a barrel since that cube has contact on all six sides. When I've used oak cubes in the past, many of them would end up sinking after a couple of weeks. You get quite a bit of wood character from cubes so I'd start with an ounce and even then don't commit to 3 weeks on them. Go 1 week and then taste a sample. I've had oaked beers that were overdone that tasted like soggy wood.

 

[wintermute2]

I'm going with M-H charred American. I didn't want to mess with French for that reason. Playing around with the aging times is easy enough. My big concern now is if I'll have to repitch at bottling and what the best method is.


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[JF_HBrews]

I have to disagree with leaving your beer on oak cubes for only 3 weeks. You will get oak flavor but no depth or character. If you used chips/shavings/dust then you get what you get from the wood in about a week and leaving on this type of oak longer doesn't bring more oak flavor. And, some say, leaving beer on chips more than a couple of weeks leads to harsh tannins being extracted. However, with oak cubes/spirals/stave's(pieces of) you don't really begin to get the depth of flavor vanilla/caramel/toffee notes until 6+ weeks. With 2 oz's for 5 gallons it would be impossible to over oak in my opinion. Your tastes may vary. Taste it along the way, not to decide you have enough oak but, to learn how time impacts the flavors you get.

oragehero gave some good links in this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/oak-aging-questions-490371/#post6361381
and this interview with Shea Comfort:
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Sunday-Session/The-Sunday-Session-11-23-08-Shea-Comfort

 

[Roundhouse]

That's is why I suggested he try a sample every week or so.

 

[JF_HBrews]

That's is why I suggested he try a sample every week or so.

Yes you did - sorry I misread

 

[wintermute2]

So...as far as repitching yeast at bottling time, after aging, does it make sense to hydrate half a packet of S-04, dump in bottling bucket, rack beer over the yeast and priming sugar, then bottle?


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