Oak chips in the secondary?

[Waldo]

Does this work? I have a Brewers Best IPA in my primary right now, I am thinking about adding some Oak chips to the secondary any advice would be great. The reason I want to use the chips is I had a 6 pack of MacTarnahans IPA the lable says its oak aged, well I really liked the stuff so I thought I'd try it, I know it won't taste exaclty like MacTarnahans but it couldn't hurt.

 

[sudsmonkey]

Read something on here about that awhile back. Makes beer ( or wine, or corn squeezin's ) taste like it was cask aged. The biggest point I got from the discussion on this forum was to carefully SANITIZE the chips. Wood has pores that harbor nasties. Be really careful. Found a website for the caskbrewers society or society of cask brewers. Reading the info on that site will quickly convince you that cask aging is the only natural way to handle your beer. Thank God I came to my senses and realized that my carboy was the only real option I have.

 

[SwAMi75]

Regarding IPA's, there an argument that the beer was never actually exposed to the oak, because the insides of the barrels were coated with tar. So, using oak in an IPA really isn't historically accurate. There are even people who go as far as to say the oak doesn't belong in beer at all.

I'm of the opinion that if you want an oaky character to your beer, then you should go for it. I think steaming them would be the way to go before adding them to secondary.

 

[sudsmonkey]

How about the addition of tar? Would you do that during the boil, or at bottling time ?

 

[Sasquatch]

I don't believe for one second that barrels were ever coated with tar. The Cooper's art is to make barrels that don't leak. I just did PA and put about 1/8th cup of (boiled) oak chips in primary. We'll see what happens. The local brewshop guy claims he won a competition doing that...

 

[SwAMi75]

I don't believe for one second that barrels were ever coated with tar. The Cooper's art is to make barrels that don't leak. I just did PA and put about 1/8th cup of (boiled) oak chips in primary. We'll see what happens. The local brewshop guy claims he won a competition doing that...

I said tar...I meant pitch. I've read this in a few places, but I'll be damned if I can find them now.

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

There was a recipe calling for oak chips in the recent edition of byo that had "10 Beers From the Dark Side". I've seen them at the HBS (they sell wine equipment, as well), so I assume they'd know the process wrt sanitation, etc. I'm pretty sure the recipe just had them added to the secondary for a few weeks.

 

[Walker]

From what I've read, you can steam the chips in a rice/veggie steamer for 30 or 45 minutes prior to tossing them in the secodary.

-walker

 

[Waldo]

Thanks for the info! I had planned to steam the chips before using them, my concern is, is it worth taking a chance on getting infected? I think I'll just do this batch without the chips, after I've had a few bottles then I'll brew another batch and try the oak chips. Then I'll be able to tell if it was worth the effort, and if I ruin the batch I'll still have beer to drink.

 

[Walker]

There is a guy that uses the discussion board on the beer recipator that EXCLUSIVELY uses wood chips for fining his beer. (yes, they help in settling yeast and proteins from the beer, too!)

You might hop over to that site and post a message to get info from a veritable expert on the subject.

I think his name is Paul, but I might be mistaken.

-walker

 

[Waldo]

Thanks Walker I'll check it out.

 

[wild]

You can also soak the chips in alcohol (as in boubon, vodka, or another flavor depending on the recipe) prior to adding them in your secondary.

Wild

 

[Orfy]

Dunno but I have put some in with my cabernet sauvignon.

 

[Iguana]

You can also soak the chips in alcohol (as in boubon, vodka, or another flavor depending on the recipe) prior to adding them in your secondary.

Wild

mmmmm.......whiskey.......almost as good as beer.

I might have to try that some time.

 

[wild]

mmmmm.......whiskey.......almost as good as beer.

I might have to try that some time.

Out of the 17 recipes in my database that use oak chips, only 2 are soaked in alcohol. One in straight whiskey and the other in Bourbon. :cross:

Wild

 

[cap46]

I purchased a mead kit that came with oak chips. The instructions for it was to put the chips in a small sauce pan with a half pint water. Heat on stove and steep. Stir to get oak flavor. Longer you steep more flavor. Pour water into primary leaving oak chips behind.

 

[Rookie]

The only time that I ever used oak chips in a beer I soaked them in whiskey for several months first which would eliminate any sanitation problems.
It was a smoked beer and was pretty durn good.
Right now I have some oak chips soaking in Wild Turkey. I plan to eventually use them in a brown ale.
Soaking them in whiskey is supposed to give the beer an aged in whiskey barrel flavor.