Oak chips/ Oak barrel

[Jun]

After doing a quick search on OAk Barrel I was surprised that not much came up so
I decided to start my own thred on this.
Is anyone here using oak barrel or wood chips for their beer and if yes what were the results?

 

[Revvy]

But there's a lot of threads if you search "oak chips" (if it expires I did an advanced search for threads keyword "Oak Chips." )

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/search.php?searchid=3183559

3 or 4 of us have used these pretty successfully...I soak it for another 10 days in more Jack to sanitize it.

 

[Jun]

Thank you,

From what it seams that most are using wood chips rather than barrels, I guess I'll just have to follow the trend

 

[Revvy]

It's a cost perspective more than anything...A bag of chips- 7 dollars...a barrel can run a couple hundred if you can find them, especially a used one with whiskey or wine flavor in it...Plus the barrels are large and take up space...Plus they have to be treated regularly...all that's out of a lot of our reach...so the wood works fine for what most of us want.

 

[5gBrewer]

Extreme Homebrewing (written by the DogfishHead guy) talks about chips vs. barrels. Essentially, barrels are more of a hassle, and are more time consuming. Chips are easier. You can sanitize them by putting them in an oven at 300F for 30 minutes (according to the book). I'm going to try this myself pretty soon with another Stout.

5gB

 

[carnevoodoo]

I've oaked several beers. I use the cubes. The chips are ok, but the cubes leave less mess and I think you an get more out of them. Barrels are expensive, and I'd love to have one, but you will likely overdo it at a 5-10 gallon level in a barrel. The surface area ratio on a smaller barrel like that means you get a lot in a short amount of time.

 

[jds]

I've got an IPA sitting on StaVin French Oak cubes right now. I've seen the JD chips, but was a bit frightened of them, since I've heard that American oak can take a LONG time to mellow.

Revvy, how long do the JD chips take to mellow out?

 

[Revvy]

I've got an IPA sitting on StaVin French Oak cubes right now. I've seen the JD chips, but was a bit frightened of them, since I've heard that American oak can take a LONG time to mellow.

Revvy, how long do the JD chips take to mellow out?

Only about two months....I just had the beer again on Saturday...it's nice. I only let it sit in secondary for two weeks.

 

[BierMuncher]

A small addition of oak chips to any really big beer can really lend a nice complexity without it becoming a wood aged beer.

I usually will toss half a hand full of medium oak chips into my RIS's or IIPA's. I'll probably do the same with the 999-barleywine.

Not enough to make it oakey, but enough to add a little dimension.

Someday I'm going to tackle a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout clone.

 

[niquejim]

I've got an IPA sitting on StaVin French Oak cubes right now. I've seen the JD chips, but was a bit frightened of them, since I've heard that American oak can take a LONG time to mellow.

Revvy, how long do the JD chips take to mellow out?

Remember the JD chips come from used barrels that gave most of their flavor to the whiskey, so there is not the overly oaked issues

 

[Dog House Brew]

I'm getting ready to secondary Denny's BVIP tomorrow. I have 3 oz of medium oak cubes sitting in Makers for the last week. How long should I let these sit on 5 gallons? Should I use all 3 oz of the cubes?

 

[BierMuncher]

I'm getting ready to secondary Denny's BVIP tomorrow. I have 3 oz of medium oak cubes sitting in Makers for the last week. How long should I let these sit on 5 gallons? Should I use all 3 oz of the cubes?

You can always add more. I would toss in one ounce...taste in a week and gauge the impact...then add more accordingly.

 

[PseudoChef]

Remember the JD chips come from used barrels that gave most of their flavor to the whiskey, so there is not the overly oaked issues

I would disagree with this. Whiskey barrels have only been used one time, then they are made into these chips. There is still plenty of oak "power" remaining in them to give to the beer. I would have to estimate that they don't start mellowing until 4 or 5 iterations with a brew.

We oaked a Belgian Dark Strong in a used Jack Daniel's barrel for 4 months and it has come out quite good. It is more oaky now than is tolerable to me, but with the prospect of aging this for another year or so, I think the level is quite right. If you live in the area, they are only $75 to acquire. However, you'll need about 65-70 gallons of beer in total (53 gallons fit in the barrel, then accounting for evaporation).

 

[Jun]

Thank you everyone for the responses.
At the moment I have Oatmeal Stout in bright-tank, I am planning to bottle half of the batch and add oak chips to the other half and let it sit.
I think that will be a good start to see the difference in beers and to see if I like it.
Anyone use anything other than Oak?

 

[Coastarine]

I've got a porter that I'm going to add an ounce or two of American oak chips soaked in some maker's.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I did a 10G Marris Otter/Galena SMaSH that I have 5 Gallons sitting with 2oz french oak chips right now. I'ts been a week maybe. I need to taste it again tonight to see if I should rack off. I have a cold though so can't taste much. I don't plan on aging this though after racking. It's going straight to keg to drink so I don't need a bunch of oak since I won't be waiting on it. This is my first experience oaking. I just boiled water, cooled it, put oak chips in the pan and covered with foil for a couple days, then strained off the water and tossed the chips in. No sign of infection. I will probably bake them in the future. I was worried about baking out the flavor. I know now.

 

[Bobby_M]

My barley wine sat on 2oz of American oak chips for a month and you can definitely taste the oak.

 

[PseudoChef]

My barley wine sat on 2oz of American oak chips for a month and you can definitely taste the oak.

Have you been sampling off any of the wares you guys have in the actual barrels? I'm curious what you are finding with oakiness after time in used wine barrels and if it is still coming through. Do you have anything in whiskey barrels and how does that oak come through?

 

[Evets]

Our club is brewing Dennys Vanilla Porter in March. I built the stand for the barrel last Sunday. I have a 5g batch of it in secondary now with 8oz of bourbon and 2 oz. oak chips. I'll add vanilla extract when I bottle. The barrel will get real vanilla beans.

 

[TheBaconator]

Just bought a whiskey cured 3 gallon oak barrel from these guys for $75.00.

http://tuthilltown.com/

Might want to check it out.

 

[BogusOwnz]

I put toasted oak chips in an ipa with cascades and chinook in primary. I then moved it to secondary after a week and didn't move the the oak chips into secondary. It took about 5 weeks in the bottle for the oak taste to mellow and allow the hops to come through, but it made for a very dark, strange yet satisfying ipa.

 

[TheBarrelGuru]

Im my opinion barrels make a completely different beer than the chips do.

 

[thantos]

So I have a few questions each for barrel and chips.

Barrel People;

1). Are you using charred whiskey barrels or non?

2). Do you purge the barrels with C02 to get the Oxy/air out or just add beer and an air lock or bung?

Chips/Cube people;

1). Are the chips/cubes charred or just plain chips/cubes?

2). Has anyone ever tried the Jack Daniels charred Oak barrels chips meant for smokers?


Thanks,

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I don't use the chips. I got toasted oak cubes and soaked 'em in bourbon. Then I added them and the bourbon to a corny and racked my robust porter onto them and purged the O2. I aged it that way for 3 months. The rusults are really good...maybe a touch more oak than I'd planned.

 

[shoengine]

I use a barrel and I don't purge.