Oak Chunks

[DaveMur]

Hi folks,

I recently bought some Oak Rum Barrel chunks on a whim. Haven't worked out what I'll brew for it yet but I'm thinking a Wee Heavy.

From what I've gleaned from the forum, chunks seem to to take longer to impart their flavor as opposed to chips or spirals.

Now you'll need to excuse what may be a stupid question but having never done any aging in secondary, is there's an issue (or any real benefit) to going at these chunks trying to get smaller pieces? Also out of curiosity, daily temp swings shouldn't be an issue if primary is done should they? Only have space for a single fv vessel in my fermentation fridge and wouldn't want this kept in long term.

Thanks
Dave

 

[KB12]

Hey Dave,

Cutting up your chunks into smaller pieces will increase the surface area of the wood. This will speed up the transfer of the wood flavors into the beer. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. Main thing is to use a wine thief or similar to pull samples and make sure you're getting the taste you want and not too much wood flavor.

As far as daily temperature swings go, it is probably best to store in a more stable part of your house. I'd recommend trying to minimize the head space. If you're using a one-piece airlock and have a lot of head space (I'd guess 1/2 gallon or more) with big temperature swings you could get suck-back into the fermenter. This is outside air being pulled through your airlock (working in reverse). This will happen when the temperature goes down. If it gets super cool every evening and sucks air back in and then blows it out the next day, that'll be pretty bad, you could get a lot of oxidation. Minimizing head space will be the biggest factor here.

Having said that, most houses tend to have pretty light temperature swings and I wouldn't worry about it too much. My household temperature swings are more seasonal and in the fall I have to watch for suck-back. Just keep your head space to a minimum, watch the airlock if you're nervous, and you'll be fine.

PM me if you want to know more about the fluid dynamics of what's happening with headspace, temperature and that suck-back. There's some more sophisticated stuff I've heard you can do to prevent this if you really want. Also, always use 1-piece airlocks on the secondary. A three piece will pull the airlock water back into the fermenter if you're experiencing suck-back, which is kinda sketchy.

 

[DaveMur]

Hey Dave,

Cutting up your chunks into smaller pieces will increase the surface area of the wood. This will speed up the transfer of the wood flavors into the beer. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. Main thing is to use a wine thief or similar to pull samples and make sure you're getting the taste you want and not too much wood flavor.

As far as daily temperature swings go, it is probably best to store in a more stable part of your house. I'd recommend trying to minimize the head space. If you're using a one-piece airlock and have a lot of head space (I'd guess 1/2 gallon or more) with big temperature swings you could get suck-back into the fermenter. This is outside air being pulled through your airlock (working in reverse). This will happen when the temperature goes down. If it gets super cool every evening and sucks air back in and then blows it out the next day, that'll be pretty bad, you could get a lot of oxidation. Minimizing head space will be the biggest factor here.

Having said that, most houses tend to have pretty light temperature swings and I wouldn't worry about it too much. My household temperature swings are more seasonal and in the fall I have to watch for suck-back. Just keep your head space to a minimum, watch the airlock if you're nervous, and you'll be fine.

PM me if you want to know more about the fluid dynamics of what's happening with headspace, temperature and that suck-back. There's some more sophisticated stuff I've heard you can do to prevent this if you really want. Also, always use 1-piece airlocks on the secondary. A three piece will pull the airlock water back into the fermenter if you're experiencing suck-back, which is kinda sketchy.

Thanks KB12,

Sounds stupid but I wasn't sure if cutting up the chunks would affect the flavour in some way negatively. I've already had some experience with suck-back from crashing but fortunately nothing that's ruined my brew as of yet. If I get it going I'm sure I can find some cupboard I can nestle it away in. Even as we approach winter I wouldn't really expect much more than a 3 degree temp swing.

Cheers
Dave