Oak Cubes in Smoked Brown Ale

[inthebackwoods]

I'm making a smoked brown ale tomorrow and to impart a little more smoky flavor, I was thinking of adding some cubes during the boil and possibly some more after primary fermentation if it still needs more wood flavor. I have used oak in the secondary before, but never the boil. Will adding some to the boil have any benefits or disadvantages?

 

[smokinghole]

Don't use the wood in the boil it's not a spice. Only reason to boil the wood is to remove some of the harsher oak flavors. If you're using cubes you'll want to give the beer a good 3-4 months with the wood for the proper complexity. If you want quick oak flavor use chips the downfall is it has a flat one dimensional taste.

 

[inthebackwoods]

Don't use the wood in the boil it's not a spice. Only reason to boil the wood is to remove some of the harsher oak flavors. If you're using cubes you'll want to give the beer a good 3-4 months with the wood for the proper complexity. If you want quick oak flavor use chips the downfall is it has a flat one dimensional taste.

Ok, thanks for the advice. I'll only use in the secondary. Has anyone used liquid smoke in a smoked beer before? Good or bad experiences with it? I'm just afraid my beer won't be smoky enough and may need a little kick. I definitely don't want it to taste like a steak, but have a nice smoky flavor. Here's my grain bill:

Pale 2 Row - 66.7%
Smoked Malt - 16.7%
Chocolate Rye - 8.3%
Caramel Wheat - 6.2%
Carafa II - 2.1%

Do you think this will have a nice prominent, but no overpowering, smoky flavor?

 

[smokinghole]

You should have a decent smoke flavor. What smoked malt did you use? Weyerman or Briess?

 

[bobbytuck]

Be careful with the oak cubes. I used 2oz of med roast French oak in a brown I made several months ago. I soaked the cubes for 7 days in bourbon, then poured the bourbon and cubes into the primary near the end of fermentation. Left the cubes there for 7 days in about 5.5 gallons.

The oak was overwhelming, IMHO. It's taken several months for it to start to mellow. Next time, I'd definitely still soak the cubes, but I'd use (a) 1oz (maybe less) instead of 2 and (b) probably only put them in for three days or so. A little goes a long way, and one of things I realized about the cubes is that the oak is powerful enough to drown out the malt. I didn't use smoked malt, and that might be something I'll do next time. But be sure you've got a strong malt backbone (if that's what you like) before adding the oak otherwise it's very, very easy to overpower everything.

The finished beer wasn't bad at all -- I'm still drinking it -- but it's definitely has a not-so-subtle oak flavor. It's "oak beer" in other words. Heavy, potent -- but not necessarily balanced due to the oak. OTOH, oak is a great flavor and has a bitterness that works nicely with the hops.

 

[smokinghole]

http://www.morebeer.com/public/pdf/woakcube.pdf

There's a guide for cubes.

Chips are a whole other game.

Three days is not enough time to extract a whole lot of oak flavor from cubes. My guess is you mostly got your flavor from the toast and tannins on the surface washed off by the bourbon. Cubes are used in the wine world to give a barrel longer life and thus are meant for months of aging for extraction of oak flavors.

http://www.stavin.com/tanksystems/oakbeans.htm

According to Stavin one of the high quality manufacturers of oak cubes they say 2 month minimum up to 1 year for extraction.

 

[inthebackwoods]

You should have a decent smoke flavor. What smoked malt did you use? Weyerman or Briess?

I am using Briess.

http://www.morebeer.com/public/pdf/woakcube.pdf

There's a guide for cubes.

Chips are a whole other game.

Three days is not enough time to extract a whole lot of oak flavor from cubes. My guess is you mostly got your flavor from the toast and tannins on the surface washed off by the bourbon. Cubes are used in the wine world to give a barrel longer life and thus are meant for months of aging for extraction of oak flavors.

http://www.stavin.com/tanksystems/oakbeans.htm

According to Stavin one of the high quality manufacturers of oak cubes they say 2 month minimum up to 1 year for extraction.

That's a great guide, thanks for the tip!