Oak in a barley wine?

[photogscott]

It's getting near that time where I'll rack my barley wine to secondary. Toasted American oak sounds like a nice flavor addition. Anybody done this?

American style BW
IBU 110
FG 1.020
ABV 12.5%
Dry hopping

 

[MikeSteele]

I used an ounce for six months in an American BW (FG ~1.090) and it was way too strong. I recommended boiling the oak chips and using .25 to 0.5 oz. I simply didn't do any research.

 

[photogscott]

Your FG was 1.090?

 

[Option]

You should do it! I don't have any experience on how much to add, but all my favorite barley wines are heavily oaked...

 

[beerandloathinginaustin]

Probably best to hunt down an idea of how much oak per gallon (and amount of time) and then separate off a little for the oak. Or break a 5 gal batch into 5 parts and age each differently regarding type of oak and amounts of time. Could be a fun experiment.

 

[photogscott]

Probably best to hunt down an idea of how much oak per gallon (and amount of time) and then separate off a little for the oak.

I like this idea. I used so many friggin pounds of grain, yeast (and propane!) that I dont want to regret experimenting on the whole batch. Now to figure out how much oak for 2 gallons People here say be careful and not over do it. This will sit for many months and I think some have written that the oak flavors fade with age

 

[photogscott]

I used an ounce for six months in an American BW (FG ~1.090) and it was way too strong.

Did you ferment 6 months? was it in a secondary?

 

[MikeSteele]

Your FG was 1.090?

OG was 1.090

 

[MikeSteele]

Did you ferment 6 months? was it in a secondary?

I had it ferment for 4 weeks in primary then racked to another carboy to bulk age for six months.

I like the suggestion of splitting it and only oaking a portion. I regret not doing that. One, because it would be great to have something to compare the oaking to ceteris paribus. Two because I made the oak too strong and now I don't really like the barley wine!

Good luck, it should be a fun experiment.