I made the Northern Brewer Petite Saison D'Ete recipe on 7/2, modifying it slightly by adding in the zest of one orange, zest of one grapefruit, and 4 peppercorns with 10 minutes left in the boil. Also switched the hops around using 1/2 oz Chinook at 60, 1/2 oz Simcoe at 10, and 1/2 oz Amarillo at flameout. I put the zests and peppercorns in a nylon bag with the Amarillo so they were only in until I transferred to primary. Pitched a starter of 3711 on 7/3. Fermented at basement temp of 72-74 and just let it go. Checked the OG today and it's at 1.005, tastes great.
I've had a couple oaked saisons, Goose Island Sofie (a special version) being one where it was oaked in chardonnay barrels. I wanted to get some oak flavor in here so tonight I racked to secondary and added two ounces of medium toast French Oak chips that i soaked in Chardonnay over the weekend. Plan on leaving it in secondary on oak for 3 weeks and then starting to taste.
Question: Would soaking the oak in chardonnay for only 4 days impart any of the wine flavor?
Question: I didn't sanitize the oak chips... other than soaking in wine but that probably didn't do anything. I got the chips from the LHBS, they were not just BBQ smoke chips or something like that. Am I taking a big risk not steaming or boiling these first? We will see I guess...
I've had a couple oaked saisons, Goose Island Sofie (a special version) being one where it was oaked in chardonnay barrels. I wanted to get some oak flavor in here so tonight I racked to secondary and added two ounces of medium toast French Oak chips that i soaked in Chardonnay over the weekend. Plan on leaving it in secondary on oak for 3 weeks and then starting to taste.
Question: Would soaking the oak in chardonnay for only 4 days impart any of the wine flavor?
Question: I didn't sanitize the oak chips... other than soaking in wine but that probably didn't do anything. I got the chips from the LHBS, they were not just BBQ smoke chips or something like that. Am I taking a big risk not steaming or boiling these first? We will see I guess...