Oakes foreign extra stout.... Really smokey?

[blakelyc]

Hi folks:

Back in the summer I brewed a foreign extra stout. I racked off 1 gallon onto one ounce of Hungarian oak, medium toast, that had been soaking in an aged rum (Ron zacapa). I let this sit for 9 days, at which point the oak character was present but not overpowering. I have never used oak before, so at day 12 I bottled it.

It has been sitting undisturbed since the beginning of September. I chilled one and tasted it tonight..... It was very, very smokey in an almost ash-like way. Very muddled and inelegant. That flavor was not there at bottling.

My question is this: is this just a phase? I know that Oaked beers have a life cycle, but I don't know if this is a normal part of it. Do Oaked beer have a smokiness when they are young?

I guesss I will just put these down for a while longer.....

 

[lunshbox]

What does your grain bill look like?

 

[blakelyc]

Heya, sorry for the delay. There's been a hurricane happening.

Anyways, I don't have the whole grain bill handy, but it was the FES recipe from Brewing Classic Styles, straight-up with no modifications. DME, some roasted malt, chocolate malt, crystal of some sort. Nothing that would lend such a significant smoky note. I mean, it tasted like a campfire smells.

Fermentation was relatively normal, if a bit vigorous. Probably ran at 68-70 with Wyeast 1333. One of the tasters thought he detected a faint bubblegum on the end. I didn't pick it up, neither did anyone else. I may have been distracted by my shock at the smoke.

When I looked at my notes afterward, I did recall that the fermentation was vigorous enough for a blowoff tube and it actually blew off through the tube. So I suppose the internal temperature could have crept up a hair.

Anyways, I'm at a loss.... nothing seems so far awry as to cause any of these issues.

 

[lunshbox]

What was the toast on the oak chips? Other than that it sounds like the grain bill is OK. Perhaps your LHBS had a mislabeled bin? (Happened to me once. I ended up with 12 lbs of crystal 20 instead of 12 lbs of Maris Otter).

 

[blakelyc]

Only one gallon of this batch sat on oak, and the plain variation with no secondary doesn't have any of the same flavor, so I don't think it was mislabeled. Oak was medium toast Hungarian. I am not sure what that's supposed to look like, but it didn't seem over-toasted.

I will probably just chalk It up to a phase and try one again in a month or so.

 

[lunshbox]

Sounds like the oak. I have never used Hungarian oak so that wouldn't surprise me. I say brew again and blend my friend!