I have a "Spicy Holiday Ale" in the closet that has finished fermenting, and I just got my first taste. (1.064 OG, 1.016 FG, right on target!)
It's a 5-gallon batch. I planned from the start to oak it, but need some tips from people who have done that before. Brew day was about six weeks ago, and right now it has a nice heavy-but-dry flavor with notes of nuts and plums.
Question is this: I'd like this beer to be done by early November, in time for Thanksgiving, so I have about four weeks until kegging. How much oak, what prep / sterilization method for pitching, and how long do you guys recommend to get a good, significant but not overpowering, oakey flavor by then? (again, 5-gallon batch.)
Brew shop says to boil the beans, but I also read you can also soak in spirits. Bourbon would go well with this beer (if not all beers, by my tastes) but since it's a spicy holiday ale, I could experiment and try something interesting too. (orange liqueur? rum?) If I only have to leave them in for 2 weeks to get flavor from the cubes, then I'll probably soak them in something interesting for a week. If I need at least 4 weeks, I'll boil and pitch immediately.
What I have are oak beans (1/2-inch cubes) from my LHBS, along with a stainless steel tube with holes in it, to be dropped down in the carboy and removed after a certain amount of time. The beans are French oak, and pre-toasted by the brew shop. They're darkened but not charred on one side, lighter dark on the other side, and deep brown in the middle. Brew shop says different areas of the beans reached different temperatures in order to bring out a nice spread of the flavors in this chart:
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=104116
It's a 5-gallon batch. I planned from the start to oak it, but need some tips from people who have done that before. Brew day was about six weeks ago, and right now it has a nice heavy-but-dry flavor with notes of nuts and plums.
Question is this: I'd like this beer to be done by early November, in time for Thanksgiving, so I have about four weeks until kegging. How much oak, what prep / sterilization method for pitching, and how long do you guys recommend to get a good, significant but not overpowering, oakey flavor by then? (again, 5-gallon batch.)
Brew shop says to boil the beans, but I also read you can also soak in spirits. Bourbon would go well with this beer (if not all beers, by my tastes) but since it's a spicy holiday ale, I could experiment and try something interesting too. (orange liqueur? rum?) If I only have to leave them in for 2 weeks to get flavor from the cubes, then I'll probably soak them in something interesting for a week. If I need at least 4 weeks, I'll boil and pitch immediately.
What I have are oak beans (1/2-inch cubes) from my LHBS, along with a stainless steel tube with holes in it, to be dropped down in the carboy and removed after a certain amount of time. The beans are French oak, and pre-toasted by the brew shop. They're darkened but not charred on one side, lighter dark on the other side, and deep brown in the middle. Brew shop says different areas of the beans reached different temperatures in order to bring out a nice spread of the flavors in this chart:
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=104116
