Red oak cubes???

[Schmoogdaddy]

For my second annual traditional New year's Day brew, I will be making a Wee Heavy Scotch ale. I thought this would be a good one to get some oak flavor into. I have some oak firewood that has been indoors for 5 years. I wanted to cut some into cubes and toast it myself. After doing some research I have discovered that it is red oak. I have read several posts stating not to use red oak, but I never saw the reason other than red oak is porous and is not good for barrels. Can anyone tell me if red oak puts an undesirable flavor into the beer?

I know it would be simple to go to the LHBS and pick up some French, Hungarian or American white oak, but this red oak I have has some sentimental value to me and I want to use it if I can.

Help anyone? Thanks.

 

[jrseago]

I would guess that the reason you are warned not to use red oak would be the red hue of the wood. Typically the darker the wood the more extractives it has. Extractives are chemicals that the tree forms (that are extractable like turpentine) in order for them to ward off unwanted pests. Think of the color and smell of cedar. The color and smell come from extractive compounds that make the wood extremely resistant to environmental stresses such as molds. White oak is a clear white wood that uses a bit of a different mechanism for warding of unwanted pests, White oak forms tyloses (simply put they clog there own vessels in their heartwood to prevent easy transport through the cells). This clogging of vessels makes white oak ideal for barrels and the limited amount of extractives gives it a very mild flavor. I would bet that red oak will give you significantly harsher flavors (likely heavy on the tannin side of the flavor profile)?? I would not use red oak on the entire batch

 

[Dr. Francois]

If red oak were tasty, American whiskey would be aged in red oak.

I get a cat-pee scent from it.

I also think it is lousy for smoked food for a similar reason.

 

[Durhamite]

Everyone has their own tastebuds and preferences, but Red Oak is widely heralded as an excellent wood for smoking.

 

[RM-MN]

There are about fifteen varieties of red oak in the US, each with its own characteristic. It's hard to give advice without knowing which one you have and even if we knew, someone would have had to try several just to give you advice. Any chance you could do a split batch to give it a try?

 

[sfrisby]

any chance you could do a split batch to give it a try?

^^^^^+1

 

[Schmoogdaddy]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm leaning toward scrapping the idea. I do have the capability of doing a split batch.
Has anyone ever added the oak to the bottle like a whiskey making technique?

 

[Schmoogdaddy]

As it would turn out, I found some white oak in my supply making this whole thread moot. I've already cut the wood into cubes and will be toasting it to the vanilla end of the spectrum. I also picked up a 3 gallon carboy yesterday and plan to split the batch oaked/unoaked anyway.