Adding Oak Chips To Beer

[Jamz]

I was thinking it might be interesting to make a beer and toss in some American oak chips into the secondary to give add a bit of a bourbon-esque flavour. I did a search of the forums and found a few vague references, but I couldn't find much info. So firstly, can anyone thats tried something like this comment on how its turned out?

And what styles do you guys reckon would be best complemented in such an experiment? I was thinking you'd probably want to avoid anything where the oak is going to have to compete too much with the hops on the palette. Maybe a porter or a mild or something?


Gimme your thoughts guys!

 

[bradsbrew]

I was thinking it might be interesting to make a beer and toss in some American oak chips into the secondary to give add a bit of a bourbon-esque flavour. I did a search of the forums and found a few vague references, but I couldn't find much info. So firstly, can anyone thats tried something like this comment on how its turned out?

And what styles do you guys reckon would be best complemented in such an experiment? I was thinking you'd probably want to avoid anything where the oak is going to have to compete too much with the hops on the palette. Maybe a porter or a mild or something?


Gimme your thoughts guys!

Quite afew brews ago I grabbed a bag of oak chips and boiled 2/3rds for about 20 mins and addied this to an ESB old ale with a kg of dlme and mashed in a kg of pale malt.
Dont know if the oak chips added alot to the flavour but it was a beuty and didnt last long. Must do that one again.

 

[Muggus]

Definately best off using oak in richer and darker styled brews.
American oak is particularly strong in flavour, distinctly smokey, sharp charcoal character to it. Used alot in big red wines, so i'd say your best off going for a style that has plenty of rich malt sweetness and isn't overly sharp flavoured.
A barley wine, old ale or strong porter are probably best suited rather than a stout or hoppy ale, where the roasted and hop astrigencies would probably intensify the sharpness of the oak and make it very hard to drink indeed. You'll probably need some sweetness for balance.


As Bradsbew mention, its best to give them a boil to sterilise them before adding them to a secondary. You don't want nasty wood bacterial ruining your brew!
Rack your brew onto them and let it rest for at least 2 weeks. Personally, i'd recommend a month, because the oak becomes more integrated over time, but its up to how patient you are, and also how robust (strong) you beer is. Stronger beers can obviously handle extended periods of maturation.

Anyway, hope you give it a try! It can really make an ordinary beer into something amazing.

 

[peas_and_corn]

A bit of a tip- if you don't have oak chips, don't think "well, these potato chips will be just as good- they're chips, right?" they're not.

 

[anc001]

If they are better kept in contact for a long while, how about sterilising them and into a keg of Stout or Barleywine etc?