T.D.
Hop Whore
- Joined
- 28/4/05
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I have a family background in the wine industry and often see things that make me think "hmm, I wonder if you could do that in brewing too..."
We ferment quite a bit of our wine in oak, as opposed to s/s fermenters. I tried a chardonnay last weekend that had been fermented in oak and had been in barrel for just 3 weeks and the flavours were EXTREMELY noticable. Bare in mind this was brand new oak which is very resiny, and these flavours will fall away much faster than if the wine was matured in oak for around 6 months. But, as usual, I digress... older barrels are much more subtle and I am just wondering if anybody here has tried or knows of anybody else who has tried fermenting beer in oak? Obviously some styles would be better suited than others. Perhaps a porter or something else dark would be best.
Any thoughts / opinions / interesting stories on the topic???
We ferment quite a bit of our wine in oak, as opposed to s/s fermenters. I tried a chardonnay last weekend that had been fermented in oak and had been in barrel for just 3 weeks and the flavours were EXTREMELY noticable. Bare in mind this was brand new oak which is very resiny, and these flavours will fall away much faster than if the wine was matured in oak for around 6 months. But, as usual, I digress... older barrels are much more subtle and I am just wondering if anybody here has tried or knows of anybody else who has tried fermenting beer in oak? Obviously some styles would be better suited than others. Perhaps a porter or something else dark would be best.
Any thoughts / opinions / interesting stories on the topic???