oak cubes

[Yob]

what do folks do with used oak chips and such? can you just let them dry, store and use again when needed?

For example, I used some for a Drambuie Stout which I'd like to do again, are they a single use item? I shouldnt think so but thought I should ask before committing a batch to them again.

 

[mje1980]

I re used my funky oak chips. I just rinsed them off, then out in some boiled water for a bit then added to another funky beer.

I plan on re using the dominoes I have for sure, put them in the oven at 100c at least for 15 mins should do it.

 

[mje1980]

With the dominoes what would people recommend, mine are roughly around 70 grams and I placed 1 in a brew 3 weeks ago.. contemplating putting another in

Only from reading around the internets, I've seen from 5g - 70g per batch. Seems 4-6 weeks seems to be recommended as the general time. Taste it around then and decide if it needs more.

Personally the beers I put these into will be beers that benefit from long ageing, so I'm looking for quite a strong flavour at bottling. The brett porter I did with chips took a while for the rum/slight oak to come through, but was worth the wait.

 

[IsonAd]

With the dominoes what would people recommend, mine are roughly around 70 grams and I placed 1 in a brew 3 weeks ago.. contemplating putting another in

How does the beer taste so far? Trying to gauge how much in a barleywine I'm about to brew. Which dominoes did you get?

 

[motch02]

I received mine off ebay it's toasted American Oak, I couldn't really taste it after 3 weeks though I boiled it before I put it in.. Not sure if that would effect the speed in which the flavour comes through

Will have another taste later this week as it's a month in now and let you know

 

[mje1980]

I just added 80g of rum soaked dominoes to a wee heavy. Going to taste at 6 weeks and then bottle if ok. I'm aiming high for the amount of dominoes but I plan on leaving this in the bottle for a good 6 months before sampling. If it's too strong a flavour just let it sit longer.

 

[IsonAd]

I just put a 25g American oak domino in a 11l barleywine. Boiled it for a minute in about 100g of water first. Will wait for a couple of weeks but just seeing the amounts you blokes put in I'm thinking I may need to add more.

 

[mje1980]

I thought I had some mould growing on top of my dominoes i have in my wee heavy. Though I'm not so sure now. There was a little white stuff where the oak is exposed to the surface, but after a few weeks it looks alright. I'm going to transfer it this week and bottle, and I think I'll do the whole batch and see what happens.

I soaked them in rum for a few weeks and added straight from the rum to the beer, so not sure if much could survive it. Though I do know brett can get right down into wood. I thought it may be brett, but there's certainly no pellicle. I'll taste when I transfer and see. I like brett but I'm hoping this will be brett free.

 

[contrarian]

I have 3 oak dominos sitting in a 10L RIS at the moment that have been there for a couple of weeks. They are starting to add a nice flavour. I probably could have used a smaller amount for longer but was running out of time before I will have to bottle this one. To sterilise I put them in a microwave safe bowl and nuked for 2 minutes as suggested by cortez the killer, seems to have done the job, either that or nothing could survive in the ~9% ABV.

I am certainly keen to try this in some other beers, proably also high gravity beers that will benefit from some bottle age. I suspect in a lighter flavoured beer that it would be easy to overpower the more delicate flavours with the oak.

 

[mje1980]

I checked my records and noticed it was around 6 weeks in there, so I bottled about 10 bottles. I looked at the dominoes and they looked ok, so I cleaned them up and put them in the oven for an hour to sanitise.

Next time I'm not going to soak them in rum. My wee heavy tastes very rummy, and I'd like to use some un soaked.


I'm bringing a bottle to ginos to sample. Probably a bit early to try but I'm keen to see how it turns out. So far the samples taste nice, just rummy.

 

[Markbeer]

Boys i used some dominoes a few weeks ago in an RIS.

Was weird. The beer had completely finished. Added the dominoes after steaming them for five minutes. They seemed to get some whitestuff around them. I pulled one out and it looked like CO2 was collecting on them. i bottled and will drink one tomorrow. I used 4 in 20 litres. I couldnt taste oak after 2 weeks. Will report back.

 

[IsonAd]

I've put about 40g of dominoes in a 10l 12% barleywine for about 3-4 weeks. Can't taste any effect yet. Next time I'm going to split or snap the cubes somehow to expose more of the wood.

 

[mje1980]

Boys i used some dominoes a few weeks ago in an RIS.
Was weird. The beer had completely finished. Added the dominoes after steaming them for five minutes. They seemed to get some whitestuff around them. I pulled one out and it looked like CO2 was collecting on them. i bottled and will drink one tomorrow. I used 4 in 20 litres. I couldnt taste oak after 2 weeks. Will report back.

This is pretty much what I noticed mark, white stuff. I thought it was mould for a while but not sure now.


I think the oak flavours take a long time to meld in. That brett porter i took to les place took a good 6 months plus for the rum to calm down and let some oak through. With the brett and other flavours though it's hard to pick it up by itself.

Put one away for drinking at the 12 month mark.

 

[mje1980]

Maybe next time I'll do an old ale, but just Maris otter, no spec malts. Then add 100g or something silly for a few months while it ages. Then see if it adds anything.

 

[contrarian]

I've had a commercial example of a pale ale that was oaked and the wood was quite prominent.

The RIS I have a few dominoes in at the moment has definitely been developing a different character but it is more along the lines of vanilla from my tasting. I've also tried the Moa RIS that was aged in used pinot casks and that had a distinctive woody taste.

What I am aiming for in the RIS is a characteristic that will round the prominent malt bitterness and high alcohol content rather than being a dominant flavour. Am also planning on aging a few bottles to see how they develop over time.

 

[Markbeer]

Next time I use them I think I will go with my favourite Old Ale recipe, stolen from Tony, and use a little treacle.

And add 8 dominoes with holes drilled out for a month.