Rum Barrel Aged Porter

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OBeck

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Hi Folks,


I was actually hoping for a bit of advice.. I'm currently brewing a Porter that I want to add Rum barrel oak chips to, I've read so much conflicting information through various different forums and publications so thought i'd see if there was any consensus here.

Brew day was on Saturday, I brewed a half batch (about 14L into Primary), I bought 100g of old Rum Barrel chips from Grape and Grain, toasted them in a pan and then soaked them in about 200ml of Rum to just cover them. My thoughts were to then take them out of the rum and put them into the fermenter after 12-14 days when fermentation has finished. I'm not after an overpowering rum and oak taste, more just some notes to add subtle complexity in the background, which brings me to my questions;

Will 100g chips, soaked in rum for a fortnight be overpowering? (I was thinking even taking 50g out of the rum?)
Would you take the beer out of Primary, rack into a secondary and then put the chips in?
How long would you leave the chips in the beer before bottling?

So many questions! Any help would be awesome!

I was actually hoping for a bit of advice? I'm currently brewing a Porter that I want to add Rum barrel oak chips to and thought I'd ask a man that knows a thing or two! I've been getting stacks of conflicting information through various different forums and publications.

Brew day was on Saturday, I brewed a half batch (about 14L into Primary), I bought 100g of old Rum Barrel chips from Grape and Grain, toasted them in a pan and then soaked them in about 200ml of Rum to just cover them. My thoughts were to then take them out of the rum and put them into the fermenter after 12-14 days when fermentation has finished. I'm not after an overpowering rum and oak taste, more just some notes to add subtle complexity in the background, which brings me to my questions;

Will 100g chips, soaked in rum for a fortnight be overpowering? (I was thinking even taking 50g out of the rum?)
Would you take the beer out of Primary, rack into a secondary and then put the chips in?
How long would you leave the chips in the beer before bottling?

So many questions! Any help would be awesome mate, I'll send you one when we pop in if it's any good!

Cheers,

Oliver
 
I have just finished a stout at about 8% and added 40g of oak soaked in bourbon for a week at around day 9,left in primary for about 12
days and it was noticeable but not too overpowering,chucked the bourbon in to.
 
I just added 100g of boubon soaked french oak chips to a RIS... I intend on leaving it in secondary for 6-12 months... I also added some brett, so my intentions may be very different to yours.
 
My RIS is still in the fv so too early to say but I used 100g toasted in the oven then soaked in rum for a week. Oak staves added to the cube and boiling wort run on top if them and "aged" for 3 months before fermenting. As I say early days but the gravity samples taste good, not overpowering oak but definitely there.
 
I'd say 100g is pushing it BUT - oaked beers need time for all the flavours to meld.
What may overpower in 2 months will be amazing in one year.
Do it, leave it, do more.
 
I brewed a porter and I racked it onto 50g of rum chips (that I had soaked in 200ml of spiced rum for 6 days first) in a 23litre batch, I didn't take the chips out of the rum before racking either. I left it on there for 8 days before bottling. Result was nice almost red wine type of oak flavour to start with. The more I left it the more the chocolate and roast flavours came through. I was told by some judges that it was too roasty for a porter, but a good beer none the less. I'd suggest even adding some vanilla in with the chips and maybe even some lactose to the wort for a nice mouth feel.
 
Awesome, thanks for all your help! I've just racked it into secondary and added 50g of the chips, I'm planning on bottling after 2 weeks and then leaving them to mellow. We'll see how we get on and I'll post pics!

Cheers Guys.
 
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