Using oak chips in brewing

[kalbarluke]

A friend of mine makes spirits and has given me some oak chips. Just wondering if anyone has used oak chips as part of their beer brewing process. I am planning on making a stout or porter and adding some oak chips as part of the secondary fermentation. I don't have any idea how much to use or if their use will screw my beer. Any advice would be great.

 

[Grainer]

Just make sure you treat the wood first from what I hear.. going to use some in a beer i will plan to make soon.. I want to make a smoked porter

 

[fattox]

I did a test run that's currently about 4 days into bottle conditioning - 10 days on american oak chips. Imperial IPA. Keen to see how it comes out or whether the oak has lent it any flavouring. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Ninegrain]

I recommend roasting the chips in the oven first. It will sterilise them, freshen them up like one would with spices in cooking, and if you wanted it nice and smoky then a bit extra roasting may be the go. Never done it myself but it makes sense and have a had good reports from a guy that makes his own bourbon.


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[fcmcg]

I soaked some French oak an some American oak in bourbon for 2 weeks before putting them in a grain bag and adding them to a keg. For what it's worth, unfortunately the French one had a slight lacto taste but I suspect that it was the base beer and not the actual oak that caused the fault . These two kegs ( 9 litre ) were stored in ambient temp. Maybe I should have fridged them ?
The advantage , or so I thought , of doing this is could sample and draw out the oak when I thought that I had reached a suitable level .
At this stage , the American one seems okay and is tasting nice and woody. The base beer was a robust porter .

 

[manticle]

Have added oak to various sourfunks I've made. Toasted in the oven first. Added some to a non sour once which was laden with brett. Not sure of the brett came from the oak so next time I would steam first, dry then toast.

Fench oak chips.

For amounts I was a bit rough but easier to taste and add more than remove it overdone. I'd go 1g/L and adjust or pull a sample and oak that then upscale when you know how much vs how long you prefer.

Also Tony experimented with oaking NC wort - thread might be of interest. Search and I will do the same.

 

[manticle]

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/66550-no-chill-cube-oaking/