Using Oak Chips

[murrayr]

hey all,
i'm planning on making a christmas ale...probably for next year and would ideally age for a while in an oak barrel....i don't own an oak barrel.
was thinking i would throw oak chips into the secondary instead. how long would i need to do that for? and would i just chuck straight in or....i dunno, what are ya'll thinking?
cheers, murray

 

[matti]

I am only responding as I will experiment with Oak chips in the future in beer.

If you keg, I have, with recently acquired knowledge, learnt to use 1g/L.
It says so on the bag
How long you have to leave it in keg/secondary is totally up to you.
4 weeks is probably a good starting point.
Drop sterilised oak into keg and fill them up.

I used to age Spirits in barrel chips from Kentucky. The alcohol present in spirits would draw out the caramelised flavour in 3-4 weeks. The longer you left it to site the woodier the flavour.
After filtering the chips out it used to take about 2-3 weeks past that to mellow out. Without use of essences that spoil the product, I managed to produce a very smooth Kentucky Bourbon whisky.
If people drank it with coke as most do it was rather popular.

As you mentioned, secondary is an option or maybe the only way if you don't keg.
Ensure your chips/cubes are sterile and just be patient.

The pamphlet I got gives examples of porters, stouts and IPA.
More like drinks for X-mas in July.

I will look out for this thread in future and hopefully report back in a year or so LOL

Matti

 

[murrayr]

thanks man, i guess i'll just sterilise them and throw 'em in the fermenter for a month.
while on the subject, what about using coriander, cinnamon and orange peel during the boil?
how long should they be in there and how much?

 

[matti]

thanks man, i guess i'll just sterilise them and throw 'em in the fermenter for a month.
while on the subject, what about using coriander, cinnamon and orange peel during the boil?
how long should they be in there and how much?

That does sound exciting but you better get some advice from some better versed with those ideas.
Maybe Search some of Docs recipes on the forum.
He likes to make Rhubarb beer.

 

[murrayr]

i took yer advice and searched up some other recipes.
ingredients such as cinnamon and coriander seem to be used sparingly and very late in the boil, ie. 1 or 2 tspn for less than 10 minutes.
thanks for the advice matti
cheers

 

[boingk]

Hey there marrayr. I used oak chips in a porter once, to the tune of 150g thrown in the boil for 5 minutes and left in the fermenter for 2 weeks until bottling. It was absolute overkill.

I'd say 1g/L to be pretty much spot on. Hope it goes well!

- boingk

 

[Beerbuoy]

On the last Jamil, Can You Brew it podcast they used oak cubes in a Farm house ale they cloned. Their opinion was the oak can be a little overpowering if its just thrown straight in. The solution to this was to boil the oak cubes in water in the microwave fo 30 seconds. This takes out the tanins and makes the flavour much more mellow. I haven't tried oak myself but after listening to their show I'm going to give it a go.

Any suggestions on what style of beer?

I'm thinking maybe an ESB. I'll do a 40lt batch and put oak in only one keg for a comparison.

Cheers