Using Oak Whisky Barrel Chips - My Thoughts...

I was recently given a bag of wonderful oak cask chips from Scott at Cooper Workshop up in Ayrshire. They take used whisky casks from all over Scotland, break them down and feed them through “Bertha” their 2001 Heizohack wood chipper.

Usually the first thing I would do is throw the chips onto charcoal and smoke some meat, but, I’ve always wanted to try making an oaked beer and this is the perfect opportunity.

Oaking beer is nothing new. Innis and Gunn have been selling oak cask aged beer very successfully for the last decade or more and several other craft breweries age their beer in used oak barrels.

It would be impractical for most homebrewers to try aging beer in used casks. You’d need to brew a huge batch to fill it but also the logistics of storing and moving it around are far from easy.

Instead, most homebrewers will add a small amount of oak chips or oak cubes to their beer to the same effect.

Having read up on this, it is clear that nobody really agrees on the best technique.

The variables are:

what kind of oak to use (regular chips, whisky barrels etc chip, chunks, cubes etc)
how much oak to use (I have seen anything from 20g to over 500g for a 20L batch)
how to sanitise the oak (see below)
when to add it to the beer (primary, secondary & keg all suggested)
how long to leave it in the beer (I’ve seen a couple of days through to 6 months)
how long to leave the beer to condition afterwards (anything from a week to a year)

So far, pretty much everything I’ve read suggests different approaches. I opted to go middle of the road on most variables and then I can tweak next time.

Taking what I could from the various websites and articles I decided on the following approach:

Jamaican rum cask oak chips (this is what Scott set me)
50g for a 20L brew
Steam sanitised
Added to the secondary
Leave for 1 week then test
Condition for 1 month then test

I had the perfect beer on the go – my Bad Santa Christmas Beer. It is a 7% rich, malty brew with 5 different grain, maple syrup, cinnamon sticks vanilla pods. Last year I added some cherry syrup to the secondary but this year I’m going with the oak chips.

One aspect I was particularly nervous about was the sanitation.

Options as I see it are:

No sanitation – Probably okay, but do you want to risk a batch of beer on it?
Boil - good to sanitise but I thought too much of the good flavours would leech out into the water
Soak in Star-San Sanitiser- impossible to know how much star-san would be soaked into the oak, or how much oak wold leech out into the solution. Also just didn’t feel right!
Soak in bourbon – I like this idea. People soak the chips in bourbon for a week which sanitises as well as adding some great flavours. I did worry whether the bourbon would be strong enough to kill off ALL nasties but I reckon it would be fine. I did not choose this route though as I already have whisky barrel oak chips and did not want to overpower the subtle aromas and flavours I already have.
Oven roast – good and would add a toasty flavour. As with the bourbon soaking, I did not want to alter the flavour of the chips I have
Steam – I chose this option. It meant the least amount of flavour would be lost and it would not affect the flavour of the chips. I chose to gently steam for 15 mins. Then allowed the chips to cool down in the steamer before adding to the beer.

I steamed the chips in a muslin bag with a metal spoon added to help the chips sink into the beer.

As I write, the chips are 3 days into their week with the beer. I may sample it after 5 days to see what’s happening.

I’ll update this after Christmas with the results of this tasty sounding experiment.


Here’s the revised Bad Santa recipe. I’ve upped the ABV this year from last time I made it as I have a little more time for it to condition.
Brewer: Woodstock
Batch Size: 19.00 l Style: Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer (21B)
Boil Size: 29.11 l Style Guide: BJCP 2008
Color: 24.6 EBC Equipment: Pot (13 Gal/50 L) – BIAB
Bitterness: 23.2 IBUs Boil Time: 60 min
Est OG: 1.065 (15.9° P) Mash Profile: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Est FG: 1.013 SG (3.3° P) Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
ABV: 6.9% Taste Rating: 30.0


Ingredients Amount Name Type #
4.37 kg Pilsner (2 Row) UK (2.0 EBC) Grain 1
374.5 g Caramel/Crystal Malt – 20L (39.4 EBC) Grain 2
374.5 g Caramunich Malt (110.3 EBC) Grain 3
374.5 g Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 4
22.8 g Black (Patent) Malt (985.0 EBC) Grain 5
374.5 g Maple Syrup (69.0 EBC) Grain 6
27.4 g Northern Brewer [8.5%] – Boil 60 min Hops 7
0.30 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10 min) Misc 8
1.00 Vanilla Bean (Boil 10 min) Misc 9
3.00 Cinnamon Stick (Boil 10 min) Misc 10
1 pkgs Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004) Yeast 11

I used this kind of thing a few months back, I soaked my chips in whiskey.

Just to add another point of view here. I used some French medium toast oak chips in my latest mead. I did not steam or soak them. I just dumped them into the FV and racked the mead onto them. I left it in there for 3 weeks and tasted it. It was oaky. I left it for one more week because I planned a long aging and figured it would diminish over time.

That was back in February. I had my first bottle of it last month and the oak has faded but it's still in the forefront. You definitely want to taste frequently when using oak!

Not sure if doing it to beer is the same as wine, but the wine kits i do you put the oak in at the start and then leave behind when first racking.

puravida said:

Boil - good to sanitise but I thought too much of the good flavours would leech out into the water

Click to expand...

What about adding it to the last 15 mins of the boil in a bag then transferring to the primary and secondary/cask if needed.

Watching this with interest. I wanted to go n get a small oak pin to do some ageing with but gave up on the idea due to cost.

The only other option was to buy a pin of old peculiar and just keep the pin but i can't stand old pec and certainly couldn't drink it in 3 days

To echo some of the comments above, I've tried this a few times. Things I've found;

Oak chips work faster than barrel chunks,

Soaking in Whisky/Rum works well as sanitation, just tip the whole lot in as a lot of oak flavours leech into the spirit,

Taste regularly, doesn't take long for oak to overwhelm your beer and your left with an oaky mess!

Oak makes a beer taste more dry so use it in a sweet beer. I'm currently oaking some porter with a FG of 1.020.

To avoid risking the whole batch I just racked around 5L into a DJ with the bourbon barrel chunks. That way I can compare oaked, non oaked versions.






Best of luck T

I've never tried this in a beer, but like GAZ I have used oak chips in wine numerous times and never steralised. I just put them in with the initial fermentation and they get left behind when I rack. The time in the FV can be anything from 2 weeks to 2 months. Never had a bacteria problem, but wine is usually a higher ABV than beer, although the wines are normally around 12%. Whether this makes a difference I don't know, but were I to try this in a beer I would just chuck them in.

How did you get on with this? Any tasting yet? Anyone else done something similiar? (A search brought up this thread from December and it seems open ended...)

I'd like to oak an ESB in a couple of brews' time - something like Old Crafty Hen would hit the nail on the head.

Whisky-soaked oak chips in secondary would be my preferred option I think, with regular testing. Is a bag needed?

I suppose if someone has a tried and tested quantity to put in the boil for a 23L batch, I might just go for that and avoid secondary racking. What would be a conservative guesstimate at 10 or 15 mins?

Must say I've not done an oaked beer I've really been happy with. The porter is still in the DJ with the barrel chunks, I've added the dregs of my Brett spiked triple, so will probably need to leave it for a few months. I would worry about ruining a whole batch by adding it to the boil. If you do I would go with a "less is more" approach. T

Sorry - forgot to report back.
I ended up leaving the chips for just over two weeks and then left the beer to condition for another fortnight. Ideally I would have waited longer but I wanted it ready for Xmas.

The result was fantastic. Could not have been happier. The oak gave a mellow warmth and interesting spice to the beer that matched the character perfectly. I think the amount used was spot on too. Not overpowering and you need to be told the oak in there to spot it. The method worked well too - no sign of any contamination whatsoever. Very pleased.

I still have some of that beer on tap and it is tasting even better not than it did at Christmas. I'll make a note to brew and age this beer earlier next time round.

For the record you can age on chips for practically as long as you want. A lot of the craft commercial examples (Siren/Evil Twin/Brewdog are nuts on it at the moment) are aged for months in barrels.

Thanks for posting. I think I'm going to do a bit oaking and this has been useful. :thumb:

I think that Oaking in a barrel is quite different to oak chips due to the surface area being so much grater with chips. I've never had the chance to oak with a barrel but have screwed up several beers with chips. Barrel chunks seem a bit more predictable. I would advocate use small amounts and rack off the chips when the taste seems right.

Asalpaws said:

but have screwed up several beers with chips. Barrel chunks seem a bit more predictable. I would advocate use small amounts and rack off the chips when the taste seems right.

Click to expand...

+1

I put 50g of Jack Daniels chips bought from B&Q , soaked in a cheap Bourbon in a 23l batch in September...and still don't taste right.



Andy

I'm gonna try this but making an extract porter and using Laphroaig single malt. Yummy!