Jim Beam Oak Chips?

So the other day I picked up a box of Jim Beam oak barrel chips from Our local Range store intended for use as smoking chips on the barbecue, it's since occurred to me that these could make an interesting addition to a kit brew, I am a big fan of Innis ang Gunn beers and have been looking at the youngs Oaked Rum Ale as one of my next purchases but if I could use these oak chips to mod a more basic kit that would be interesting too!

So first off is this a stupid idea and if not any suggestions about how they could be used? For example what sort of kit would be a good base and at what point and for how long should they go into the brew roughly?

This question pops up on a regular basis, 'can I put some oak chip me mate gave me/I have lying around/etc?

First off it seems when adding oak chips they have to be the right sort of oak. Of course you have to make sure the chips haven't been treated with any chemicals that will leech into your beer. Secondly another member stated during one of the previous threads that the oak can only be either American or French oak - so I'm not sure if you could realistically put barbacue oak chips in beer.


I've never added oak chips to beer but during my researches into adding flavourings to beer adding oak chips was amongst it.

The next consideration is how big the 'chips' are and where your going to add them. Some kits come with 'chips' but they are in fact more like saw dust. This is because they only going to be in the beer for a couple of weeks in the primary FV so the sawdust having a large surface area will be able to impart the flavours your after. If the chips are actually chip size they need to go in a barrel with your beer at conditioning time and need to stay in there with the beer for weeks if not months so as to impart the flavours - again this is because of surface area.

As to what beer your should put them in? Adding oak chips is so you can mimic the effect of barrel ageing beer in wooden casks/barrels. If I was going to do this I'd be inclined to add them to a darker beer also a stronger beer if your going to barrel age for weeks and months.

tbh, personally I'd be very wary of adding chips that aren't specifically sold to be added to beer from a home brew supplier

Thanks for your very detailed answer, as the wood is from bourbon ageing barrels I'd be fairly happy that it could be suitable for this use but whether or not it has been treated with anything would definitely need checking....

If it's from barrels it won't have been treated. What quantity do you have?

@MyQul's answer is spot on although I think mild oak ageing of a pale ale can work a treat although they don't need as long as darker ales. I've got a little cask and use that to do a litre at a time and it usually adds an interesting twist.

DoctorMick said:

If it's from barrels it won't have been treated. What quantity do you have?

@MyQul's answer is spot on although I think mild oak ageing of a pale ale can work a treat although they don't need as long as darker ales. I've got a little cask and use that to do a litre at a time and it usually adds an interesting twist.

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I agree and think any style of ale could be used with oak chips to some extent or other but as the OP has chips that come from bourbon barrels I felt a darker ale might be better suited

No problem with the quantity its a 600g box the chips are pretty big but these could be chopped/ground up to a finer consistency. I was thinking a simple 1 can kit like a Coopers might be a good starting point for experimentation :hmm:?

I would agree with making them smaller, and put them in a hop bag or something similar. I've never done this but if you go as fine as sawdust that could clog things nicely if you don't have some way of keeping it all together I would have thought!

ManseMasher said:

I would agree with making them smaller, and put them in a hop bag or something similar. I've never done this but if you go as fine as sawdust that could clog things nicely if you don't have some way of keeping it all together I would have thought!

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.At a guess, If you ground the chips up to saw dust consistency they just would gradually sink to the bottom and and become part of the trub- I basing this thought on the floury stuff you get at the bottom of the grain bag, which is about the same consency as saw dust. That just eventually sinks to the bottom of the FV too. But like you I've never done this so can't be sure