how much oak chips and how long in to duplicate a cask aged beer

General Homebrew Discussion
1

i got oak chips and want to duplicate the taste of a cask aged beer, how much and how long for five gallons?

2

Here’s an excellent article, originally published in Zymurgy: Oak's Balancing Act | MoreBeer

3

cool thanks thats a good article, i made a wheat based porter that ended up being stronger and smokier and almost taste like great divide yeti and it was in the primary for 2 weeks and secondary for one im thinking about soaking the chicps in bourbon and then racking it in to another carboy for another 2 weeks, or do you think i should leave well enuff alone.

4

Why not oak half of it and see what happens? That’s the best way to find out what the wood is going to do for it.

5

I never use less than 1oz/5gal. I frequently use 2oz/5gal for aggressive oak flavor. I’d recommend oaking and booze-flavoring separately, to taste, instead of soaking the chips.

6

You can add wood character to beer with chips/cubes. But you can’t deuplicate a cask aged character because you are missing out on the “micro oxidation”. Short answer, 1-2 oz per 5 gallons. 1-2+ weeks with chips. 1-2+ months with cubes.