I have a Porter at the end of primary fermentation and I was wondering how many ounces of oak chips should be used in secondary and for how long? It’s my first time using oak chips and I plan on adding some bourbon at bottling, so I would want the oak to be able to come thru even with the addition of bourbon. I checked other posts in teh Ingredients category and didn’t find anything relevant.
Anyone have any experience with Oak and Bourbon?
Cheers!
I’ve used oak chips about 5 times in different brews. The beers have ranged in styles from lambics, brown ales, amber lagers and even IPA’s. I think you’ll find that the oak chips impart a different weird oak taste than do oak cubes. However, I found that in one weeks time you will begin to have pronounced oak flavor in the beer.
You could soak the chips in bourbon and add them to the beer (this will sterilise them too). Then you just need to sample until it has the character you want. As the previous poster said, after a week you should have quite a noticeable oaky character, but you can age longer to preference.
If you plan on aging the beer I recommend cubes over chips. Chips are great for beers that you only intend to age for 1-2 weeks in the secondary. But you really don’t want to leave the beer on the chips for longer than this. With cubes you need to age the beer longer, 1-3 or more months depending on how much you use or how much oak you want. The oak comes through slower and, IMO, is a little more “polished” than the chips.
Good Advice - I plan on just aging in secondary for a week or so. Next time I will try the cubes. The LHBS that I go to only had the chips available.
Thanks!
+1 I would go with cubes if at all possible. 3 - 4 oz per 5 gallons. minimum of 5 weeks exposure.
Silly thought, these beer soaked cubes… can you use em in a smoker afterwards? Rack your beer, wash your yeast, bbq with the wood cubes. Looks good on paper, not sure how it would actually work out though.
I have a RIS that is in the secondary now. I plan to add some oak cubes for a couple of months before I bottle.
You might be on to something - its worth a shot!
Sure that would work! But, I’m partial to hickory smoke.
Sharp cheddar is really good when oak smoked…
I don’t have the ability to cold smoke but that sounds awesome!