Wood Aged Beer without aging in oak

Beer Recipes
1

Help me make sure I’m not missing something obvious with my thinking…  I brewed a robust porter, it is now aging in a keg while I’m on extended travel away from home.  When I return home I’ll have about three days to get the porter properly carbonated, bottled, and submitted for a competition I’d like to enter.  I really want to enter a beer as a Wood Aged beer (reasoning is a different story altogether).  Obviously with 3 days, there isn’t enough time to drop some oak cubes in a keg and get the wood aged flavor profile I’m looking for.  So, as an alternative here’s what I’m considering.  Taking some oak cubes, steeping them for 5-10 mins in near boiling water, and using that ‘oak tea’ to flavor the porter in a few bottles.  I can play around with 1 - 2 oz samples and scale up to 12 oz bottles.  No, its not the same as aging the beer with oak cubes.  But, will adding the oak tea get me somewhat close to a wood aged beer?

I recall an older BN Session episode where they interviewed someone (his name escapes me) indepth about oak.  He mentioned hot steeping oak chips or cubes and drinking / smelling the oak tea was a good way of learning what flavor / aroma profile that type of oak would contribute.  Is my logic flawed?  Something I’m missing?

Thanks,

Jeff

2

I am concerned you will end up with an oak tea that tastes like lumber rather than the smooth vanilla/caramel/spice flavor you want from oak. I can’t tell you the reason why it happens but having boiled oak chips and tasted the water it has a lumber flavor and a very dry tannin feel. It’s not something I would want in a beer. I don’t know whether it is the temperature, the lack of alcohol extracting other flavor compounds, or just the short contact time that pulls the worst out of the oak and leaves behind all the good stuff.

I’m not a big fan of oak chips but if oak has to go in the beer I’d rather add oak chips to the keg for three days.

3

This might help.
http://www.ahaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/presentations/2011/2011%20-%20Aging%20on%20Exotic%20Wood%20-%20Wayne%20Wambles.pdf