A few years ago, I listened to a Sunday Session episode on using Oak. I found the following set of notes in an old e-mail I sent myself. Given that the episode was 4 hours long, you could probably save yourself some time by just skimming my notes, below.
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The- ... ea-Comfort
I recall using the notes from this to oak a cider I made, using medium toast Hungarian oak. It worked really well and added a lot of body to an otherwise thin cider.
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:Oak Tea:
1 cup of just boiling water
Oak chips
Steep for awhile (1-2 hrs?)
Taste tea -- should give a good idea of the characteristics you'll get in your cider/beer from the oak
:Toast Levels:
Lighter Toast = More Aromatic, woodsier taste
Medium Toast = (middle of the road), still a lot of oak flavor
Heavy Toast = Sweeter, caramel, maple syrup flavors, very little spicy aromaticity. The initial flavors will be less assertive, but the finish will be much more roasty/toasty/charred sugar and heavy vanilla. Bourbon has a lot these flavors.
American Heavy Toast will give off a lot of the vanilla and toasty flavors found in bourbon.
:National Differences:
American Oak = simple
French & Hungarian = complex, full, tanniny, etc.
If you have a lot of heavy, dark grains (porter, stout, etc.), you may not want the complexity of French/Hungarian oak. Instead simple American oak can provide a subtle vanilla background and a rounded sweetness to help meld the flavors. In a lighter beer, the complexity of French/Hungarian oaks might be welcome.
:Examples:
1. Belgian Dubbel
- Very difficult to detect oak. Very little oak aromaticity and nose. Subtle oak characteristics in the finish and mouthfeel.
- French medium oak, added during fermentation. Yeast removed vanilla nose, but left the subtle spiciness, mouthfeel, and finish.
- Low level of oak in the ferment brings about a great finish and mid-palate (which will, in turn, boost the maltiness and soft hop flavors).
- Oak will add longevity to a beer.
- Did not want Heavy oak b/c he didn't want the caramel flavors and wanted to retain the structure of the medium oak (heavy oak will drop off in the finish).
- 1 oz per 5 gal
- Overview: Barely taste the oak, but gives an awesome aftertaste and roundness at the end. (Most people don't realize oak can do this in a beer.)
2. English Brown
- Can smell the oak in the aroma.
- Brewer wanted more spiciness due to the darker grains presented.
- Medium+ Hungarian oak, added post-fermentation.
- Round, full body through mid-palate, as well as a vanilla, maple finish. The oak adds an additional complexity so the brown ale isn't just caramel malt on the finish.
- 1 oz per 5 gal.
- Length: to taste (1-2 weeks)
- Age for another 2 months after the oaking. ("4 weeks out, this is not going to be a great beer. It needs the time.")
- Cubes, not chips
- 1 oz of wood, 1/4 cup water, microwave just to a boil, let it sit, re-microwave to a boil, cool then dump everything into the carboy.
- Don't worry about the internal portion of the wood -- it's sterile from the toasting.
- Overview: oaking really brought out the malt character; could smell the oak in the beginning and taste it at the end but in the middle all it did was accentuate the malt; the finish was spicy and complex from the Hungarian oak (to complement the brown ale crystal malt sweetness)
3. English IPA
- "oakiest"
- Well integrated with the floral hoppiness of the EKGs. The woodsey, perfumey oak character balances well with the floral character of the dry hopped EKG. (During boil: 8 min, 4 min, then dry hop and oak addition post-fermentation.)
- Medium French Oak
- Lingering mouthfeel from the structure of the oak.
- Oak character really helps emphasize the maltiness.
- Overview: oak throughout; it complemented the aroma, flavor, finish, and mouthfeel of the IPA.
:When to add:
- During active fermentation - yeast metabolize vanilla. To pull down the lacto-vanillin character, add it during the primary fermentation.
- Post-fermentation - sterilize in the microwave, add the liquid and the cubes (not chips?), let it sit for 1-2 weeks, then age for 2 months.
- 1 oz per 5 gal.
:Notes:
- Cubes, not chips, for higher quality oak
- Staves? (brand?)
- Pick up another keg just for oak'd beers to enable the 2+ month aging periods required to really bring it together
- Stouts/Porter = American Heavy Toast (add in the ferment and leave it through the post-fermentation period for 1-2 weeks)
- Rouse daily in any type of fermentation to keep sulfur production low to improve mouthfeel. Sedimentation at any point, will result in trapped sulfur compounds. Regular agitation during the first 4 days of fermentation will get it up and blown out. Agitation will help improve oak compound take-up and blending (reducing aging cycle time).
- Blending cubes is perfectly fine and one should not hesitate to do that. Just make sure you think through the additions.
- If possible, as an experiment break up a single batch into 2 or 3 fermenters and add different oaks to each for a comparison/contrast exercise.
- Be Patient! Those flavors will take awhile to come together.
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