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Oak chunks

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 1:25 pm
by monty1
I'm considering using some oak whiskey barrel chunks to give a little more depth to an ale, I found these former whiskey barrels at malt miller (http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=550) and thought they might be interesting to try out.

I was planning on putting these in during dry hopping, anyone tried this? Any successes or failures?

Re: Oak chunks

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 4:26 pm
by Capn Ahab
I'm not sure oak flavour and dry-hopping would go together, as oak adds an nice aged roundness to the malt character with vanilla (especially from a whisky barrel I expect) and spice, while dry-hopping is all about fresh hop flavour.

Also if you do dry-hop, wait until you have taken the dry hops out then rack onto the wood. you may need to leave it for several months before you get the right level of oak character in the beer.

Re: Oak chunks

Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:32 pm
by I_used_to_brew
The Range were selling a bag of Jim Beam barrel chunks for a few quid from the BBQ section, if you want a some to try then feel free to grab some off me. I'd probably sanitise in some potable spirit for 48 hours before you use them.

But, it's not likely a dry hopped beer would be compatible with Oaking really, like Mark said. Whatever takes a year in an Oak cask will happen in a month on chunks - simply due to the increased surface area. Dry hopping is all about fresh zingy hop.