Aging on hardwoods other than oak?

[jds]

Oak and beech get a lot of use in brewing for aging beer. I was just curious if anybody's played around with aging on different woods. It would seem that hickory, pecan, or apple might provide some different flavors. Mesquite's right out, though.

Any feedback?

 

[scinerd3000]

i met someone who uses applewood to smoke his grain but i dont know about the others. Someone should sacrifice a small batch for the cause and age some 1/gal batches on cubes to see which tastes best! EXPERIMENT!!! yay

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I use apple wood and hickory for smoking grains. I would be afraid of using them as an aging wood.

White oak (not red oak) and beech are very water and rot resistant and do not leech too much into water or decompose readily. I don't know about the other woods, but would not risk a batch on it.

 

[k1v1116]

I think birch might work, I know that birch sap/syrup is drinkable so maybe maple as well.

 

[HenryHill]

Alder is the wood that German smoked grain is made from, which is supposedly similar to birch, in that they both have catkins. I don't think MI has alder.

'Beechwood aging' has had me wondering if that is worth the hassle, and I have access to a lot of beech.

I have also wondered about apple wood for aging, too.

To me, oak is for bourbon.

 

[jds]

I have ten gallons of pale ale fermenting now. This might be a good candidate for some side-by-side aging tests. I have plenty of 2l plastic bottles around...

 

[scinerd3000]

I have ten gallons of pale ale fermenting now. This might be a good candidate for some side-by-side aging tests. I have plenty of 2l plastic bottles around...

if you do that may i sugest cutting the wood into cubes. I hear they leech much slower that way vs chips or god forbid powder....

 

[OCDB]

'Beechwood aging' has had me wondering if that is worth the hassle, and I have access to a lot of beech.

When I went on a Budweiser brewery tour they said the beechwood wasn't used for any flavoring purposes, in fact, it was used because it imparted no actual flavor. Instead is purpose was to provide for a greater surface area in conditioning which aided carbonation. Don't know how that works exactly but thats what they said.

Anyone else know?

 

[jds]

if you do that may i sugest cutting the wood into cubes. I hear they leech much slower that way vs chips or god forbid powder....

I'll probably end up using chips, because hardwood chips are common for use in smoking/bbq.

I've aged on oak cubes before, so I think the trick will be estimating the dose of chips to try to keep the surface area / beer volume ratio around what I'm familiar with (2.5 Oz Stavin cubes per 5 gal.).

 

[Danek]

DFH use palo santo wood for aging their Palo Santo Marron. I didn't much care for it when I had it, but I'd like to try adding some palo santo to a gallon of my next IPA to see what flavors it imparts. There was a thread about this before which should be traceable via the 'search' button, but I think it was possible to get palo santo via eBay.

 

[bmarley5780]

Cherry wood....mmmmmmmm....

 

[Beernip]

They used to cask beer in palm-wood from a coconut tree. Not sure what flavors that would give.