wood chips

[gpbrew]

Hi has anybody tried adding oak wood chips during the first fermintation I'd like to have some feed back on the idea please as it interests me.
Thank you kindly
Gp

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

It is a common technique. It yields a more smooth oak flavor as so much of the character is driven off during fermentation. Kind of the same thing as adding dry hops to the primary. You get what you want, just a more subtle version of it.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

Yup, the current batch I'm drinking had French oak chips added to it in the primary after 7 days.

I soaked them in whisky for a week, placed them in a hop ball and lowered it into the primary for a week or so before bottling. Others oven-bake them for 20mins or so to santitize.

If i were to do it again, I'd use more oak as the oakiness was barely noticeable. I had read that the oak can easily be overpowering so I erred on the side of caution and used only ~0.5oz (compared to the recommended amounts of 1-2oz depending on whether it's French, American, spirals, chips etc) for 5 gallons.

 

[gpbrew]

Hi all,
thank you both, I'll definitely give it a go, fantastic food for thought. Also any thoughts on recipes for a banana beer similar to wells banana bread beer. I'd like to try it with bananas in the mash maybe with a little bit of vanilla.
Thank you kindly,
GP

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

I fancy myself a know-er of all things homebrewing. But I have no idea how they make Banana Bread beer. Hopefully one day I'll get the chance to pick the brewer's brain about it. You always hear "that beer tastes just like...." and it's usually close. But that beer tastes EXACTLY like banana bread.

 

[Cyclman]

Putting my Oak Spirals into primary on Friday (Quad). With 8oz Maker's. Adding Cherries to secondary in a month. Looking forward to drinking it in the winter.

 

[gpbrew]

I know the banana bread beer is certainly a gooden, I'm definitely going to play around with it to come up with the recipe, I'll put it on here when and if I come up with a good one, I have seen some recipes on here recently which I'm going to give a go and see how it goes, who knows that may be the brew that I try adding oak chips to.