Oak Aging Survey

[JR_Brewer]

Hey brewers, get out those brew logs! If you've brewed using oak chips before (no barrel aging, please), please take the survey below.

Here's a little background. Here on the forum, plenty of people have posted their opinion on how to oak a beer, including how much oak, how long, what beers, etc. But I'd like to gather a sufficient set of data to provide some general guidelines to brewers. This means I want data points, i.e., batches where oak was used and the results. If I can derive any trends from the data, I'll post back here to the forum.

Thanks!

Please post the following for each batch:

Beer Type: (Porter, IPA, etc)
Batch Size: (# in gallons)
IBUs: (IBU only)
Color: (SRM only)
Original Gravity: (1.0xx)
Amount of Oak Used: (in ounces)
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: (in days)
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: (yes/no)
Results: (0=no oak character, 1=subtle oak, 2=mid-oak, 3=heavy oak, 4=way too much oak)

 

[JR_Brewer]

Beer Type: Tripel
Batch Size: 5
IBUs: 39
Color: 3
Original Gravity: 1.068
Amount of Oak Used: 2
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 84
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: yes
Results: 2

 

[MaxStout]

Beer Type: RIS
Batch Size: 5
IBUs: 78
Color: 56
Original Gravity: 1.095
Amount of Oak Used: 2 (cubes)
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 120
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: yes (bourbon)
Results: 2

Edit: I qualified two answers.

 

[ArcLight]

Beer Type: Old Ale
Batch Size: 5
IBUs:
Color:
Original Gravity: (1.072
Amount of Oak Used: 1
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 42
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: yes - Bourbon
Results: 4

But after a year it was good, and after 3 years excellent.

 

[JR_Brewer]

bump

 

[Brewsit]

Beer type: Sour Stout
Batch size: 10 gal
IBUs: 7
Color: 35 SRM
Original Gravity: 1.063
Amount of Oak Used: 10 oz
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 300 (secondary in kegs, stayed on oak through dispensing)
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: No
Results: 3-4

This beer was served almost a year after brewing, and oaked 6 months in. The oak flavor slowly increased over time.

 

[JR_Brewer]

Beer Type: Porter
Batch Size: 5 gallons
IBUs: 35
Color: 47
Original Gravity: 1.060
Amount of Oak Used: 2.15 oz
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 30 days
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: yes, whisky
Results: 3=heavy oak

 

[tracyk]

Beer Type: Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons
IBUs: (27.1 IBUs)
Color: (40.2)
Original Gravity: (1.097)
Amount of Oak Used: (2.00)
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: (30 days)
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: (yes, 6.0 oz of Markers Mark Bourbon)
Results: ( 2=mid-oak,)

 

[slym2none]

Beer Type: Winter warmer (dark strong ale)
Batch Size: 2.5
IBUs: 55-60
Color: 40
Original Gravity: 1.080
Amount of Oak Used: 2oz
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 5
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: yes, bourbon (bourbon was added as well)
Results: 1

 

[lump42]

Beer Type: Mild
Batch Size: 6.0
IBUs: 22
Color: 15
Original Gravity: 1.042
Amount of Oak Used: 3 oz (med+ Amer cubes)
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 60
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: no
Results: 2

 

[lump42]

Beer Type: Doppelbock
Batch Size: 5.0
IBUs: 25
Color: 20
Original Gravity: 1.074
Amount of Oak Used: 4 oz (homemade bourbon barrel stave cubes)
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 65
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: yes (4 oz bourbon)
Results: 1

 

[32Brew]

Beer Type: Robust Porter
Batch Size: 5
IBUs: 38
Color: 36
Original Gravity: 1.066
Amount of Oak Used: 1.5oz- French Medium toast cubes
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 28
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: no
Results: 1

After the initial 30 days I had a "2" in oak flavor. After bottling and priming/conditioning for 3 weeks, the oak dropped to a 1. If I rebrewed this over again, I'd age another 3ish weeks AND up the oak to 2oz before bottling

 

[GrainToGlass]

Beer Type: Imperial Stout
Batch Size: 2.5 Gallons
IBUs: 96
Color: 74
Original Gravity: 1.112
Amount of Oak Used: 3oz Hungarian Medium Toast
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 30 Day Tincture
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: Yes, 200ml Maker's Mark Bourbon
Results: 3=Heavy Oak

 

[JR_Brewer]

Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 5

Thanks slym2none, just to verify, you aged for 5 days, right? Not 5 weeks/months.

 

[dyqik]

Beer Type: Soured Sweet Stout (Tart of Darkness clone)
Batch Size: 5
IBUs: 5
Color: high
Original Gravity: 1.058
Amount of Oak Used: 2oz- French Medium toast
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 8 months
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: no
Results: 1

Difficult to separate oak flavors from overall Roseleare yeast and dark roast malt character. Supporting role only, but definitely there.

 

[tim_c7]

Beer Type: Barleywine
Batch Size: 1 Gallon
IBUs: 95
Color: 17
Original Gravity: 1.100
Amount of Oak Used: 1 oz American Medium toast
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 14 Days
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: no
Results: 1 ( maybe 1.5 )

 

[joesmink]

Beer Type: Scottish Ale
Batch Size: 5
IBUs: 14
Color: 12
Original Gravity: 1.059
Amount of Oak Used: 4oz american oak med toast chips
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 74
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: no
Results: 2.5-3

 

[Staylow]

Beer Type: RIS
Batch Size: 5.5, but blowoff was so severe, it was closer to 4 gallons to secondary
IBUs: 73
Color: 48
Original Gravity: 1.102
Amount of Oak Used: 2 oz (cubes, not chips)
Time beer spent in contact with Oak: 120
Did you soak Oak in distilled spirit?: yes, Makers Mark for 5 weeks. Added the bourbon as well
Results: 1-2

 

[JR_Brewer]

Hey Brewers,

I compiled the data, and while I was hoping for some sort of epiphany, or maybe an existential moment, there weren't any dramatic conclusions. We suffered from small sample size, and we didn't really have any testable/repeatable metrics to go by. That said, this wasn't a waste of time. I think I was able to document some general trends, so I'll post those. Please feel free to keep posting your results, and I'll update if necessary.

These are general trends, and some of the responses you provided ran counter to the conclusions here. Take these with a grain of salt, but hopefully you can find some helpful guidelines.

1. Generally, age a beer at least 30 days on oak. Some people aged their beer much longer, but it's hard to say results were better (or worse) by going longer.

2. For lighter flavored base beer (very subjective), 1-2 ounces of oak per 5 gallon batch (i.e. 0.2-0.4 oz/gal) seems to provide a nice level of oak flavor.

3. For heavier-flavored base beer (think stouts, porters, winter warmers), use 2-5 ounces per 5 gallon batch (0.4-1.0 oz/gal).

4. For hoppy beers, it seems tough to get the oak flavor to come through. You'll need to use a lot of oak, maybe even more than 1 oz/gal.

Hope this helps and happy brewing.

 

[ChemErik]

I think the big meant variable is the form/shape of the oak. Cubes and staves have far less surface area compared to chips and spirals.

 

[JR_Brewer]

I think the big meant variable is the form/shape of the oak. Cubes and staves have far less surface area compared to chips and spirals.

Great point. I'm going to update the data to try to see if we can be more specific based on the type of oak used. From now on, if anyone posts, please include:

Type of Oak (cubes, chips, spirals, others)
Toast (light, med, dark)