First beer questions

[Crazy_Leo_1978]

I am making an American ale. The beer is fermenting it appears fine. I want to give the beer oak and bourbon flavors in the secondary fermentation my question is first how long do I want the give the oak chips in the bourbon and second how long will I want them fermenting in the secondary fermentation. I appreciate the help.

 

[unionrdr]

Try using one or two ounces of chips soaking in 2 -3 jiggers of bourbon in an airtight container in the fridge while the beer ferments. Then pour the chips & bourbon through a muslin hop sack into secondary tie it off,& drop it in. Rack beer onto that. Let it sit for a week,then try a 1oz sample to see if it's how you want it. Proceed from there.

 

[homebrewdad]

I'm going to be "that guy" here.

OP, may I suggest that you brew a few times before you start doing oak/bourbon/vanilla/coffee/fruit/spice/etc beers.

Figure out your process. Learn how to control your fermentation temperatures. Get a handle on what is going on in the beer before you start branching out.

I see So. Very. Many. of these kinds of posts with new brewers wanting to do "cool" stuff, who end up unhappy with their beers and have zero idea on how to fix them. It's hard to fix normal proces issues (that pretty much all new brewers run into to some degree) when you complicate things.

Of course, homebrewing is about doing whatever you want, including ignoring guys like me.

 

[elpenoso]

I'm going to be "that guy" here.

OP, may I suggest that you brew a few times before you start doing oak/bourbon/vanilla/coffee/fruit/spice/etc beers.

Figure out your process. Learn how to control your fermentation temperatures. Get a handle on what is going on in the beer before you start branching out.

I see So. Very. Many. of these kinds of posts with new brewers wanting to do "cool" stuff, who end up unhappy with their beers and have zero idea on how to fix them. It's hard to fix normal proces issues (that pretty much all new brewers run into to some degree) when you complicate things.

Of course, homebrewing is about doing whatever you want, including ignoring guys like me.

This is good advice. However if you are bent on the oak I would only do a half oz for 3-4 days. Whenever you experiment with these things it is always best to use just a little bit at a time.

 

[Crazy_Leo_1978]

Thanks for the advise. Although this is technically my own first brew at my house I have partaken in a number of other brews outside my place. I am sorry I did not include that part. Still you are right that it is best to wait and I think I may try to wait to my second brew to attempt that.

 

[sweed]

I waited until my 2nd brew before I added vanilla beans, oak chips, and bourbon to my RIS... 13 days on the oak chips and it was oaky for a while, but it seemed to subside after about 6 months? I'll be having another one on Easter ( in bottles over 8 months). The oak chips have a lot of surface area as opposed to cubes. I'd do what uniondr recommneded. What was in the american ale?

 

[Crazy_Leo_1978]

It was a brewers best kit. I did finally try the beer this weekend and I will say I ended up extremely good. No horror stories on this one. We did decide to await the flavoring to later. Still, it was so good that we immediately began brewing the second a blackberry hefeweizen kit from my local brew store right after trying the beer.