Oak chips?

[Fifey]

Hello, my mate works in a winery and so can get his hands on oak chips. What is the difference between French and American oak and what styles would be appropriate for oaking?

[drsmurto]

American oak produces more vanilla notes whereas i find french oak produces more earthy oak notes.

I've used french oak in winemaking and american oak in brewing.

[elec]

Doc, what style do you use it for? I have some fresh American White oak planks that I use for my other alcohol creations. Do you need much of the stuff? I oak my white dog for 3-4 months to get decent colour and flavour, would it be similar for beer?

regards

[drsmurto]

I've had a RIS in a keg with a stave of american oak now for 5 months.

The current batch of wine has had french oak in it for 4-5 months.

I think you need that much time for the oak flavours to come through. Remember that wine makers often leave red wine in oak barrels for 18 months or more.

Styles of beer that suit oaking? Thats a personal preference IMO. Big beers defintely, stouts, ESBs, IPAs, barleywines. Not sure i would oak something small and subtle as the oak flavour will likely drown out any other flavour.

[speedie]

my preferrance is american

[BribieG]

Doesn't Budwieser use strips of beechwood suspended in the fermenting vessel? I believe this is a historical hangover from when many American breweries used a pontoon system (very similar to the Burton Union System in the UK) and rows of huge beechwood casks sitting on their ends would have beer circulated through them from cask to cask to cleanse and remove the yeast which would end up in a central trough.
I'd love to try beechwood in a cream ale or even a malt liquor but I don't know if it would be available in Australia.
Might wander up to our local woodies craft group and see if they can advise. For a few ales of course

[Bum]

I haven't sighted them with my own eyes but a few months back when I was researching smoking my own malt I found that Rays Outdoors sells beechwood smoking chips - could be suitable for your purposes? Any serious BBQ retailer could possibly carry them too.

[Oliver]

I'd be a bit cautious about using in beer chips designed for smoking, because (a) who knows where they've been and how they've been handled; and (b) who knows what has been added to them.

But if someone else is willing to try it first and doesn't die as a result ...

Cheers,

Oliver

[Bum]

Meh. Beer is more fragile than we are - if the beer survives so will you.