Oak Aging

In preparation for my next brew, an Imperial Stout recipe I have been working on, to be titled INFINITE DOOR (to be brewed next month in honor of David Foster Wallace (more on this later)), I started looking into oak aging, and how it can be done homebrew style. There is a rippling trend right now of brews, particularly stouts, that are being aged in oak barrels previously used for aging bourbon (though at La Trappe I had an Allagash triple on tap, that was aged on bourbon barrels, that was almost like a pilsner) - I have read that a large reason for this, is to impart bourbon flavor to the brew (not so much the oak) - and for commercial brews this is the only way to go about it, as it would be illegal for them to toss some bourbon into the brew. However homebrewers dont have these limitations. But I'm getting ahead of myself. More on the Infinite Door another time.

Important part: I bought some American Oak chips. I have read that French are better (mellower), and that cubes are better than chips (not as much crazy surface area), but whatevs... I was gonna wait to first try them on the stout, but when I racked the Enchanted Door (and sampled it), the spices were just everywhere, so I thought, "it may be good to oak this a bit to mellow out the spice..." So after two weeks of conditioning in the carboy, I poured out 1 oz of toasted American oak onto my scale.


I then put them in a muslin bag and steamed them in my brew pot (aluminum stock pot from Chinatown that came with a steamer rack) for about 20 minutes to sanitize, kill any whack bacteria.


I had a bit of trouble getting the bag into the carboy, it took a little wrangling, but I did get it in there. However, I didnt put any weight in the bag, so it floats. I sanitized my bottle filler and poked the bag around with it for a bit, to soak it, then plugged the carboy back up. I plan to let it sit on the oak for about a week before bottling. But I may change my mind when I sample it (if I am not getting enough oak flavor yet). I am actually thinking the floating bag may be a good thing, as since I havent done this before, ALL of the oak is not touching the brew, so I at least may not be overdoing it (but we'll see). I have read that American oak can really impart a lot of oakiness, quickly, so you gotta watch out, monitor it along the way, until you get what you're looking for...