The Bar Towel

does anyone have any experience aging beer on wood other then oak or cedar?

I brewed a wee heavy last weekend and I want to wood age it on something different. early contenders are apple or cherry wood.

thoughts?

matt7215 wrote:does anyone have any experience aging beer on wood other then oak or cedar?

I brewed a wee heavy last weekend and I want to wood age it on something different. early contenders are apple or cherry wood.

thoughts?

yeah.
there's a reason why spirits and wine are aged primarily on oak and why barbeque is primarily smoked on apple and cherry wood.

oxygen permeability and how porous the wood is plays into the choice of wood.
http://www.academicwino.com/2012/09/oak ... olor.html/

you can use cherry, but it would be very short exposure (assuming one is using a barrel and not cubes, which is likely an incorrect assumption for someone at the homebrew level)

atomeyes wrote:

matt7215 wrote:does anyone have any experience aging beer on wood other then oak or cedar?

I brewed a wee heavy last weekend and I want to wood age it on something different. early contenders are apple or cherry wood.

thoughts?

yeah.
there's a reason why spirits and wine are aged primarily on oak and why barbeque is primarily smoked on apple and cherry wood.

oxygen permeability and how porous the wood is plays into the choice of wood.
http://www.academicwino.com/2012/09/oak ... olor.html/

you can use cherry, but it would be very short exposure (assuming one is using a barrel and not cubes, which is likely an incorrect assumption for someone at the homebrew level)

cherry seems to be winning here, plus i have easy access to some cherry wood.

here are 2 other posts about wood aging experiments for those interested:

http://www.bear-flavored.com/2013/09/wo ... maple.html

http://jeffreycrane.blogspot.ca/2012/04 ... eties.html

he doesn't have the aging duration, tho.

also, some of the descriptions are that of off flavours. butterscotch, for example. that scares me a bit.

but...
hickory for porters/stouts.
cherry wood for, well, anything delicious.
white ash soaked in tequila and then added to a blonde? would be great.

matt7215 wrote: I brewed a wee heavy last weekend and I want to wood age it on something different. early contenders are apple or cherry wood.

just racked onto cherry wood, ill wait a month then do a taste test

How did it turn out?

Matt,
i was looking at placing an order for the wood. there are a few things that made me hesitate:
1. you can only use them once (according to the manufacturer)
2. heard someone complain their beer were infected

atomeyes wrote:Matt,
i was looking at placing an order for the wood. there are a few things that made me hesitate:
1. you can only use them once (according to the manufacturer)
2. heard someone complain their beer were infected

where were you looking to order from?

mahcinesquad wrote:How did it turn out?

not great to be honest, i liked the beer more before it was wood aged.

the cherry wood does impart different flavours then what you get from oak but with this beer it just didnt work

matt7215 wrote:

atomeyes wrote:Matt,
i was looking at placing an order for the wood. there are a few things that made me hesitate:
1. you can only use them once (according to the manufacturer)
2. heard someone complain their beer were infected

where were you looking to order from?

http://www.blackswanbarrels.com/honey-c ... ternative/

atomeyes wrote:

matt7215 wrote:

atomeyes wrote:Matt,
i was looking at placing an order for the wood. there are a few things that made me hesitate:
1. you can only use them once (according to the manufacturer)
2. heard someone complain their beer were infected

where were you looking to order from?

http://www.blackswanbarrels.com/honey-c ... ternative/

I have no experience with them but I dont see why you couldnt use them more then once. They might lose most of their "woodiness" after the first use but they would still be good for a place for bugs to hide when repitched into sours.