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oaking with redwine or white wine infused chips

davidrgreen

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So I have been thinking, I have 5 gal of red and 5 gal of white wine that are sitting on 3oz each of oak chips and was wondering if I could use these in a batch of beer, red wine oak infused porter or something when I rack the wine. Anyone ever tried this?
 
I haven't tried it.  I've used bourbon that I've had oak chips in for porters and stouts.  However, when I do add bourbon soaked chips to my beers, I add the oak and the bourbon that the oak was infused in.  Usually about 2 pints of the bourbon.

My suggestion would be to add about 2 pints or more of the wine too.

I have tasted a brewing buddies Concord Grape Belgian Strong though.  He puts about 3/4 of a gallon of concord grape pumice into the primary.  The pumice is the grape skins, seeds, and stuff left over after squeezing the grapes and fermenting his concord grape wine.  Basically, he presses to get the grape juice out of the grapes, but throws it all into the primary.  Once he racks to a secondary, the stuff left behind goes into his Belgian Strong Ale.

We liked his recipe so much that we made 30 gallons of it as a club project and 30 gallons of a Russian Imperial Stout.  We used the pumice from Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon wine for the pumice in our Belgian Strong Ale.  We're almost ready to blend the two (Belgian Strong and RIS), into a bourbon barrell for extended conditioning and aging.

So, based on other successes I've tasted with similar techniques, I'd say, go for it!
 
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