Beer Forum

I have some oak chips from Russian river. Has anyone used these yet?? Im planning an old Brun , Using Jamils recipie as a base but I plan on using a abby ale yeast to start it off , racking to a carboy then adding the buggy oak chips. At least thats my plan. Any thoughts? I have everything needed so I might even brew tomorrow when I get home from work

My initial thought is that the high levels of ester production from the abbey yeast might clash with the lacto/pedio/brett sourness produced from the oak chips.

My second thought is that this is a belgian "style" oud brun, so what the hell its worth a shot. If you give it a try, hopefully one of us will remind you to update us next winter when you get to try the finished product out.

Anything is worth a try. I cant wait to see whats going to grow from this .

Any luck yet Pete? I'm excited to try out these chips you sent me. I'm still not sure what to brew though.

Beer was brewed 12/11/07 . Racked into secondary at 1.024 with oak chips. Pelicle slowly formed over two months. Eventualy it turned into a thick white carpet. More like fuzzy velvet. Real strange. End of april I pulled a sample. Real oaky, thin, graipfruit rind sourness was there but sharp.
the last week in May we had a hot spell. The carboy is in the garage and It got hotter than I wanted it to. I looked at the pelicle and it looked thin. Hmm.. Took a sample. Sourness up front definete Lactic! Body had come back. I got honey, vanilla, lavender mixed with apricot and the graipfruit was in the background. My Dad took a taste. he's not a beer drinker at all an he finished the sample! this was definetly a sour beer. I racked into a keg and moved it to cold storage where its sitting now.
The first Tuesday of the month is our club meeting . One of our members that does not even like sour beers had 3 servings. Another member that is also a pro brewer said he could definetly tell it was a young lambic inspired beer and needed age but also has potential for being somthing good.
Next year I will submit one to the B/N when the flavors meld together.
The oak chips I used I rinsed off the beer in clean water. dried and bagged. I dont think I washed away too many of the bugs present. There Primed and ready for the next batch.