To oak or not to oak

Would you age this on OAK


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weazelwacker

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Good Afternoon all,

For starters I do not have a style choice for this brew yet, but I recently brewed the following recipe:

Estimated numbers OG 1.090 / FG 1.010 / ABV 10.5 / IBU 58

10 Gallons in fermentor
20# 2 Row (1.8L)
20# Maris Otter (3.75°L)
2# Cherrywood smoked malt (5°L) (Briess)
2# Crystal Dark (77°L)
*mashed 1hr @ 156°f

*boil 60min.
2oz. Centennial @ 60
4oz Eureka 10 min Whirlpool

Used S33 yeast.

It was my first time using a new mash tun that I make out of a 55 gallon blue barrel. As it goes with every change to the system, I needed to relearn some things. Long story short I achieved a miserable 55% efficiency compared to my normal 74%. The yeast took off within 12hrs, and all airlock activity ended within 3 days. I have not pulled any FG readings yet but I left it sit for a week after the bubbles stopped.

On to the point I guess..

Should I age this on oak or just carb it up as is? If on oak, what toast and/or type would best compliment this beer.
 
I'd split it and do both. Oak with a decent char and vanilla flavours would be my preference (so American oak), but I like charred flavours more than most.

I wouldn't beat myself up too much about the 55%. I generally drop 10% off my efficiency when I get up to 1.90 or above and am not too disappointed when it's +/- 5% of that.
 
I'd split it and do both.

I have been thinking about doing this honestly. I have two 5 gal kegs sitting empty right now, so I suppose it would be a good comparison.

Thanks for the efficiency advice, I normally stick around 1.06 to 1.07. I do have an Imperial Stout, I normally do as a BIAB, that I need to make. It will be interesting to see how much it differs.
 
Don't be surprised if your F G is higher than 1.010 with S-33.

Yeah after the day 3 I started to get worried honestly. Ive been afraid to take a reading as a result honestly. Its just been sitting there for the last week because of it. This yeast kicks hard for the first few days though.
 
Yeah after the day 3 I started to get worried honestly. Ive been afraid to take a reading as a result honestly. Its just been sitting there for the last week because of it. This yeast kicks hard for the first few days though.
If you didn't get the FG you were shooting for do you think you'll hit it with another yeast strain to try and get it to finish off?
- I like the split batch idea BTW and can't see any reason not to split! - I don't use oak chips much so I have no idea what type is best...
 
If you didn't get the FG you were shooting for do you think you'll hit it with another yeast strain to try and get it to finish off?

From everything Ive been reading adding more yeast at this point would be more or less a waste, unless I'm misinformed. Once the yeast have used up the oxygen in the wort it will be hard for another strain to get going, with out risking oxidation.

Side note. Took a reading this morning and came out at 1.036. Only there yeast I have in stock right now is US-05.
 
From everything Ive been reading adding more yeast at this point would be more or less a waste, unless I'm misinformed. Once the yeast have used up the oxygen in the wort it will be hard for another strain to get going, with out risking oxidation.

Side note. Took a reading this morning and came out at 1.036. Only there yeast I have in stock right now is US-05.
Dry yeast doesn't need oxygen so you could add some 05.
 
There's every chance it's done for normal sacch yeasts. The only type of yeast I've used at this stage that's helped is WLP099 or brett.

Brett will completely change the beer. The WLP099 is a diastaticus yeast that will create enzymes that will break the more complex maltose sugars into simpler ones that the yeast can then ferment. I'm sure it creates some flavour, but in the beers where I've used it (dark imperials) I haven't noticed it. Useful if you think there's a chance the mash didn't create a fermentable enough wort. It will take a fair while to chew through the maltose if there's any available.

Though, I'd sample it first to see if it's acceptable as it is.
 
There's every chance it's done for normal sacch yeasts. The only type of yeast I've used at this stage that's helped is WLP099 or brett.

Brett will completely change the beer. The WLP099 is a diastaticus yeast that will create enzymes that will break the more complex maltose sugars into simpler ones that the yeast can then ferment. I'm sure it creates some flavour, but in the beers where I've used it (dark imperials) I haven't noticed it. Useful if you think there's a chance the mash didn't create a fermentable enough wort. It will take a fair while to chew through the maltose if there's any available.

Though, I'd sample it first to see if it's acceptable as it is.

The IRS that I previously brewed, I racjed onto shredded beets and added brett. Let it sit for a minth and then oak aged for 6 months. It was a crazy funky experiment that I injoyed doing.

Im going to try the 05 and raise the temps, if I dont get any movement on it in a couple days Ill probably go to brett.
 
Dry yeast doesn't need O2? Never heard this before!
I didn't believe it until a conversation with a couple of the Gurus changed my mind. I don't oxygenate my dry yeast batches (and I'm switching to more dry yeast batches) any more with some really good results. It's one less thing to go wrong and as a quality geek, that speaks to me....
 
I didn't believe it until a conversation with a couple of the Gurus changed my mind. I don't oxygenate my dry yeast batches (and I'm switching to more dry yeast batches) any more with some really good results. It's one less thing to go wrong and as a quality geek, that speaks to me....

this is one of those issues I kept going back and forth on. I first read that yeast needs oxygen and that the boil depletes the wort of O2. So, I thought my process was bad. Then, I read it’s not necessary to oxygenate if using dry yeast. What’s a brewer to do? So, I finally settled on a siphon spray wort aerator (see attached) that I attach to the end of the hose when transferring my cooled wort to the fermenter. It was cheap and doesn’t add any time to the brew day. It may or may not be helping, but it makes me feel good.
 

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