Unusual Wood Alternatives to Oak

[spiderwrangler]

Black birch may be interesting... but most of the flavor is in the twigs and smaller branches...

[Hoser]

I've been tempted to try out Sassafras wood aging, probably for an amber or brown beer.

I've used it for smoking in my charcoal grill and it tasted great, and I know it's the source for File' powder for gumbo (leaves) and old fashioned root beer flavoring (root bark), and you can get safrole free oil now (since safrole causes liver damage, and is a precursor for both insecticides and Ecstasy).

So I am doing research still for this project. I was tempted to use sassafras until I did some research. Everything I read for the most part says Sassafras root and bark are known carcinogens and banned by the FDA since the 1960s in food and drink, and also ectasy precursors, as Nate said above. I am not sure why it is used to smoke meat? Of course, smoke is also a known carcinogen . Of course these days, what isn't? As tempted as I am to use sassafras, I will err on the side of caution and not use it despite the debate of is or isn't it a carcinogen. Also, no pine, cedar, spuce, cyrus, or eucalyptus. Although, I bet the beer aged on sassafras may give you a pretty good high?!

[Hoser]

I could always use Beechwood, that has lots of flavor!

[thatguy314]

I haven't done a lot of oak aging, but from what I understand is that with wood, the tightness of the grain greatly affects the absorption rate. French oak has a very tight grain so it's good for long-aging and it takes a little while to develop. Spanish cedar is a loose grain, so it imparts flavor very rapidly. I don't know about these other woods, but I'd taste frequently as this project progresses.

[rhino777]

I did a Raspberry Porter that I aged on Palo Santo wood stix that turned out nice........

[LeSinge]

North English Brown Ale aged 1 week with Cigar Box strips (microwaved damp, not boiled)...turned out awesome, very interesting flavor of the wood and the tobacco. I also split the batch and added some mash made with Cigar Box smoked 2-row, but sadly overshot the amount and ended up with a Rauchbier type instead of very well balanced smoke and wood aged ale. Easy to do without all the extra roasted malt of a porter/stout/black lager I guess.