What beer styles do you oak?

[BayouBrew]

I'm itching to play with some wood , so I was wondering what styles of beer you guys like to oak. The beers that I have on deck are APA, Am. Amber, Munich Dunkel, Dortmunder, Schwarzbier, Dubbel, Tripple, Belgian Dark Strong, Old Ale, and Irish Red, but I could easily change up the queue if you throw out anything interesting.

[telejunkie]

Did a small saison...soaked an small oak stave in chardonnay for 2 weeks and let that sit in the saison for 5 days. NIce! Lil Opal from firestone walker was the inspiration for that one.

[MikeB]

We've only done two wood-aged beers: Old Ale and Strong Scotch. Both turned out great. We cheat a little by pressure cooking about 1 ounce of medium toast french oak chips in 1.5 cups of water. This make a sterile oak "juice" that we add to one five gallon keg along with the chips. This way no live bugs come with the oak. With this method you get an instant oaking of the beer.

[BayouBrew]

We've only done two wood-aged beers: Old Ale and Strong Scotch. Both turned out great. We cheat a little by pressure cooking about 1 ounce of medium toast french oak chips in 1.5 cups of water. This make a sterile oak "juice" that we add to one five gallon keg along with the chips. This way no live bugs come with the oak. With this method you get an instant oaking of the beer.

Interesting. I do have access to an autoclave...

[Beer Baron]

I have been doing something similar in my microwave for Oaked IPA's- I had been steaming the chips before adding them but it seemed all the flavor was left at the bottom of the steamer. I started boiling the chips with water in the microwave and tossing in the whole thing...
I'm sure you can get them sterile with an autoclave or a pressure cooker, but I figure boiling them in the microwave will kill enough bacteria to get them sanitized enough for the secondary - at that point there is enough alcohol in there that I am not so worried about contamination.

[dontblake]

For the beers you have on deck, I'd only toy with the Belgian Dark Strong and the Old Ale. Oak lends a pretty strong component that can easily overdo / outcompete the flavors you have in those other beers. I suppose that you can oak the APA and Am Amber, so long as they are pretty hoppy and you oak them briefly. Doesn't seem worth it in my opinion though.

The stronger, maltier beers benefit from that vanilla component that the oak provides.

[Billy Klubb]

I am in agreement with the old ale. but also consider a porter or imperial stout. and I really like the idea of the saison.

[BlueLoon]

I'll stick my wood in any style. However I do tend towards using them in darker beers. Stout, Browns, dark braggots, and melomel's.

I boil the cubes in some water if not using spirits, otherwise I soak em in bourbon or whiskey.