Unusual Wood Alternatives to Oak

[Hoser]

I recently finished listening to old Brewing Network Sunday Sessions with Shea Comfort and Cigar City. Both covered wood aging in depth with oak and spanish cedar. Presently I have an IPA aging on American oak and a brett ale aging on spanish cedar. But, lately I have been wondering what other woods can be used for aging and what their flavor contributions would be. I found a link on homedistiller.org that discussed toasting and charring wood which was very helpful and informative. Obviously, cedar, pine, and treated wood would not be used or considered due to health hazards or poor flavors! The most obvious woods are those use for smoking food:

Hickory
Mesquite
Alder
Cherry
Apple
Pecan
Maple

My plan is to cube or chunk each wood and then toast them in the oven at the recommended temp and time per this chart even though it is based on oak.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... =144&ty=94

Then do a light to medium char on one side with a propane torch. Then let them condition for 2 weeks or so. Then I hope to make up a panel soaking the cubes in some water to create a tea to taste the similarities and differences side by side. I know there is a topic about this at NHC, unfortunately I will be unable to attend. But, I am looking forward to the PDF file later on. I am wondering if anyone has any experience at all using alternative woods or knows if some of the above mentioned woods would be harmful to use in any way?

Thanks in advance!

Brian

[krizwit]

Sounds awesome. I would be really interested to hear how the Hickory and Mesquite go with it. There is a Mesquite Shiner beer from Texas that is pretty good. I recommend getting a lucky group of tasters for a panel and then post the results.

[Hoser]

Sounds awesome. I would be really interested to hear how the Hickory and Mesquite go with it. There is a Mesquite Shiner beer from Texas that is pretty good. I recommend getting a lucky group of tasters for a panel and then post the results.

Thanks Krizwit!

Ok, here is my plan:
I found some traditional smoking woods not available here in Lincoln. They should be arriving next week. As I mentioned above, I plan to chop or cube each wood I listed above. Next, I plan to toast them in the oven at 350F x 3hrs. I want the wood to be "toasted" not "charred". Then I will lightly char one side of the wood. Next, I plan to let the wood condition for a couple of weeks. As per the Shea Comfort show, I will make a wood tea with each individual wood. Our next club meeting is in July, but I will be out of town. I wish I would have thought of this sooner as our June meeting was at a BBQ joint, damn! At any rate I am shooting for our meeting in August to have our club members blind taste each wood and right down there impressions in aroma and flavor (You hear that Bugeater? So you better be at Jason's for the meeting in August! ). Hopefully, I can compile that data and get back to the forum. I am shooting for August to finalize my information. I will also include oak in the tasting for a control. Looks like I better get chopping!

[Bugeater]

Looking forward to that. I will be there with my oaked brown ale and a couple of meads. I have a cranberry mead that our panel of lady judges will love.

Wayne

[Nate Diggler]

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).

[pepperford]

I did a spanish cedar cal common recently. Because the cedar is lumber, I cut a 3/4" x 3/4" x 8" chunk and steamed it for an hour and put it in the 3 gallon fermentor. Was very suprised that the result was a much more rounded beer. The sharpness changed to a mellow, earthy, cinnamon flavor. Side by side with the base beer, my local club thought the cedar was the better version. I entered the base beer in my first comp and got 3rd (2nd loser), not bad for extract. Next time I will only use an oz. or two and split into very small pieces to see if the taste of the first batch was muted by the overload of the wood. Or did the steaming kill any flavor? Would like to hear how others treat their wood before insertion. Do you steam it, smoke it, or just shove it in with no regard to others?

[snowcapt]

Would like to hear how others treat their wood before insertion

Just make sure it is wet beforehand. Otherwise it can produce an undesirable effect.

[Ironman]

I've been considering applewood myself.