Another Brown Ale

The first brown ale I made turned out pretty well, and I wanted to kick it up a notch with a little something extra.  So, this time, I'm going to make a similar recipe, but add a little something special in secondary...

Brew Day: 29 Jan 2018

Partial Mash:
8 oz Munich
4 oz Special B
4 oz flaked oats
2 oz chocolate malt
2 oz Carapils

Boil (20 min):
1 lb golden light DME
4 oz table sugar

Hops: 14 g Styrian Goldings hops (@ 20 min)

Yeast: DanStar Nottingham Ale

With this beer, I'm going to try something new (for me)...shortly after brewing this beer, I'm going to start soaking 1 oz of French oak chips in American Honey. I'll put the oak chips in a small, sanitized glass container, and just cover them in American Honey.  As they sit, I'll check on them to ensure that all or as much of the chips are soaking as possible.  After primary fermentation, I'll rack this beer into secondary, and let it rest on the oak chips.  My hope is that this will give the beer an "aged in bourbon oak barrels" flavor.  If it works, I'll continue to use this process with some sour beers in the very near future.

Addendum, 31 Jan: Fermentation of the beer is going very well.  Began soaking 1 oz of French oak chips in American Honey, by putting the chips in a sanitized glass container and just covering them.  I'll be checking on them regularly to see if they need any more added.

Addendum, 7 Feb: Transferred to secondary today, racking on to the soaked oak chips (which smelled incredible!).  Due to my schedule, this is going to sit for just over a month before I do anything else with it.  I should be able to try the first bottle of this around the end of March.

Addendum, 17 Feb: Decided, due to the weather, to bottle the beer today.  I figured that resting on the oak chips for 10 days would be a good start to see how this turned out, and from there, can adjust the timing.

Addendum, 11 Mar: Tried the partial bottle tonight, after chilling the beer.  The bottle opened with a noticeable fizz, but the beer itself was not carbonated.  There was no noticeable vanilla in the nose, and the beer itself was flat and sour, with a very noticeable flavor of tannins.  I'm thinking that the soaking of the oak chips in the booze did nothing to sanitize the oak chips, and bacteria was introduced.

Doing a bit of research, and asking a friend who's a professional brewer (thanks, Phil!), I've decided to update the process to include boiling the chips first, for at least 10 min, to kill any bugs and also remove some of the tannins.  The American Honey whiskey is only 35% ABV (70 proof), and that may not have been enough to kill any bugs.  Maker's Mark is 45% ABV (90 proof) which might be better, but why chance it, right?  Given the volume I'm brewing, letting the chips sit in the booze for 7-10 days, and then letting the beer sit on the chips for 7-10 days should be enough, and longer can only be better.