Wood Aging Mead with Barrel Char Products - Put to the Test!

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Wood Aging Mead using Barrel Char Wood Products. We put wood aging to the test using wood samples sent to us by Barrel Char Wood Products. Most people think oak when they think of aging on wood, but why not try some others? Oak, Maple, Cherry... sure! We put wood aged meads up against a control to see what if any differences the wood aging of mead made.
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4 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 241

@hriolfo 3 года назад

Ok, full disclosure here... I see one video of yours and I didn't like it, but I was curious about how to continue, so I see another one... 3 weeks later and I see all your videos, and I mean ALL your videos, and I have a couple (ok, 8) demijohns fermenting with your recipes. I have added another beautiful hobbie thanks to you guys. Love you both, hugs from Argentina (Yeah, and a big thanks for the conversion to the metric system!)

@57Technoman 3 года назад

Dude, I'm telling you. You have got to try sassafras. I can't keep up with the demand.

@lukeadsit4049 3 года назад

Did you make a sassafras mead? Do you sell it?

@The4HorsePeaples 3 года назад

From another D&D player and brewer you guys make fantastic content! I love breaking out one of my brews when my tables party gets to a new region. I've actually convinced a few more DMs at my local game shop to start home brewing themselves and I always send them your way lol.

@spencerjteal 2 года назад

Where do I sign up?

@rosslarson3295 3 года назад

You should consider making your own "whiskey". You can dilute everclear to cask strength and add oak chips. I like a mix of medium, heavy toast and a little char. I put it in the fridge every few days to help with wood contraction and expansion for faster extraction. After 4-6 weeks you can dilute to 40 ish abv and it's pretty tasty!

@MaestroPdx 3 года назад

you can also open the lid and burp it each day to simulate the angels share in casks. It will expel some of the off flavors you don't want in it

@whittj03 3 года назад

I did a 5 gallon wine (grape juice) that I put oak spirals into primary. Ended at 17% and was pretty nice. The oak in primary didn’t affect the fermentation and gave a super strong oaky flavor.

@mycrazylifewfawnlisette3582 2 года назад

17%🤔🤔 are you sure there was no affect? Yeast were very happy and active!

@honeylady108 3 года назад

I ordered 2 packs today. The sampler and requested an apple wood for my cyser when it's ready to bottle. I will try the cherry in my Vikings Blood when it's ready to bottle. Of course, a pack of french oak which I will use for traditional. Maybe I will use the maple for my raisin mead...not sure. Fyi, the 24oz flip top lemonade bottles are back in stock at Aldi's. I bought a dozen. The lemonade is too strong for me so I use it to flavor a glass of water. It will take me awhile to get those emptied. Thanks for another great video!

@stephenknecht7189 3 года назад

Thanks for the heads up

@smokinchuck 3 года назад

Think you should redo your Coffee Mead and see how it comes out with the french oak.

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

I could possibly do that!

@HolyPineCone 3 года назад

Yeah, redoing stuff with slightly different aspects to it would be interesting.

@Vykk_Draygo 3 года назад

I used rum barrel chips in my coffee mead. Good stuff.

@eddavanleemputten9232 3 года назад

I like the way you think! Coffee and vanilla are a match made in heaven IMHO. The vanillin in the oak might really up the ante on a coffee mead and the oak will also make it smoother. One of the reasons my preference goes to higher ABV meads that’ve been aged a loooooooong time is their smoothness. Although I must admit that long ageing has always kind of been a thing for me regardless of the ABV of my brews. Not that it keeps me from regular tasting of my meads!

@charlesboyd3716 3 года назад

I have a coffee mead just finishing up now, and was looking in the comments to see it anybody thought any particular wood would be good to put in it... So I guess french oak it is.

@Hellbilly01122 3 года назад

I've made all of my meads and wines as a direct result of watching your videos. It looks like I'm following you down yet another path. I've ordered the charred wood and am very excited to experiment with them. Thank both of you, not only for my initiation to this fantastic pastime, but also continuing to spark my enthusiasm.

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

You are welcome! Enjoy!

@bossalou 3 года назад

I added an oak spiral to my blueberry wine and a dry, traditional mead, and both taste so delicious. I also say Car-mel and so does everyone else where I live say. Car-a-mel sounds weird to me.

@johnp.2267 3 года назад

French oak medium plus toast has a touch of toffee flavor. Love the combination it gives to brews.

@stevepoulsen83 3 года назад

After making my very first batch of mead i immediately thought "wow...how wonderful would this be if i brewed or aged in oak barrels" but I had never tried because i thought of barrels only. Had i thought simpler i probably would have gotten to this already! This vid gives me high hopes for my original plan. Glad they turned out so amazing!

@unclebill5170 2 года назад

I let me mead sit for almost two years in glass carboy !! Then bottled it for another year 3 years total was so good everyone loved it !!

@paulmorson2268 3 года назад

Really interesting video guys - nice one! 👍

@georgecolby7488 3 года назад

My favorite mead that I've made, bar none, was a bochet that I oaked for 3 weeks. My reaction was the same: there's no going back, oaking mead every time now.

@geordiekimbo2 3 года назад

I English Oaked (medium toast) a blackberry, raspberry and cherry mead and it was absolutely amazing. It had a vague whiskey taste to it and made all the flavours smoother.

@MikeWest351 3 года назад

Interesting results. I have been thinking of doing this with a batch for awhile now, now to figure out something that works.

@spiritwolf1726 3 года назад

Been waiting for this one :)

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

Hope you enjoyed it!

@Indian0Lore 3 года назад

Same. We have gotten hints of this a few times.

@spiritwolf1726 3 года назад

I did! Now I have to try it!

@VoidDWG 3 года назад

1. I demand more videos on aging. 2. If you put something like coffee or energy drinks in your mead would the caffeine come out in the mead? Like would the mead then be caffinated.

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

1) I don't respond to demanding. 2) Don't ever put an energy drink in mead. Yes, the caffeine stays to answer your question :)

@benway23 Год назад

Again, thank you for your work.

@johnshaw6702 3 года назад

Excellent. It might be a good idea to remind people of the effect of temperature on hydrometer reading. Yesterday I had a reading of about 0.995. I was a little confused at first, then I remembered to check the temperature. Yep, it was very warm. A quick calculation brought it to about 0.999. I'm checking the temp from now on.

@xuZty 3 года назад

just started my first batch of mead yesterday! thanks for the inspiration & know how on how to get started. thanks you guys! definitely pumped to see how it goes.

@brocknspectre1221 3 года назад

Being a woodworker, I felt a little silly buying somebody else’s wood chips, so I chopped up some pieces of my own, American red oak, baked them at 350°F for 2hr, then put them under the broiler until they just started smoking. Then added .3oz to 1gal dry mead ABV 15.3% and added 1.5oz to 3gal acerglyn ABV 8.7% I added the oak still hot from the oven so no need to boil or otherwise sanitize. The oak seemed really aromatic so I only let it sit for a week before racking off today. The flavor in the dry mead, was very strong, not displeasing, but too woody for me. I may combine this with a sweet mead. The acerglyn, on the other hand, although it had more oak per gallon, is tasting real nice. Not sure why, lower ABV? oak mixes better with maple? Idk. I kept the oak and want to try retoasting it, especially the maple and trying again, but maybe not as much. Thanks for reading this far👍

@baileyfutch4597 Год назад

Just went right over to their Etsy shop & got a French oak & sugar maple!

@edvichot4707 3 года назад

Be nice to get a review on American oak vs French oak.

@eddavanleemputten9232 3 года назад

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this video! Over the past few months I’ve grown intrigued by rhe concept of oaking but no video or tasting ever properly described the effects. Pretty much most of them focused on explaining it from the viewpoint of someone who already is familiar with the process and so far I’ve never seen a side-by-side comparison that properly explained the differences and effects. Definitely ordering myself some oaking chips, probably French oak. Possibly other kinds too.

@kjdevault Год назад

I’ve got some spirits aging on maple and it seems to be a much slower process to really impart flavors bc of the density of the wood. Mine are medium toasted and lightly charred on one side. I’ve ordered from barrel char before and so glad I did. I’ve also got some Cherry and apple chips that I toasted to a medium toast. I’m going to chat some as well. Of course the standard American white oak in medium toast and some charred, and picked up some rum chips. I smoked some apples that I quartered and added to apple juice with pectic enzyme yesterday. I made my yeast starter last night with Premier Cuvee, and have 1 oz of toasted apple and 1 oz rum chips ready to put together. OG is 1080. I cannot wait to see how the smoke and fruit come together.

@RobSWVA 3 года назад

Thanks for prodding me on this. Had been back and forth on trying oaking my wine/mead but didnt know which way to go. Think I'll try a French oak vs American oak in a 1 gal carboys of my mesquite honey mead that should finish primary soon

@billysummers7683 3 года назад

I fell in love with oaking ive got a pyment on american oak soaked with a little vanilla bourbon

@alexcan669 3 года назад

That’s awesome! I had the same reaction when I added oak for the first time to my wines. It’s an absolute game changer. You can tie the wood with dental floss the string kind with no scent and it’s easier to fish it out. Over oaking it’s a thing lol

@riukrobu 3 года назад

Yes. This one. Thanks.

@antonioj.2147 3 года назад

I oaked a meadjack for 7 months and it came out to be the tastiest brew I ever made. I was thinking about throwing it away at the beginning but now I want to brew a new one. I'm really glad you did a video on it though.

@68RedDragonz 9 месяцев назад

my latest batch of acerglyn was oaked with 2/3 med french oak and 1/3 american oak.... fun and interesting to mix it up. Have to try an unoaked mead sometime, I've oaked everything I've done.

@dawnteskey3259 3 года назад

I just made a lemon mead not too long ago, and I noticed a weird bitterness at the end of the taste that I don't really enjoy. This video makes me want to use the French Oak... thanks!

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

I get an odd bitter flavor in the back end of most meads too.

@thedeadfisher 3 года назад

It's a shame you didn't have enough to try the birch as it contains trace amounts of wintergreen.

@georgecolby7488 3 года назад

I think the unique taste from the cherry comes from the high mineral content in the wood. I'm a furniture maker that uses mostly cherry and it always has a myriad of color streaks and dark spots from mineral deposits. Oak and maple have far fewer "imperfections" than cherry.

@jassonford7269 3 года назад

You should try the cherry wood aging on the Taj

@ghoppr71 3 года назад

I love seeing the joy that your creations bring to you two. I'm gonna totally try this as I picked up some oak aging sticks from a distillery in Tennessee.

@benjamindaniels1273 3 года назад

My favorite transfer method is cupping it in my hands and letting it run through my fingers into the glass 🤣

@Indian0Lore 3 года назад

You are so silly.

@Zeltar1066 3 года назад

I think the oaking with the jalapeno mead you guys made, possibly with a heather honey could bring out alot of rounded flavours and could be interesting and worth a try on my next batch. Damnit now I need to buy more carboys as all mine are full 🙈

@jachamr 3 года назад

I ordered french oak sticks from Gnarly Apple, just from the absolute pleasure and glee on Brian's face

@geordiekimbo2 3 года назад

I'm going to order French Oak purely on that reaction too. It was a moment of RU-vid joy.

@scottmusser881 2 года назад

Would you ever consider combining different woods to see the outcome? Like maybe the French oak and the cherry combined?

@migaelhartzenberg2037 3 года назад

I made a dry traditional mead and added amarican oak, i also cut it onto pieces for more surface area, the places where i cut actually got a char on and that char added a lot of flavours.

@matthewboland5598 3 года назад

Thank you. I am going to try this!

@OracleOfDarkness1666 Год назад

Now I have my own apartment im gonna be working on making different meads might do an oak aged one to see how it goes

@Kruton3 3 года назад

I left paolo santos and white sage in mine. I had it in for the fermentation process. It turned out really well imo.

@FogofWar69420 3 года назад

Immediately bought some French oak sticks from them. I can't wait. Did they give you any details for reuse? I've got some ciders too that I want to try

@RayneNaegwyn 3 года назад

Could you guys make a video on how to oak a brew? Like get into the knitty gritty? Im really new to brewing and your videos are my fav so far!

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

We showed it on this video. It’s really just put wood into a brew and let it sit.

@papasmurf9146 3 года назад

Excellent experiment! Great idea and well executed. Well done.

@PunschRS 3 года назад

As a cooper this is fun to see, but it would have been nicer to see barrels, and especially swedish oak ;)

@joe8172 3 года назад

I'm sure Brian and Derica would love you to send them a barrel :D

@jamisonr Год назад

Probably has nothing to do with anything, but I find that Freach Oaked version of Maker's Mark is better than the regular version of Maker's Mark. And for this reason, i think I'm going to try this!

@odinson4793 3 года назад

I have some plans to use your old pyment recipe and fortify it into a kind of port, might try and get my hands on some of the French oak for it

@crowjr2 3 года назад

There seems to be some harmony between woods that are good for smoking and woods that are good for aging brews. Not sure why, maybe there's a correlation? It makes me wonder about hickory, pear, even maybe alder? TIME FOR EXPERIMENTS!

@thewatcher2524 3 года назад

another great and informative video thanks guys

@elricthebald870 3 года назад

Thanks for doing this. I've been thinking about 'oaking' but wasnt sure. Next time I order supplies I'll add a bag of oak chips.

@geordiekimbo2 3 года назад

Hi Brian and Derica, I just tried a dragon blood (blackberry, raspberry and cherry mead?) with a 16 day medium toast English oak and it is special. That oaky tannin and whiskey type note goes really well with the blackberry. Definitely one to try.

@CammanderDart 6 месяцев назад

I'm in the process of making maple wine. I think I'm going to wood finish it I really thing the sugar maple will work super well with it.

@CitySteadingBrews 6 месяцев назад

Sounds good.

@SirGolfalot- 3 года назад

Interesting to see the results

@robertgaskell6663 3 года назад

I have used oak spirals in a few of my brews, mostly medium toast French and American. I prefer the taste I get from American oak. My next traditional mead I am planning on a 60/40 mix of American and French. I have also used Whiskey soaked French Oak Cubes which imparted really interesting flavors

@SA12String Год назад

I lived in California for the first 50 years of my life, and I've always said Caramel the same as you do: "Carmel". I've since started saying caramel. No idea why. I'm looking forward to getting some BCW products, but I'm waiting until I can get some (and excuse me if I'm screwing up the spelling) amberana wood.

@peronik349 3 года назад

my family has a recipe for calva (based on the 50 ° ABV distillation of the hard-cider produced on the property). for the aging the recipe uses one small wooden barrels that were used before to make Madeira wine. these barrels associated with oak shavings give, after a slow aging of 3 years, birth to a nectar worthy of the gods. maybe this combination (barrel for the production of Madeira + oak chips) can be an idea for your meads. ps: contrary to wines, the aging of this calva is not done in the cellar but under the roofs; hot summer and cold winter cycles seem to speed up the process by a factor of 10 without negatively impacting the final product at all

@billybobjones4317 3 года назад

You have sold me on French Oak to try on half of my Brew :) I was very happy with the plain Mead but after seeing your reactions to the French Oak, I will see if my Local Brew Shop sells it as I am in Australia.

@DukeTrout 3 года назад

I highly recommend toasted oak aging for a cyser. I’ve done 3, and they are all fantastic. They taste like hot apple pie.

@mondrianbogert6835 3 года назад

I'm honestly very happy to see you guys doing this test. Ordered some wood from Black Swan Barrels as they have a sampler they have various different woods and have been trying to do something very similar. Would love to see what comes from this test if you decide to continue to develop it further.

@crowjr2 3 года назад

This was a really fantastic video. Well planned and executed! I've been oaking meads a lot lately too ... not with all of the variety you just tested, so this is helpful. An oaked bochet is some level of heaven. Great job!

@robrainwater8017 3 года назад

Try oaking your Vikings blood. I did mine with medium char American oak. It was amazing!

@651818 3 года назад

How do you drink your mead? I made my first batch and love it, but my family hated it until i served it with ice cubes... Now they cant get enough of it

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

Drink it however you like!

@hastur1375 3 года назад

I used med+ French oak chips on a pumpkin pie cyser with honey from my hive and fresh pressed cider I pressed with an antique press and is the best mead I've made. I've only got two bottles left and I don't wanna drink em lol.

@margaretrothwell2685 3 года назад

So french oak has a compound in it call vanillin which is the main flavor compound in vanilla beans. Its often used in imitation vanilla extract.

@Vykk_Draygo 3 года назад

As does American oak. I think most (if not all) oaks have vanilin.

@MajorGRecording 2 года назад

Got some of the French Oak used in this video from your friend on Etsy to use on your traditional mead recipe. Also planning on trying some Jack Daniels BBQ smoking chips (which is made 100% from charred white oak aging barrels of Old No 7) on a batch of traditional mead but using figs instead of raisins.

@benjamindaniels1273 3 года назад

Just my opinion but the cherry on a spiced metheglin would be the best way to utilize it. It helps wraps the flavors together and adds to as opposed to covering up those subtle flavors

@aaronvt9980 3 года назад

I've had some interesting results from medium toast applewood chips. It imparts a slightly tart flavor along with the usual "oaked" flavor.

@MrOj53 3 года назад

Do not complain about cloudy drink, drink from horns ;-))

@andrewcotton1651 3 года назад

Since you liked the french oak, you should try an american oak side by side. You are a big whiskey fan so try a bunch of different oaks and get some toasted in some chard there a difference between.

@Kinnamon100 3 года назад

Wonder if you toasted some apple wood. And adding it to an Apple cider mead?

@johncwhite 3 года назад

I prefer the French oak also goes great in a bochet.

@TheRscorp 3 года назад

I oak almost all my meads. The only ones I don't is if I get one that's a lighter honey that comes out tasting like white wine I'll add acid to get it crisp. Other than that I love the complexity it brings.

@MarkTheNewf 3 года назад

Nice. Yeah, I use a medium oak spiral in my maple mead (aka moose juice) for 2 weeks. I think anything beyond that would be a bit much. I've actually never tried it without it.....next time? Nahhhhh. It does take a while to mellow out. Now I feel like I need to try the others and see if it's a more mellow addition.

@edwardcunningham6315 Год назад

Always fun seeing new ideas for "personally flavoring" meads. I wonder if I can mix two of them? Would it become too strong too fast to control?👍❤️

@kjdevault Год назад

Start with one, and once it gets the flavor you like, switch it to another. It’s how spirits are ‘finished,’ as well. The label you see in whiskey, ‘finished in rum barrels,’ means it was primarily aged in new American oak, then put into a second cask like a rum, wine, brandy, etc barrel to Finnish for a few more months to impart added flavors.

@colinmacvicar2507 3 года назад

Any word on how Bearded and Bored’s oaked spiced metheglin is doing?

@hikikomicklori9290 3 года назад

Are the wood sticks reusable?

@amitsiovitz4000 3 года назад

Hi there, great stuff. I have a question: I made a pumpkin mead in view of having it ready for Halloween, so it's got time to age. I tasted it two weeks ago (fermented from 1.115 to 0.995) and it is nice, but I was thinking of oaking it for some more body and tannin. How much wood chips (American oak, medium roast) do you think would be good for about a gallon and a half (1.3 US gallon, 5 liters, I do metric? Do you think 3 weeks would be enough for a mead with very little body?

@Backdaft94 3 года назад

Oaked the banana wine with VA white oak med toast and it was amazing. Wondering if mesquite would add a new layer of spice to either the spiced methyglyn or a capscumel

@donaldkong4761 Год назад

Thank you guys for providing such a wide variety of information, you're leading me through this mead journey. I made mead one time 7 years ago and forgot about it, recently rediscovered that gallon carboy in my pantry and tried it. Now I'm planning on making four 5-gallon carboys of various recipes and aging it indefinitely. Do you have any advice on the point of diminshing returns? I don't have the experience to know if my 7 year mead was drastically different from a 5 year or even a 2 year. Thanks again

@CitySteadingBrews Год назад

I believe, 2-3 years is probably optimal for the majority of brews. That said, they will vary. Now, at what point is it no longer enjoyable? That's impossible to say. If you like it, drink it, is pretty much how I see it.

@donaldkong4761 Год назад

@@CitySteadingBrews Do you mean that aging it too long will eventually make it unpalatable?

@CitySteadingBrews Год назад

Theoretically. It could take decades though to get to that point.

@PeterSFam 3 года назад

The birch would be great with the metheglin.

@lukeadsit4049 3 года назад

I wonder if you could save time by putting the wood in primary (or maybe secondary). Why not?

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

You can, but most brews benefit from some conditioning time anyway so…

@ilchickentv340 3 года назад

If I don't like jolly ranchers, should I avoid the oak?

@ronaldsabourin8835 3 года назад

If you purchased oak barrels for aging, would you be able to sanitize it and reuse it?

@socialxperiment3162 3 года назад

Not an expert but I’d say starsan would do the trick

@kjdevault Год назад

There is specific sanitizer for the wood and for preserving it. The worst thing to do to a barrel is let it sit dry. Second is using just water. Use cask conditioner or water down some high proof spirits some and keep in it. Typically a rinse with fresh water will do the job though, or steaming them happens a lot too.

@bsellers2496 3 года назад

french oak with your cold brew mead

@yogiduhbahr6138 3 года назад

Good morning Derica and Brian! My gf likes the sweet red (black tea added), but I find it a bit too sweet and somewhat monoplanar...tasting like alcoholic concord grapes and lacking any complexity. I'd like to play around with the recipe (less added sugar, darker/stronger/more black tea) for added tannins and mouth feel, but I'm wondering what your thoughts are on using the French oak on this? Thanks in advance!

@kreynolds1123 Год назад

Have you watched the video "Instantly Aged Alcohol - Ultrasonic Treatment" by The Thought Emporium Channel? While not true aged, it sure looks like an exciting way to use wood to add color and flavors to beverages.

@CitySteadingBrews Год назад

I'd rather just let time do the work :)

@billybobjones4317 3 года назад

How many months or years should a Mead be from start to when it would be best to drink ? Is there a recommended age for a Mead ? Mine is 5 months now as it's the first one I have done, I made about 35 litres let it ferment for about a month and then racked it, left it settle for about two months and then Bottled it. So bottled for two months. Great channel, keep up the good work :)

@CitySteadingBrews 3 года назад

They're all different, but normally around 3-6 months things start tasting pretty good.

@drtns 3 года назад

This has me thinking about your acerglyn.... and using wood to achieve that Maple Bacon Acerglyn you said that would be interesting to try and make. get a smokey char wood + acerglyn gives you the smokey bacon notes to make the Maple Bacon Acerglyn? maybe now that you are experimenting with wood you'll have to try that?