The Oak Dowel Experiment

Toasted Oak Dowel 

For all of us who can't afford or don't have 
the space for a gigantic oak barrel, 
there's the dowel method. I found that 
if you have the right tools it should cost 
around five dollars, give or take. It's also
 a nice conversation starter when people 
come over and happen to catch a glimpse.

As far as I can tell, the method was developed by Raj Apte who recommends using an oak chair leg with the hardware cut off as a stopper in a glass carboy. After doing a little research and examining the pros and cons, I figured I'd experiment and see what comes of it.

Pros: Like a barrel, the dowel allows oxygen to seep into the fermenter, which help Brettanomyces create their distinctive sour flavor. Also, the dowel should impart some oak flavor, although, this reason seems secondary; oak cubes ultimately have more surface area and will impart their flavor more efficiently.

Cons: The greatest danger of using the dowel is that it may swell and get stuck. If using a glass carboy, this would turn your 5 dollar barrel project into a seventy dollar mistake, so use caution. Some people use very thin dowels, but I wanted to take the chance and see what the extra surface area can give me. 

Found this on homebrewtalk.com, not sure of the original source. 

First, I went to the local building supply and picked up a half-inch American oak dowel. I cut it down to around two-and-a-half feet, making sure to remove the colored ends. I wrapped it in aluminum foil and toasted it in the oven around 300 degrees for four hours. I did not bother charring it, which some people recommend. I hope to one day try out different temperatures for different brews. 

For those of you who have cut oak before, you'll know how aromatic the wood can be, so remember to consider this before you throw it under heat. I love the smell, but I can see how it could be overwhelming. I didn't take any chances and did it while my fiancée was out of town.

Flanders Red 

I read that brand new oak, freshly toasted, can dominate and ruin the subtleties of a brew. So, I thought I would soak it in some wine before I put it to action, diluting the flavors, and hopefully mimicking a used wine barrel as much as possible. I chose to use it in a Flanders Red style (I'll put up a recipe soon) and figured a pinot noir was the best way to go for this style. 

On the way to the store, I actually considered buying a $10 wine in which to soak the dowel, but I thought better of it and used three-buck-chuck instead. I stuck the dowel in an Erlenmeyer flask and let it sit in the wine for a week, occasionally filling the flask as the wood and evaporation claimed the wine. Then, I flipped it over and did it all over again. After a month, I thought it was ready to use.

I hollowed out a bung with a knife and stretched it over the dowel. I'm sure there was a better way to do it, since the process took me nearly two hours of trial and error. Finally I got it on and I slipped the dowel into a Flanders Red that had been conditioning in a secondary fermenter for a month. I was a little worried that air might slip between the bung and the wood so I epoxied the top of the bung to get a tight seal. 

As of now, the beer has been in the secondary fermenter for 5 months and the dowel in for 4. 
Also, a healthy pellicle has formed on the top. Last time I tasted it, the sour flavor was at full-force but with very little oak flavor. I'll let it sit for another few months 
before I give it another test.

Pellicle after four months on the dowel