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What makes this species of wood key to the whiskey industry is it chemical structure and the effect this imparts on the aging whiskey. American White ===Hungarian Oak is known for its high vanillin content, oak lactone (coconut/bourbon characteristic), and wood sugars which all affect the bourbons taste. Additionally, American === ===Romanian White Oak affects the coloring of the bourbon itself. Impure wood varieties like Pine contain resin canals which pass strong flavors into maturing whiskey.===
===Hungarian==='''Honeycombs''' - Honeycombs are similar to oak spirals in what they offer and they maximize the surface area even more.
===Romanian White Oak==='''Lumber Stores'' - Some woods traditionally used in barrels such as oak go through a prolonged curing process before being formed into a barrel and toasted. If you are trying to use one of these woods, be aware that just getting wood from a lumber store and toasting it yourself will not give the same results as properly cured woods used to make barrels and barrel alternative products. Lumber stores can be good resources for finding some 'exotic' non-traditional woods to use in their beers. For brewers interested in this we recommend [https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/presentations/audio/2013/1715-21%20Alternative%20Wood%20Aging%20Techniques%20rpt%20-%20John%20Gasparine.mp3 this presentation] from the 2013 National Homebrewers Conference given by John Gasparine (must be an AHA member to access). Note that some woods may contain compounds not safe for consumption so be careful and research your woods before you use them.
==Barrel Alternatives==
in progress
A number of wood products are available to homebrewers to get wood characteristics without using a barrel. While barrel flavors are generally not the primary goal of funky beer brewers who use barrels for fermentation and aging, wood can contribute some of the additional characteristics that barrels offer (such as mouthfeel influences) and can also be used to house microbes in a similar way to a barrel (Vinnie's dimebags). The most common non-barrel wood products available to brewers are oak based.
'''Chips''' - Oak chips maximize surface area and have less variability in the depth of toast. Oak chips are not ideal because if the brewer is after flavor contribution chips will be more one dimensional and if the brewer is not after a wood flavor contribution, oak chips will give faster flavor extraction than other options and will therefore not give the other benefits of oak as well as other products.
'''Cubes''' - Oak cubes are readily available to brewers. They offer greater toast complexity and a lower surface area to volume ratio than chips. (reference Vinnie's dimebags, amos oak in primary)
'''Rods''' - Rods offer a similar product to cubes however the surface area to volume ratio is even smaller. In addition, rods (and lumber) are the primary source for alternative woods. [http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/resources/conference-seminars/?type=info&msg=3 See John Gasparine's 2013 NHC presentation on alternative wood aging] (AHA membership required).
'''Spirals''' - Wood spirals are basically rods that have been shaped to increase the surface area. They offer the same potential benefit as rods and cubes in dimension of toast flavor. Based on faster flavor extraction than rods, spirals may not be the ideal choice for brewers looking for the non-flavor benefits of wood.
'''Honeycombs''' - Honeycombs are similar to oak spirals in what they offer and they maximize the surface area even more.
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===American White Oak===
American White Oak (Quercus Alba) is regarded as one of the preeminent species of hardwood grown here in the United States of America. This species of White Oak has tyloses, an outgrowth of the parenchyma cells which stems from a reaction to natural stresses in the environment such as drought; which gives the wood a closed cellular structure, making it water- and rot- resistant. This closed structure also results in less air transfer through the wood than other oak types such as French oak.
Within the Wine & Spirits industry, Quercus Alba or American White Oak is the primary source of material in the production of Whiskey barrels; now inundated by law(especially in the case of bourbon, requiring all bourbon whiskey which is legally required to be aged in charred new oak barrels). What makes this species of wood key to the whiskey industry is it chemical structure and the effect this imparts on the aging whiskey. American White Oak is known for its high vanillin content, oak lactone (coconut/bourbon characteristic), and wood sugars which all affect the bourbons taste. Additionally, American White Oak affects the coloring of the bourbon itself. Impure wood varieties like Pine contain resin canals which pass strong flavors into maturing whiskey. Note that the char levels in some spirits barrels might make them a less ideal candidate for many mixed-fermentation beers. In addition, some bourbon barrels are not constructed as sturdily as wine barrels <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1171200286241517/ MTF discussion about bourbon barrels]</ref>, possibly due to the inability of producers to use barrels for many subsequent batches of bourbon (as would be common in wine).===French Oak===
===Chestnut===
==Barrel Alternatives=French=in progress A number of wood products are available to homebrewers to get wood characteristics without using a barrel. While barrel flavors are generally not the primary goal of funky beer brewers who use barrels for fermentation and aging, wood can contribute some of the additional characteristics that barrels offer (such as mouthfeel influences) and can also be used to house microbes in a similar way to a barrel (Vinnie's dimebags). The most common non-barrel wood products available to brewers are oak based. '''Chips''' - Oak chips maximize surface area and have less variability in the depth of toast. Oak chips are not ideal because if the brewer is after flavor contribution chips will be more one dimensional and if the brewer is not after a wood flavor contribution, oak chips will give faster flavor extraction than other options and will therefore not give the other benefits of oak as well as other products. '''Cubes''' - Oak cubes are readily available to brewers. They offer greater toast complexity and a lower surface area to volume ratio than chips. (reference Vinnie's dimebags, amos oak in primary) '''Rods''' - Rods offer a similar product to cubes however the surface area to volume ratio is even smaller. In addition, rods (and lumber) are the primary source for alternative woods. [http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/resources/conference-seminars/?type=info&msg=3 See John Gasparine's 2013 NHC presentation on alternative wood aging] (AHA membership required). '''Spirals''' - Wood spirals are basically rods that have been shaped to increase the surface area. They offer the same potential benefit as rods and cubes in dimension of toast flavor. Based on faster flavor extraction than rods, spirals may not be the ideal choice for brewers looking for the non-flavor benefits of wood.
==Toast level and Volume==
==Misc Info==
* Barrels used by some lambic producers (notably [[3 Fonteinen]] and [[De Cam]]) were originally 4000 liter barrels used by breweries like Pilsner Urquell. The barrels used for lager brewing are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_(resin) pitched]. However, they were rebuilt to hold 1000 liters, and the pitch was removed before being sent to lambic brewers in Pajottenland <ref> [http://www.booksaboutbeer.com/products/lambicland Lambicland by Webb, Pollard and McGinn (2010)]</ref><ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1152496341445245/?comment_id=1152514724776740&offset=0&total_comments=11&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R3%22%7D Conversation with Gareth Young and Raf Soef on MTF regarding lambic barrels. 09/22/2015.]</ref>.
* Potassium bitartrate (KHTa) is formed in wine, through the reaction between the bitartrate ion (HTa-), from tartaric acid (H2Ta), and the potassium ion (K+) found in grapes, especially grape skins. It is also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, and commonly called "Cream of Tartar", "wine crystals", potassium salt of tartaric acid, tartrates, argols, tartres (French), Weinstein (German - "wine stones") <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_bitartrate Wikipedia. Potassium bitartrate. Retrieved 09/30/2015.]</ref><ref name="Monash">[http://www.monashscientific.com.au/PotassiumBitartrate.htm Monash Scientific. Potassium bitartrate. Retrieved 09/30/2015.]</ref>. KHTa build up appears as crystals in wine barrels. It has no affect on the taste of wine, and is assumed to have no affect on the taste of beer <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1156200327741513/ Conversation in Milk The Funk about tartrates. 09/30/2015.]</ref><ref>[https://www.jordanwinery.com/files/FlexibleFile/289/Wine_Tartrates_FAQ.pdf UNDERSTANDING WINE TARTRATES. Jordan Winery. Retrieved 09/30/2015.]</ref>. They can be removed from the inside surface of barrels through cleaning with Proxycarb™ or another sodium percarbonate based cleaner such as scent-free Oxyclean™ (see the [http://barrelbuilders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Barrel-Maintenance-Repair-Manual.pdf Barrel Builders Barrel Maintenance Repair Manual]).
* [http://www.woodinvillewhiskeyco.com/barrels/ Woodinville Whiskey Co] - 8 gallon barrels used for whiskey aging
* [http://www.homebrewing.com/equipment/whiskey-barrel.php Balcone's 5 gallon spirit barrels] - The homebrew supplier for Balcone's 5 gallon spirit barrels
==See Also==