"White Trash" <garbologist@oscar.com> wrote in message
news:dI%2d.1161$vd1.809@trnddc03...[color=blue]
> Any thoughts/advice on using wood to add to a brew? Im thinking adding a
> sort of hickory/oak hint to a stout could be tasty. Anybody done it? Can[/color]
you[color=blue]
> just use normal chips (say like the kind you get to use on a bbq) and
> sterilze them, should you cook them up in anyway first to bring out the
> flavor?[/color]

I do it all the time. Gust grab a chunk, and bigger is better, and add it
to the boil. This will TONE DOWN your malt and slightly your hops.

I have been doing this for the past year.

Don't sterilize them if going into the boil for 1 hr. If you "cook" them,
the throw away water will be the flavor your trying to impart.

I add oak or cherry, and mostly cherry.

HTH

__Stephen