I’m brewing an IPA this time around, but I wanted to give it a little something extra. To do this, I purchased some French Oak Chips. After reading a little on the homebrew forums, one member suggested sanitizing them in a liquor of some sorts. Since I am in Tennessee and I enjoy a good whiksey, I decided to go with Jack.

I began my brew process by putting the Oak chips in a container, then dousing them with a healthy amount of Jack.

The next step was to lay out all the equipment I would need to transfer the beer from the Primary to the Secondary. My secondary is a 5 gallon glass carboy. I also needed my racking cane, siphoning hose, airlock, and cork for the carboy. As always, everything must be sanitized. I prefer to use OneStep.

After I got everything all good and clean, I removed the lid from the primary to find a beautiful dark beer.

It was time to transfer from the primary to the secondary. I emptied out the OneStep out of the secondary and removed the rest of the tools from the sanitizing solution. I assembled my racking cane to the hose, and clipped it to the side of the primary. Then I started the siphon by simply creating a vacuum with my mouth.

After the beer had completed siphoning, I removed the Oak chips from the Jack by using a strainer. I then added them to the secondary and sealed it off.

Check out the color difference between the original Jack, and the stuff that came out of the Oak chip solution.

Curious as to what the primary looks like with no beer? Well, it’s just a bunch of spent yeast and hops.

I ended the session with putting it in the brew closet.

So that’s it for now! Next week I will be clarifying the beer with gelatin, then I will keg it! I’m excited as it is my first time doing both of those things. Stay Tuned.