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Craft Beer & Brewing
Wood Aging Your Beer

Craft Beer & Brewing Course

Wood Aging Your Beer

Wood offers character that no other ingredient or method can match. In fact, you can think of the wood aging process as a whole new ingredient altogether.

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In this course, you'll learn how to use wood for its unique flavor contributions, as well as for its ability to host a wide range of souring microorganisms.

Course contents

15 chapters, 59 lessons, 1h 1m of video

Chapter 1

Welcome

Chapter 2

Meet the Instructor

Chapter 3

What We'll Cover

Chapter 4

Flavor and Aroma Contributions

  • Why Wood Age Your Beer?
  • Flavor & Aroma1:37

Chapter 5

Microflora

  • Wild Beer
  • Micro Flora & Organisms1:17
  • Wood and Brettanomyces
  • Wood Sugars0:53
  • Ideal Environment
  • Maintaining Organisms3:26

Chapter 6

Tradition and Intention

  • Choosing to wood-age your beer
  • Wood Aging & Tradition2:02

Chapter 7

Get to know wood

  • Wood Beer
  • Oak1:12
  • Types of Wood
  • Types of Wood Video2:01
  • Toasting
  • Bourbon Barrels2:10

Chapter 8

Barrels

  • Overview
  • Anatomy of a Barrel0:52
  • Sourcing Barrels2:13
  • Interesting Fact
  • Conditioning A Barrel3:10
  • Integrity of The Barrel2:19
  • Barrel Size1:04

Chapter 9

Barrel alternatives: chips, cubes, and spirals

  • Barrel Alternatives
  • Chips, Cubes & Spirals1:50
  • Resources
  • Sourcing Barrels2:18
  • Soaking Oak Chips0:24
  • Practice Toasting 1:19

Chapter 10

Sourcing barrels

  • Where to Find Barrels?2:58
  • Barrel Safety0:53
  • Wine Barrels1:07
  • Barrels Used for Food Products0:39
  • Recommended Sources

Chapter 11

Sanitizing, maintaining, and using barrels

  • Sanitation Issues
  • Sanitation Practices0:42
  • Aging Beer2:29
  • Sampling1:23
  • Storage

Chapter 12

Transferring in and out of barrels

  • Transferring
  • Transferring In & Out of Barrels3:07
  • Small Barrels0:46
  • Homebrew Demonstration 2:04
  • Homebrew Demonstration II3:31
  • Homebrew Demonstration III2:45
  • Demonstration Wrap Up0:15

Chapter 13

The sky is the limit!

  • Practically Speaking
  • Selecting A Style3:51
  • Additions
  • Benefits of Adjuncts2:01

Chapter 14

Two recipes

  • Alexander the Blessed
  • Reclamation Red

Chapter 15

Thank You!

  • Thank You!0:18
  • Thank You!

What students say

4.9 from 14 reviews
  • Great Backbone

    This course offers a great backbone for further research. Not very technical, this serves as an introduction into the methods used in wood aging for both clean and sour beers. This is definitely geared towards the home brewer, but pro brewers with little to no experience in wood aging could still benefit from engaging in this course.
    Peter Myers
  • great, it says what you get.

    Clear and complete overview of this topic.
    Guus Bollen
  • Helpful

    Lot's of good information and practical knowledge.
    Nick Bova
Show all 14 reviews
  • Excelent

    Good course
    espen holgersen
  • Very usefull

    Thks!
    Ricardo Gouveia
  • Good Introduction to Wood Aging of Beer

    Quick course on the fundamentals of wood aging beer. I wish the course had covered in more detail the different grades of toasted & charred wood, procedures covering the toasting of wood cubes, and flavor descriptors found in different toast levels.
    Robert Fawbush
  • Food for Thought

    As somebody who has never wood/barrel aged a beer but has recently been tossing around the idea of brewing a wood aged, fruited, gose, this course has given me lots of information to help me make that leap.
    Chuck Nute
  • Wood Aging Your Beer
    Brian Lavelle
  • interesting info

    This was a great overview of barrel aging. I would love to have more detailed info available concerning the attributes of the various microbes used in souring. Also, the recipes could use a little more info on details such as fermentation temps, etc. Thanks.
    Jason Hartley
  • Educational
    Tomo Jedvaj
  • Interesting introduction course

    The course is clear for beginners. As I am a probrewer and I work in the craft beer industry, I did not learn anything new, but this is an error of mine in choosing the course. For beginners is perfect, so, 5 stars!
    Alessandro Carocci
  • Great information for getting started

    This is a great confidence boost for kicking off your at home barrel program. Lots of great information that can lead you in the right direction for success.
    Chris Werdebaugh
  • Very good one
    Juliano DI LUCA
  • Fantastic
    Krysta Boisvert