In the second instalment of my journey through the illuminating – though also heavy – OCB sees us heading into Budweiser territory (which also starts with B. “Budweiser”, I mean, not “territory”. But you already knew that, yeah?). It’s beechwood chips, which is prominently mentioned on the Bud label.

If she gets excited about seeing a Budweiser poured, that woman is very, very easily impressed.

I’d always thought they were actually wood chips, kind of like the bark chips you chuck on your garden to stop weeds, but no. They’re actually strips or shavings. And they’re not there to impart any beechwoodiness to the Bud either – in fact they’re boiled in such a way as to presumably ensure they add flavour to the beer (because heaven forbid a Budweiser tastes of something).

It seems they’re chucked into the maturation tanks to increase the surface area available to the yeast. Apparently it aids in the reduction of diacetyl (which I know is something you don’t want in beer. I just don’t know why).

In an environmentally-friendly note, the chips all get composted after use.

What’s the go here?: For those who have just stumbled across this post, I’m going through the Oxford Companion to Beer (OCB) and posting an entry for every letter. Why? Because I have a copy at home but hadn’t really gone through it page by page and I figured this would be an exercise that would force me to do that.