Bourbon Soaked Oak Chips, What?

Ok, so i'm doing a bourbon porter. The porter is in the primary and 4oz of medium oak chips are soaking in Makers Mark. The aim is to soak the chips for 2 weeks or so.

1) My question comes in with the secondary, and searching throughout the forum i could never get a consensus answer. When i rack to the secondary with the oak chips, do i completely strain/drain the oak chips or should i pour some of the bourbon with it?

2) How long do i let it sit, i love a local bourbon porter that is pretty strong on the bourbon flavor but not quite overpowering... for anyone with experience, how long will it take to get the flavor? I guess the best way is to just sample it after 2 weeks and then go from there?

I usually leave about 1/2 cup of the bourbon per 5 gallon in my vanilla bourbon porter. Assuming you're doing a 5 gallon batch, 4oz of the bourbon soaked wood should make itself very well known in about 7 days. The flavor of the wood will mellow slightly with time as well. 2 weeks of 4 oz wood chips will likely impart far too much wood taste imho

yes, a 5g batch, didnt mention it.

thanks for the response, i definitely dont want the oak overpowering anything so i'll take a sample around 5-7 days to test when to pull it off. Is it a very strong inital flavor that does well to let mellow?

Yes. I have a bourbon oaked beer that I oaked for 10 days, and it's now becoming drinkable.

I used one ounce of medium toasted oak for three gallons. I bottled it on 8/16/09, and it's now still "oaky" but not as intense as it was. It's now pretty drinkable.

7ish days should give you an instantly noticeable oak character that should fade into a much more balanced amount in maybe 3-4 weeks

I pour the bourbon and the oak chips in the secondary.

7-10 days, but really no more. It will take time to mellow out.

great, it'll be sitting for a bit once it comes off of the secondary so it should mellow well. thanks for the replies! I'm looking to bring a good bit of it to the old man for x-mas.

Christmas THIS year? Um, well, it'll be really, really oaky then, especially if you use 4 ounces of oak chips like you mentioned in your post. Like I said, I used ONE ounce for 3 gallons back in August, and it's just now becoming drinkable 3 months later. If you want it for Christmas this year, I'd suggest no more than 1 ounce, and just a couple of days!

YooperBrew said:

Christmas THIS year? Um, well, it'll be really, really oaky then, especially if you use 4 ounces of oak chips like you mentioned in your post. Like I said, I used ONE ounce for 3 gallons back in August, and it's just now becoming drinkable 3 months later. If you want it for Christmas this year, I'd suggest no more than 1 ounce, and just a couple of days!

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Yeah.....it takes a long time to mellow out oak...like months sometimes.

i had bad timing... i know. its only going to be a sample, so i can pass on the sample and bring something else for him to hold him over a few more months. i was thinking of adjusting the oak chips anyway from everyone saying they used much less!

meh, I soaked 1oz med toast american oak in ~8oz bourbon (with 2 vanilla beans) for a week, dumped the whole kit and caboodle in the secondary, been there almost 1.5 months, tastes delicious, may even leave it longer. Gonna bottle with a bit of vanilla bean in each bottle, and keg the other half with some beans as well.

yeah i am thinking that the 4oz is overkill and will only be doing between 1-2oz's, i'll take a taste after 7 days and see where its at... glad i ended up asking or i'd have been all oaked up

I make a Porter that I oak and I use about 1.5oz soaked in bourbon and I let it sit for some time to mellow out. 1-1.5oz of chips for 5-10 days is about right for a decent amount of oak. I've used .5oz to get just subtle oak flavor in IPA so its very easy to overdo it. I like to add the bourbon that was soaking the chips because it extracts allot of those nice vanilla/caramel flavors from the oak.
If I want more bourbon flavor I just add some before bottle/kegging to taste.
Just pull a sample every other day till it has the oak flavor you want and remember it will fade with time and mellow out nicely.

I used 1oz medium toast american oak chips that I soaked in bourbon for 1 week. I added the chips and all of the bourbon to 5 gallons. That was in March of this year. I left the beer on the chips for two months and then bottled. The beer was a RIS. Until about 1 month ago, I couldn't taste the beer, only the oak. I just drank one last night and it is getting better. It should be ready to drink this time next year. Next time I'll use about 1/16th as much.

Just add the bourbon. If you want it ready for this Christmas, the Maker's has enough wood character, as it is.


TL

I've been thinking about a Bourbon stout for awhile... thanks for all the feedback, and for the OP.

mmmmmm.....

r2eng said:

I've been thinking about a Bourbon stout for awhile... thanks for all the feedback, and for the OP.

mmmmmm.....

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ha, not a problem, this thread saved me from having to have it sit for a year if i racked it on top of 4oz