Oak Aged Cream Soda

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164Brewing

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Right now I am testing out a small batch of oak aged cream soda. I am using French medium - plus toast oak cubes. I soak 2 oz of the cubes in 2 quarts of water for 48 hours. I remove the oak cubes and add 2 whole split vanilla beans. I let the vanilla soda for three hours and it is ready to carbonate!

After the first test it seemed to be far too smokey. Do you think that this is far too much oak cubes? What is an average amount of oak cubes used in something like this?
 
I honestly don't know anything about what you're doing here, but in things that are aged in oak, isn't it usually very very subtle? I only ask that because I would assume you'd want to use very little of the cubes then or soak for less time. This recipe sounds very interesting though. I'll be keeping my eye on this post. Hopefully someone more experienced in here will be able to provide a better answer for you. :)
 
That's the hope! I want it to have that nice subtle oak flavor with some sweet notes, but I do want it to have a primary flavor of vanilla.
I have tried the 2 oz and now I am working with 1 oz in a 2 quart set up. The 2 oz was far too smokey and oak-y. Hoping that the 1 oz is a better direction!
 
would you be willing to share your recipe just to get a full idea of what your working with?
 
Sure thing! As of the moment it is super simple (it is in the infancy of the development)

SMALL SCALE TEST
2 Q. Water
1 oz Oak Cubes (French Medium - Plus Toast)
2 Vanilla Beans

1. Bring water up to a boil
2. Once at a boil, pour water over oak cubes in a large bowl
3. Let oak cubes and water sit for 48 hours
4. Remove oak blocks after 48 hours and place vanilla beans (split) and oak infused water into pot
5. Heat up water and let liquid and vanilla beans sit for 12 hours
6. Carbonate

For the final product I think I will need to use a smaller ratio of oak cubes because I am still finding that this amount is still fairly pungent. Should I possibly let oak cubes sit for longer?
 
If it were me, I think I would use more vanilla and less of the oak. Then again I like vanilla so if you feel you got enough, then leave it as is. :) I use about 1 cup of vanilla flavoring and about 1/2cp. of vanilla extract. Beans alone just didn't get me the vanilla flavor I was looking for. When I was experiencing with the beans, I felt the beans didn't give off as potent of a vanilla flavor as I would have liked. Thats why I went with vanilla flavoring and extract. Might be something else to think about.

Could let the beans (split) sit with the Oak for 48 hours and see if that produces any different/better results.

If the oak is still to strong, letting them sit longer will only make that worse. If anything I would use less oak cubes and if needed, shorter length of time. Try like 1/4oz. It'd probably be easier to start really small and work your way up (if needed). The oak should be subtle...so start with very little of it. Once you got it where you want, then work on the vanilla and make sure that is contrasting well with the oak. I am just trying to spitball stuff at you here. :)
 
Water doesn't pull out vanilla flavor from the bean very well, even if you boil it. If you want a customized vanilla bean flavor, soak them in alcohol to make your own vanilla extract. They go a lot further that way. I've found about 1 oz vanilla extract per gallon of finished soda gives a nice flavor.
 
Water doesn't pull out vanilla flavor from the bean very well, even if you boil it. If you want a customized vanilla bean flavor, soak them in alcohol to make your own vanilla extract. They go a lot further that way. I've found about 1 oz vanilla extract per gallon of finished soda gives a nice flavor.

That's the path I was going down too. I couldn't use enough beans to get the flavor I was looking for and thats why I went with flavoring and extract. I am actually thinking of getting a big bag of Bourbon Vanilla beans and making my own extract. :)
 
That's the path I was going down too. I couldn't use enough beans to get the flavor I was looking for and thats why I went with flavoring and extract. I am actually thinking of getting a big bag of Bourbon Vanilla beans and making my own extract. :)

I've only done it once, and it's lasted me almost two years. I probably could have used more beans, but it still came out with a nice strong flavor. I highly recommend it.

If I can convince my wife that I need to go buy another bottle of everclear, I'll probably do it again.
 
I actually have a cream soda in a bourbon barrel right now. Been in there since April.
Going to leave it in until August, but when it comes out, I can post some tasting notes if anyone is interested.
 
That would be great to hear about how your cream soda turns out mack25! It would be interesting to hear about how a true aged cream soda turns out. That would be the goal further down the road.

And thanks MrFoodScientist! That is my plan for now. I am going to make my own vanilla extract so that I am still hands on in the process.
 
Ah yes forgot that I posted about this.
It turned out fantastic. I took it to the New England Homebrewer's Jamboree and it was a big hit.
It looked great - golden color, huge vanilla flavor. Mild woodiness. Slightly funky in the nose, but just barely. One sip and it was all vanilla, caramel, and a hint of booze probably from the whiskey trapped in the wood and maybe the brown sugar fermenting a little. I highly recommend making something like this.
 
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