Oak Cubes and Bourbon

Been awhile since I have been on here, and almost 9 months since my last brew. I know, I know its bad, but times have been a little rough and there hasn't been a lot of extra money, blah blah blah.....

Anyway, I'm getting ready to start a bourbon barrel extract kit with oak cubes soaked in some Jim Beam. My question is, I am assuming the oak cubes need to be sanitized before going into the secondary fermenter. What is the best way to do this? And is there any tips on how to limit the amount of aeration that goes on during the addition or is that really much of a problem?

 

The liquor you are soaking the cubes in kills anything bad. As for aeration, it is not a problem as long as you are not splashing a ton when you add them.

 

2oz or so of oak cubes to 2-3 jiggers of Jim Beam will be enough. I used Beam's Black last time. 8 year old goodness.

 

I didn't think about the alcohol killing off any bacteria. I was reading online that somebody microwave the cubes, but I believe those were when they were using plain cubes, not soaked in Bourbon. That's great, and will take away an unnecessary step.

 

Sounds delicious. I'm a Maker's Mark guy, but Jim will do well also.

 

When i made an oaked Bourbon Barrel Old Ale I steamed the oak cubes for 15 minutes. Steam does a good job at sterilizing.

Depending on how ong you let the cubes sit in whisky, 2 ounces may be too much.

I soaked 2 ounces in Makers Mark bourbon for 45 days and the oak taste was too strong. The beer is 7 months aged, and maybe beginning to taste better. I suggest you try one once, not 2, and let it sit in your whisky a long time to fully absorb the oak tannins.

 

My brewing partner did a Russian Imperial Stout seconaried with makers mark soaked oak cubes. We just cracked one open after about two months of bottle conditioning and it was very tasty. Another month or two to mellow out a tad more and it will be damn near perfect.

 

This worked for me. Awesome when added to a Porter.

 

The first time I oaked,I used 3oz of chips to 5 jiggers of Beam's Black. I learned the hard way that 2oz chips to 2-3 jiggers bourbon is plenty for 8 days or so in secondary.