Bourbon advice for Oak Cube soaking

[BoitAHL]

In fact I'm heading over there in a few minutes to sample their 2022 Parabola

I'm so jealous! Wish I could go to the Firestone Walker brewery. Parabola is fantastic. Have enjoyed it many times purchasing from Tavour or CraftCity. Always rated it a 5 on Untappd. Recently had Old Man Hattan. Many . Helldorado and Stickey Monkey also excellent.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I'm so jealous! Wish I could go to the Firestone Walker brewery. Parabola is fantastic. Have enjoyed it many times purchasing from Tavour or CraftCity. Always rated it a 5 on Untappd. Recently had Old Man Hattan. Many . Helldorado and Stickey Monkey also excellent.

Another benefit is they occasionally release limited variants that are only sold at FW. Plus they often dig deep and put older releases on tap there.

 

[bwible]

I’m intrugued by their “blonde barleywine”

 

[BongoYodeler]

I’m intrugued by their “blonde barleywine”

You mean this one?

 

[bwible]

You mean this one?

View attachment 760445

Oh yeah!

 

[PNW McOrreo]

Preparing to brew up a batch of NB's Dragon Silk Imperial Stout. I happen to have a bottle of 2Bar Spirits "Wine Barrel Finished Straight Bourbon Whiskey"... I'd say the wine barrel comes through pretty loud in this one.

My question is this: anyone replaced the oak cube-bourbon soak with a bourbon like this? Pre-oaked, if you will...

 

[Davedrinksbeer]

Preparing to brew up a batch of NB's Dragon Silk Imperial Stout. I happen to have a bottle of 2Bar Spirits "Wine Barrel Finished Straight Bourbon Whiskey"... I'd say the wine barrel comes through pretty loud in this one.

My question is this: anyone replaced the oak cube-bourbon soak with a bourbon like this? Pre-oaked, if you will...

I’ve made the NB dragons Milk a few times and it’s an awesome kit, have to let it age out 6 months or so but I used a bottle of Makers Mark and the provided Oak Cubes. Not sure how your Wine Barrel Bourbon will do but it sounds like it would be a interesting/good addition

 

[madscientist451]

Preparing to brew up a batch of NB's Dragon Silk Imperial Stout. I happen to have a bottle of 2Bar Spirits "Wine Barrel Finished Straight Bourbon Whiskey"... I'd say the wine barrel comes through pretty loud in this one.

My question is this: anyone replaced the oak cube-bourbon soak with a bourbon like this? Pre-oaked, if you will...

Do a bench trial with the expensive Bourbon vs using something inexpensive like Rebel Yell that was with the oak. cubes. You could also try a third option and use Jack Daniel's barrel chips.
Basically let the beer finish fermenting and then let it sit a few weeks, maybe force carbonate if you have kegs, and then take 4 or 5 2 OZ. samples of the beer and start with a 1/2 teaspoon and increase the amount in each sample as you think appropriate. See which one and which amount you like better. Get someone to help with the tasting. Then do the math and add the proper amount to the keg. You may notice some flavor changes as time goes by as the beer ages some more and the flavors meld together but you'll be in the ballpark of what you are looking for.
Some people would say adding good whiskey to a batch of beer is a waste, but you'll have to decide that for yourself. I used to use Woodford Reserve in my beer/whiskey combinations, but after my own taste test, I switched to Rebel Yell with barrel chips or other oak product.

 

[jerrylotto]

My favorite bourbon for this purpose is Knob Creek and I found that the ratio of 4 oz of bourbon soaking 4 oz of toasted oak chips for a 5 gallon batch gives a very nice result. All of the bourbon gets soaked up into the chips in the refrigerator.

 

[beernutz]

I am making a "barrel-aged" oatmeal stout using a cup of American Oak Cubes (Stavin) - Medium Plus Toast I got at morebeer that have been soaking a few weeks in Jefferson's small batch bourbon (because that's what I had on hand). I tried to accelerate the soaking process by putting the cubes and bourbon in a container that I'm able to vacuum seal with our FoodSaver. You could even see bubbles of air coming from the cubes when I first vacuumed the container.

Once the oatmeal stout is kegged in a couple of weeks I intend to put the cubes in a mesh bag with some sanitized marbles to weight it down, tie fishing line to it and send it to the bottom of the keg. Then every day or so pull the fishing line up an inch until it reaches the top of the keg or until a sample tasting indicates "that's enough".

Should I add the bourbon to the keg as well? This is my second attempt at pseudo barrel-aging and the first, using chips, wasn't acceptable to me, and I didn't add the soaking bourbon for that one.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Doesn't every bourbon already come with a nice bit of oaky flavor? Why not skip the middle-man (and oak chips), and add your bourbon straight to the bottling bucket? I went with 2 oz Elijah Craig 47% abv per gallon of beer (a nice chocolatey 9.8% stout), a pack of CBC-1 yeast, and it turned out fantastic!*

*after the hops burn mellowed out, around 5 months post bottling.

 

[jerrylotto]

That's not a wood aged beer then. If all you want is bourbon flavor then go for it, but toasted oak cubes add a dimension too - and you'll need a lot more exposure than just the bottling bucket. I use about the same time one would use to dry hop - 5-7 days.

 

[Davedrinksbeer]

The bourbon also helps sanitize the wood and draws out tannins. I normally go 1 bottle of Makers Mark with 3-4 ounces of oak cubes. Soak for a week, then dump it all in with the beer and let sit another 7-10 days.

 

[jerrylotto]

The bourbon also helps sanitize the wood and draws out tannins. I normally go 1 bottle of Makers Mark with 3-4 ounces of oak cubes. Soak for a week, then dump it all in with the beer and let sit another 7-10 days.

How large a batch and what size bottle? For a 5 gallon batch I use about 8 oz (250 g) wood soaked in about 8 oz (250 ml) of bourbon.

 

[Wrendelar]

In my imperial bourbon barreled vanilla Porter I use 2 oak spirals soaked in 500ml of bourbon. Then at conditioning I add it all for 7-10 days adding the vanilla beans in 3 days before Kegging/bottling.

Spirals are similar to this
https://shop.greatfermentations.com...als-char-3-2-pack/distilling-related-products

 

[Davedrinksbeer]

How large a batch and what size bottle? For a 5 gallon batch I use about 8 oz (250 g) wood soaked in about 8 oz (250 ml) of bourbon.

5 gallon batch of imperial stout or a BarleyWine. 750ml bottle of bourbon. I’m patient though, I can let it sit for 6 -9 months to mellow but it’s good.