Oak cube/chip soaks - what do you have in your library?

Bourbon
Bourbon Vanilla
Spiced Rum
Brandy
Scotch
Chardonnay
Pinot Noir
Tequila

 

I've got spirals and cubes in my tool belt.

Bourbon spirals and cubes, Medium and Heavy Char, each.

Maple Bourbon Vanilla Cubes
Brandy
Rum
Irish Whiskey
Pinot

 

Canadian whiskey
Bourbon
Chardonnay
Tequila
Brandy

Need to add rum, rye and a red wine or two.

 

You asked about a month too late for me. Just two 1/3 spirals in bourbon, one destined for a Biere de Garde, the other for a cider.

I had chipotle, ancho, and guajillo chilis, star anise, cinnamon, and vanilla in bourbon that went in to an Imperial Porter that I bottled last week, and cinnamon, ginger, star anise, and vanilla in dark rum that went into a BSDA that is drinking pretty well now, but I suspect will be better next winter.

No plans for any other spirited brews in the near future, but I'm sure I'll think of something sooner or later.

 

until i get a few more containers i can dedicate to this, i have:

rum
tawny port
irish whiskey
chardonnay

 

This may be a beginner question as I've only aged some chips in bourbon before, but how do you guys handle wine (red or white)? Doesn't the wine get oxidized and impart that to the chips/cubes/spirals? Or does it not matter if they are submerged?

 

Keep the container full of wine to minimize head space, you could also vacuum pack the jar if you'd like.

For my tequila beans, I used some inexpensive mixtal anjeo. I wanted that tequila bite. I just use the cubes, no booze. When I did it in a golden oat wine - there was a little mash scorch I was trying to cover up - so I hit it with the tequila oak and then hit it with some coriander, black pepper and red pepper extracts to redirect the bite.

 

I just made a porter aged over Frangelico soaked oak chips. Covered 4oz of chips with the Frangelico and allowed to soak during primary. Gave the beer a two week secondary with the oak chips and it contributed a nice, subtle hazelnut flavor.

My goal for the beer was to give it as a holiday present, so I wanted to try to appeal to some people (spouses of beer drinkers) by having something that was not too crazy, easy to drink, and something to go along with the "beer" flavor. I think the Frangelico oak hit the mark.

 

I have an amaretto soaked Barleywine carbing now, tasted amazing at bottling

 

Rye whiskey barrel.

 

How long did you soak the tequilia in the cubes? Me thinks I need to replicate a DIPA aged in tequlia barrels.

 

I'm usually a fan of at least 3 weeks and really as long as you can. I have bourbon cubes that are 10+ years old now.

 

Wow that's a long time. Do you find a big difference in taste when soaking that long?

 

Yeah, the longer you go - the more mellow the oak and the more bourbon soaks into them.