So I brewed a porter that finished with about a month of bourbon soaked oak cubes (American medium toast). First time I had used oak chips and bourbon, apparently made a rookie mistake. Instead of pulling the cubes out of the bourbon I just dumped the bourbon and oak cubes right in. This seems to have blasted my brew with a face full of oak! It has been bottle conditioning for almost 4 months. The oak flavor is still right at the front and overpowering. How much longer do I wait before just throwing in the towel and calling it a failure........
I've heard from many homebrewers that dump the oak chips/cubes and liquor in their brews. I've done the same. No harm no foul. The oak flavor will continue to fade over time. How much it fades is of course hard to predict. I'm not sure I'd throw in the towel at all, just keep tasting as they age, and brew more in the meantime!
Another option is to re-brew the porter without the oak and blend the two in the glass if the flavor does not subside to your liking.
Don't throw in the towel, i.e. dump the bottles, just leave them alone and sample occasionally. I brewed a RIS that I left on oak for way too long, also did this with an old ale. The oak eventually faded in both beers and ended up very drinkable. Since you don't have to worry about hops fading, just let it ride and see what happens.
Don't throw in the towel, this is not a failure. I always pour in the whiskey (or whatever liquor) as well as the cubes. I've used 2 oz oak cubes, sitting in 12 oz rye whiskey for a porter before. Dumped it all in and, IMO, tasted great. It will be oaky, and will have some bourbon character, but, that's what you were wanting to accomplish with this, right?
Too much oak is terrible, I feel your pain. I agree with the others in that you have nothing to lose by riding it out. If you were locking up a keg for an extended period of time I might think otherwise.
This beer could be incredible for blending with another batch. Brew something low key and chocolaty. Keep the roast down a little and get ready to be impressed by how good it's going to taste with some oak. You'll have to do this in the glass you're going to drink from, of course. It'll give you something to do until this beer shapes up.
Nothing wrookie wrong with adding the bourbon. Some would say it's sacrilege not to add it! Chances are the oak rest was too long and / or too much oak was added. Batch size? Amount of oak added?
About 4 weeks. Have been talking to some people and I guess boiling the oak chips prior to bourbon soak is reccomended? I was not aware of this. Just going to have to let this one sit and keep brewing others until it's where I want it. Just bottled a heady clone and it turned out great. And I have W00tstout clone sitting in Secondary.
