Need a little help here. I've just brewed a stout that has done me very well before. This time, I want to put some bourbon soaked spirals in the secondary. Do I need to sanitize the oak prior to soaking or will the bourbon be sufficient enough? Second, how long should I soak the spirals? Also, should I dump everything in my secondary, or just the spirals? Any help would be appreciated
I have not used spirals to be able to give you any advice, but your question comes up on a regular basis and I'm certain the answers are in this link from a search that I did using 'spiral' as the search word. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/32982883/?q=spiral&o=date&c[node]=8
I recommend boiling the spirals in water for 10 minutes to remove harsh tannins. This may help to sanitize too. Then cover the spirals in whatever amount of bourbon you desire. That will cover your sanitizing. Whether you pitch the spirals and bourbon or just the spirals depends a lot on how long the spirals were soaking. A short soak of only a few weeks probably won't impart as much bourbon flavor so throwing it all in may be a good idea. But if the spirals have soaked for a couple months, then just then spirals will probably do.
Spirals can get very tannic. I've soaked up to 2 months in spirits and added the resulting liquor to my beer and it was actually too tannic to drink. I had to brew another half batch of the same beer and blend it back to make it drinkable. I think boiling them first is a great idea, and that's what I'll do next time. Or definitely no more than a couple week soak if you don't boil them.
