hamaien
Active Member
I have a barleywine in primary right now that I think I want to add some bourbon soaked oak to. About 6 months ago I threw an ounce of French oak cubes into a mason jar with 4oz of bourbon (Larceny) and forgot about it. I just pulled the jar out and what was once a medium-light colored bourbon is now a deep red bordering on brown.
Most of the stuff I've read about bourbon soaked oak seems to suggest soaking the cubes for only 1-2 weeks. Have I extracted any kind of off flavors by leaving the bourbon on the oak for half a year? Have I completely extracted all the oak character from the cubes into the bourbon? I wasn't planning on adding the bourbon with the oak originally, I just wanted to get a small amount of bourbon character into the oak. But now I'm worried I've either sucked all the oak flavor out of the cubes or extracted off flavors by soaking them too long.
Most of the stuff I've read about bourbon soaked oak seems to suggest soaking the cubes for only 1-2 weeks. Have I extracted any kind of off flavors by leaving the bourbon on the oak for half a year? Have I completely extracted all the oak character from the cubes into the bourbon? I wasn't planning on adding the bourbon with the oak originally, I just wanted to get a small amount of bourbon character into the oak. But now I'm worried I've either sucked all the oak flavor out of the cubes or extracted off flavors by soaking them too long.