Bourbon Oak Cubes in Chimay Clone

[evbc]

Hi all. We just picked up the ingredients to brew our first Belgian Strong Ale (Chimay Grande Reserve clone). As an experiment we were thinking about aging some of it in bourbon soaked oak cubes. Would anyone recommend for/against this? We plan on letting this age for at least 6 months but not sure if we would want to age in the oak for that long. Any recommendations about this approach are greatly appreciated.

Thanks again in advance!

 

[urbanmyth]

Why not?

If you are worried about overoaking, toss the cubes in some sanitized pantyhose and taste the beer every two weeks or so. When it has enough oak flavor, just pull the hose out!

 

[evbc]

Thanks for the reply. That's kinda what we were figuring. How long would you soak the oak chips in bourbon before transferring to the beer? Is there a preferred process on how to do this?

 

[solbes]

Yeah a way to remove would be better as I don't think you will want a lot of oak flavor in a Chimay clone (could be wrong here).

Chips or cubes? You've mentioned both. Chips can be done in just a number of days or a week. Cubes have less surface area and can be left in contact for a number of weeks. All depending on amount of oak flavor desired and how much you are adding.

My RIS used 1.5 oz of American medium toast oak cubes left in secondary for 7 weeks. Nice notes of vanilla. The tannic oak flavors were pretty evident early on, but have faded into the background somewhat.

I'd soak for 2-3 weeks. If you want to reduce the amount of tannins, I would decant off the first bourbon that has sat for a week. Drink or discard. Then you can throw the 2nd soaking bourbon and chips/cubes into secondary.

 

[evbc]

Thanks for the reply solbes. I did mention chips and cubes, sorry, meant cubes. That's what I purchased.

We don't want a strong oak taste just give it a little different flavor with a hint of bourbon and oak.

I probably should know this, but what is an RIS?

 

[solbes]

Cubes are much more forgiving in my mind. You also need to think about how long you are going to age the bottles, as oak flavor melds into the background over time.

Sorry, RIS = Russian Imperial Stout. It's 12%, so pretty strong.