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brewing with an oak spiral

BILLY BREW

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Okay, got a Jones for a bourbon barrel brew, so I soaked an oak spiral in vanilla bourbon for a month and then put the 2 oz of vanilla bourbon and the spiral in the secondary of an Irish stout.
My questions are...
1;What is going to come out at the end
2; How many times can an oak spiral be used? and what procedure do I need to do to reuse?
I was thinking of reusing this one after toasting it for a bit in the oven, both to give it a bit of a char taste as well as to sanitize the spiral.

Never done this before...Any advice?
 
I am surprised that no one responded to your question.

Your process was proper, soaking a spiral in a flavored spirit will impart the wood and the spirit into your beer. Taste your beer after 10 days to see how much wood character you have, it will lessen over time, so if your first impression is that it is over oaked, bottle it and let it sit for a month or so and try it again. Depending on the style of stout and the ABV, you may want to let it sit for a month before you bottle or keg.

Eventually the spiral will become neutral and not really provide any oak flavor, but that could take 3 or 4 beers, depending on what they are and how long the sit with the spiral in them.

Tasting it in the oven would be safe, just make sure that you soak it in water first and watch it closely, it is wood and will smoke (settling off smoke detectors) or possibly combust (starting a fire).
 
BILLY BREW said:
1;What is going to come out at the end
2; How many times can an oak spiral be used? and what procedure do I need to do to reuse?
I was thinking of reusing this one after toasting it for a bit in the oven, both to give it a bit of a char taste as well as to sanitize the spiral.

I've never used spirals. I've used oak chips so I don't know if this will help.

1. I soak them for 2 weeks before going into secondary. I just dump the whole thing in---whiskey and chips. Best thing to do is taste it every week while in secondary to see where you like it. I think in my experience, I've gone close to 14 days with 4oz (which is considered a lot). But what's really interesting is how the beer develops after this. I'd say a month in bottle or keg might be interesting but at 3 or 4 months have I found a nice balance. Part of this is because my whiskey is also added to the beer. But it honestly depends on the brew so I would try a bottle once a month or every two weeks.

2. Can't chime in on spirals but I've just tossed my oak chips in the past. Prior to using them, I've heard of people toasting them but I can't speak on spirals.
 
Just a little point about adding the whiskey and ABV.  One pint of 80 proof whiskey raises the ABV by 1% in a 5 gallon batch (I did the math, the first time I soaked oak chips in whiskey). 
 
Ladies and gents...Not only did my Drunken Woodpecker stout come out awesome, but I took the same spiral and put it right into an Irish Red. I have found a new love! And I have new friends that profess to want to help me decided, over and over again, if this is a good process.

Try the process, you will like what comes of it, if you like a good blended bourbon infused product.
 
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