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Need help with a Old Ale / bourbon oak recipe

Jay7

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I have an Old Ale OG 1.112, FG 1.027 in the secondary and I need a little advice. I have added some oak cubes and I am not sure / don't know what I'm doing so I am looking for advice from someone WITH EXPERIENCE doing what I am attempting to do please. Here is what I have done so far. I purchased some Jack Daniels oak chunks, cut them into about 7/8" squares, charred them, soaked for 1 month in Makers Marks. I added about 9 pieces that I figure adds up to about 50ish square inches of surface area. I plan to let this age for several months 4 to 6 as needed. I know there has to be a difference from aging in a whiskey barrel verses oak  cubes. I am looking for advice from someone who has done what I am doing and kind of figured this out to let me know how much oak cubes and bourbon if needed I should add. If you have done this successfully I would appreciate your input. Feel free to PM me also.

Thank You,
 
I have a recipe where I use 2 ounces of oak chips aged for two weeks in 2 pints of bourbon.  I then pour it all into the secondary.  I leave it a week and then start tasting my hydrometer readings.  When the oakiness is just a little more than I want in the finished beer, I rack it off of the oak.  If it's ready to bottle, I bottle at that time.  The oak will mellow with aging and blend in, which is why I get it slightly more oaked than I want.  It's worked for me.

The other way, is to wait until you're ready to bottle and start adding oaked bourbon to taste.  It will condition and mellow in the bottles.

I wouldn't dare to recommend a set amount of time for the oak, until you've made the recipe multiple times and know how much oaking you really want in it and understand how much time gives you how much oak.

By the way, each pint of bourbon/whiskey increases your ABV 1% for a 5 gallon batch.
 
Scott thank you for the helpful information. I did not think about the flavor mellowing in time and the amount of bourbon that effects ABV is good info. I am looking for a touch more bourbon flavor than oak. I figured from the beginning this will be trial and error as usual.

Thanks :D
 
Speaking about bourbon flavors.  All bourbon whiskey's are not created equally.  I use Makers Mark when I want a straight bourbon flavor.  When I want a touch of sweetness, I use Pendleton Whiskey.  Pendleton isn't bourbon, but it really adds a nice touch to beer.  I learned about Pendleton Whiskey from the Head Brewer of Brew Brothers Microbrewery at the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno, Nevada.  I really liked his Porter recipe and was trying to figure out what made it have a nice smooth sweet finish, without it being overly sweet and cloying.  He gave me the recipe.  The recipe uses 3 ground up vanilla beens in 2 pints of Pendleton Whiskey in the secondary.

I had to scale his recipe down from 311 gallons to 5 gallons, but I'm looking forward to making it.
 
Ole happy here, Scott gave you some good advice. When I make a moonshine porter I take some of that legal moonshine you buy in the store n soak bout two ounces of oak chips in it for bout two or three months. Where I go a different path is I put all the chips in and add only bout half cup liquor for five gallons. I made a batch close to two years ago and it still is really good but two is all you want, so whilst im haven one now I kin vouch for the great taste! happy brewin
 
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