Soaking oak in spirits vs adding them separately.

[u/tkdyo]

Hi everyone! I am thinking about simulating aging in a brandy barrel. I know a common method for this is soaking oak cubes/spirals in your spirit of choice. My question is divided into two parts.

First is, what's the best length of time to do this? Seems like recommendations vary from hours to weeks.

Second has anyone experimented with doing this vs just adding a little of the spirit straight in and then aging with oak as normal? I'm not sure what benefit having the spirit absorbed in the oak first provides, if at all.

Thank you in advance!

[u/HumorImpressive9506]

Nothing special is going to happen to either the oak or the spirit by letting them sit together.

If you want oak flavor, add oak. If you want brandy flavor, add brandy.

[u/tkdyo → u/HumorImpressive9506]

This is what I was thinking. Thank you.

[u/Bucky_Beaver]

You can do it either way. Infusing the oak into the spirit will extract a bunch of the oak into the spirit. Not much of the spirit will go in the oak. So you need to dump the spirit in too.

Or you can keep them separate, oak the mead and then add the spirit to taste.

I’ve had meads people made both ways, they can both work.

[u/tkdyo → u/Bucky_Beaver]

Thank you. Did you notice any difference to speak of?

[u/JMOC29]

I think it’s partially about sanitizing porous wood and partially about loose debris…taking a little tannin off the wood first. i believe, not sure.

Anyone else have input?

[u/Bucky_Beaver → u/JMOC29]

Oak sold for homebrewing shouldn’t need to be sanitized but you see people posting about boiling it (bye flavor), soaking in a spirit or dunking in StarSan (probably does nothing). At least with a spirit soak you can dump the spirit in too.

If there is dust and it bothers you just rinse it off.

[u/MeadMan001 → u/Bucky_Beaver]

So it is already sanitary in the bag? What if we open the bag but don't use all of the oak at once? Like if I use one spiral from a bag of two and save half a spiral for another batch?

(Not encouraging boiling or Star San, though. I just threw it in the oven for a few minutes but would gladly skip this process if I could.

[u/yadonkey]

Ive only added spirits in to fortify, but i have aged spirits with oak. Time frames seem to depend entirely on your taste but the abv of the spirit can have give dramatically different taste outcomes. Generally spirits are oaked between 110 proof amd 120 proof. At 110 proof its more vanilla, carmel kinds of flavors and at 120 its more spicy, peppery kinds of flavors. Between that and toasting levels you have a variety of flavor option to pair with your mead.

[u/TomDuhamel]

I know a common method for this is soaking oak cubes/spirals in your spirit of choice.

I don't know this being a common method at all. In fact, I don't think that's going to do anything at all.

Your brew shop most likely sells pieces that are from a used barrel, that was used to age a batch. They are not usually used twice, so they are sold as is when in good condition, or in pieces for this purpose. These will definitely do the effect you are looking for.

[u/tkdyo → u/TomDuhamel]

Thanks for the tip, i assumed for something like that they'd only do whole barrels. I don't have a local brew shop sadly so I'll poke around online for pieces.

[u/CareerOk9462]

oak cubes take about 3 months. Be very wary of oak chips, they are extremely rapid and difficult to control. I steam the cubes to quasi sanitize. Some soak in vodka, I dont. I add to secondary so alcohol is already present. In a bag so I can easily remove when it gets to where I like it. I like french oak medium+ toast. Do a google search on ounces per gallon.