Hop oils in oak sticks?

[ArtVandele77]

I've noticed a distinct "citronella" character in several of my young (1-3 month) distillates that are aging on oak sticks that I fashioned from an ex-bourbon-barrel-stout barrel. Is it possible that hop oils leached into the wood and will now taint anything they touch? Or is this flavor/aroma perhaps just the result of me going a little too heavy on the tails in my cuts? I've only been doing this for about a year now so still lacking confidence in my cutting process.

For background on the wood, I secured a Goose Island Bourbon County Stout barrel about a decade ago, filled it with my own homebrewed imperial stout, and kept it going as a solera-style source of beer until it eventually and inevitably went sour. Then I emptied the barrel (distilled the contents actually, but that's a story for another time), broke it down, sanded all the color off of a stave, chopped it into fingers, toasted it in the oven and re-charred with a creme brulee torch.

So I guess, in my case, the oak wasn't just exposed to a hopped beer for an extended time, but a SOUR and hopped beer. Would that make any difference in the subsequent uses of the oak to age spirits? Did I perhaps not sand deep enough to rid the oak of undesirable hoppy character?

TYIA

[Dancing4dan]

I would be surprised if you could sand out the hop oils and flavour.

[Dancing4dan]

I would be surprised if you could sand out the hop oils and flavour.

[ArtVandele77]

Whelp, I think I'll get me one of those JD barrel planters from the hardware store and try the same reconditioning process and see if there is a difference in my next batch. Of course, if it turns out better, it could just mean I'm improving my cuts... Does anybody else ever pickup a citronella character from tails?

[Saltbush Bill]

I would have assumed that using oak from any kind of X beer barrel to oak spirit would be a bad idea.

[NZChris]

It might not be all bad, viewtopic.php?p=6838084#p6838084

[ArtVandele77]

Interesting! It’s hard for me to imagine desirable hop flavors in a whiskey, but maybe they would be interesting in a tequila like spirit. What’s coming through on mine is quite strong, and not pleasant to my nose. Fingers crossed it’s just the tails talking and will turn into something more nuanced with time.

[Copperhead road]

I would have assumed that using oak from any kind of X beer barrel to oak spirit would be a bad idea.

Exactly mate, why would you contaminate a good spirit with beer….

[ArtVandele77]

I would have assumed that using oak from any kind of X beer barrel to oak spirit would be a bad idea.

Exactly mate, why would you contaminate a good spirit with beer….

In a word: ignorance! And resourcefulness, I suppose. I had the barrel, was looking for a source of oak, and thought that sanding it down and retoasting and recharring should remove most of, if not all of, the beer character. Live and learn.

[Bradster68]

Sorry. Not to derail. I'm still laughing at your username.

[bilgriss]

Latex. The future. Etc. Interestingly, as there are "oils" in the topic name, old oils which sit around long enough and get heated repetitively will polymerize and one of the resultant aromas which results is that of latex paint. I discovered this a couple decades back when I was running an old Mercedes diesel on heated fryer oil. But there's nothing citronella about that.

Hop oils when heated completely lose that citrus or citronella aroma, which is why citrusy hops are added post-boil for the most part if you want that aspect in a beer. Same thing happens with oxidation, which makes me a little skeptical about the notes you are describing. However, I have never tried this so I have to concede that it may be entirely possible.

[quadra]

There are all kinds of potential pathways, monoterpene aldahydes, Brett., bacteria... sours are complex when they are controlled... a spontaneous wild one in wood ??
If you are distilling enough to use a barrels worth of wood you should think about investing in a Badmo or a new barrel.