I'm planning to make scotch, but did a first run of cognac to learn how to use the still, seeing as I had access to cheap champagne. It came out pretty ggod, so I put it in a carboy with some toasted oak sticks and left to age for a month. Now when I say "toasted" oak I actually mean I forgot about it while it was cookiing and came back to find 90% charcoal and 10% wood left. I knocked off most of the ash but left quite a bit on as I figured you use charcoal to filter, so it couldn't be bad for the taste, could it?
After a month my cognac was the colour of strong tea and tasted dangerously good. I say dangerous because I have 17l at 60%! Two month in, though, and the ash taste is becoming too strong. I tried running it through a coffee filter, but that made no difference. Can I filter out the ash taste using a charcoal filter? If not, then I guess I could cut it with unaged spirit (I just need another 17l of cognac) or put it all back in the still for another run.
Any ideas?
Regards,
Steve C