Questions reguarding adding bourbon barrel chunks into my Imp Stout

I apologize if this has been posted before. I tried google and searching the forum but couldn't find anything specific. I have an russian imp stout sitting in my primary for 30 days now and im about to transfer into my secondary and let it sit for 6-8 months before I bottle. I picked up some charred bourbon barrel chunks from my LHBS and I want to add them to my secondary but im not sure of a few thing...

- Do I just toss them right in or do I need to do something to sanitize them prior to introducing them to the secondary?
- Is there a "standard" length of time people let them sit in the secondary or is it just done to taste by sampling week to week?
- I've seen some posts mentioning steaming the chunks. Is this for sanitation or flavor?

Cheers

Some people sanitize by soaking in bourbon. Others toss it straight in.

Some people have a standard length. Some people taste every batch week by week to see when it is right.

Steaming is for sanitation.

Denny Conn did an interview with BeerSmith that was just posted on YouTube last week. He makes a popular Bourbon Imperial Stout and talks about his methods pretty extensively in that interview.

bleme said:

Some people sanitize by soaking in bourbon. Others toss it straight in.

Some people have a standard length. Some people taste every batch week by week to see when it is right.

Steaming is for sanitation.

Denny Conn did an interview with BeerSmith that was just posted on YouTube last week. He makes a popular Bourbon Imperial Stout and talks about his methods pretty extensively in that interview.

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Thanks for the info? Do you have a link to the youtube video?

My $0.02 is that you could either just toss them right in or soak in bourbon, as previously mentioned. I've also heard of people boiling the chunks (or chips) creating a sort of tea and adding everything, including water, since boiling extracts some of the flavor. I don't like that method, I tried it once. Didn't like the outcome.

hopzicle said:

Thanks for the info? Do you have a link to the youtube video?

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I've one used wood once, but what I did was soak it in spiced rum (tried something different then the typical bourbon) for a week then tossed it all in. A couple of days would work fine too.

Being a RIS, I assume the base abv is high already, so you could just go in raw. The alcohol will take care of any potential bugs.

Safe bet, soak them first, but I wouldn't sweat tossing them in on a RIS.

powerfreak said:

i've one used wood once, but what i did was soak it in spiced rum (tried something different then the typical bourbon) for a week then tossed it all in. A couple of days would work fine too.

Being a ris, i assume the base abv is high already, so you could just go in raw. The alcohol will take care of any potential bugs.

Safe bet, soak them first, but i wouldn't sweat tossing them in on a ris.

Click to expand...

+1

Thanks for all the replies!