Dry Hopping and Oak Chips

I'm working on somewhat of an Imperial IPA, but not quite so big--perhaps a ROYAL IPA--and I'd like to both dry-hop the beer and use oak chips soaked and steeped in either a nice bourbon (like Maker's Mark) or a nice scotch (like Dewar's). Can you dry-hop and use oak chips at the same time in the secondary? This is probably going to be a batch I want to let condition for a while. Would it be better to dry-hop in a secondary and then transfer to a tertiary vessel for the oak chips? I also don't want the big hop nose and flavor to mellow, though.

Or am I just off my rocker?

BREW ON

Sorry for the vague answer but yes.

For big beers, I tend to use a tertiary. Since the hops, oak, and wiskey will mellow over time, the best this is to dry-hop and add the oak chips to the tertiary.

Good luck,
Wild

i've never used the oak, but I would do that in the opposite order. hop aroma is one of the first things to fade away in a beer, so I would do the dry hopping AFTER adding the oak.

-walker

I agree with our erstwhile trepanated amigo. Also, go fairly lightly with the oak chips the first time. They can contribute quite a tannic character that may not be exactly what you're after is used in the wrong proportions.

what would you recommend for a 5-gallon batch?

It's hard to say exactly, because it's not so much the weight that's important as the surface area of your oak chips. However, if you use the little cubes that are sold for wine kits I would go with no more than 1.5-2oz. I put 3.5oz in a stout and found it to be too tannic.

Baron von BeeGee said:

I agree with our erstwhile trepanated amigo. Also, go fairly lightly with the oak chips the first time. They can contribute quite a tannic character that may not be exactly what you're after is used in the wrong proportions.

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Agreed and it doesn't take long either. I put oak chips in my Imperial Hellfire for one week and i made a huge change in the flavor.