Oaking in a secondary question

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taurean

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I brewed a Barley Wine, which I plan to have on oak soaked in Zin for about 10 days to two weeks. I'm only using one oz of American light toasted oak chips because I'm not looking for a heavy oak taste, it's more for the slight complexity of the earthy oak tone with the wine that I am after.

So I was going to rack it for two weeks, then oak for 10 days to 2 weeks (taste testing of course), then keg. But now I am thinking I may put it on the oak right away when I rack it, then transfer it to a second secondary (thirdary?:D) when I like the flavor and let it age as long as I wish before kegging it. This way I have more control to age it longer in the last carboy, and the oak/wine flavors will have longer to meld.

Is there any flaw to this method? Suggestions? Opinions? Snide Comments?
 
I'm not a huge fan of transferring beer more than I have to. Too much chance of causing infection. Personally, I would let it get through fermentation and then transfer on to the oak chips. Maybe put them in a bag and you can pull it when it gets where you want and the let the beer sit as long as you like.
 

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