oaking

Hi,

I put 30 liter of stout with 45 gram of french oak, I am thinking to age it for at least 3 month, but I have a question if I should leave the oak inside the secondary for 3 month or I should bottle after lets say 2 weeks and then age it?

Thanks.

actually I didn't bag'em...so you are saying that the oak chips have been extracted after 8 days and the more complex flavours will condense later?

It's really about taste so after a week take a sample and see where it's at, If you desire more flavor than give it another week and so on....IMO it's not necessary to bag them either, I never have and have no experience with any problems.

I have been told that it should sink and even it will settle the yeast better, about better be safe than sorry I can't stop thinking about a stupid mistake I did by soaking the oak in vodka to sanitize it, just after I transferred the stout I remembered the once I tried to sanitize the bottles with 70% alcohol ending up with spoiled batch.

I've found that I like Hungarian oak cubes far better than any oak chips. Hungarian oak is not as harsh as French and not as 'in your face' as American oaks. IMO/IME cubes are also better since chips seem to produce just a single oak note in a brew, where cubes are more rounded (more notes/better).

I would start off by adding a smaller amount of oak into a brew, if you don't KNOW how much to add to get the flavor/character you want. You can easily add more, but it can take longer to age out/mellow something that's too much.

Also keep in mind that oak chips WILL change over time in a brew. You'll get one flavor character early on (more oak flavor/aroma) that will change as time passes. Within a couple of months it will change to more vanilla notes than oak. IME, oak cubes are far more flavor/aroma stable over time.

yeah...now I use star san but I tried alcohol once, I think it didn't kill all the spores...anyway I am now concerned about spoil of this batch.
So...I will take your advice here and bottle after about two weeks and then age it without oak to make more complex flavor character.

yes, thank you, it was very helpful.