Secondary in this Case? Conditioning?

Hey Guys,

I'll be brewing up an AHS Oaked Imperial Whiskey Stout this weekend and with only 3 brews so far, have some quick questions. The OG will be 1.087; FG 1.020.

After fermentation is complete, the recipe calls to add oak chips and 375 mL whisky to the beer. The oak chips will have been soaking about 2 weeks in the whisky. I've been influenced by others on here that secondary vessels are not necessary; as after the yeasies do their duty (doody? hehe ) they will clean up after themselves (as good little boys and girls do).

Question 1: Since the whisky is being added, would it be fine to leave in primary, or would secondary be better in this case?

Question 2: Would it be better to add the oak chips without the whisky to the primary for some time, then secondary and add the whisky for some time?

Question 3: Recipe also recomends 3 months of storage. Would this be better to do in primary (if not transfering), in secondary (if transfering), or in bottles? I'll be using swing tops for bottles, and likely moving in 2 months.

Cheers and many thanks,

Jarod

If you're adding oak chips and whiskey I would certainly do that in a secondary container. Many people don't use secondaries for standard beers, but anytime you add things to the beer it's usually best to get it off the yeast cake first.

As for the storage I'm not exactly sure how to respond. Do they say 3 months storage on the oak chips? Otherwise they're probably just stating that with the high OG it will take longer to carb up once bottled, and also let the flavors develop. With big beers they get much better after a few months rather than drinking them green.

Hope that helps, good luck!

The storage/conditioning is pretty ambiguous. It's the last comment on the page; after bottling even. I was only planning on having it on the chips for 2 weeks or so, taking small samples, daily of course, seeing how the flavor developed, and expecting some of the flavor to fade with age.

I'm starting to think I'll just leave it in primary for a month, then secondary with the chips and whisky for a bit and bottle condition. Any thoughts on this?