Wow, out of town for a few days and this thread really took off with useful info. Thanks guys!
In regards to fermentation temp, 71 degrees is what the thermostat on the A/C is set to. It's really that crude. I'm looking into better systems, but I want to jump right into something that will really let me dial that in. I've seen the bins you can put the carboy in along with ice packs, and the "swamp chiller" method, but I'm thinking something more accurate would be nice. Ideally with liquid contact to the carboy surface, and a way to measure the temp at the center of fermentation, if that exists.
So, temp control is on the way, just haven't quite figured it out yet. The beer is coming out pretty great in the meantime, so it's all good.
In terms of a secondary, maybe I should have considered one. I just dunked oak beans and spices in the primary container as adjuncts (right term?) so there is a possibility I mildly disturbed that layer of CO2. I wasn't wild about it, so the CO2 layer should be disturbed about as much as you'd get by using a beer thief three times to take a measurement.
My process for the oak chips was as follows:
1: Submerge a spoon, funnel, and a steeper cylinder in StarSan.
2: Boil oak cubes for a few minutes. (I didn't time it, would guess 3.)
3: Use the sanitized spoon to transfer oak cubes to the sanitized cylinder.
4: Submerge cylinder (which took some oxygen with it I'm sure) into primary carboy.
5: Use sanitized spoon to sample the boiled oak juice, and discard spoon after sampling.
6: Tastes really good, so poured that into the carboy via funnel. (actually now thinking I should try cooking salmon with oak beans... it was delicious.)
Adding the spices, I just brought those up to a low boil for about 30 seconds, cooled the bottom of the pot in the sink, and dumped those through the funnel as well. At very least, I don't think the CO2 resting in the carboy from its own weight would have been removed, so there should still be a layer of it on the beer.
So, I probably added some O2 to my carboy via the splashing liquids, and there's probably some O2 at the top of the carboy that wasn't there before, but I should still have the blanket. We'll see how it turned out when I return home tomorrow. It's about time to check on the oak.