Oaking IPA

How long is too long to oak an IPA in a secondary? I am planning on two weeks of oaking and dry hopping.

daddude7 said:

How long is too long to oak an IPA in a secondary? I am planning on two weeks of oaking and dry hopping.

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It depends...

What are you looking to get from the oak?
What oak type and toast level are you looking to use?
Chips, cubes, staves, spirals?
How MUCH oak are you looking to use?

IMO/IME, two weeks is nothing for oak time. Unless you're going to use 2-4x the normal oak amount that is. Then you're running a risk of seriously over-oaking in order to get it faster.

I wouldn't oak a regular IPA. An IIPA perhaps (IF I ever brew one). I would also NOT oak and dry hop at the same time. IF you're going to oak a batch, oak it first THEN dry hop.

Don't cut corners or try to rush things or think you can mix steps together and get things done faster. You typically do flavor additions in stages/steps so that you can customize each addition to give you the end result you really want. You also get more control if you are only working with one flavor addition at a time.

For 2 weeks i would try an oz or two of chips and if using that go by strength you want.

Hey, many thanks to both of you. Very helpful.