Oak Chips to Secondary

Greetings beer lovers,

I am currently brewing a Boston Oak Lager and wanted some feedback on how much oak chip to pitch into secondary fermenter. I would like an oak aroma and subtle oak flavors but not overpowering the hops or light malt flavors. I have a 4oz package of American oak chips that instructs me to soak in water before pitching and is enough for 25 gallons. Do I need to Sanitize the oak chips first?

Prost!

I don't use oak chips, just oak cubes, so I can't help you much there. I know the chips are known to add their flavor much faster than cubes so be wary of that, sample often. I boil my cubes to sanitize.

I ended up boiling 1.5 ozs of the American oak chips and pitching into 2ndary for 10 days. Its a little on the oaky side in the keg after 2 weeks. Next batch Ill cut the oak in half.

Thanks.

Yeah, the last brew I did was around .25 oz of oak, just enough to add a touch of flavor and give something for the brett to chew on for a while. An ounce is quite a lot, remember that it is new oak you are putting in so the oakiness is really going to come out when compared to putting beer into a tired wine/whisky barrel.

To sanitize my oak chips, I put them in a veggie steamer for about 10 minutes and they are fine. You could also soak them in liquor to sanitize, if you wanted to impart some of that flavor along with the oak. I did a Jack Daniels soaked oak chip porter once that was all Jack all of the time, so be careful how much chips you put in. I just did an oaked barley wine and used 1oz for 3 gallons and it is kind of heavy on the vanilla oak, but it was kind of where I wanted it. Less is a good way to start.