To reuse or Not to reuse?

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BrewMunster

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When I thought about buying a cask to get that real oak character in the beer I just couldn't help but not getting over the fact that is was so expensive. I've decided I should go with the cubes, but then i started wondering. Once I use the oak cubes in the beer, must I buy more new cubes to do it again, or can I reuse the same ones?
 
When I thought about buying a cask to get that real oak character in the beer I just couldn't help but not getting over the fact that is was so expensive. I've decided I should go with the cubes, but then i started wondering. Once I use the oak cubes in the beer, must I buy more new cubes to do it again, or can I reuse the same ones?

I was listening to an old Better Brewing Podcast on using Oak this weekend, and the guy being interviewed said not to reuse them....

Though I don't know why you couldn't go through the same sanitiziation and cleaning process he recommended for oak barrels on them...

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr05-10-07newglarus.mp3

I'm using Jack Daniels Oak Smoking Chips sanitized in more jack daniels and I'm NOT going to re-use them....But a big bag of them will last me forever anyway..and I think I paid 7 bucks for it. So I don't care if I can't re-use them.
 
well i know with oak casks, you keep them wet and with some kind of solution (like campden tabs) in it when not in use. there's a bit of maintenance to having a barrel like that.
oak cubes are likely just too damn cheap to merit the same stringent protocols.
 
The only thing I would reuse oak cubes for is if I wanted to throw them in a beer with bugs in it. You're not going to get the same flavor profile from the oak if you reuse them, and there are contamination issues.
 
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