Toasted Oak cubes question

I've seen them online from williamsbrewing dot com in 4oz packs. How many "ounces" is a good or right amount for a homebrew? 5 gallon batch.

Can they be re-used like a barrel can be re-used?

Thanks in advance.

I don't know the actual answer other than I used all 4 oz recently without really thinking and it was entirely too much for 5 gall batch

I'd guess maybe 1 oz woulda been good - but sure someone else can say something more exact...

SinisterHOPminister said:

I don't know the actual answer other than I used all 4 oz recently without really thinking and it was entirely too much for 5 gall batch

I'd guess maybe 1 oz woulda been good - but sure someone else can say something more exact...

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Yeah I see what you mean. So how big is each cube if 4oz was too much?

spikbeatz said:

Yeah I see what you mean. So how big is each cube if 4oz was too much?

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I was using 4oz of chips so not sure what you mean by "cube"
Medium toasted French oak Chips is what they were called
In a bag of 4oz

I think people usually stick to 1 oz per five gallon batch as a general rule of them, give or take depending on your tastes. I recently did 1/4 oz in a one gallon batch and it came out great. To give you an idea, my 4 oz bag says its good for 25 gallons of wine.

Oh I see. I thought you meant you had used the cubes and not chips. Sorry about that. So wow, 4oz can do up to 25 gal of wine? That's crazy.

I'm basically trying to get a barrel effect on a budget. The toasted cubes sounded like something I could mess around with and possibly achieve what I'm looking for without spending over $100 for a 5 gal naked oak barrel.

I know breweries use the barrels more than twice so I figured cubes could get the same treatment.

Huge difference in extraction of chips vs cubes.

If you are using chips it will be a small amount for a short period of time (depending on how much wood character you want).

Cubes take longer to develop but it's worth it IMO.

Cubes >> chips

SinisterHOPminister said:

I was using 4oz of chips so not sure what you mean by "cube" Medium toasted French oak Chips is what they were called
In a bag of 4oz

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They are cubes of wood, toasted, measure about 1/2" square.

stubbornman said:

Huge difference in extraction of chips vs cubes.

If you are using chips it will be a small amount for a short period of time (depending on how much wood character you want).

Cubes take longer to develop but it's worth it IMO.

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So then would you say to use all 4oz of toasted oak cubes for a5 gal batch? I was thinking of like 3 months on cubes in the secondary. Too long?

About every three to four weeks thief some out and taste it. Rack it off when the taste is where you want it.

I'd listen to this:
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Brew-Strong-09-15-08-Wood-Aging

And read this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/tips-wood-aging-119445/

Wood aging is very subjective, and everyone seems to have very different experiences. There are no hard/fast rules, just guidelines. I'd shoot for 1.5 ounces of oak cubes for 5 gallons and plan to leave it in there at least a couple months, tasting along the way as others suggested. If it's a beer that's going to age for a long time, it's fine to get a little more oak than you want, since it mellows over time.

My standard is 2 oz soaked in 16oz of liquor for 2-3 months. As others have said, tastes vary. I buy 16oz bags on eBay for 19.99 out the door.

It really depends, each style can be different. I just finished some furniture and have a lot of oak cut offs if your interested. I prefer to use staves from the heart of the oak but I toasted some of the cut offs and they're in the apple wine now.

I don't reuse them because I have an unlimited amount and they are great to use for BBQ.

I've read not to use red oak for putting on for aging. Wine, spirit and beer aging barrels are white oak.YMMV.
GTG

Yeah I ve heard that as well. I had some red oak seasoned so I toasted it and dropped in a stave, seemed alright. Then I ran across a Greek beer that uses pine barrels, funky for sure, but very interesting. After that I started messing with pecan, red oak, white oak, and cinnamon. No pine yet.

Just my experience

I use oak barrel stave chunks in my ferments. I also have a mesquite smoked mesquite that I use mesquite wood in the ferment with good success as well. Not pine though!
GTG

I'd love to trade foe mesquite, u must be out west. What did you put it in? Auto fill put mesquite in your mesquite.

Sry OP- highjack! Just kidding, these things just happen. For real sorry.

Sorry to carry on the hijack -
I smoke 3 lbs of mesquite pods over some old growth, center cut, mesquite wood for about 3 hours. Then that sits and airs out for about 2 weeks. Those pods get broken up and steeped at 150 for about 2 hours and that extract is added to 4 lbs amber DME, 2 lbs wheat DME with some perle and nothern brewer hops and 1 lb mesquite honey. Ferment on WLP002 with about 2 oz of the same old growth, center cut, mesquite for a month. Bottle, wait and enjoy. This won a silver medal last October in other beers category.
Kind of an off-beat beer but it REALLY goes great with barbeque and spicy foods. A four-way mesquite if you will. Judges comments were "smells like a campfire in a bottle".

GTG

liquiditynerd said:

I'd love to trade foe mesquite, u must be out west. What did you put it in? Auto fill put mesquite in your mesquite.

Sry OP- highjack! Just kidding, these things just happen. For real sorry.

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