Help Oaking Belgian Export Stout

A few years back I did a Yeti Belgian Imp Stout clone I found here with 3711 and it turned out very well. Since baby #2 is coming in January, and I couldn't brew right when we found out, I decided to scale the recipe back to export strength (OG 1.073) so it'd have plenty of time to age while baby gestates and be ready for consumption upon baby's birth. It's been fermenting 2.5 weeks and is down to about 1.008 with Belle Saison yeast.

Would this be a good candidate for oaking? Is it too thin/dry? How much oak for how long? Should I age in secondary and oak it right before bottling? I've never had much luck with oaking. I have a good bit of Jack Daniel's barrel chips at my disposal, though, and can soak in bourbon or cheap scotch.

I love an oaked saison, though I don't know how I'd feel about bourbon it could definitely work well in a big stout-y beer. How much oak for how long is going to get you some bristling- the thing about wood is you have to taste it, there's just nothing getting around that every bag of oak chips and cubes is going to have different shapes and surface area and age and everything else. Every stave or spiral or chunk of wood you buy is going to be different too. If you're doing chips, taste it EVERY DAY starting the day you put them in. You can really get a lot of flavor out of them in an extremely short amount of time.

Thanks for the help. If I want this to be prime in late January when child 2 is born, when should I oak? Oak now, over-do it a little so it fades and then bottle age until then? Bulk age and oak around late November then bottle?

I've done oaking a lot and in several different ways. I always make at least 2 oaked beers a year. I've oaked beers for a week and I've done it for several months. It really just depends on the beer you're oaking and how far you want to go.
You want to over oak it a little bit as the oakyness will fade a little over time in the bottle. Personally, I'd oak it now and let it marinade for a month or so, then bottle it up with a couple months to condition out. It'll be good.
And congrats btw!! We'll be working on #2 shorty here I believe.

bobeer said:

I've done oaking a lot and in several different ways. I always make at least 2 oaked beers a year. I've oaked beers for a week and I've done it for several months. It really just depends on the beer you're oaking and how far you want to go.
You want to over oak it a little bit as the oakyness will fade a little over time in the bottle. Personally, I'd oak it now and let it marinade for a month or so, then bottle it up with a couple months to condition out. It'll be good.
And congrats btw!! We'll be working on #2 shorty here I believe.

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Thanks for the help! Congrats to you, too! How much oak would you use (chips)? 2 oz?