Amburana Wood Cube Contact Time

[TheOriginalDBS]

Hey Folks! Anybody experienced with using Brazilian Amburana Wood Cubes? My question is how long to leave the cubes in contact with the beer.

For context: I have an amber biere de garde in primary and I'm wondering how long to leave it on amburana wood in secondary. I've read before that on the professional brewing scale, the flavor extracts way faster than oak--as little as a few days. In fact, I pulled a 10oz sample from the primary last night (the beer has been in primary for 8 days now) and put it in a mason jar with a single cube overnight in the fridge. I took a teeny-tiny nip this morning and the amburana flavor was already extracted. (It's delightful--no need to add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg or vanilla in your Autumn or Winter ales, folks!) So I'm honestly wondering whether I should just put the cubes right in primary (I'm fermenting in a glass carboy) for a few days and keg it right from primary.

Thoughts, experiences, questions all welcome. Thanks and Cheers!

 

[skibb]

Yes amburana is extremely intense and can overpower quick. For reference I've brewed Imperial stouts and after 1 week in the barrel they have picked alllllmost too much character. The good thing with the cubes is you can go less volume/surface area and check on it every few days if need be until its right. I like the idea of putting them in primary near or at the end and then racking off of them when the flavor is right.

Adding them during fermentation can be a fun thing too - you can get some interplay with tannins and mouthfeel contributions from fermenting in/with wood.