Now that I posted on topic, here is some more of the aside!
I finished preparing the oak this morning. Here's the process if anyone is interested:
Split off a piece from a chunk of well-seasoned white oak.
Cut the split off piece into two jar-sized pieces.
Put the pieces into aluminum foil and wrap them up.
Toast in the oven for 1.5 hrs at 400F then 0.5 hr at 450 F. This is what you get. (By the well, it smells amazing at this point.
I decided to test two different things. One jar will get the toasted oak as is, the other will get charred oak.
So I used a torch to char the outside of one of the pieces of oak. Immediately after charring, drop into a glass of water. This not only puts out the fire, but causes the charcoal on the outside to "puff" slightly and develop micro-fissures. The charcoal on the oak like this helps filter impurities from whatever you put it in and "cleans" it up.
Here's what you end up with.
Comparison of the raw oak, to the toasted, to the charred.