Bug Transfer using Oak spirals

[Sourz4life]

So I'm getting into sours soon and going for the traditional lambic method and possibly gueze if I end up with good blenders at the end. I've been listening to the sour hour and looking into a lot of the science behind the lambic bugs and such so my question is - Seeing as traditional lambics are brewed in wooden barrels for a numerous reason, I know that the bugs can make their way deep into the wood and you could ferment most batches but just pitching the wort into a barrel previous used for it but since I don't have room or the ideal space for a barrel I want to use spirals to at least mimic some of the stuff going on. So could I "inoculate" the wooden spiral with the bugs I plan to use prior to adding it. My thought is if so then I could just then add the spiral during/at the end of primary fermentation allowing the bugs to transfer via the oak spiral. Any of this sound like its viable?

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Yeah that would work. One word of caution though. You don't actually want any oak character in lambics usually. So you may want to use the spiral on couple beers first to remove the oak flavor.

 

[Sourz4life]

I plan is to boil it a few times then also let it sit in a rejected beer that came out a tiny to bitter for my taste. Then I'll boil it one more time before introducing the bugs and starter wort.

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Yeah that sounds great

 

[sweetcell]

a spiral would work, but there is nothing special about inoculating via wood.

do the spiral thing if it rocks your boat, but seems like a hassle to me what with all the boiling, storing, figuring out how to keep it from getting unwanted bugs on it between batches, etc. it would be easier IMO to just transfer a little of the slurry and/or leftover beer.