Flanders Red - Oak cubes

[pensphreak]

I recently brewed the Flanders Red recipe in Brewing Classic Styles. In it, it says to use 1oz of oak cubes in secondary. Does it mean I should put them in at the start of secondary and let them sit on oak cubes for the entire (6-12months) secondary? Also, how should I treat the cubes before I use them? (boil them, soak them, etc)?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Start of secondary is fine. You can steam them if you want as a precautionary measure to make sure you don't introduce anything too nasty into your beer but on the other hand it is a sour beer so whatever gets in from the wood might add a little complexity to your brew. The chance of an undesirable (or even desirable) result from the wood is fairly slight so you could easily go either way. If you were adding the oak to a clean beer I would say definitely treat it one way or another but with the sour beer you already have a healthy population of the preferred bacteria and brett that should outpace anything coming out of the wood.

 

[pensphreak]

But a year on the oak cubes won't make it too oakey?

 

[passedpawn]

But a year on the oak cubes won't make it too oakey?

In spite of the many warnings about "over oaking" your beers, I have yet to do it (with oak). I've used oak most of my sours (reds and browns), and I've oaked a bock beer (this was a good mix).

If you want wood to the max, see if you can find Spanish cedar and add it to an IPA.