oak aging

[michaellindopp]

Hey brewers,
So made a 20l/5 gallon tripel. Thinking of oak aging. Now I don't have a barrel so I would need to use chips. Any advice.
Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[scottballz]

best advice I can give you is use oak cubes if you can find them. 4 oz should do the trick but its really all up to you. I left mine on oak for about 2 months then periodically would give it a little taste to see how the oak is coming through. I would usually check it once a week being very sanitary. the main thing you want to remember is to fill your secondary as high as possible to keep oxygen out, and sanitize your cubes before adding them. I used bourbon, because bourbon is delicious, but you can also use vodka if you don't want any added flavor. once you are ready to rack to your secondary, add your cubes or chips first then rack on top and fill as high as you can. Hope this helps, Cheers!