Oak chips in secondary

[Phunhog]

Hey Homebrewers,
I am racking my Double Barrel Ale clone to the secondary tomorrow. I am going to add an 1 oz. of light toasted American oak chips with some dry hops. It seems that I could either just throw the oak chips in or try to steam them to sanitize. Anybody have experience with either method?? Good, bad, or indifferent. Thanks. Big Al

 

[CodeRage]

I would suggest soaking them in a small amount of vodka for a few hour and then dump the whole mess into the fermenter.

People use it in the airlock to permit suck back with no concern. I imagine the same principle would apply.

 

[jrkettle]

I steam oak in my vegetable steamer for about 10 minutes.

 

[Revvy]

I soak them in bourbon for about a week before pitching everything, chips and bourbon in. I wouldn't "not" do something in terms of sanitization, a lot of critters can potentially live in the wood. That's why a lot of sour brews are done in oak barrels. Some also soak their wood in starsan.

But I use bourbon since I oak using Jack Daniel's Oak smoking chips as my preferred oak chip. It is cheap and you can get a lot of oak for 7.99, plus it's alread bourbonny.

 

[CodeRage]

I soak them in bourbon for about a week before pitching everything, chips and bourbon in. I wouldn't "not" do something in terms of sanitization, a lot of critters can potentially live in the wood. That's why a lot of sour brews are done in oak barrels. Some also soak their wood in starsan.

But I use bourbon since I oak using Jack Daniel's Oak smoking chips as my preferred oak chip. It is cheap and you can get a lot of oak for 7.99, plus it's alread bourbonny.

Sippin on a bourbon barrel porter which I sanitized the oak cubes in some Knob Creek. Sanitation techniques can kick ass