Question on dry hopping spices and oak for my Christmas ale.

[Eddiebosox]

My Christmas ale has been aging in the secondary for over a month now and I'm ready to add my spice additions. I am adding a few cinnamon sticks, a Madagascar vanilla bean and some oak chips. I am going to soak the cinnamon and vanilla in vodka for a day first and boil the oak chips for five minutes to sanitize all of it. My question is in how I add it t the secondary. If it sinks to the bottom I'm afraid it won't infuse the whole batch evenly. I was thinking of maybe suspending it all halfway down the carboy by a string inside a hop bag. That way its right in the middle.

Is this worthwhile, or does it even matter?

 

[duboman]

Doesn't matter, just put it all in there. Be aware though the oak flavor will take a lot longer to infuse flavor than cinnamon so you might want to add the oak first to flavor and taste, then add cinnamon later as it won't take as long to infuse.

 

[fraychineaudj]

In chemistry there is a max amount that a solvent can absorb from a solute and given enough time and or energy it will take all it can regardless of position in the vessel. Im sure you are not going to exceed that maximum. Given that you dont want to add extra energy (heat or stirring) to your secondary, you will just have to give it time.

 

[TheJasonT]

I would say put all your flavorings on the bottom of your secondary then siphon your brew on top of them. It would help disperse the flavors initially.