How long should oak cubes be in secondary?

Northern Brewer General
1

This past weekend I brewed a w00tstout extract kit. The instructions say to add bourbon soaked oak cubes when I rack to secondary. The oak cubes aren’t mentioned after that. It just says to let it age for two months before bottling. Should I leave the oak cubes in secondary for the entire two months? If not, how long should I leave them in?

2

I’m no expert but I would leave them in for the duration.

3

I’m experimenting with oak spirals, and they say full extraction takes six weeks… I’m assuming that adding for longer won’t hurt.

4

I aged with oak cubes one time in the past. I had 4 oz of cubes that I had soaked in bourbon for 2-3 months ahead of time. I dumped the entire contents of that mason jar into the secondary, and only kept the beer in the secondary with the cubes for a week before kegging. Most people thought the beer was fantastic, but if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably use fewer cube or not transfer the bourbon with the cubes. I thought the oak was way over powering.

Best thing to do is test it at the end of the week and see what it tastes like.

Go from there.

5

I’m not really sure there is an answer to this question, just an opinion from each brewer. I would pull a sample maybe every 7 days, and pull the oak out when it tastes like you want it to. :cheers:

6

[quote=“Beerginer”]I’m not really sure there is an answer to this question, just an opinion from each brewer. I would pull a sample maybe every 7 days, and pull the oak out when it tastes like you want it to. :cheers: [/quote]This is probably the best answer as most people have different preferences. I usually go two weeks but sometimes I wish I had gone a week more.

7

This is also what I recommend. Just remember that if the oak is floating on top, the flavor will be more concentrated there.

8

Thanks for all the replies! I had some foggy memory, probably from some half-remembered post or conversation, about tannin extraction or similar issue with leaving the oak in too long. It’s reassuring to know that the only issue is my taste preference and not a risk of ruining the beer.

I will definitely take this advice. Since it’s a pretty heavy beer I assume it would be easy for the oak & bourbon flavor to go unnoticed if I don’t leave it in long enough so I think I’ll leave them in at least a month before sampling.