Oaked Chips Soaked In Wine

In general I boil my oak cubes for a few minutes before I soak them in anything. I've heard some people say even most bourbons aren't high enough in ABV to sanitize.

 

Oak chips or cubes commonly supplied for wine making are often just dropped dry, right into the must. If you are using a bacteria/yeast blend, I would expect wine-soaked oak to work o.k., although I haven't actually used wine, only spirits myself.

 

The wine alone, in my experience, is enough to sanitize the wood.
I recently soaked oak for 2 weeks in a cabernet sauvignon while a tripel was in primary and then used it in the secondary. There were no noticeable defects from critters. The beer came out, in my opinion, really good.

 

I've wanted to do this but my worry is how long to soak the oak and depending on contact time the wine turning to vinegar.

 

I did this same thing for a sour blonde a year or so ago. Filled up a mason jar with wine (can't remember variety for the life of me), then dropped the oak chips in there...sealed it up. After a couple weeks, I drained and added oak chips to the secondary. No issues whatsoever.

 

It takes a fair amount of time before acetobacter becomes noticeable. I typically keep oak cubes floating in wine for somewhere between a year and two years before tossing them.

 

Good luck! I am underway with a Flanders Red as of tonight!

 

the longer you soak, the better.
i just started soaking some oak chips in bourbon for a barley wine that will be kegged in 6 months.

another question: chips vs cubes? i've heard people suggest chips are too astringent.

 

What recipe are you using? I've got some bug county and was wanting to do Juliet clone myself.

 

I just had my first bottle of Lolita last week (quite delicious, too). I haven't had a chance to try Juliet yet.

 

Think about how long some wine stays in barrels--years--and the ph of your sour beer. You're going to kill off most bacteria that will bring about an unpleasant flavor, assuming they would even find something to eat. Any wild yeast coming in will have a hard time finding a food source. At best they add some additional complexity to your beer. The only thing you need to worry about is acetobacter, which can be limited from affecting your beer by being conscious of oxygen exposure.

When aging non-sour beers in wine barrels or wine-soaked oak, you do need to be concerned about what the oak might add to your beer because wine is neither acidic enough nor alcoholic enough to knock out everything (especially brett). That is why breweries using wine barrels tend to lose more beer to bad barrels than those using neutral or liquor barrels. In those cases you are better off boiling or steaming the oak before adding it to wine. Or just use a little wine directly into the beer.