I am going to make a rogue chocolate recipe but plan on throwing in some bourbon chips and maybe some habeneros into it. the original recipe says to ferment for two weeks and then transfer to secondary. my question is. can I leave it in the secondary for as long as I want with the bourbon chips after fermentation reaches the final gravity or is that not a good idea? thanks guys!!
I would transfer when attenuation is finished, not after some random time like two weeks. The longer you leave it on the wood chips, the stronger the wood flavor. It will also depend on how much wood you're adding. I'd say those are two variables you'd want to pay attention to.
I mean, yeah you can, but I wouldn't leave the oak chips in there for more than a week. If you're using oak cubes instead, you can put those in for months for a more rounded oak flavor. All this being said, you can't really over oak beer. Oak will calm down over time, so you might need to let them age for a couple more months to be drinkable. The key to oaking beer is to keep tasting it. I let it sit until there's a little too much oak for my liking, then I bottle and put in a cool dark place for at least a month before I even crack one open.
You can definitely over-oak a beer if using chips. I had a RIS that took about a year to be drinkable after not paying attention and leaving it on chips for too long. Completely agree that tasting as you go is very important, especially with chips where the oak can build very quickly.
But it was drinkable after a year. That was my whole point; if you wait long enough it will all be alright.
