Oak spiral questions

[Beerbelly]

I thinking of brewing either an 80 shilling or a Wee Heavy Scottish ale, using oak spirals in the keg to add some oak flavor. I have medium toast American oak spirals, but have never used them before. I'm not a wine or liquor fan, so I'm not looking for that flavor, just the flavors toasted oak can add.
Can you folks school me on your experiences and recommendations using the spirals?

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

When I use oak (medium toast American oak cubes) I soak them in a medium/good quality bourbon for a week. Then I dump all into the fermenter. If I'm bulk aging for a few months sometimes I'll just add the liquid. If you don't want the flavor of the spirit in your beer you could just sanitize the oak spirals in unflavored vodka.

 

[Minbari]

I have done a couple boubon aged stouts. Just add them to the keg and age it.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Depending on the batch size, the amount of booze you would use on the spirals will not come thru too much. I've soak cubes in bourbon, in dark rum and in a 2.5 gal batch only the oak shined through.

 

[Beerbelly]

I'm not going to use and wine or liquor- don't have any in the house, and not going to buy any for the small amount needed.
But I have read that it's a good idea to boil the spirals for 10 minutes to knock out the tannins and sterilize them.

 

[Minbari]

I'm not going to use and wine or liquor- don't have any in the house, and not going to buy any for the small amount needed.
But I have read that it's a good idea to boil the spirals for 10 minutes to knock out the tannins and sterilize them.

I have never sterilized them, never had an issue.

a pint of cheap vodka is like $4

 

[Donoroto]

Boiling them cannot hurt. Alcohol is not a requirement.