aging in pastic carboy?

[Jon112]

I am planning on adding some oak and dry hopping my beer. I have a glass carboy for secondary but it has a narrow neck and will be no way to add the oak in it.

Im thinking i will rack into the glass carboy, clean the plastic bucket, the rack back into plastic bucket so i have room to ad the oak and hops. Anyone see a issue with this?

I figure its best to take it off the yeast bed once its done fermenting vs aging it ontop of it

 

[hot_carl]

You're 100% right about getting it off the yeast cake if you plan on aging for any significant period of time. However, you can get oak in different levels of char in little cubes that you can get into the neck of a glass carboy no problem...I bought some for oaking my arrogant bastard clone, but got impatient and decided that I didnt want to wait long enough to let the wood age in there. The platsic pails are great for fermenting, but are slightly air permeable and the lids never make a great seal so they arent great candidates for aginf for any period of time. Hope this helps

 

[hot_carl]

On a sidenote, its good practice to soak the oak in something that kills anything you dont want in there. Bourbon may be a good candidate depending on what you are brewing.

 

[Jon112]

the oak I have is actually like shavings, not sure if my brew store had anything else. I have read its best to steam them, so I think I will put them in the top of my rice cooker to steam them.

I know the plastic bucket isnt the best option, but might be easiest for clean up. The only way I see the glass carboy working is if I just dump it all in the bottom and hope it comes out ok at the end..