Secondary Fermentation with oak pegs?

[brewinhard]

Have done quite a bit of research (Apte, Mad fermentationist, JZ, etc.) on Flanders Red.
I am still confused as to whether the oak peg/dowel used in secondary should be inserted
directly into the carboy neck with or without a rubber stopper?
Also, should the oak be inserted down into the beer or just be used as a stopper would?
If the oak does go down into the beer, (using JZ's recipe) do I still use the French oak cubes
called for in his recipe? If so, how long does the French oak remain in the beer? Does it stay
the whole 6-12 months while the beer ages? Would greatly appreciate any helpful feedback
to help clarify these procedures.

[Stewbacca]

I have been looking into this myself. I believe the idea for the oak peg is to replace the airlock and rubber bung not necessarily go into the beer. the peg is so that the beer can "breathe" and slightly oxidize over time while keeping the nasties out.

I could be wrong though... I am kind of an sometimes and have been known to lick windows occasionally

[WitsEnd]

I'm considering doing this, but I may end up fermenting 4.5 gallons in a carboy with a standard airlock and .5 gallon in a jug with cheesecloth over the top to allow o2 in and blend the final result to taste.

Oak will be used to harbor the bugs for the next batch (and yes, I know it won't give the same character as the original, but I dont' care).

But, FWIW, I think the wood is supposed to be in the beer. I like MadFermentationist's idea of putting an airlock in there as well so the end of the wood peg won't get all nasty if the beer is pushed out the end of the pores.

[brewinhard]

It seems as though all the pics I have seen of this process do have the oak dowel down into the beer itself. Although, upon reading JZ's classic styles it seems as though the oak is just used as or in conjunction with the rubber bung and does not go down into the wood.
But then, when you read Raj Apte's page who JZ references in his classic styles book, Apte claims he had a flanders "weeping like a madonna" out of the oak dowel outside of the carboy!!
This must mean that the oak was touching the beer in some way. I am still confused.
I wonder if Jamil ever reads these? maybe he could put in his two cents...

[mykafone]

As everyone else has stated there is no clear answer. I did it 11 months ago and it let the peg touch the beer by about and inch. now its pretty much outta the beer but the funks is still connected to it. I will report back in several months when I actually rack/bottle/taste it.. So sorry no answer from me? Im sitll confused a year later.

[resto3]

I think that the peg must be submerged in the beer all the way down to the bottom and the top flaired out so that it sits at the mouth of the carboy thus acting like a lose fitting cork. I mean the wood has to touch the beer after all what you are trying to do is mimc as close as possible the effect the beer has if it were in an oak cask. I have a small American White Oak Cask (5.5 Gal) and have a Flkander's Red in there now. It's been over 5 months now but I don't think it's where it need to be yet. I must brew this beer again to top up the cask as you lose beer from inside the cask from evaporation. I haven't checked but I probably lost a gal of beer already.

my US$ 0.02.

Richie

[TimmyR]

Pretty sure from what I've listened to and read here, the leg does penetrate (yup....said it) the beer to some degree. I also remember it needs to be small enough to allow it to swell in the neck of the carboy a little as it gets saturated.

[Stewbacca]

I was thinking more along the lines of using oak cubes to get the actual oak flavor into the beer and using the wooden dowel as a breathable bung sort of thing. That is what i got from my reading. A wooden dowel wont give you the same oak profile as toasted oak cubes..