Re-using oak cubes

[bluue13]

Fellow home brewers:

Just bottled a bourbon barrel porter so I've got all these porter and bourbon infused oak cubes left over. I've read of some brewers reusing them but with cautions against contamination of future brews. So my question is do any of you re-use? If so, how do you store them? I would think you may need to thoroughly dry them out first to prevent mold/rot. Air dry? oven dry?

Also saw that some people save them for use in the bbq or smoker. I may go this route...

Anyway, I welcome your thoughts/input!

 

[Backslide]

I reuse mine in the fire pit... They're cheap so no need to risk infections by reusing them in beer.

 

[ironpeddler]

I reuse mine in the fire pit... They're cheap so no need to risk infections by reusing them in beer.

Exactly...I never used them again for risk of contamination. The reward is not worth the risk based on their availability and cost.

My thoughts are that the only way you could store them would be to freeze them so they wouldn't get all funky. Even vacuum packing them (with a Food Saver) still doesn't totally eliminate the possibility of contamination.

 

[bluue13]

Exactly...I never used them again for risk of contamination. The reward is not worth the risk based on their availability and cost.

My thoughts are that the only way you could store them would be to freeze them so they wouldn't get all funky. Even vacuum packing them (with a Food Saver) still doesn't totally eliminate the possibility of contamination.

Yeah the more I've considered it, its not like I have a barrel here. I'll prob just bbq them up and get more when I make my next batch.