BeerBorg

do you reuse your oak chips / cubes after soaking and using in a batch?

store them in a mason jar of bourbon? or dry them in oven if you do ... or other?

thanks

I do not re-use

I don't see why you could not re-use however. You aren't going to "de-wood" the wood with one use.

I'm sure they lose some flavor after just one use but I'd worry about contamination. But then again, some of the beers brewers use them in is 10-12% and that can kill off lots of contamination.
But, they are pretty cheap so I'd just buy more and not take any chances.
mashani said 'de-wood' <said in a Beavus and Butt-Head voice>

If you are going to brew with the same or similar yeast, I wouldn't worry so much about cross contamination, as that's what you would likely get if you got anything. But if you oaked a French Saison, then yeah, maybe not use those chips in a stout. Unless you want a freaking dry stout.

if they get soaked in bourbon prior to each use though, wouldn't that sanitize them anyway? at least in theory? or alternatively I could store the cubes in bourbon in a mason jar between uses. it would leech out some of the oaky flavors over time but it would increase the bourbon flavors in the wood.

I was thinking I would dry them on a cookie sheet in the over after use... then pop them in a jar of bourbon to wait for the next use. between the oven and the booze it should nuke the yeast that might be living on them.

Most likely, unless something soaks into the middle and it doesn't get hot enough/boozy enough in there and then it soaks back out in your beer. It's probably safe, I wouldn't worry about it myself, but if you really want to be sure then be paranoid I guess. A minimal cross infection with another strain of sacc wouldn't be a big deal to me as long as it's got similar properties.

FWIW, Belgians re-use wooden barrels all the time for spontaneous fermentations. But they are doing it because the barrels are inoculated with the yeast/bugs they want in the beer. They don't try to kill the critters, they consider them to be friends.

EDIT: FWIW as well, you can add the burbon you soaked the chips in to the beer, and get both burbon and oakey flavors. No reason to waste that stuff.

I'm not a re-user so I am no help here. But in theory I don't see why you couldn't do what is being discussed.