# Toasting oak



## dwhill40 (Apr 28, 2014)

Greetings,

I have a stack of 3/8 inch white oak boards air drying for a year now. I cut a 18 inch dia. white oak and had a neighbor with a band saw cut up the trunk for me. 

Can someone share with me how I would go about getting a proper toast on a few small planks. I plan on letting the boards dry a while yet but I'm interested in testing as soon as feasible. I'm assuming an oven will work?


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## JohnT (Apr 28, 2014)

What size are the planks? Are they small enough to fit in your oven? 

If so, you could try baking them at, say, 450 degrees until they have color.


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## sour_grapes (Apr 28, 2014)

Here is a poorly designed chart (http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=104116):






The unnecessary 3rd dimension makes it difficult to ascertain the actual temperature, but it gives you an idea.


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## Elmer (Apr 28, 2014)

sour_grapes said:


> Here is a poorly designed chart (http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=104116):
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Great info.
I have always been curious of this.
I have also been super tempted to pry open my barrel and set it on fire with my blow torch for a better toast.

or steal a chunk out of the oak tree out back and Toast


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## dwhill40 (Apr 28, 2014)

Ahh yes, thank you for the chart SG. This one is going into the vault. Elmer - I think the official regulations for wine oak is 3 years air drying but why I do not know. Guess I'll cut up a few stave sized planks that fit in an oven at 450 and bake until golden brown...and go from there.


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