Barrel aging's effect on ABV?

[bassballboy]

I'm about to bottle a BA stout where I used soaked oak cubes. I assumed I wouldn't get much of an ABV bump but this has me thinking:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...arrel-aged-narwhal.210565/page-3#post-2773745

I'm using cubes vs. He is talking about a barrel, but it definitely has me thinking coming from a pro brewer. Thoughts?

 

[dcp27]

liquor stored in a barrel is typically at cask strength and would hold significantly more volume than cubes. if you added the liquor along with the cubes, you can easily figure out how much ABV it added. if not, its basically nil

 

[Homercidal]

I believe they are talking about the fact that water and alcohol move through the oak. The oak is infused with alcohol from the bourbon factory. Therefore there is some alcohol added to the beer from the barrel. As the water from the beer passes into the barrel it leaves more alcohol behind as well. At least that is what I gather.

If you are using chips, there is no real movement except that the oak will naturally absorb some of the beer, in it's entirety, into the wood. It's not the same as having external environment changes working to move the beer through the walls of the barrel.

In this case, the oak chips are merely adding some oak flavor and aroma to the beer.