Even if you don't epoxy anything, you'll still need to be brave if you want to torque that Specialized plug to the 9nm they have stamped on the top . I chickened out after around 6 nm and even then I was expecting to hear my $500 steerer crack any second.

One interesting thing about the Specialized plug: They call for cutting the steerer so that it sits slightly below the top edge of the stem clamp. One side effect of this is that the expander plug will usually extend 10mm or so below the bottom edge of the stem. I read somewhere that this is supposed to help spread out the bending forces exerted on the steerer by the stem so that they aren't all focused on the bottom edge of the clamp.

I violated this because my steerer splintered a bit when I was cutting it (a small chip of the top layer of carbon, maybe 4x4 mm square, broke off one side of the cut), so I figured it would be safer to place the top of the steerer 5mm above the stem clamp where there would be no force acting on it.