Tennessee Whiskey Cloning Project

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rtalbigr
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Re: Tennessee Whiskey Cloning Project

Post by rtalbigr »

King Of Hearts wrote:and wood from Kentucky. It must be tradition, but why aren't they just adding wood to the spirit like we do? It seems to me more economical, and with science and technology these days I think they can figure out an aging process that would work the same.
It's the Law. Bourbon has to be aged in new oak barrels.

A lot of the oak for barrels also come from Missouri. Buffalo Trace Distillery is doing an interesting experiment where they got 20 selected white oaks from Missouri. They have made barrels using staves from separate parts of the tree, top, middle, bottom, to construct the barrels. The goal is to see what differences in the aged spirits result from specific wood samples.

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Re: Tennessee Whiskey Cloning Project

Post by Prairiepiss »

That's interesting bit of info Big R. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to experiment like that. If you could figure out the best properties of each area of growth. You could make a barrel with staves from different areas. With the right mix you could get the best of them all. Oh if I could win the loto.
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rtalbigr
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Re: Tennessee Whiskey Cloning Project

Post by rtalbigr »

Oh ya Mr. P.

Geez, I got so many experiments I'd like to do rollin around in my head. Just ain't enough time or money.

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Re: Tennessee Whiskey Cloning Project

Post by Hillbilly dog »

King Of Hearts wrote:
Prairiepiss wrote:
King Of Hearts wrote:
fullhouse wrote:the documentary said that the barrels highest in the storage house, where it was warmer, is where the good stuff came from up by the angels roost
Don't they have access to a thermistat? You would think if that was the case, they would keep all the barrels at that temp.
They are just big barns with barrel racking in them the outside painted black. They want the temps to fluctuate. That is what moves the alcohol in and out of the wood. If they kept it at a constant temp it wouldn't work as good. So no they don't have a thermostat.
No heating or cooling at all? Thermistats can be programmed, I have one in my house, I paid $40 for it. I bet I could simulate the temps if I knew what they were, not hard at all. I think the difference comes from the barrel, some are just better, luck of the draw.

Te temps in the top of the barrel barns can reach highs of over 100degs as much as 20degs higher than the lower racks
After the sun sets the upper barrels temp equalizes
In the winter the top barrels will gain more heat on sunny days as well
How ever the bottom barrels will fluctuate as much or more in temp since the heat rises helping to maintain higher temps in the top barrels
Sounds good anyway
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Re: Tennessee Whiskey Cloning Project

Post by kendog1978 »

The best way to produce a faux/clone of JD in my own experience

I used a 5l bottle put in 200g of jack daniel smoking chips topped up with stripped spirit made from sugar diluted with spring water from 94% to 43% added a 4 inch x 1 inch unused white oak strip that i cut and alagator charred myself

Left it to mature for 2 month (although can be ready in 2 to 3 weeks) filtered through filter paper after i am left with around 4litres once the woods out.

Around 80 to 85% of the flavour comes from the wood but by itself this is not enough to mimick the old no 7.

The nose is a very sensitive organ and can detect smells in many tiny parts per million perhapd even per billion. The sense of smell is the main sense that is active in taste too.

So we take that 4 litres and put 1litre of real JD in with it taking the final amount to 5 litres because the nose is sensitive in the parts per million/billion another 10 to 15 % of the whiskey ingredients can be picked up in taste/smell so we get around a 95% replica with the mind filling in the rest of the 5% blanks... because the original spirit is clear there is no other smells to interfere.

Granted it is an expensive(ish) way of doing it aprox 130 to 150ml per litre of real JD will cost you anywhere from €3 to €4.50 increasing final price per litre as opposed to using grain but it is as close as your ever going to get to the real deal (unless you add more original JD) and apart from a reduction in sweetness that can be compensated for (i prefer less sweet) there is virtually no difference in taste if you add coke or mixer you will not detect the reduction of the sweetness

The final product is remarkable considering just how sensitive the nose is in picking up differences.

The same can be done without using unused american white oak but from my experience spirits made from cane sugar have a harsher bite that the JD smoking chips themselves do not smooth out adding the charred unused smooths it to fine finish and adds a few more of the missing tannins and caramels that used chips are lacking but please if you do not have unused american white oak continue with the JD chips

The same process can be done with Jim Beam chips neautral spirit and real jim beam although less jim beam needs added as the chips themselves impart more flavour than those of the JD persuasion or so i have found.
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