Home Distiller

i have access to many types of kiln dried wood [ red oak, white oak,maple, hickory,cherry, liptus, alder, bass] i have tryed most of these for ageing my distillants xcept liptus witch has a natural insecticide and have found that white oak is far and away the best flavor so far. has anyone used alder for againg? i have used it for smoking meat if you dont over do it and it gives a great flavor, to much and it is slightly bitter. i will do a little xperimenting with it of course but if sumone has used it it may save me some time and some good whskey. i will post my results in a week to 3 months.

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I'm thinking alder would give a green sort of acrid taste if not charred well. I would suggest only adding a very little to a small amount to experiment. My favorite so far has been a combo of oak, apple and tiny bit of cherry.

Wich kind of Alder are we talking about here. In latin please if possible.

im not sure what kinda alder it is, its made out of wood fur sure. i did do more researsh and found it can have a bitter taste if left to long. but ill try a pint or so for xpertement. thanks.

Okidoki Our woodshed is full with alder. I'll do a little test on ours and get back here with any results.

Try smoking your grain with it.

have we gotten any results from this test yet?

I have used Alnus alba -white alder (i think) In tandem with pecan and manuka. It gives of such a loverly scent when it's on the fire i figgured it must be good. I havent had any bitter taste from it yet.
I may try some on it's loansome. I think the trick would be to get some that is seasoned and contains no sap wood, then toast it and lightly char. I'm running my still at least once this weekend so i'll see if i can get this going.

Some months ago I soaked different woods in several small sample jars. I found that the Pecan chips did not give off the tanin woddy flavor like the apple, hickory and alder. It was an interesting flavor that I plan on returning to. Maybe with some rum?