Nuclear Whiskey / Nuclear Rum and Spirits Rapid Ageing

[NZChris]

Temptation got the better of me, and well ... I took a slash!

What I learned: I think putting the oak stick in the distilling, and then into the Microwave was a mistake. The whiskey darkened very rapidly, in 10 days it turned a very beautiful dark brown with amber hues when held up to the light. The aroma was too oaky, and the taste was a massive experience of tannin saturated alcohol. My assumption is that it got a head start, but the intensity of the tannins released may never be managed by the oak stick. I immediately dumped the whole jar into a twice used barrel, and will top it off with 120 to 140p distilling at the earliest opportunity. I loved the color, but the tannins were a deal breaker.

I've had something very similar happen with no microwave involved, holding the temperature at 67C for six days. It turned out the color of Coke. It happened the first time I used a new batch of oak. It makes a great essence at about a 1:3 ratio.

The problem was simply that, for this batch of wood, I had used too much.

[jb-texshine]

Try it with apple,cherry or peach wood. They have way less tannin.

[thecroweater]

Those woods don't work for every spirit and everyone's palate. Rapid flavouring is a bit of a juggling act, the most solvent compounds are likely to be extracted first and to a larger degree. There are ways to manipulate this.
One obvious way is to use oak already leached, if you rapid flavour/colour with oak you have already aged with more of the more soluble compounds like tannin are going to be spent and less of the less soluble compounds. With a rapid extraction process this is going to result in a more orthodox ratio across the spectrum of desired compounds.
I to have some wood/tannin essence from early attempts at heat aging, it will not age out and blending back with still give you a huge tannin hit. About all its good for is re-running or blending with a whiskey aged on over spent wood lacking tannin. I have kept one black as tar bottle for that purpose and as a cap or so is all that's needed to correct an untannined but otherwised aged bottle of whiskey I think I will have this bottle for many more years to come.

[BoomTown]

One obvious way is to use oak already leached, if you rapid flavour/colour with oak you have already aged with more of the more soluble compounds like tannin are going to be spent and less of the less soluble compounds. With a rapid extraction process this is going to result in a more orthodox ratio across the spectrum of desired compounds.
I to have some wood/tannin essence from early attempts at heat aging, it will not age out and blending back with still give you a huge tannin hit. About all its good for is re-running or blending with a whiskey aged on over spent wood lacking tannin. I have kept one black as tar bottle for that purpose and as a cap or so is all that's needed to correct an untannined but otherwised aged bottle of whiskey I think I will have this bottle for many more years to come.

So, If I'm reading this right, it may be possible to leach out the troublesome tannins by using 'fients' for a leading treatment, then rinse the oak sticks a bit, and then adding those 'purged' sticks into a jar? That Tannin result in simply unmanageable. One control jar I used, without using the microwave, is also coloring up well, but has not acquired the tannin concentration that the other has. I may take that stick from the spoiled jar, and make up another jar, again with that stick in the jar, into the Mike, and capped to form the vacuum, just to see what happens once those tannins were leached away from the oak.

I'm going to try some Jack Danials chips the same way, just to compare the results. Wishing I had an old barrel of our own to breakdown, but everything we have is either filled or in line to get refilled. Some folks are making planters out of used Jim Beam and Jack D. barrels by cutting them in half. Those seem pretty available, and in old days, before we set out to create our on flavors, I used those as a source for oak. Now, we want either new white oak, or our own used white oak, because the flavor character we are looking for is predictable. J.B. and J.D. are also predictable, and it's not even close to ours.

[thecroweater]

Yep you read it right but its not nust tannin that is leached it just tannin is one of the more soluble compounds are therefore more of it will be leached. I found for rapid flavouring a blend of spent sticks with a small amount of fresh oak balances things out as some tanin is desirable. Everyone has there own idea of the perfect amount of wood from very light to burnt stick and everything in between but there are industry standards aimed at the majority to use as a gauge

[contrahead]

I encountered an article today concerning accelerated aging and am dropping the link here rather than creating a new topic. Mods please relocate if desired. The article is written by a contract writer and is located in a technological forum so please do not interpret my actions as any endorsement for quick spirit aging. Perhaps the gimmick like SonicPrep device has been discussed elsewhere in HD – I don’t know. I doubt that ageing whisky in the weightlessness of space has been evaluated here though.

The scientific arms race to age our whiskey

I comment in this whimsical tech- forum using a different alias.

[kekedog13]

No Nuking Needed, I'm putting jars with coffee filter tops(for aeration ) in the attic , 110 F at least every day. Then freezing once a week.With a hand full of toasted oak chips and 5 or 6 charred oak barrel stave sticks per half gallon . After a month of this it has a dark tea color, smells nice and smokey and is smoothing out real fine. Jim's Half Barrel Bourbon recipe if you're wondering. And the wood was soaked in water for a week , changing the water daily, then sun dried before adding to the alcohol.This was a new step I read about and thought it made sense.

[NZChris]

No Nuking Needed, I'm putting jars with coffee filter tops(for aeration ) in the attic , 110 F at least every day. Then freezing once a week.With a hand full of toasted oak chips and 5 or 6 charred oak barrel stave sticks per half gallon . After a month of this it has a dark tea color, smells nice and smokey and is smoothing out real fine. Jim's Half Barrel Bourbon recipe if you're wondering. And the wood was soaked in water for a week , changing the water daily, then sun dried before adding to the alcohol.This was a new step I read about and thought it made sense.

I bet the angels are partying up big time in your attic. Have you calculated your losses?

[acfixer69]

No Nuking Needed, I'm putting jars with coffee filter tops(for aeration ) in the attic , 110 F at least every day. Then freezing once a week.With a hand full of toasted oak chips and 5 or 6 charred oak barrel stave sticks per half gallon . After a month of this it has a dark tea color, smells nice and smokey and is smoothing out real fine. Jim's Half Barrel Bourbon recipe if you're wondering. And the wood was soaked in water for a week , changing the water daily, then sun dried before adding to the alcohol.This was a new step I read about and thought it made sense.

I bet the angels are partying up big time in your attic. Have you calculated your losses?

That's what I though and I bet the ABV dropped more than a few points too.

AC

[kekedog13]

The volume and the ABV did go down some.I figure this is the angels due share and replicates what you would. loose when using a barrel. In a quart jar after a week it lost a couple of ozs or 10 ml or so.

[FullySilenced]

This is the Nuking thread guys please keep it on track...

I didn't want to say anything about all the evaporated ethanol but i bet was more than a few points if there was nothing but a coffee filter cover...

happy stillin,

FS

[kekedog13]

Makes me wonder what is the abv and volume loss distiller get when using oak barrels ?

[FullySilenced]

depending on the barrel and how its stored the ABV can go up ... or so i have read...

happy stillin

FS

[kekedog13]

Yup, It did loose about 15 points ABV but the end product was outstanding. It was Jimbos Half Barrel Bourbon on toasted oak chips and charred oak sticks. Taste tested and was rated as better than the Makers Mark Special Reserve cask strength we compared it to.

[frdlturner]

Wow what a read I have finally finished reading this whole thread
Did I learn anything yes I did
first be very careful in what you are doing be safe not dead
Second there are many for this and many against this and some in between
Since I had never distilled anything including water I have a lot to learn
third I do not understand this aging how it works etc to me it's just a magical happening
I do understand that if you can its seems better to let it age for a few years
and if you cant wait then nuke is ok if you want a good tasting product faster
So I will do both some nuked to try the flavor and put some away to age a few years (I be 60 next month so I think I will live long around to enjoy it if not my kids inherits it)
I have 12 gal of sweet feed mash thats been fermitted 9 days and it has finally starting to slow down cannot wait to try both nuking and long term aging with it.

[frdlturner]

Question on jb nuke
after cooling on 4th nuke and then deluting to 40% do you leave the jd chips in to age a little longer

[NZChris]

Question on jb nuke
after cooling on 4th nuke and then deluting to 40% do you leave the jd chips in to age a little longer

I've only ever done the three nukes recommended in the OP. After the third, I only proof what I need for immediate use and leave the rest on the oak, as I do for every aging method I use.

You can do whatever you like. Try out different things and keep good notes to refer to in the future.

[jb-texshine]

After almost two years my favorite is butterscotch and werthers original mixed together or cinnamon stick nukins. Both go in hot black coffee. I get too much tannin from wood chips and decided that whiskey does need time and bigger pieces of wood.

[NZChris]

I haven't nuked for a couple of years except for a quicky Limoncello. One nuke instead of three weeks steeping and the product was finished and in the freezer in a few hours.

[FullySilenced]

Question on jb nuke
after cooling on 4th nuke and then deluting to 40% do you leave the jd chips in to age a little longer

I have nuked and then left chips and dominos in the liquor for longer term ageing...{55 to 65 abv} when you are done ageing then dilute it to drinking strength... do the diluting by taste as it may be 1000% better at 50 abv or at 47 abv ??? than it may be by just diluting it to 40...

[frdlturner]

Ok thanks fs and thanks for a great thread

[frdlturner]

Ok my J.D. nuke went great its in hiding to age some
So today I decided to do a J.D. style whiskey and Mr P's Hot Cinnamon Schnapps (fire piss) mix
and it is great
I nuked it 2 minutes 5 times and it has a wonderful whiskey and cinnamon smell
its in hiding to age till Christmas morning for a first taste
here's a pic

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[brewstillski]

Finally got up the stones to try this. Used a few small samples from my first run of corn flakes whisky. Stood back from the microwave a good bit with a fire extinguisher at the ready. So far I've completed 3 nuke cycles on three different jars: JD chips, cinnamon sticks, and white (unflavored just nuked). Amazing. All of them. Definitely smoothes out any harshness/bite and extracts quite a lot of the flavor adjuncts as well (oak chips/cinnamon sticks). Thanks for the method FS, and thanks to all who shared your experiences.

[FullySilenced]

Glad it worked out for you.... for as i know no one has burnt the house down or blowed themselves up .... WISH that part of the story would stop showing up

until then HAPPY STILLIN,

FS

[kekedog13]

Hey brewstillski, Did nuking really improve the white dog ? I like a good smooth unlavored whiskey , and never thought of doing this to it .

[FullySilenced]

In the time it took you to write the question and post it.... you could have tried it yourself....

Happy StillinDay,

FS

[kekedog13]

So your saying the results are immediately noticeable ?

[FullySilenced]

At the ABV posted at the start of the thread... you should notice an improvement... or so i have been told...

happy stillinday

FS

[brewstillski]

Hey brewstillski, Did nuking really improve the white dog ? I like a good smooth unlavored whiskey , and never thought of doing this to it .

Sorry, just saw this. I've done this a few times to some jars of white and they have been pretty smooth sippers. They were likely going to be like that without nuking, but this technique may have accelerated it. I have noticed much bigger/quicker modifications from flavor infusions (oak chips or cinnamon), as you would expect. Give it a shot and report back.

[Rick Martin]

I just finished reading this whole thread. A lot of information to digest. I have read pro's and reasonable con's. I also saw posts about different alternate processes. I just need to figure out what will be best for me. I do want to thank everyone for the views and recipes.

Rick