Red oak experiment

[bellybuster]

Ok, I like to mess around and try stuff so I went against the grain and used some red oak along with some cherry. 2 sticks of cherry and 1 stick of red oak. The cherry was heavily charred but not baked, the red oak was baked lightly and charred.
Into 1.5 litres of UJ it went and sat in the rafters of my garage since march. My garage is not insulated so this has experienced temps from close to zero C up to probably close to 40 deg C.
The resulting colour is beautiful, a nice deep amber with a red tint. Very pleasing to the eye.

The flavour? Let me say that I am quite proud of this product. I am not a liquor drinker per se but this is smooth and tasty. No hint of tannins at all. The difference from the same aged just on cherry is very noticeable. In a good way, more complex and bold.
A buddy was over and he drinks whiskey on a regular basis. We did a sampling and tried to describe the flavours. Chocolate, coffee, caramel and he described it as "a fine cigar".
The UJ that went into it was good from the start, smooth and yummy. It is now even smoother.

A success story...

I'll post a pic as soon as I can get it off my ipad

[bellybuster]

[Da Yooper]

Bellybuster, I have done the same and have had great results with red oak and cherry. I cleaned up one of my apple trees this spring and found the heart of the wood to be very dark and had the smell of rotten apples. I baked the heart sticks for 4 hrs. at 350 and then charred , placed 3 sticks in a quart of UJ . The aroma is quite pleasant and the color is nice as well. I am going to let it go for another month then cut it down to 40% and giver a try.

[bellybuster]

I just put another 1.5 litres into the same jar with the same sticks. I shall forget this one hopefully for at least a year if I can find the time to build some stock

[mealstrom]

That's a beautiful color! May go pick up some red oak myself and try it out.

[chad2011]

I was wanting to try using red oak. I havent because I remember reading somewhere that there are sugars in red oak that become toxic when mixed with ethanol. Can't remember exactly where. I would love to know if this is true. It wouls also be of use to know which woods are good and which ones to shy away from.

[humbledore]

Thanks for reviving this thread Chad2011. I have a ton of black oak on my property but read it was not a good oak. It is in the red oak family. I don't know about poison but the flavor was not said to be the best. Once again belly Buster sets the example for just going out and trying it. I think I will give it a shot.

[chad2011]

I have spent a lot of time in woodworking, professionally and as a hobby. But I can say that it tells me nothing of flavors. I am thinking of trying the red oak and some hard maple I have had for about 6 years (kiln Dried & expensive). But i will probably do it on a smaller scale. I hate throwing good likker away!!

[RBL]

this is one of the fun things with this hobby, you get to experiment and find what YOU like the best. Everyone's tastes are different. everyone toasts or chars their wood different. I have used hickory (didn't like) cherry (very good!!), white oak (good), persimmon (verdict still out), plum (okay). There is also a big difference to be made by the amount of time the likker is on the wood. A lot will also depend on how good it was before you put it on wood. Tight cuts? also what ABV it went in at. SOOO many variables.

Make plenty, try everything! you will eventually find what you think is great. I have found some very goods in my experiments, still searching for the great. I love the search!

[chad2011]

I believe I have the tight cuts covered. I was going to use a jar of 150 proof and 155 proof. Both came off my second distillation (XX). Any advice on ABV or time of char??

[RBL]

I would start at 60 or so ABV% . I do not toast much, though I do know it can be good. Char for me is "alligator: for lack of better description.

[mealstrom]

I've tried red oak, plum, maple, and pecan (in addition to the regulars: french oak, white oak, etc). As a really fun experiment to get the taste of just the wood, I filled a bunch of jars with neutral liquor at 35%, then stuck a stave of each (one toasted heavy, one light) into different jars. Then I nuked/froze them 3 times over the course of 3 days. By the end there was a huge difference in color and taste, not only from the different types of woods but from the different toast levels.

[humbledore]

Slow afternoon... Chopped up some 2 year old black oak. Ready to experiment.

[bellybuster]

How does that oak smell Humbledore?

[humbledore]

Hmm. I do not have the advanced pallete or the vocabulary...it is mild. Where the grain is very straight, it is very nearly odorless. In some knotted areas it smells stronger of oak. I do not have white oak nearby for comparison. It is a coarser grained oak it seems, the heartwood is definitely reddish. I'll post a close up pic from my phone.

[humbledore]

OK don't know what order these will post. Close up of grain, charring in the fireplace. I'm toasting some in foil in there now.

[humbledore]

Here is a shot of some split wood showing the color of the heart wood. I think I said this earlier but it is in the red oak family.

Edit: unable to load pic from phone...

[mealstrom]

In my meager experience, I've discovered that if you really want to test the flavor of the wood you don't want to char it. Give it a nice toast, but the char flavor tends to overpower the subtle nuances of the wood - at least in the short term.

[humbledore]

Well it is interesting that I charred some in the fireplace and it smelled like a campfire. I charred some in foil, it smelled clean. I am still going to try a mapp torch as well.

Here is the shot I didn't upload, plus another.

[Jimbo]

I've tried red oak, plum, maple, and pecan (in addition to the regulars: french oak, white oak, etc). As a really fun experiment to get the taste of just the wood, I filled a bunch of jars with neutral liquor at 35%, then stuck a stave of each (one toasted heavy, one light) into different jars. Then I nuked/froze them 3 times over the course of 3 days. By the end there was a huge difference in color and taste, not only from the different types of woods but from the different toast levels.

Nice experiment, but are you teasing us? Give us some taste notes please.

[firewater69]

Hello to all, i am new to the forum. been distilling for about a year, & making a.g. beer for many years. i just had to chime in,as i have aged several batches on red oak mostly due to the fact that we don't have much white oak in my neck of the woods. i love the red oak & apple wood is really good too.

[Bushman]

Most fruit wood is good to use if you choose the heartwood of the tree. Red oak has been well documented on the negative aspects. I also live in an area with a lot of red oak but also fruit trees and am currently using the heartwood from a plum tree, the apple wood should work great for you!

[bellybuster]

most of what I can find on red oak are negative response from those that have never tried it. Many posts here and elsewhere regarding tannins as a matter of fact. A majority of those that have indeed tried it show favourable results. Bitter tannins are maybe not an issue. There are those that have tried and didn't like as well but taste is subjective.
I have yet to try a red oak only batch but will soon. I have found that with the cherry the red oak adds in a bold character that is instantly pleasing.

Black Swan Barrels offers red oak as an aging medium in their honeycomb. from their web site
"Red Oak
Red berries, toasted marshmallow, light grass, baking bread, butterscotch"
I certainly do not get any of these characteristics but..... more chocolate/coffee to me.

[firewater69]

I would like to try some cherry with the red oak, we have alot of wild cherry here( some call it choke cherry). Does anyone have any thoughts on it?

[Jimbo]

Never used choke cherry, but I did try some heartwood from a branch of my Black Tartarian Black Cherry. Very nice flavors. I toasted it but did not char it. Not sure how best to treat these fruitwoods, any thoughts out there? Apple wood is nice too.

[bellybuster]

Haven't tried choke cherry but I can say it makes a very good wine. Best thing is it grows free everywhere.

[firewater69]

I gettin ready to run a small batch,i'll give the choke cherry a try on a little of it. i'll let ya'll know hoe it comes out.

[scout]

If you are using fruit woods, toasting will bring out nice flavor profiles while a char will burn the sugars in the wood. Nothing about burnt sugars tastes good. Red oak has more tannin in the wood, it can be used nicely but I would air age it for two years, letting rain water do some tannin leaching for me. At that point I would plane it, cut to the size I want and let it age a few more months before toasting it. Once you have the toast where you want it, just torch it for the char if you want char. Wine barrels are almost never charred, just toasted.

[firewater69]

I only toast my red oak,never charred.

[scout]

I only toast my red oak,never charred.

I would agree with you that this is the best way to treat the red oaks, takes a long time to get them suitable for charring.