20 years in aging? for the hobby... Part 1

[kiwi Bruce]

Some of us are endeavoring to understand the aging/maturation of flavored spirits and then possibly replicating it in a speedier fashion.
The traditional aging/maturation of spirits, appears to go though three phases simultaneously, It gives up,or alters, off flavors to the wood. It draws positive flavors from the wood as it breaths through the staves and interacts with oxygen in the air. The spirit also undergoes chemical changes within itself as esters and aldehydes and ketones produced by the yeast during fermentation and condensed with the spirit, change in their new environment. These changes can take decades.
So what can we do to rapidly duplicate the changes. Here is a list of the procedures that I know about, some I've used, some I have not. None of these appear to damage the spirit, though some may have little or no beneficial affects. That's why we experiment.
1) A Wood soaking. This can be 1 X 1 used bourbon staves, JD chips, new unused oak etc. and can be used at any point, multiple times, in the overall process.( In the hope that it will add color and flavor)
2) Staggered dilution, adding water in set stages. (In the hope that it will aid in the wood's flavor extraction)
3) Wine addition, adding a small amount of white wine to the distillate. (In the hope that it will aid in the mouth feel and maturation)
4) Heating under pressure. The spirit, sealed in preserving jars, is placed in warm water and heated to 140F and held there for twenty minutes. (In the hope that it speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
5) Cooling. In a very cold fridge for 6 plus hours. (In the hope that it will speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
6) Freezing. In a freezer for 12 hours. (In the hope that it will speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
7) Refluxing. In a reflux column, in a bath of warm water, air is pumped through the spirit making it reflux. (In the hope that it will oxygenate the spirit and help speed the chemical changes)
Microwaving. In a microwave, in open top preserving jars, given small energy bursts. (In the hope that it will speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
9) Low frequency wave-vibration. In or on any object that can provide a vibration to the spirit for 12 hours plus. (In the hope that it will speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
10) Sound wave vibrations. Placed on or near speakers that can provide sound vibration to the spirit for 12 hours plus. (In the hope that it will speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
11) Ultrasound bath. Placed in an ultrasound bath for three minutes, with a 5 minute rest, and repeated 5 times. (In the hope that it will speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
12) Wave action. Placed on a motorized board or in the back of a vehicle that can provide a gentle wave action on the spirit for several hours. (In the hope that it will speed the chemical changes within the spirit)
13) Activated Charcoal additions. Adding a very small amount of AC, shaking and settling before removing. (In the hope that it will remove some of the unwanted chemicals from the spirit)
14) Sodium Bicarbonate additions. Adding a very small amount of Bicarb, shaking and dissolving. (In the hope that it will remove some of the unwanted acids from the spirit)
15) A long rest. Alone with nothing else, the spirit sleeps for 5 weeks in a cool refrigerator. ( In the hope that it will let all the actions and flavors mix and blend)
It is my opinion that 80% of the taste of a whisky is from #1 alone, and that 2 to 14 only provide 20% of the taste. This makes it extremely difficult to manage any tests if #1 is none first.
I 'm experimenting solely with Scotch style, single malt whisky.

Please add more to this list:- comments or questions, more that welcome.

[buflowing]

16) Long term low level heating. Vessel of choice in warm garages, attics, near furnace ducts (my favorite), to accelerate chemical reactions.
17) Aeration. Bubbling or shaking to introduce more oxygen into spirit.

[chris8sirhc]

aeration seems to mainly kill proof.

18) running ozone through the spirit.

[kiwi Bruce]

19) Ionic Silver treatment

[shadylane]

20. Age the liquor for a week or two. Then gently heat it to boiling and reflux off the angels share.

[3d0g]

5 and 6 are generally counter-productive (Arrhenius equation). The old rule of thumb is chemical reaction rates double for every 10C increase.

So when does cold come into play? In barrels. Cold, especially rapid temperature drops, create negative pressures in barrels, drawing flavors out of the wood.

[3d0g]

21) Light? Lost Spirits is convinced high-intensity light works in breaking down wood polymers. Current issue of Distiller Magazine has a decent writeup on Davis' process.

[MDH]

Davis was barely the first one to do any of this. I support his experimenting but am weary of the patenting.

Secondly I am skeptical of artificially weathering barrels. When you leave a barrel to the elements, there is microbial fermentation of wood components, compounds from the surrounding environment that react with the wood, etc. it's not as simple as breaking down wood char with light.

I would also like to add that yes, metallic catalysts are another option. They have the unfortunate byproduct of producing a lot of aldehydes very fast. When spirits gradually age, they are often oxidized into aldehydes, but these are extremely volatile and gradually evaporate at the same time. Rapid aging a spirit would then require aeration. You could not do rapid aging and aeration simultaneously.

[3d0g]

Davis was barely the first one to do any of this. I support his experimenting but am weary of the patenting.

If true, the first point obviates the second with prior art.

I watch Bryan's work with skeptical interest. UC Davis is working with him on the project so at least they see some merit. I will say, the Lost Spirits rapid aged rum is excellent. Will the process apply equally well to whiskey? Guess we'll see...

[kiwi Bruce]

21) Light? Lost Spirits is convinced high-intensity light works in breaking down wood polymers. Current issue of Distiller Magazine has a decent writeup on Davis' process.

3d0g any chance of posting the Magazine's article?

21) UV? light reaction

[Appalachia-Shiner]

16. Low level heating will really speed things up. I age in my garage in the summer, then a warm spot in the house in the winter.
You can take 2 identical bottles one in a warm spot and one in a cool spot and you will see the difference.

[raketemensch]

16. Low level heating will really speed things up. I age in my garage in the summer, then a warm spot in the house in the winter.
You can take 2 identical bottles one in a warm spot and one in a cool spot and you will see the difference.

Our "liquor cabinet" has always been a cupboard up over the oven. It's where I keep my jars now, they get heat-cycled almost daily.

In the summer I think they might move to the garage attic, tho.

[3d0g]

3d0g any chance of posting the Magazine's article?

No need. Just go read it yourself. It's free online.

[FullySilenced]

Or you could try nuking... as in reading the nuking thread....

[buflowing]

Thanks for the link 3d0g. More info than was previously available. Do you know if he's tried his processes on whiskey? I would imagine he has, and my thought is he's not had the success he's had with rum.

edit: http://www.drinkhacker.com/2015/10/20/t ... periments/

[MDH]

Here would be my process:

1. Pressure Extraction via heating spirit, adding oak, allowing to cool
2. Reaction via microwave / ultrasonic
3. cooling down, rapid aging via heat treatment to 60c for as long as possible in the absence of light
4. Aeration at 40c
5. Slow dilution to 40-55% and resting at elevated temperatures.

[S-Cackalacky]

MDH, I've done some similar things, but never really put it all together into a formal process. I use the microwave technique as a sort of adjunct to the aging process. Most recently, I've been doing a single cycle in the microwave on low power to raise the temp up to about 150 dF. I'm using one stick of toasted/charred oak or about 2 weight ounces of JD chips. After nuking, I seal the quart jars and put them in a Styrofoam cooler with towels packed around them. I let them cool down for about 24 hours then put them in the freezer for at least 3 hours and then return to room temp before straining into a larger aging jar to continue aging in a dark place. I've also had the thought of putting a heated cherry pit pack in the cooler with the jars to try to hold the heat for a longer period, but haven't tried it yet.

What I would like to do is find a way to continue to raise and lower the heat during the course of the aging process. I really haven't decided how to effectively do this, other than continuing to do occasional microwafe cycles - maybe a cycle every week or two along with a good shake to aerate.

I would be happy to get a good result after 2 or 3 months of a decent process.

[MashMaker]

MDH, I've done some similar things, but never really put it all together into a formal process. I use the microwave technique as a sort of adjunct to the aging process. Most recently, I've been doing a single cycle in the microwave on low power to raise the temp up to about 150 dF. I'm using one stick of toasted/charred oak or about 2 weight ounces of JD chips. After nuking, I seal the quart jars and put them in a Styrofoam cooler with towels packed around them. I let them cool down for about 24 hours then put them in the freezer for at least 3 hours and then return to room temp before straining into a larger aging jar to continue aging in a dark place. I've also had the thought of putting a heated cherry pit pack in the cooler with the jars to try to hold the heat for a longer period, but haven't tried it yet.

What I would like to do is find a way to continue to raise and lower the heat during the course of the aging process. I really haven't decided how to effectively do this, other than continuing to do occasional microwafe cycles - maybe a cycle every week or two along with a good shake to aerate.

I would be happy to get a good result after 2 or 3 months of a decent process.

What about trying a heating pad on a timer to cycle on every few days? That's the best I can come up with

[Monkeyman88]

I put some jars in the roof space. Gets into the mid tens in the summer at night, and into the 40-50s during the day. In winter is gets down to 0 at night and high 20s during the day.

[wtfdskin]

I keep mine in the garage attic space also. Good temp swings up there, and outta sight.

[MDH]

The issue with cycling temperature is that it actually slows down aging. You want a high reaction rate for as long as possible, so you want a high temperature for as long as possible, meaning no cycling.

Cycling in conventional aging does two things: it expels volatiles and increases oxidation. This is what we are trying to do with aeration instead.

[kiwi Bruce]

There are several observations I would like to understand.
Why is it that if a wash is freeze concentrated, two or three times, it does not have the same "bite" as a spirit that was distilled, even at the same strength?
The same is true, from what Ive read, of low temperature, vacuum distilled spirit, why?
I can't vacuum distill but I can use an air-pump assisted low temperature distillation. Will I get the same results? We will see.
What does heating the wash to a boil do to the ethanol that's condensed off?
A lot of research still to do. Kiwi Bruce

[MDH]

Christoph Keller put it very simple: When you distill a mash, molecules are broken apart and created. Over time, these molecules reconnect. This is why spirits are much harsher fresh.

Secondly, a combination of 14% ethanol and 86% water, without impurity, would still smell much harsher than wine, because in wine, viscosity and other attributes will prevent compounds from becoming volatile as quickly as they would in a plain mixture of ethanol and water.

Thirdly, distillation oxidizes primary alcohols into aldehydes and other compounds which smell harsher.

[kiwi Bruce]

Christoph Keller put it very simple:

I'm not familiar with him, where can I read his work?

[kiwi Bruce]

Here would be my process:

1. Pressure Extraction via heating spirit, adding oak, allowing to cool
2. Reaction via microwave / ultrasonic
3. cooling down, rapid aging via heat treatment to 60c for as long as possible in the absence of light
4. Aeration at 40c
5. Slow dilution to 40-55% and resting at elevated temperatures.

Hi MDH, How long does this take, 1 - 5 ?

[Bagasso]

What does heating the wash to a boil do to the ethanol that's condensed off?

Washes are complex. One thing that happens is esterification.

Alcohol + acid + heat = esters.

Of particular interest to stillers is:
Ethanol + acetic acid = ethyl acetate.

Commonly used as nail polish remover. It smells and tastes the part. According to this study on acetic acid production by yeast

Acetic acid, glycerol and TA production normalized to sugar consumed showed strong positive correlations to the initial juice concentration (r = 0.992, 0.963, and 0.937, P < 0.001 respectively) but no correlation was found for ethanol production.

I have read that one answer to "sugar bite" is to ferment at or below 8%ABV another is to go all grain. Seeing that AG is usually in this range, both of these answers seem to be the same.

[kiwi Bruce]

Thanks Bagasso, So what maturing does ( and what we're attempting to speed up) is undo the complex organics :- esters and aldehydes, ketones, long chain alcohols. Maybe "undo" is an incorrect term, how about "correctly manipulate." The challenge for the hobbyist is to be able to correctly assess the changes using taste along.

[Bagasso]

So what maturing does ( and what we're attempting to speed up) is undo the complex organics :- esters and aldehydes, ketones, long chain alcohols.

No, that would be something seperate but I do think that "manipulate" is the right term for that. Some of these are definitely desired in flavored drinks.

I was just addressing the question about the bite that is supposed to be absent in jacked and vacuum stilled products.

[S-Cackalacky]

Here would be my process:

1. Pressure Extraction via heating spirit, adding oak, allowing to cool
2. Reaction via microwave / ultrasonic
3. cooling down, rapid aging via heat treatment to 60c for as long as possible in the absence of light
4. Aeration at 40c
5. Slow dilution to 40-55% and resting at elevated temperatures.

MDH, could you go into more detail about how you accomplish each of these steps. For instance, in step 1, are you nuking to perform this step, or some other? How do you accomplish step 2 in a microwave - that is, would it be the same process as in step 1, but without the oak? Do you perform the steps sequentially, or are some of them done concurrently?

It would be nice to see someone post up a formal detailed procedure that other members could replicate and validate. Sort of like the validation process for establishing a tried and true recipe.

[kiwi Bruce]

MDH, Agree with S-C If you could add some detail it would be appreciated. Kiwi Bruce

So what maturing does ( and what we're attempting to speed up) is undo the complex organics :- esters and aldehydes, ketones, long chain alcohols.

No, that would be something seperate but I do think that "manipulate" is the right term for that. Some of these are definitely desired in flavored drinks.

I was just addressing the question about the bite that is supposed to be absent in jacked and vacuum stilled products.

Bagasso, found this ages ago, might be useful in this discussion.