Oaking 101

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NcHooch
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Oaking 101

Post by NcHooch »

Of course, we learn early on in this hobby that all liquor comes out of the still clear, and that it takes white oak and time to make a good whiskey or rum. There's a ton of information on this site and out on the net about but it can be hard to find it and sort through the good, and not so good advise.

One thing about the commercial whiskey makers, they are masters of aging and blending....They age their whiskey in new or used white oak barrels that are usually charred or toasted, and the typical aging strength is between 60 and 65% ABV. Their taster's highly experienced noses and taste buds are extremely prized and we can only assume paid well for being that good. They surely have some sort of sampling schedule that's used to make sure it comes out just right, barrel after barrel.

We, on the other hand might have extensive experience drinking whiskey, :D , but no real idea how to age it.

It's safe to say that you'd be hard pressed to go wrong by copying what the pros do. A full sized whiskey barrel holds approximately 55 gallons and has an interior area of 3200 sq in. I don't know about the rest of yall, but I need to scale that back a bit. There's no place around my house to keep a mess of full sized barrels. If you divide that out, it equals 57 sq in / gallon...or approx 15 sq in/quart.

American white oak is what you want. It should be air-dried for at least a year, and you should only be using the core wood, nothing near the bark layer. I usually cut my oak slabs so they're about 6 square inches on each side (2x3, 1.5x4, 1x6, you get the idea) ....I like to leave em a little thick so when I char it with the MAP torch on the outside, the core of the wood doesn't get super hot ...I don't burn 'em so much that the entire outside looks like a burning coal ...just until they're all black, and start on fire at the edges, and then let 'em go out and drop 'em in some clean water. More often than not, I'm aging in quart or half gallon mason jars. Drop the required amount of oak in the container and fill 'er up. Place in a safe place and keep your mitts off. I opened a jar of UJSSM recently that had 2 of the usual sized sticks in there for 2 years, the stuff is heavenly...wouldn't change a thing. It tastes like a good commercial whiskey yet smoother.

I've gotten great results with a small barrel as well. A 5L sized barrel holds approx 1.32 gallons and has a interior area of 350 sq in. That equals 266 sq in / gallon. Thats about 4.5 times the area (per gallon) of the full sized whiskey barrel. So you could expect the whiskey to mature MUCH faster in a small barrel like that. I think the result you get from a small barrel will depend a lot on the quality of the wood in the barrel …. the barrel I used was not an expensive barrel, and it had a light char. The Carolina Bourbon that I used the barrel for was 3 months in the barrel and turned out excellent, but I gotta wonder if it could have stayed in there longer. It never had a woody, splinters taste and turned out with tastes of vanilla, cherry, caramel, and that mellow spicy charred oak taste that we like whiskey for. Keep in mind that the small barrels lose a little more to the angels than the big barrels.

The chart below should give you a good idea of the kinds of flavors and smells that you can coax out of your oak depending on the temp and level of toast/char you have. That 350-400 area looks pretty inviting, eh?
Oak toast chart
Oak toast chart
oaktoast.jpg (8.64 KiB) Viewed 29836 times
I'm not a big fan of huge temperature extremes (freezer in day to counter at night) but I do agree with temperature changes, like the seasons (outdoors). I tend to think the heat of the summer may bring more flavors out of the wood , and the cooler weather in the winter mellows the spirit ...least I'd like the think so. So age your hooch out in the barn/shed , just keep it away from prying eyes, kids, rodents, etc.

In the end, I think the most important things to pay attention to are :
Dilute your spirits to 60-65% abv
Use only White oak.
Toast or char (or both) according to taste,
and go with something in the range of 50-100 sq inches/ gallon .
Leave it as long as you can keep your fingers out of it.
If in doubt, (like with a small barrel) sample every two weeks .
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Mongo60
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Mongo60 »

Just the numbers I was looking for.

For anyone else used to metric, 50-100 sq inches oak area/gallon of spirit is 85-170 sq cms/liter (1 sq inch = 6.4516 sq cm, 1 US gallon = 3.7854 liters).
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Tabucowboy
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Tabucowboy »

Where would you want the toast/char at for a white rum? I was thinking 320-380.
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Charred oak does no favours to any Rum in my opinion.
Keep the char for Whiskies and Bourbons.
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DSmith78
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by DSmith78 »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 11:59 pm Charred oak does no favours to any Rum in my opinion.
Keep the char for Whiskies and Bourbons.
And the white oak, especially for bourbons. French oak for brandies is good.
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bluedog
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by bluedog »

Most people ive talked to, if they are choosing thier entry proof purely for flavor would rather go in around 105-110. It brings out more of the vanillans, and less of the tannins. I think the choice to go in at a higher proof is based more on economics, and getting the most volume out of a single barrel use. I like to age at 100-105 proof.
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Down_Home52 »

Just emptied a 10 liter oak barrel after 2 years with a grain schedule of 78% corn/12% barley/10% rye. Good news is the spirit is to die for. Vanilla, cherry with a caramel finish and a nice oak flavor throughout. Bad news is after 2 years I only got 2 quarts of product after lowering proof to 110. That is a significant loss.
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Bradster68 »

Down_Home52 wrote: Fri Mar 03, 2023 1:24 pm Just emptied a 10 liter oak barrel after 2 years with a grain schedule of 78% corn/12% barley/10% rye. Good news is the spirit is to die for. Vanilla, cherry with a caramel finish and a nice oak flavor throughout. Bad news is after 2 years I only got 2 quarts of product after lowering proof to 110. That is a significant loss.
That's a dam shame. Those will probably be the most cherished 2 quarts ever
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sadie33
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by sadie33 »

I just got two 2L and one 5L toasted and charred oak barrel. Just put my first UJSSM in the 2L, but it wasn't quite full. I should be doing another run of UJSSM this weekend.

Could I top off my barrel with the new UJSSM or does that "mess up" the aging?

In the little barrels it says 2-4 weeks for aging. Then I plan to finish the again in glass once it gets the color and flavor I want.
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Yummyrum »

Down_Home52 wrote: Fri Mar 03, 2023 1:24 pm Just emptied a 10 liter oak barrel after 2 years with a grain schedule of 78% corn/12% barley/10% rye. Good news is the spirit is to die for. Vanilla, cherry with a caramel finish and a nice oak flavor throughout. Bad news is after 2 years I only got 2 quarts of product after lowering proof to 110. That is a significant loss.
Umm yes Sir .

I suspect someone knows how to turn a tap and take a sly sample . You got Teenagers or a sneaky cleaner ?
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rubberduck71
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by rubberduck71 »

Yummyrum wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2023 12:17 am
Down_Home52 wrote: Fri Mar 03, 2023 1:24 pm Just emptied a 10 liter oak barrel after 2 years with a grain schedule of 78% corn/12% barley/10% rye. Good news is the spirit is to die for. Vanilla, cherry with a caramel finish and a nice oak flavor throughout. Bad news is after 2 years I only got 2 quarts of product after lowering proof to 110. That is a significant loss.
Umm yes Sir .

I suspect someone knows how to turn a tap and take a sly sample . You got Teenagers or a sneaky cleaner ?
Yeah, I've had some first hand experience of "accelerated" angel's share through a 3L barrel I gifted a buddy for his 50th. Methinks the teenagers at his house may have been sampling (on another thread on this topic, they got labeled the "devil's share").

I would recommend weighing your barrels every couple weeks to track angel's share & top up with white spirit.
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by still_stirrin »

rubberduck71 wrote: Sat Mar 11, 2023 5:54 am… Yeah, I've had some first hand experience of "accelerated" angel's share through a 3L barrel I gifted a buddy for his 50th. Methinks the teenagers at his house may have been sampling…
—> (on another thread on this topic, they got labeled the "devil's share").
The “devil’s cut” I believe Jim Beam calls it. Probably seen it on your package store shelves.
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Bushman »

Also saw the title few years ago at a vendors booth at the ADI National Conference. Can’t remember if it was devils share or devils cut.
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Re: Oaking 101

Post by Bigvalveturbo »

Down_Home52 wrote: Fri Mar 03, 2023 1:24 pm Just emptied a 10 liter oak barrel after 2 years with a grain schedule of 78% corn/12% barley/10% rye. Good news is the spirit is to die for. Vanilla, cherry with a caramel finish and a nice oak flavor throughout. Bad news is after 2 years I only got 2 quarts of product after lowering proof to 110. That is a significant loss.
I aged 10 gallons of rum 120 proof in 2 five gallon barrels in my basement , so temps didn’t change much, the cabinet they were stored in always smelled of Spirit. After two years. They were complex and wonderful! But the angels cut was close to 50% !! I do run a dehumidifier in my basement 24/7 I wonder how much it drank?

Even so it is worth the loss of volume for the finished product in my opinion. I’ve started again it takes me about a year to make ten gallons to age.. so three years to get five gallons. Or about 2 cases at cask strength, I cut to 100proof and consume
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