How to age real high proof with oak.

[Cornbread]

Everybody on here says to age around 60-65%abv. I am, I guess, one of the few that likes my likker to remove tongue hair. What do I do different when aging, say my 79% abv? I truly understand where most of you are coming from. You want that smooth flavored sipping drink. I just want that smooth tasting gulping drink. Do I treat my oak any different? Thanks in advance.

[rad14701]

I don't think "79% abv" and "smooth tasting gulping drink" go well together in the same thought process... You won't be gulping too much 160 proof regardless of aging and flavoring... It's still gonna be 160 proof...

[Hawke]

The higher the proof, the more bitter oils will be pulled out of the wood.

[Cornbread]

Thanks so much.........

[Cornbread]

I don't think "79% abv" and "smooth tasting gulping drink" go well together in the same thought process... You won't be gulping too much 160 proof regardless of aging and flavoring... It's still gonna be 160 proof...

Good Answer........I do kinda sip it.........but I can't sit still when I do it. It feels like delicious spititual fire going down my gullet...all the way to both big toes at once.....circles them twice & then proceeds back up to my nutsack where it circles 3 times.............then up 'til it hits my voice box, where a few church hymns are immediately shouted.

[LWTCS]

Maybe use some spent sticks to age your "Real Hot Stuff".

[kiwistiller]

dilute it would be my call. don't see the point in drinking something that strong, and especially not in sipping it, the flavours will be masked by the burn at that sort of proof.

[Cornbread]

I tried diluting once....1/3 water & 2/3 spirits ...it taste like water to me. I will try another type spirit with distilled water. Maybe I just have burned my taste buds up. I know I love drinking Texas Pete hot sauce straight from the bottle. It's about my favorite thing. At night, I put horseradish on soda crackers on a paper plate and eat while I am propped up in bed reading. I bet my taste buds are destroyed. Thanks to everyone.

[LWTCS]

Can you distinguish Salty, sweet or say a lemon pucker from each other?

I know I love drinking Texas Pete hot sauce straight from the bottle.

What, like soda pop?

[Cornbread]

yes

[kiwistiller]

what, how much at a time?

[goose eye]

ole boys pa toward the end loss his taste seein an smell. he was set in his ways an wouldnt use a tester an some brandy would be in the 150s some in the 80s an everythang inbetween dependin on hot. its hell getin old but not nary one ever complained . when he passed he was truely missed by thems that noed.
ole boys seen 160 brandy more or less smooth but it aint usual mostly it like drinkin liquid barbed wire.
once it hits your tongue taste is gone for a spell.
they also seen 100 proof hoter than the gates of hell. you like hot get it up in the hi teens then
turn the wick up.

so im tole

[Cornbread]

They sure made my day goose eye. Liquid barbed wire.........yup.............that's about right. My Pa use to refuse to add water because he said that is what fish tee-teed in.

[Saccie]

From what I hear most well known aged spirits are aged at very high proof then watered down after aging.

[goose eye]

saccie is they aged in barels.

[Dnderhead]

bourbon--55% ,,,malt whisky-63%--68%,,,,grain whisky-68-74%,,,Canadian--57%,,,tequila-56%,,,rum--78%
ill write part of what it says-- optimum being 55%, higher proof will age faster but will extract more tannin making
a harsher product.as barrel is used more higher proof can be aged. aging higher proofs tend to loose alcohol.
lower proof tends to riseABV. also the storage makes a difference, high humidity tends to increase abv and low
tends to lower it.higher temperature tends to age faster.

got alot more, but ant going to translate a couple hundred pages.

[Cornbread]

That is so interesting. Thanks for the information.

[kiwistiller]

got alot more, but ant going to translate a couple hundred pages.

Dnder, what is it you are translating / reading from there?

[diesel4ever]

Well though it may sound cool and tough to drink jet fuel, it is extremely damaging to cells. Most cells in your body can survive (for at least a short while) exposed to 40% but that survival time greatly decreases as the % goes up. 70% kills cells almost instantaneously which is why rubbing alcohol is only 70%. The moment you drink high % alcohol it starts to kill cells. Lips, tongue, larnyx, stomach lining and eventually blood cells. This damage over time creates scar tissue that can dull senses and kinda toughens the path to the digestive system kinda like walking barefooted all the time toughens the bottom of your feet.

As for aging your squeezins, why bother you probably wont taste it anyways.

[goose eye]

diesel round here they got rubin alcohol higher than 70. if your bacca got moldy you could mist it
with rubin alcohol to kill it an then not tell it ever was

so im tole

[Cornbread]

goose eye, I heard them tell of using bleach on moldy tobacco....I remember as a youngun when we got bronchitis, granny would pour kerosene over a spoonful of sugar for us so I guess it's no wonder that my taste buds are probably gone. They tell me now that that was poisonous.

[LWTCS]

Ya know that wasn't kerosene right ?

[Dnderhead]

I used to git some good stuff like vinegar and turpentine . It whould fix you right up,, you whould not complain agin.

[blanikdog]

I must be learning. I've actually made some of that liquid barbed wire myself.

blanik

[rad14701]

I must be learning. I've actually made some of that liquid barbed wire myself.

[Cornbread]

Ya know that wasn't kerosene right ?

Yes it was...I'm positive

[trthskr4]

Me too Blanik.

I usually start aging mine at 65% for a week or so, then lower abv to 55 for the rest of the process.

[goinbroke2]

Hmmm, I cut to 40% then bottle and add the toasted oak. Maybe I should try aging at 68% in the carboy first? I can store away a bunch of bottles, but a carboy? Don't want to bottle above 40% and then remove and dilute then rebottle either.

[Fester]

well i did a experiment and it was interesting. i drawed off some bottles from the barrel of 1.5 year old 65% because i was running low. cut it all down to my sipping strength, 45%. One bottle i left the cork off for one day and a night. no change in ABV that was noticable by alcoholmeter but it was so smooth the very next day. Not like the other bottles. The others had a sharp and bitter bite but the one that was aired out for one day was so smooth it slid down like water. all the flavor and just a touch of burn but smooth and mellow. I'm gonna start doing this. its as simple as leaving the cork off for a day and a night. nothing more.

[trthskr4]

Fester, What size barrels are you using.

One thing I've wondered, since I only have 5L barrels, is everyone thinks about the surface area inside the barrel according to size. What few think about is the surface area exposed to atmosphere outside the barrel. There is an exchange somewhere in between and through the cracks. More surface area outside means more exchange, more staves means more cracks.

Atmospheric exposure is a desirable thing to a point on spirits.