CHERRY AGEING HELP

[Halfbaked]

BB with 1500 posts and a year longer here than myself, I am sure that you know more than I do. After 24 hours on the cherry I have good color and she it working. The cherry sticks are larger than I usually would have used they are 1 1/8 square x 5 inches. More color than I expected with the time on the sticks. Pretty redish brown color. I get some pics soon.

[Truckinbutch]

I've been having different results . Hand split some cherry hearts out of dried firewood splits . Cut to length and charred without toasting . 2 each in quart jars of 60% sweet feed (3 quarts) clear and nuked 4 minutes each 3 times over 48 hours . Son in law is my main quality control man . His opinion is that it has a distinctive flavor . Didn't take on much color and lacks the swetness that the same batch had on toasted and charred oak . I'm going to pull the cherry and renuke with 1 stick of toasted white oak for the same time period and see what we get . Nothing ventured , nothing gained .

[Halfbaked]

CHERRY (450x800).jpg

This is the 100% barley. Lots more color than I expected. NOT even close on what I expected on color. Tons more than I expected. I am not sure why but the 80%rye 20% barley doesn't have any 1/3 the color as the barley. It has color, about what I expected of both. Both have the same abv (62%).

[Halfbaked]

August 24 I dropped 1 stick per quart. As of today when I checked I have some real weird questions and statements. I have never done a side by side oak test. My experience was only with one thing at a time and had a hard time keeping my hands off it and most didn't make it 3 months on oak. Within 3 weeks the single malt barley is almost as dark in color as any commercial likkker I have ever seen. It is 120 proof so I know it will lighten up when I dilute. The 80% rye at 120 proof is not as dark as the barley but very dark. I decided to do the same with 1/2 gal of corn sugar likker and dropped the same sticks in week later. It has a little color but very little. It is 80proof and same char on cherry. The difference is night and day. If anyone is interested I will post side by side by side later today.

My questions are
1st is do you think that the 120 proof or the all grain or the amt of malt is the reason for the huge differences in color?
2nd is there a possibility of over cherrying really quickly?

[Truckinbutch]

Don't have any answers for ya . Would be very interested in color comparisons . i have a deal goin that I don't know where it is gonna end up . Nuked 3 quarts of 60% sweet feed 3 times with 1 charred and 1 raw cherry . Didn't get a lot of color or flavor transfer so I pulled the cherry and put in 1 toasted oak . Nuked 2 cycles in 2 days and then got busy and forgot about it for a week Gonna check it tomorrow and try to judge .
Be ready to do some more stillin in a month or so . If I ruined it I can run it through again then .

[Halfbaked]

80 proof corn and sugar cherry dropped 8-26 on left
120 proof 80% rye and 20 barely malt dropped cherry 8-24 in the middle
120 proof 100% malted barley dropped cherry 8-24 on the right

When I chared the cherry after I dropped it in I thought all night I did not put enough char on it. I would say it was a medium char and I wanted to be med to heavy. I chared 10 sticks of cherry at the same time

[Halfbaked]

3 fingers of Rye with 3 cubes of ice is on the left and 3 fingers of barley with 3 cubes of ice is on the right. looking pretty close. The smell is better and the taste is better but still has a bit of bite at 125 proof. I think I am going to leave it at that proof. Damn it I hope there is some left when Christmas gets here.

[ga flatwoods]

Halfbaked those look good! Is one for me? Either will be great! The cherry I added to my bourbon gave excellent color and good flavor characteristics that I am very well pleased with. The bourbon is at 120 proof and I too may leave it that way.
GA Flatwoods

[Halfbaked]

Flat I had one with ur name on it. You were to late getting here and i didn't want to waste it so I helped myself with it. I can't remember which one I had for u but I can tell you it needed a little more ageing. The youngin kicked my A$$.

[Fidget]

Interesting reading here! So more like 45 minutes bakes in foil, rather that hours.....for cherry?.

[bellybuster]

personal preference really, I don't bake mine at all. Bets way is to try several different methods and compare.
Key is time on wood. Anything less than 6 months is waaaaay too soon.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Interesting reading here!

Indeed! Thanks for bumping this up Fidget, inspiring experimenting goin on there. You rock Halfbaked! I'm going shopping for some hardwoods this weekend...

[rager]

Anything less than 6 months is waaaaay too soon.

gotta be the hardest part of this hobby.

[firewater69]

You got that right Rager, i have used cherry & red oak with good results. Ya gotta be careful how much red oak you use as mentioned above. i really like applewood too!

[ga flatwoods]

Only need go as far as wally world. Get a bag of Cowboy Cherry chips and throw in as much as you would jd chips per quart. Char some up if you want or dont. Throw in some jd chips, or not. Flaked vs. Stick same as oak.
Ga Flatwoods.

[Fidget]

I delved into it last night, but decided to combine cherry research with the nuke research....second blast done is morning and it sure looks good.

I cut using just two diagonal saw incisions, a 1.5" 4 sided polygon out the side of a 2x2x12 length of cherry heart wood.

I baked hidden in foil for 30 mins @180c then quenched it in brandy for 10 mins, then rebaked in foil another 20 mins at 200c, after that, toasted most of the outside with a blue flame torch before finally quenching in water, cleaning it up and dropping into my first ever cut of Jimbo AG (incidentally brewed from German Vienna and Munich malts! )

The taste in between nukes was an improvement, but I fear I may have cut in too much wet dog in the first place, so here's hoping chared and toasted cherry heartwood can smooth that out over time. I think I may do one final nuke on the weekend, then leave it to mature more naturally...

....and in the mean time prepare another ferment so I can eventually do a side by side compare with a better cut batch...and also create a larger toasted chunk, as perhaps this one is too small.

(Will edit in a pic when I figure out how to resize one on this tablet)

[bellybuster]

Time will heal the tailsy. I never really liked what nuking did with cherry. But that long wait sure is brutal

[Fidget]

Time will heal the tailsy. I never really liked what nuking did with cherry. But that long wait sure is brutal

what differences did you note between nuked and un-nuked, out of interest?

I think I'll stow it away for a few months, maybe emulate some seasons by moving from cold cellar to warm room and back every few weeks

[bellybuster]

Nuking gives you a nice drinkable product right away. Aging gives you a wickedly delicious product after 8 months to a year, longer the better. I can't put it into words but the first likker I put away and never touched for many months was a great surprise. There'so a reason folks age with time.
Wish I could cook enough to put more away for longer periods but I keep sneaking sips and the likker level goes down to zero....... Angels share? What about Belly's share?

[Halfbaked]

It is very hard to keep your mitts off it. Maybe after 3 or 4 months take a 1/2 shot a month to tell the aging/cherrying process. I have never nuked so can't help with that.

[Fidget]

It is very hard to keep your mitts off it.

Wish I could cook enough to put more away for longer periods but I keep sneaking sips and the likker level goes down to zero....... Angels share? What about Belly's share?

Yer, I can see this being a problem for the new hobby. It was always a problem with my attempts to "collect" store bought decent whiskeys and rums. The "collection" tends to just consist of the more obscrure spirits from far off lands that tast like crap, and none of the good.

Maybe after 3 or 4 months take a 1/2 shot a month to tell the aging/cherrying process.

Good Idea - and to achieve this I will HAVE to start more batches, so as to take my mind off this one.



Out of interest fellow Cherrying folk - have any of you had good results just charring with a torch, without bothering to bake first? Just curious.



Thanks for all the input and sharing.

[bellybuster]

That's the way I do it, no bake. I char tha crap out of it though. 3/4 X3/4 X4" sticks. I have some glass 1.5 litre jugs and they get 2 sticks each. Probably too much wood but I like the end product.
When I first tried it I baked some and it imparted no flavour or colour, I have no idea why, so I have up on the baking and never tried it again. I've gone through gallons of this stuff (UJ mostly) the couple friends that are aware of my hobby just love it and I do too.
I started this hobby seldom ever having a drink of any spirits, times change.....

[ga flatwoods]

No torch just chips

[Bushman]

I should probably do a different wood separately as an experiment as well. I have been resting my whiskey prior to barreling on a combination of JD Chips and Plumb wood. To prep the Plumb wood rather than use the oven I wrap it in tin foil and to it on the BBQ at a med/hi temp before charring.

[MadKaw]

I just picked up 2 10 lb bags of cherry chunks...looking forward to the results. I have a couple of pint jars with Mexican cinnamon sticks in there, they're looking good.

[Evil_Dark]

Hi guys, any new results with Cherry wood ageing?
I nuke with red canadian oak with fantastic results, with sticks coocked for 2h at different temps for different flavours.
It seems that cherry has a better taste if only charred with torch, anyone has good results with nuke ageing charred cherry?

I'm looking for a blend of 10% charred cherry and 90% white oak for my new batch of UJSSM that I tweaked with corn+oat instead of only corn, tured out awesome right out of the still... Really want to have a nice wood to step up a notch the taste.

[Deplorable]

Hi guys, any new results with Cherry wood ageing?
I nuke with red canadian oak with fantastic results, with sticks coocked for 2h at different temps for different flavours.
It seems that cherry has a better taste if only charred with torch, anyone has good results with nuke ageing charred cherry?

I'm looking for a blend of 10% charred cherry and 90% white oak for my new batch of UJSSM that I tweaked with corn+oat instead of only corn, tured out awesome right out of the still... Really want to have a nice wood to step up a notch the taste.

I've only just begun to play with Cherry wood. Ive got two pint jars with seasoned cherry wood in them. One is raw, one is toasted. both straight corn likker at 60%, one two months old the other a month old. smelling them, they are sweet, floral, cherry. I'm abstaining from taste sampling, at least for a few more months. But I need to figure out something soon since i have a gallon to age on cherry to blend into the 5 gallons I have in a barrel in the end.

[jonnys_spirit]

I ordered a bag of this for the grill and plan to throw a couple chunks of this cherry into some likker to experiment. I'll take a closer look when they arrive but probably take a chisel to the chunks to remove any bark and sap-wood to keep some heart-wood in my oak finger drawer.. I've got some apple out front seasoning too but really looking forward to what the cherry will bring.. Un-toasted/un-charred on white bourbon will probably be my first test.

Cheers!
-j

[jonnys_spirit]

Love the color and flavor! No toast no char. This will be a regular!

Cheers,
J

[Deplorable]

A27F35C1-986F-4B10-A106-77CB1DB9A58D.jpeg

Love the color and flavor! No toast no char. This will be a regular!

Cheers,
J

Edit
Wait, you got that in 6 days? How much wood did you put in there?