I was just reading in whiskey advocate(winter 2018) that West Cork Glengariff has a pleated charred cask series.
Has anyone here ever peated or smoked the oak sticks they use to age their creations???
Instead of peat smoking the grains.
Sounds like a neat experiment.
Smoking the oak sticks?
Moderator: Site Moderator
- kiwi Bruce
- Distiller
- Posts: 2324
- Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:38 pm
- Location: Transplanted Kiwi living in the States
Re: Smoking the oak sticks?
Yes...I have some thrice used, T-Pee cut, bourbon staves, that had stopped giving me any joy in my single malts. I left them in the oven on low overnight to dry them out completely, soaked them in a 50/50 sherry/ bourbon mix, again overnight and smoked them over Canadian peat to dryness. My advise is...if you do this use the smoked oak VERY sparingly...it can over smoke a good whisky PDQ.
Getting hung up all day on smiles
-
- Novice
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:21 pm
Re: Smoking the oak sticks?
What kind of time in the jar are we looking at?
A few days? Maybe weeks?
Thanks.
A few days? Maybe weeks?
Thanks.
- kiwi Bruce
- Distiller
- Posts: 2324
- Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:38 pm
- Location: Transplanted Kiwi living in the States
Re: Smoking the oak sticks?
Check it often...I let "new" bourbon staves live in my single malt until I like the color, could be three or four weeks, but then I start tasting each day or so. With reused staves..."soaked and smoked"...start checking after 24 hours and use these with "new" or once used staves for the best results.
Getting hung up all day on smiles
Re: Smoking the oak sticks?
Since I toasted some pecan Ive wanted to try a smoked pecan. I threw in a wedge this evening when I fired the smoker up & place it by the stack on the rack. With everything going on today I left it in the smoker to pick up a touch more heat/smoke. Ill probably smoke that piece one more time before I send it swimming.
-
- Novice
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:21 pm
Re: Smoking the oak sticks?
ok I finally tried this while smoking some grains...
T-Pee cut, bourbon stave, soaked in woodford reserve bourbon for 2 days then placed in electric smoker on top of grains for 4 hours.
smoked with authentic scottish peat.
tossed the stick in with a liter of scotch for 2 days and did one freezer/thaw cycle.
wow, it was way too much smoke, and not a pleasant smoke, it taste like i chewed on a campfire/ash.
but....
all is not lost... i tried it again after a few months and it has really smoothed out.
smoke has gone away just enough to let the bourbon come through.
I dont know if this is something i would repeat again, but it is getting close.
only got smoke taste into the scotch no peat flavours.
T-Pee cut, bourbon stave, soaked in woodford reserve bourbon for 2 days then placed in electric smoker on top of grains for 4 hours.
smoked with authentic scottish peat.
tossed the stick in with a liter of scotch for 2 days and did one freezer/thaw cycle.
wow, it was way too much smoke, and not a pleasant smoke, it taste like i chewed on a campfire/ash.
but....
all is not lost... i tried it again after a few months and it has really smoothed out.
smoke has gone away just enough to let the bourbon come through.
I dont know if this is something i would repeat again, but it is getting close.
only got smoke taste into the scotch no peat flavours.
- kiwi Bruce
- Distiller
- Posts: 2324
- Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:38 pm
- Location: Transplanted Kiwi living in the States
Re: Smoking the oak sticks?
Did you let the smoked staves sit-out and air before you used them?Greggle2000 wrote:wow, it was way too much smoke, and not a pleasant smoke, it taste like i chewed on a campfire/ash.
Getting hung up all day on smiles
-
- Novice
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2019 3:35 pm
Re: Smoking the oak sticks?
I use any type of oak I can get my hands on.
A quick check on Bing says Pin Oak is in the Red Oak family, and Red Oak is good for smoking.
A quick check on Bing says Pin Oak is in the Red Oak family, and Red Oak is good for smoking.