Tanic taste from oak chips

[stevedasleeve]

Made a mistake I think... I have three big mason jars with three different types of oak chips soaking in my hooch - whisky made with equal parts corn and barley malt and some sugar. It’s excellent white.

Tasted after two weeks and all are distinctly tanic.

So do I leave them hoping they will get better on the oak or remove and age off the oak or...? My guess is I’ve spoilt this batch but I am loath to toss it. I suppose I could redistill with some feints..?

Any advice welcome

[v-child]

Dilute to 40% and redistill. Where did you get the chips? I've never had an issue with the JD brand. Have you tried charcoal filtering yet?

[stevedasleeve]

Yeah I though that might be the best option. I have about a gallon of that shite and 2 gallons of feints I’ll run tomorrow. Bit of a bummer but live and learn. The chips were light toasted American oak, dark toasted American oak and medium French oak from my local home brew shop.

I think I just left them in way too long, also I put in quite a bit in each jar, had notes from a previous batch that maybe had the decimal in the wrong place!!

I do have a Smokey whisky still undiluted. I guess I’ll put in 1/2 or less the amount of chips in *small* jars and taste every day. That tannin bite is awful!

Cheers,
Icarus

[8Ball]

My two cents: two weeks of aging won’t get you were you want to be. Put that stuff away for at least a year and THEN see if you screwed up. I’ll bet you a bottle of some of my year old or older that you’ll be glad you did.

[SassyFrass]

My two cents: two weeks of aging won’t get you were you want to be. Put that stuff away for at least a year and THEN see if you screwed up. I’ll bet you a bottle of some of my year old or older that you’ll be glad you did.

[emoji463]

+1
I'm with 8ball on this. 2 months, let alone 2 weeks isnt nearly enough time. Patience is the major factor in aging liquor. Set it back and forget about it. You might be pleasantly surprised.
SF

[Saltbush Bill]

As others have stated 2 weeks isnt even a a start.
Many say that chips are not a good thing for oaking as to much end grain is exposed.
Also remember that a litte oak for a long time is much better than a lot / to much for a short time.

[Demy]

You can always redistill but if you can wait do it, maybe separate the shavings from the distillate and give it some time. I don't know what size those shavings have, maybe they are too thin. I use pieces that I make myself from the seasoned wood.

[stillanoob]

What ABV did you put it on oak? I made the mistake of putting some 40% on oak and it tasted like licking a stick. The same whisky put on oak at 65% tasted great, vanilla and yummy.

If it was at cask strength then I'd say just too many chips and I would redistill. I use 1/2" x 1/2" x 4" sticks and calculated their surface area. Then using the sq. inch per gallon of a barrel put the same ratio into my volume. So far this has worked great, it gets quite a bit of color and flavor in the beginning and then slows down but continues to contribute.

[Yummyrum]

As others have stated 2 weeks isnt even a a start.
Many say that chips are not a good thing for oaking as to much end grain is exposed.
Also remember that a litte oak for a long time is much better than a lot / to much for a short time.

Totally agree .
If you can , redistill it with the feints and use waaaay less oak next time

[NZChris]

All you have to do is nothing and it'll be great in a couple of years.

[stevedasleeve]

OK! Lots of info here. I cut it to 55% then added 100 grams of chips in each (64 oz?) jar. 2 weeks and they’re tannic as hell. So too much oak I’m guessing. I’m on a covid inspired manic hooching binge, 10 gallons of 8-10% a week or so, 2 strip runs and a spirit run yields, well a lot. So sacrificing this batch is not really a big deal.

I have three 1 lb bags of chips in various toast. For say a medium mason jar how much do you think? 20g maybe?

Cheers and happy holidays etc!

[Saltbush Bill]

Wont even try to answer that......ive never used chips or anything with that much end grain.

[Deplorable]

As others have said, push it to the back of the cupboard and forget about it. Keep drinking store bought booze and check it in several months.
You've got to let it age, ore drink it white. There seems to be no middle ground.
I started this craft mid summer, and have several gallons of whiskey aging but nothing mature and ready to drink.
Once this all starts to come around, I'll be fat with good likker. Until then I just keep buying bottles.
Ive got grains for a couple of bourbon mashes that will yeild me another 3 gallons to age. I figure by this time next year, I'll be to a point where I'm only making a few whiskey runs a year and a neutral run from the feints collection to keep me well stocked.
All that to say, don't throw anything out before you give it a proper chance on oak for a good 6 months or longer.
Small amounts of oak and longer time is better than trying to rush it with too much wood in the glass.

[NZChris]

You didn't leave them in too long, you used too much. I leave mine in for years, until the aging jar is finally emptied, having only bottled what I needed along the way.

If my calculations are correct, you used about 4 times the amount of chips I use, so it should be quite dark and astringent at this age. This isn't a problem unless you are in a hurry. I've deliberately over oaked UJSSM to the color of Coke, fast aged it, then left it for a couple of years until the astringency had disappeared. Now I can use it as an oak essence for some 'instant gratification', or entertainment, by adding some to narrow cut new make.

If you want to use it in a hurry, don't redistill it, leave the chips in it, get fermenting and blend it with new make.