Condensation while aging

[higgins]

So I've been at this for about 18 months now, and I've got 16 batches under my belt (7 AG bourbons, 2 AG Single malts, 1 AG malt whiskey, 1 AG Irish, 2 rums, 2 brandies, and an SSS for making Gin - Thanks Shady & Odin). I don't post much, but I read the active topics every day. Much thanks to all of you for all that I've learned here to help improve my product and process.

I recently re-purposed a 48" h x 48" w x 18" d (120 x 120 x 45 cm) insulated chamber that I had built to control fermentation temperatures for brewing beer (for over 25 years). I now use it as an aging chamber to simulate temp fluctuations while aging. I added wire shelving inside the box and added a 100 watt floodlight in a ceramic fixture. I can get it up to about 104F (40C), then shut it off and it cools down to around 62F (17C). It takes about 4 days to do 1 cycle. I use 1 gallon (3.8 L) pickle jars with PTFE sheet lining the lid, 1 gallon swing top jars with glass tops and PTFE gaskets, and 1 gallon juice jugs with cork stoppers, using 1 toasted/charred stick (2x2x14 cm) per quart (0.95 liter).

After each cycle I open each jar, swirling the contents enough to let it air out and get some exposure to oxygen. On the pickle jars and the swing top jars there is a fair amount of condensation on the inside of the lid. I've tasted this and it is quite bitter, so I wipe the inside of the lids with paper towels before closing them back up. This leads to a few questions:

1. Is this condensation likely to be the higher volatiles?
2. By removing this condensation every 4 days or so am I helping or hurting my product?
3. Is there any detrimental effect on the product from exposure to light (Should I maybe paint my floodlight with HiTemp black paint)?

Of course, the jugs with the cork stoppers only have condensation on the inner shoulders of the jug and I can't wipe this off. If I do see some significant improvement I may need to cycle the jugs into jars to benefit from this process.

I've only been doing this aging process for about 3 weeks now, so don't expect any big changes right away. But I'm thinking a year from now these will be greatly improved.

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Rrmuf]

Search on "condensation" but this is just condensation of vapours on the inside of the bottle I bet. Is it cold at all?

[still_stirrin]

1. Is this condensation likely to be the higher volatiles? <— I’d suspect it’s “lower volatiles”. The vapor above the liquid in the jar is a mix of the constituents, but what condenses first would be the components with a higher boiling point/partial pressure. It is water and oils, most likely, not ethanol.
2. By removing this condensation every 4 days or so am I helping or hurting my product? <— It probably helps a little. But is it worth the effort?
3. Is there any detrimental effect on the product from exposure to light (Should I maybe paint my floodlight with HiTemp black paint)? <— I don’t know if there is much advantage to the exposure to the light, as it can create some oxidization. But is it disadvantageous? I wouldn’t say that either because naturally the oxidation process occurs within a wooden cask over time anyway and that helps “mature” the spirit. I certainly would not recommend to paint the floodlight as that would cause the bulb to overheat and could cause a fire.

It amazes me how so many hobbiests are impatient and go to such lengths to circumvent the aging process. Time on wood is goodness and letting it mature naturally is very rewarding. I guess that Discovery channel show has a lot of newcomers wanting to expedite their “goldmine” and get rich quick.
ss

[Twisted Brick]

Ultraviolet light from the sun is thought to react with organic compounds in whiskey, causing them to break down and resulting in unpleasant aromas and flavors (rubbery or chemical in nature). Hence, the Scotch Whisky Association recommends storing bottles out of direct sunlight, particularly if they’re clear glass.

Your floodlight is not likely to have the color temperature of sunlight (much less within the UV spectrum) so you're probably safe. But since you're just using it for heat, I would shield the light from your bottles or cloak your bottles with a light-blocking material.

FWIW, the natural maturation of the spirits is complex and takes time. The thermal cycling benefits you're trying to produce actually work by osmotic pressure, inducing the spirit and reciprocal oxygen to move through the walls of a wood cask, and you won't get that with glass.

[higgins]

Thanks for your insights, SS & TB. I guess the bitterness I detected would have come more from tails, so would be "lower volatiles". I also feel like removing it will help the product in the long run, and as for effort - it might take 5 minutes twice a week.

My aging environment varies from 55F in the cold of winter to maybe 72F in the heat of summer, and rarely swings more than a few degrees on any given day. I saw this as an opportunity to keep my product out of view and possibly provide environmental conditions more similar to those in a Kentucky warehouse.

SS, I agree with your comment about new hobbyists impatience, but don't be too quick to jump to conclusions. No where did I say that I was trying to accelerate the aging process, and I've never watched that show. 4 of my batches already have a year+ on oak and they are good and getting better. I have yet to dip into them for other than to sample their progress ... I think that exhibits some degree of patience.

TB, I know it takes time and I'm not shooting for quicker aging, but possible achieve more complexity during that aging time. Even though the osmotic process doesn't occur in glass, wouldn't the temperature cycling cause the wood pores to open/close at least to some degree, allowing just a bit more interaction with the spirit? I am seeing swings from 62F to 104F, so that isn't insignificant, but it is also not outside the natural range of temps inside a rickhouse.

I've seen it recommended here several times to open jars occasionally to let them air out. I think the premise is that it somewhat mimics the 'air' exchange that occurs in a barrel. Since the lid is already off the jar, wiping the inside of it is a negligible effort, as is flipping a light switch every other day. I am going to continue to do this, but I will go to the effort of shielding the bulb, or maybe replace it with a reptile heater bulb. And if I'm going to be gone for a while, I'll turn it off.

[NormandieStill]

As I understand the workings of the only successful accelerated "ageing" device, the key is not temperature swings (unless your oak has air on one side and spirit on the other where they may help to draw spirit into the wood, the minor changes in pore size wont have any real effect), but temperature. You're looking for chemical reactions to occur between compounds in your spirit and compounds in the wood. Every time you heat it up, you'll accelerate those reactions, and as it cools, they'll slow down again. Since they are not reactions being assisted by enzymes, there's (within reason) no optimum temperature, just optimum conditions. Scotch whisky takes longer to "mature" than Kentucky Bourbon. How much of this is down to the cuts I couldn't say, but the average temperature in a barrel warehouse in Scotland is likely a good few degrees (of either kind) lower than a similar warehouse in Kentucky.

All of which is to say... maybe just leave the light on! But while I've been at this for a year, the oldest product on oak that I have is 6 months old so this could all be a big old pile of (slightly chilly) horse manure!

[NZChris]

As long as did did a good job of choosing your heart cut, wiping the condensate out might be removing flavors that you want in your product. The flavor profile is a combination of many volatile organic compounds, many of which would taste nasty if you isolated them and tasted them on their own.

As others have noted, a glass demijohn is not a barrel, so temperature and pressure swings do not create the same effects. Rum ages faster in the tropics that whisky does in Scotland, so much of my rum is aging in demijohns in an old fridge with a 15W element, (no light), and a controller to maintain a minimum temperature.