I want to age my spirits with some white oak. I have some unfinished 2 1/2" X 3/4" X 10 " solid white oak hardwood floor planks. My question - Is this wood safe to toast/char for aging? Do the hardwood floor manufactures use some kind of chemical to treat the wood.
Thanks in advance
Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
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- Swill Maker
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Re: Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
No idea, but following!
Re: Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
You need to talk with manufacturer. Read below of hidden risk.
https://www.buildinggreen.com/news-arti ... ood-floors
https://www.buildinggreen.com/news-arti ... ood-floors
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Re: Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
In addition to the risk of hidden preservatives, oak for flooring has likely been kiln dried and will be tannin-rich compared to the oak staves that have been aged outside, with the rainfall washing out some amount of the tannin. You may find that your spirits get very "dry" quite quickly.
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Re: Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
Agree with the advice above, and will add that another issue with that wood may be that it is not all heartwood. If you do use the flooring, only use the heartwood from it. The outer rings of an oak tree are lighter in color and I believe have a lot more tannins in it than heartwood from the center of the log.
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Polishing Spirits with Fruitwood: Fruitwood
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Re: Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
After read that artical, I think I'll just go purchase some white oak from my reputable brewers shop. Thanks again for the input.
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Re: Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
Stateside these are great: https://midwestbarrelco.com/collections ... ood-chunks#
I use them with fantastic success.
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Re: Can I age my spirits with solid white oak hardwood flooring
I have some unfinished white oak hardwood flooring scraps that I'm trying out. So far so good. I'm not sure it matters if it is kiln dried unless you are using thick pieces. The thin strips I cut are probably basically kiln dried after charring. Only thing I've noticed so far is one rum looks kind of pinkish when put in a glass but it's early in the process. The rest seem good for color.