Oak aging a peach brandy

Winston Smith · Post by **Winston Smith** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:26 am

I am a newbie to distilling and this forum. I made 2 batches of peach brandy last year, and the reaction to them both was that they were a little too much like moonshine. I was hoping to use oak chips to mellow this year's batch a little. Plain oak, or toasted? How much oak for a gallon batch? How long should I age on the oak?

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:23 am

Toasted chips or pieces of white oak. I use about what I can put in the palm of my hand per gallon, leave it in the distillate for 2 months of so.

How many times did you distill your peach? If you did it twice and it's still moonshiney...I would say you not being generous enough with your cuts.

Winston Smith · Post by **Winston Smith** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:29 am

I use a pot still. I started with 5 gallons of peach wine (25 lbs. peaches, 10 lbs sugar), tossed the first 150 ml, and collected 8 cuts of about 600 ml each. Tasted each cut, mixed the ones that tasted OK, diluted to 50% ABV. I tried diluting a small amount to typical brandy strength, 40%, but it was weak, i.e., the peach flavor was too faint.

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 11:30 am

Plain oak will add a flavor component much like, well, plain oak... Toasting brings out a lot of character and new flavors. Read the part of homedistiller.org about flavoring and oak... It goes into a good bit of detail about flavors that might show up at different levels of toast... Shooting for a toast level that emphasizes vanilla might be good??

I prefer toasted much more than plain. I actually like to char the outside and leave a good solid 'core' of wood when I make chips for flavoring. In my mind this is the closest to how a barrel is charred. Also, the species of oak is pretty important in getting the flavor you want. American white oak like american whiskey barrels are made from is hands down my favorite. There are chopped up Jack Daniels barrels available as 'smoking chips' in a lot of places. (I bought some at Academy) While Jack is not the best whiskey, the wood adds a nice flavor. I've never tried applewood, but hear its good too.

Post by **Tater** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:34 pm

Charr peaches themselfs 3 to 4 medium size ones per gallon.Age to desired color and taste .Filter and enjoy.My grandfather use to make his personal peach brandy stash this way.

possum · Post by **possum** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:20 am

Winston...don't use untoasted or uncharred oak. It adds a glue-like product called lignin to the spirit. Toasting or charring gets it out and changes the flavor profile.

nanosleep · Post by **nanosleep** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:05 pm

I cracked open a bottle of peach brandy I made in 2003. I had put it on the shelf because it was a bit harsh. It now tastes very good. I'm surprised at how much the flavor has improved. It's in a glass bottle so it shouldn't be "breathing" as you would have in a barrel. Do the bad tasting compounds spontaneously break down? I think it'll improve more with age, but I also think this bottle isn't going to live that long

Post by **theholymackerel** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:00 am

Possum, it's fine to age on virgin oak. I do it regulary, the industry does it regularly, and it tastes fine.

Nanosleep, agin' happens with time... temp fluccuations, wood, etc isn't needed. Enough patience and time will age any booze.

possum · Post by **possum** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:40 am

Of course we all enjoy different things THM.
I did not enjoy my untoasted spirits, but I loved the same batch aged with char and toast.