toasted oak sticks and color

[blind drunk]

How do you oakers find the color development of your hooch? Does it get that nice deep whiskey color with oak sticks? Is it possible? Thanks, bd.

[kiwistiller]

charred certainly gets it darker... I struggle to get the depth of colour that I want. I can get scotch colour no worries, bourbon is escaping me at present. I'm hoping that aging in steps at 65 /55 / 45 abv will help that.

[Daantje]

I just started experimenting with oaking, but will share some very early results.

The big one is from the 3th of november, the smaller ones from the 11th of november. All are on 2 pieces of oak I cut from a piece of unfinished oak strip. Pieces I put into the likker are 1 cm x 2.5 cm x 3 cm (0.4x 1x1.2 in inch)

EDIT: I toasted them in the oven, making sure the temperature stayed above 360 F for about an hour or so till they turned dark and smokey and I liked the smell coming off very much. The ABV's are 59% for the small ones and 65% for the larger one

[blind drunk]

Those look good Daantje, especially that taller one. How much likker is that? My looks like pee but it's only been three days but I can't see it getting rich and deep. I guess I should char up a couple of pieces; I went for a deep toasting, not quite knowing what I was doing. Thanks gents, bd.

[Daantje]

The bigger one started out as 1.5L, but it being one of my first batches I could not wait and drink some, so now its about 3/4 L. Mine take colour pretty quick, it got this color in about 3 - 4 days I think. It may have gotten a little darker, but not much. Will leave it for a while to see what happens.

I think it is strange that there's a difference in colour between the right one and the two left ones. They are of the same batch of rum, the right is only on oak, the two on the left on the same amount of oak, but with pineapple, vanille, pepper and cinnamon and they seem quite a bit less dark.

[blind drunk]

Mine take colour pretty quick, it got this color in about 3 - 4 days I think.

Yeah that's why I posted; I figured it should be quick to colour. My is holding pretty well the same. Looks pretty in the jug but when I pour some into a shot glass, it's basically clear. So I threw my other sticks into the oven and went a little higher in temp like you did. Seems to be a balance between colour and maybe over oaking to get the desired colour. Live and learn. Cheers, bd.

[kiwistiller]

I think olddog had some good results from using double oak for the first day or so, and then taking out half to bring it back to to normal. maybe he could enlighten you further.

[LWTCS]

Trying to acheive this?


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Bloody hell, that made me thirsty.

[olddog]

I have been playing around with oaking for quite some time, I found that if you leave sufficient charred oak in the spirit long enough to achieve a good colour, the result ended having a over oak flavour.
I did notice that most of the colour appeared within the first 24 hours, but not so much of the oak flavour. I have found the best way to achieve colour and flavour without getting that over oaked taste, is instead of putting 1 or 2 sticks into the spirit at 65ABV, I now put 4 charred sticks into the spirit. You can virtually see the colour change by the hour, after 24 hours pull 2 or even 3 sticks out and leave the remaining sticks to achieve the oak flavour to your liking.
This way you get the colour without the over oak taste, as the oak seems to give up its colour the first 24 hours, the flavour comes later.

[blind drunk]

Yeah thanks guys, I had a hunch that the color should have been coming through quicker.

Olddog, how much likker do you add the four sticks to? I started with just 2 sticks for almost three liters. Does that seem too little? Thank you, bd.

[olddog]

On 4-5 litres , I start with 4 charred sticks, and remove 2 after 24 hours, then leave the other two for about a week.

[HookLine]

My best oaking result so far is with a dozen used sticks (on their 2nd or 3rd run), for 2 months or so.

A mix of 1-2 new sticks and a few used sticks per 5 litres is what I generally use.

[blind drunk]

Thanks Hook, what are the dimensions of your oak sticks? Thank you, bd.

[HookLine]

10-15 mm x 150 mm. French oak from a red wine barrel. Charred with a MAPP torch.