Wood in Distilling

[ammo man]

Wood used in Distilling

Gentlemen and Ladies too: I would be extremely careful in using any type wood in distilling even more so than plastic. Many, many woods are toxic and/or contain dangerous chemicals. Even woods treated with pesticides can be harmful. If I were going to use wood as a bung, I would be darn sure I knew what I was using.

Bert

[northcountry]

Guessing that the US Forestry Dept. (Madison WI) would have info for those who are interested.

[Nightforce]

I didn't want my barrel to rot so I used pressure treated lumber...the good stuff...approved for ground contact 0.4 pcf chromated copper arsenate, after all, it's copper right.




Ahem, for those unaware, that is a joke, pressure treated wood is highly toxic and shouldn't NOT be used.


With that said, you should stick with the typical woods associated with distilling and barreling. I'm sure that if over the past thousands of years of distilling, if there was a better wood for using as a barrel, even if quantity of trees available wasn't a factor, we'd know about it. For instance, say Ipe (desert ironwood) was THE BEST product to "oak" your whiskey with, it would be known among this group that there exists a better product than charred and toasted white oak and everyone would be raving about getting some toasted Ipe to oak their product with.

I've got about 12 board feet of the prettiest rosewood you've ever seen, but I doubt it's useful for oaking whiskey; considering that my cousin bought it, put it in his car, and within the half hour drive to his house broke out in hives because of an allergic reaction. My guess is there would be something toxic in the wood that the alcohol would dissolve that wouldn't be nice to drink.

[LWTCS]

I've got about 12 board feet of the prettiest rosewood you've ever seen

Jewelery boxes and finger boards for all the stringed instruments

[still crazy]

heres a handy lil chart stole it off line

http://www.mnwoodturners.com/New_Member ... Chart.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[LWTCS]

heres a handy lil chart stole it off line

http://www.mnwoodturners.com/New_Member ... Chart.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Phuk.
Recon I'm dead fer sher.

Translation:
Fuck, I would reckon I am dead for sure.

To late to turn back the clock I fear.

Thanks for the info.

[ammo man]

Thank you still crazy for posting that link. I wanted to post it or one like it, but failed to locate one using Google. All distillers and any person that works with wood should make a hard copy of it for reference.

Bert

[liz 22 nd]

after i distilled out my rum, i put some oak chips in the jar to mellow it out.. and it turned the rum black after 3 hours? it smells ok, but now i am worried about drinnking it? anyone have this same result.. they were chips i had used on a previous batch, and i dried and reused them...

[LWTCS]

after i distilled out my rum, i put some oak chips in the jar to mellow it out.. and it turned the rum black after 3 hours? it smells ok, but now i am worried about drinnking it? anyone have this same result.. they were chips i had used on a previous batch, and i dried and reused them...

Black says you?? A recycled oak chip?

More info please. What proof? Quantities,etc.

[Dnderhead]

I was just wondering if they did not mold.