Flavoring: Toasted / Charred

[MuleKicker]

I got a few bottles of UJSSM sitting on oak right now. Each one a little different, as this is my first real experiment with aging. 1 sitting on charred a couple sticks charred, 1 a couple sticks toasted, and a few with various combinations, more and less. The toasted bottle deffinately has less color compared to the charred bottle of the same like. The charred bottle has a little bit of a burnt wood taste, and the toasted, not much taste. I heard somewhere that boiling the aging wood foe 3 min. before aging will remove tannins. So I tried that with some of it too. The boiling water I poured out was deffinately dark amber in color, so i took something from the wood. Good or bad, I dont know yet. My question is: will the charred bottle loose the burnt wood flavor, or did I do something wrong? And I cant keep well enough away, so I dont think I will let any of it alone enough to over oak, but how much oak do you guys use per volume as a rule of thumb?

[LWTCS]

Did you rinse off your chared peices?

Can't remember where I read this but it's what I do.

Boil for ( as I recall) 3 to 5 minutes or so. Then wrap in tin foil and bake on 350 for 20-30 minutes.

Keep my sticks in the fridge and ready to be alligator chared.
I char everything. But I do reuse spent sticks on the,,,,,,,,,,,you guessed it......... lighter rum.

My sticks are 3/8 x 3/8 x 6"

I use about 1 stick per liter (plus or minus)

And I can hardly keep well enough away either.

[MuleKicker]

So you boil before you char/toast? I did it after. I rinsed the charred pieces, but did not boil them as I did the toasted. Wondering if I should have. It isnt a strong smell, but its there. It may just go away if I would just leave well enough alone.

[LWTCS]

I boil mine first (after it's been cut) as a kind of sanitizing sorta kinda operation.

Rinse it after the char to get rid of the smokey nose.

[Tater]

I cut my oak piece of firewood into 11/2 in or so widths and 12 in long or so. Done it few different ways but best tasting brew I think was from charring the oak to alligator char on opposite laying side by side so sides just got tanned on charcoal fanned to get really hot.Next was same way with wood and using ox ac touch for heat.took 2 per gallon so used 14 on a 7 gallon keg of bourbon. Aged for tad over a year.Saved them and use in rum. Likker had the dark reddish color of a good bourbon(if there is such a thing)Grains aint my favorite But was very well received by friends. .Have 1 alligator charred piece of oak on all side in a 2 1/2 gallon jug of rum Thats set almost 2 years now just corked with paper towel to breathe .Lite gold color Just took a taste and Its really smooth with the oaken bourbon hint of flavor and the clean molasses taste of white rum.At 100 proof ya can drink it like water almost Edit to add --I didn't wash mine just dropped into likker as soon as was cool enough to handle

[WalkingWolf]

MK - don't know if you've seen this diagram yet. Out on the parent site under the flavoring tab/using wood tab/charcoal and wood tab -- if you scroll down a bit there is a diagram that breaks down what flavors are being brought out at what temps.

Aint really solving no problem you having now just thought I throw in some random "un-related" thought that errantly ran through my mind.

[Tater]

W W thats also posted here somewhere.

[MuleKicker]

dammit! Just wrote a long response and lost it in the damn internet somewhere when I submitted it. Anyways. I hope I didnt ruin those 2 bottles with the smoke flavor/smell. Its just enough that it lingers in yer mouth and pisses you off. Maybe it will get better. Hey tater, how do you leave that stuff alone fer a year. you got some dicipline man!

[Tater]

I take drinking in spells. Other then tasting as I make it .But when the moods on me It don't last long.

[Grumpy]

just started oaking a week ago myself and done pretty much the same using different levels

1 sample on just plain oak - this stuff is fiery dam hot when it hits the back of your throat and stays that way all the way down , taste is not impressive. light in colour
1 on toasted - not a bad drop but seams to be lacking in flavour , better colour
1 charred to hell and back - outstanding at a week and very drinkable , colour is heavy dark and calls me to drink it , dont realy notice much of a smokey taste.

so for my taste straight away tell me charred is the way to go, next step will be to play with more than one type of wood for x amount of time . . say take sample 1 now that taste like shite and put in on
toasted and or charred for a certain amount of time

my charring method - wood chips from local home brew shop placed in al foil (aluminium ) in a single layer , put on the weber and fire it up with just the local news paper til the wood is dam black
on all sides.

cant recall what the recommended ussage was on the package but i cut it in half - didnt boil before or rinse after .