bypass fermenting

[Tozlake]

Can the fermenting process be bypassed an just purchase un-aged whiskey and barrel it in a small oak barrel like the ones offered on the internet?
What are some good examples of brands to purchase to make bourbon and rye whiskey?

[zaph1]

No one else has answered, so I'll take a shot.

If you want to buy factory-made unaged whiskey and age it yourself, there is nothing stopping you. You will end up with home-aged, store bought whiskey at probably double the cost of regular store bought whiskey that will still taste like store bought whiskey, because it is. Barrels are expensive, really expensive. Try toasted oak chips instead, much cheaper and easier to work with. Unaged whiskey is considered "top-shelf" for some dumb reason at most liquor stores so you will end up paying a higher price for it than the cheaper whiskeys that are already aged. I'm guessing you'll spend around $100 per gallon to age your own whiskey and it will still taste like store bought whiskey. My last gallon of rye cost about $20 to make and tastes nothing like store bought rye.

Oh, and you probably won't find unaged rye.

[Tozlake]

I hear what you are saying about cost vs flavor.

So if you could recommend the smallest still for use in a house what you recommend?

[Durace11]

You can wood age store bought, it just adds to the cost and it still contains the same cuts as the original. I have a friend who does this because he refuses to own or run a still. He buys Evan William's on sale and adds beer/wine oak cubes/chips to the bottles and does his aging on the shelf. It still has a bad heads bite but that's his little experiment. I'd suggest if this is how you want to roll just go ahead and buy top shelf(expensive) whisky and skip the extra work.

Otherwise, I'd say get a 7.5 gallon milk can/corney keg and use that to distill your own IMO.

[Nylund]

Hey, I actually have a similar question. My father made about a dozen casks of sherry a while back, but he's moving now. He's bottling it all up and giving it away. I've been thinking about grabbing a cask before he gets rid of them and maybe aging some whiskey in one. I'm not really interested in making my own whiskey from scratch (right now). I thought I'd see if I could just buy some white dog and put it in a cask for the next decade. Problem is, I have no idea how to get my hands on that much unaged whiskey at a decent price. Casks are big! No way I'm going to a liquor store and buying up boxes of bottles. Are there distilleries that sell unaged whiskey whole sale to the public?

[redmud]

Why skip the distilling? if your willing to wait for store bought stuff to taste good IMO it could be indefinite. Why not take the time to learn something new? You have all the information you need right here. Build a simple pot still run what you need/ want then dismantle it sell the parts or store it. Besides to get all of the flavors, you would need to barrel or cask it at a higher proof than store bought whiskey.

[jollyroger]

+1 Redmud

[Dnderhead]

some place iv seen that does sale that way but i dont thank it can be released.
it has to be kept in bond until its bottled. also in most states you need a license to have that much on hand.so i thank you buy the barrel of whiskey they keep it and send you a bottle as you order.

[cornsqueezer]

I hear what you are saying about cost vs flavor.

So if you could recommend the smallest still for use in a house what you recommend?

no less than 5 gallon, just big enough to make cuts well. you could get a beer keg and convert it,

there are plenty of post about this if you are interested.