side grain vs end grain

[ranger_ric]

C8S,
I read your blog about 4 times just to be extremely thoughtful and honest about it...
on a 6"x1"x1" stick I would have 24 sq in of side grain and 2 inches of end grain.... so I figger that at 12 to 1 the end grain is inconsequential... however if your tests can prove otherwise I could dip my two end grains for every stick into a PLETHORA of hot wax to seal them off and then reap the benefits of the side grain...
What say you... I wish you luck as an entrepreneur....

[chris8sirhc]

but seriously... Did anybody find the blog post helpful or educational at all?

There have been lots of discussions here on end grain. Hell even I chimed in, here's my thoughts (opinion) on end grain. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... n#p7312083

Youll find 100 more if you look.

Yup, that is exactly right. I definitely meant 3/4 of the people, not all. When I ran all of my experiments, I used american white, pear, peach, cherry, apple, red oak, and french oak. Even though white oak is the only one with the pores etc clogged, I got similar end grain vs side grain results for all of the woods.

[Jimbo]

I used american white, pear, peach, cherry, apple, red oak, and french oak. Even though white oak is the only one with the pores etc clogged, I got similar end grain vs side grain results for all of the woods.

Thats great! Post up some results on the other woods, tasting notes and such. Many here are interested in alternate woods. I have an opinion on apple wood, but my sample size was small, so its not a strong opinion, yet.

[chris8sirhc]

C8S,
I read your blog about 4 times just to be extremely thoughtful and honest about it...
on a 6"x1"x1" stick I would have 24 sq in of side grain and 2 inches of end grain.... so I figger that at 12 to 1 the end grain is inconsequential... however if your tests can prove otherwise I could dip my two end grains for every stick into a PLETHORA of hot wax to seal them off and then reap the benefits of the side grain...
What say you... I wish you luck as an entrepreneur....

Over a 7:1 ratio of side grain to end grain the effect becomes VERY hard to detect. That is only comparing a 7:1 ratio to some other ratio like 50:1, not a X:0 ratio, since that's impossible with sticks. I cant say how much benefit 100% side grain would be, but im guessing the flavors imparted by the wax may potentially negatively effect the end result. There is only one way to find out though... In barrels the top and bottom of the long staves are sealed with bees wax (inbetween the barrel head and the staves) to both seal the barrel and seal the grain/capillaries to keep product from leaching out (even though this is already minimized in white oak due to its inherent watertightness). Very little wax actually comes in contact with the product, especially relative to having both ends of a stick dipped in wax. This is all guesswork, the only way to find out would be to run an experiment.

[chris8sirhc]

I used american white, pear, peach, cherry, apple, red oak, and french oak. Even though white oak is the only one with the pores etc clogged, I got similar end grain vs side grain results for all of the woods.

Thats great! Post up some results on the other woods, tasting notes and such. Many here are interested in alternate woods. I have an opinion on apple wood, but my sample size was small, so its not a strong opinion, yet.

99.9% of my experiments were conducted with attempting to "re-age" existing barrel aged commercial spirits, so it wont have that much correlation to what you guys are doing.

They all turned out well, the pear was the most subtle. I personally liked apple, but i only had one variety and im sure there are huge variations between different varieties of apple trees. (red delicious vs granny smith for instance). Some of the flavors seem subtle strait, but when you make a cocktail they really bloom. The most dramatic was mango wood. It turned the alcohol dark purple and added ALOT of sweetness. Peach works excellent on tequila.