Oak and UJSM, hearts taking color slower?

[Antler24]

Last week I took 6 quarts of my latest ujsm and added a 3/4"x3/4"x4" charred White oak stick to each quart of 62%. Also added same size stick to a quart of hearts (62%) from the same run. After 7 days the 6quarts have coloured up pretty well, but the heart jar has little to no color change. All the jars were kept together, no temp difference. Also, none of the oak sticks have sunk yet.

Anyone else notice this with a straight heart jar on oak before? Do you guys think it will pick up flavour and age slower as well? It's no big deal and color is not as important as taste to me just curious everyone's thoughts.

[still_stirrin]

One week? It'll take a lot longer than that. You gotta' wait for it. Check back in after 2 months.

But the heat/cool cycles will help draw the liquor into the wood. Try it.
ss

[Antler24]

One week? It'll take a lot longer than that. You gotta' wait for it. Check back in after 2 months.

But the heat/cool cycles will help draw the liquor into the wood. Try it.
ss

Oh I know it's going to take a while I'm hoping to leave it for 6 months. I've never aged a straight jar of hearts before, was curious if anyone else noticed a slower reaction than their blended run.

[ranger_ric]

Well I would love to be able to add something to this discussion but the problem is (and most of you wont be surprised) that anytime I pulled off a jar of hearts from a stripping run it went into the drinking pile... Everything else went to the stripping run.
So that little pint of my stripping hearts dont last too long.. make of it what you will..

Carry On
RR

[rager]

ive had some wierd stuff happen with oaking . sometimes the color will form at the bottom or at the top . ive had some jars where some stick sank before other and some never did at all .


all the sticks were from the same log. toasted and chared . but i bet differences in the density of the wood would have an impact. try weighing each stick.

[still_stirrin]

When I put liquor on wood (in glass), I try to shake it at least every other day. And open the jar for a minute to let the volatile vapors exhaust.

I put the jars in the furnace room so they get warmed up to 90*F, or more. I will leave them in the warm environment for a couple of weeks and then bring out into a cooler temperature environment for a couple of weeks before cycling back into the hot room. By doung this, I'm trying to hasten the temperature cycling that oak casks would experience if stored in a barrel house. It does seem to help age the whiskey quicker (6 months, or so).

But I don't see stratification of colors because of the shaking. And the jars pick up color in a week or two, with the full color developing as the whiskey matures....the longer, the better.

And I don't see any difference in color intensity or uptake comparing hearts or blended hearts and tails. The color uptake is equal (in my eyes). But remember, I shake my jars regularly.

YMMV
ss

[Antler24]

When I put liquor on wood (in glass), I try to shake it at least every other day. And open the jar for a minute to let the volatile vapors exhaust.

I put the jars in the furnace room so they get warmed up to 90*F, or more. I will leave them in the warm environment for a couple of weeks and then bring out into a cooler temperature environment for a couple of weeks before cycling back into the hot room. By doung this, I'm trying to hasten the temperature cycling that oak casks would experience if stored in a barrel house. It does seem to help age the whiskey quicker (6 months, or so).

But I don't see stratification of colors because of the shaking. And the jars pick up color in a week or two, with the full color developing as the whiskey matures....the longer, the better.

And I don't see any difference in color intensity or uptake comparing hearts or blended hearts and tails. The color uptake is equal (in my eyes). But remember, I shake my jars regularly.

YMMV
ss

I haven't shaken any of the jars in my stockpile. It's been 2 weeks since I put this on oak. The blended stuff is taking color nicely and some of the sticks have sunk. The heart jar, has barely changed color just a Very slight yellowish tint to it at this point. I'm not worried about it, just curious if others have seen the same thing.

[Johnny6]

I also observed a difference in the color of my hearts. I recently did my cuts on my cornflakes sugar-head. I had divided up my aging stock into four jars. The tightest hearts cut was jar #1. I charred sticks and placed them in all four of the jars. After a day or two, I could see that jar #1 was significantly lighter in color than the other three. This is the first time I've noticed that. I certainly can't discount a difference in the sticks; char or maybe slightly different wood grain, etc. The sticks are all from the same board. I didn't think much of it, but your post caught my eye. Now it has been a few weeks, and the coloring between the jars seems to have evened out. I have been shaking them, and airing them periodically.

[Antler24]

Just checked up on the aging stock again. The 5 blended jars are all taking colour and flavour nicely, I'm hoping to leave them for 6 months. The heart jar though, still has barely taken any colour and the stick hasn't started to sink at all. The sticks in the blended jars sunk about 3 weeks ago. Interesting.

[Antler24]

Another update!
It's been almost 5 months since I put this 6 quarts up, and somehow I've managed to keep my paws off all of it!. Checked it all this weekend. The 6 quarts of blended hearts have all coloured up nicely, and have a nice oak flavour.
The "heart jar" (not blended, straight jar from the run) has taken on a similar flavour as the other 6 quarts, but has taken almost no colour from the oak. All jars have the same size oak stick, from the same log, kept at same temps, for the same amount of time. All sticks toasted and charred in the same batch.

Can anyone make a guess to why the heart jar isn't taking color like the rest? I'll try to post some pics this weekend

[corene1]

Just sitting here thinking about this and was thinking that perhaps the oak in the hearts jar has a much tighter grain to it since It is all cut from the same log and processed the same wood density would be my guess. Here is a thought, since the flavor is good in all the jars pull a stick from the well colored jar and switch it with the hearts jar. If the hearts jar starts to color up you will know if it is the wood or not.

[Antler24]

Just sitting here thinking about this and was thinking that perhaps the oak in the hearts jar has a much tighter grain to it since It is all cut from the same log and processed the same wood density would be my guess. Here is a thought, since the flavor is good in all the jars pull a stick from the well colored jar and switch it with the hearts jar. If the hearts jar starts to color up you will know if it is the wood or not.

Thanks corner I'll try that and let you guys know what happens.

[skow69]

+1. The errant stick is denser than the others. Consequently the liquor can't soak into it. That is why it won't sink and why the liquor can't extract anything from it. Remember when you perform your test that the good stick is now partially depleted so it won't be as effective as it was the first time around.

[HDNB]

photos?

i think Corene and Skow have it figured.

[rager]

so i just wieghed the last three oak sticks i toasted (no char) at 380 for 2 hours on a pretty accurate jewlery scale. these are 3/4x3/4 x5 inches

1. 260g
2. 357 g
3. 360g

i also grabbed 5 more random skicks from the bag with the same diemension

1. 427g
2. 297g
3. 299g
4. 360g
5. 338g

all 8 of these stick came from the same log. there is defininate diferences in the grain of the wood visually . im really thinking that the density plays a big part and where exactly it came from in the tree.

since we are on small scale and use about 1 stick per quart there, thats what we have. now in barrels, there are many staves , an since the barrel is composed of many staves i bet the likker has a better chance or "rounding out" the flavors/ colors of the different cuts of wood. and possibly from different trees as well.

im going to go toast those 5 sticks and report back with the final wiegh in.

cheers

[Antler24]

photos?

i think Corene and Skow have it figured.

Sorry forgot to take pics, I'll see if I can figure out the photobucket thing tonight

[skow69]

Don't do photobucket. Use the "Upload attachment" tab at the bottom of the page where you type your post. It is no harder for you and much easier for the reader. You will have to resize your photos so that no dimension is more than 600 pixels. There are many free programs to do that. I use Irfanview. If you need help, just ask.

[Antler24]

Don't do photobucket. Use the "Upload attachment" tab at the bottom of the page where you type your post. It is no harder for you and much easier for the reader. You will have to resize your photos so that no dimension is more than 600 pixels. There are many free programs to do that. I use Irfanview. If you need help, just ask.

I took the pic and tried to upload it but it says it's of the 500kb limit. Our laptop is down so I'm stuck to an iPhone for now.

[skow69]

I don't have an iphone myself, but a friend tells me there is an app called image-size that makes it easy.

More suggestions will arrive shortly from people with personal experience.