Aging in jars with rubber seals

[Savabo]

Greetings,

I have a couple of 1,36l jars with swivel top jar with rubber seals (Bormioli Rocco). I want to age whiskey at 60%abv and store it horizontally, so i assume some of the liquid will touch the rubber?

Might this be a problem, any ideas or suggestions concerning this?

These:

[bcook608]

No bueno. Replace it with cork wrapped in PTFE tape.

[Savabo]

No bueno. Replace it with cork wrapped in PTFE tape.

what about adding teflon tape between the rubber and the glass?

[Swedish Pride]

This is the job
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/271991402341?mk ... media=COPY

[jonnys_spirit]

No bueno. Replace it with cork wrapped in PTFE tape.

what about adding teflon tape between the rubber and the glass?

I'd caution against this approach just because of the extended aging time involved that could easily be a year or longer.

Look up everlasting gasket on here. It's a cardboard cutout gasket wrapped in PTFE tape. Might give that a try too as an easy DIY solution.

Cheers,
j

[Deplorable]

This is the job
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/271991402341?mk ... media=COPY

Has anyone tried cutting them out from this material on a desktop laser cutter?

[TwoSheds]

Why store it horizontally? You're not getting contact with anything good and you risk leakage regardless of the material.

I'm not a big believer that the thin layer of PTFE tape around cardboard or whatever will make much difference. Personally, I'd remove the seal to allow for some minimal air exchange and store upright.

Nice jars though, straight sides are a plus!

[NormandieStill]

If you remove the seals altogether you don't get minimal air exchange. You get a lot. Even with a PTFE wrapped rubber seal I still get some air exchange.

If you can get a sheet of cork (saxophones require cork and you might be able to source large enough sheets from an instrument shop if you can accept the waste) you could cut a gasket entirely out of cork. With natural cork I would bother wrapping it with PTFE.

But then again, I'd store those standing upright. On their sides you're just asking for trouble.

Or if you're handy with woodworking tools you could make a replacement lid from oak and seal it with beeswax.

[NZChris]

Why go to the trouble of inventing some Mickey Mouse fix for an unsuitable type of jar, when you can get other jars that you can buy natural cork bungs for?

[Swedish Pride]

This is the job
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/271991402341?mk ... media=COPY

Has anyone tried cutting them out from this material on a desktop laser cutter?

Knife or scissor works

[NormandieStill]

Why go to the trouble of inventing some Mickey Mouse fix for an unsuitable type of jar, when you can get other jars that you can buy natural cork bungs for?

Because not all jars are available in all countries!

For example, I can get swing-top jars like the ones shown above up to 5L capacity. Wide-mouthed so that I can easily get a small ladle for bottling, and can easily add or remove wood (even when swollen). I also have 5L glass demi-johns (carboys?) which take natural corks (when I can find them) but which massively limit the size of wood that can be used and from which, sampling is problematic (it's far easier to just empty them!). The high-capacity demi-johns our American friends use just don't exist (or at least, not at a reasonable price).

Mason jars and their funky lids with inserts aren't really a thing here. You can get them, but not the inserts. Just the "standard" lid.

[Savabo]

Why store it horizontally? You're not getting contact with anything good and you risk leakage regardless of the material.

I'm not a big believer that the thin layer of PTFE tape around cardboard or whatever will make much difference. Personally, I'd remove the seal to allow for some minimal air exchange and store upright.

Nice jars though, straight sides are a plus!

Storing horizontally because i have a sort of bottle holders beneath the bar that these fit perfectly in (they are too large for normal bottles like wine etc) so i thought it would be a nice idea to fill them with aging spirits. I also have cork plugs like these laying around that fit those jars perfectly, would the spirit touching the cork be problem?

[NormandieStill]

Unless You can be certain that the one glue used to bind the cork particles was lignin then you don't want spirits touching them.

Horizontal storage makes sense but getting leak free lids from approved materials is going to be tricky.

[NZChris]

My wood gets sized to fit my demijohns. I doubt that there is any benefit to it being any thicker.

Most of the large necked jars that I had collected over the years have been donated to Charity Shops, where I have bought a variety of demijohns. US gallon, Imperial gallon and 5l all show up from time to time. The ones I have kept are not used for spirits.

I play the long game, refusing to buy new, watching for online sellers, visiting garage sales, never driving past a Charity Shop, visiting the local glass recycling center where the workers often put aside large glassware handy for brewers. I currently have a quite a few empty demijohns, which is handy when I get a windfall of fruit to distil.

[NZChris]

I have seen a composite cork bung fall apart. I don't recall how long the distiller had used it for, but I am sure that it wasn't a year.

[cob]

At least you asked about rubber seals.

look up agglomerated cork, and composite cork in the search bar

to discover what is wrong with the corks you pictured.

[Deplorable]

I'm with NZChris here. I have a standard size for my wood regardless of the container it's going in. Wide mouth, small mouth or gallon jug all sticks are cut 5 inches long and small enough to fit out the neck when swollen with booze. Thats about .7 inches square.
For a 3/4 full gallon jug I put in 3 sticks or 1 per quart of aging likker.

[Bradster68]

I'm with NZChris here. I have a standard size for my wood regardless of the container it's going in. Wide mouth, small mouth or gallon jug all sticks are cut 5 inches long and small enough to fit out the neck when swollen with booze. Thats about .7 inches square.
For a 3/4 full gallon jug I put in 3 sticks or 1 per quart of aging likker.

Ha ha. Thanks for the trade secrets guys.

[Deplorable]

I'm with NZChris here. I have a standard size for my wood regardless of the container it's going in. Wide mouth, small mouth or gallon jug all sticks are cut 5 inches long and small enough to fit out the neck when swollen with booze. Thats about .7 inches square.
For a 3/4 full gallon jug I put in 3 sticks or 1 per quart of aging likker.

Ha ha. Thanks for the trade secrets guys.

IMHO some of the best things you can do in this hobby is take notes and figure out how to control as many variables as possible.
Like how much oak and how it's toasted or charred.
In the case of wood, keeping your sticks all the same size makes it easy to determine how much, and for how long.
All my wood, regardless of its origin, is targeted to be cut to this size. Cherry, barrel oak or quarter sawn plank seasoned outside,
It's all the same size.
My recent acquisition of a used bourbon barrel will provide me a lifetime supply of sticks for glass aging or supplementing additional wood influence in used 5 gallon barrels.
Just like controlling your ferments to maximize yield, controlling your "barrel profile" is equally important.

[Bradster68]

I'm with NZChris here. I have a standard size for my wood regardless of the container it's going in. Wide mouth, small mouth or gallon jug all sticks are cut 5 inches long and small enough to fit out the neck when swollen with booze. Thats about .7 inches square.
For a 3/4 full gallon jug I put in 3 sticks or 1 per quart of aging likker.

Ha ha. Thanks for the trade secrets guys.

IMHO some of the best things you can do in this hobby is take notes and figure out how to control as many variables as possible.
Like how much oak and how it's toasted or charred.
In the case of wood, keeping your sticks all the same size makes it easy to determine how much, and for how long.
All my wood, regardless of its origin, is targeted to be cut to this size. Cherry, barrel oak or quarter sawn plank seasoned outside,
It's all the same size.
My recent acquisition of a used bourbon barrel will provide me a lifetime supply of sticks for glass aging or supplementing additional wood influence in used 5 gallon barrels.
Just like controlling your ferments to maximize yield, controlling your "barrel profile" is equally important.

I wasn't joking. This is valuable info for me. There's so much needed to make quality booze. I'm still gathering all the little tid bits needed. Aging and oaking are key when making good whiskey/bourbon. You too guys are someone's advice I pay attention too.

[NormandieStill]

I'm with NZChris here. I have a standard size for my wood regardless of the container it's going in. Wide mouth, small mouth or gallon jug all sticks are cut 5 inches long and small enough to fit out the neck when swollen with booze. Thats about .7 inches square.
For a 3/4 full gallon jug I put in 3 sticks or 1 per quart of aging likker.

I dose my oak using surface area to volume ratio. I tend to aim slightly lower than the equivalence of a 200l barrel. I also try to minimise the proportion of end grain. Looks like I need to aiming for thinner sticks then. 1cm edges might just be removable out of one of my demijohns. Your 0.7" ones will barely fit into most of mine.

[Deplorable]

I'm with NZChris here. I have a standard size for my wood regardless of the container it's going in. Wide mouth, small mouth or gallon jug all sticks are cut 5 inches long and small enough to fit out the neck when swollen with booze. Thats about .7 inches square.
For a 3/4 full gallon jug I put in 3 sticks or 1 per quart of aging likker.

I dose my oak using surface area to volume ratio. I tend to aim slightly lower than the equivalence of a 200l barrel. I also try to minimise the proportion of end grain. Looks like I need to aiming for thinner sticks then. 1cm edges might just be removable out of one of my demijohns. Your 0.7" ones will barely fit into most of mine.

Yeah mine just fit coming out after a year+. I always cauterize the ends, and char to a 3 or 4. Toasting varies, but usually I toast at 380(f) for an hour, and freeze them before I char them. The intent being to minimize any additional toasting of the deeper grain beyond the char.