Mason Jar lid stave

[Evil_Dark]

I tried a variant for the traditionnal "oak-stave-in-a-jar" aging proceedure...
I wanted to add a litle bit of "breathing" from the wood by having the oak stave coming across the lid. So the wood can probably exchange and oxygenate the spirit by is fibre.
I took a 1 1/8" X 1 1/8" white oak stave and made a round at one end using a hole saw (a wood lathe would have been even better! But I don't have one yet...)
So I drilled a hole in the lid a bit smaller than the round part of the stave, then I pushed press fit the stave in the hole.
Then I charred the oak (should have done it before assembling the stave with the lid, but it worked anyway)

Then I have to place the lid on the mason jar and wait!
This is a Honey Bear Bourbon newmake at 60%abv, the rest sits in a 5 litres new charred oak barrel. So i'll be able to compare both of the different aging in the future!

[higgins]

Excellent! I'll be interested to hear the comparison.

[Ben]

Nice, I am curious if it will wick spirit out; you have the grain oriented in a way that capillary may pull spirit through the top of the wood. I did a bung plug like this and the end of the plug was wet pretty quickly, switched grain orientation to fix it.

[Evil_Dark]

Nice, I am curious if it will wick spirit out; you have the grain oriented in a way that capillary may pull spirit through the top of the wood. I did a bung plug like this and the end of the plug was wet pretty quickly, switched grain orientation to fix it.

I was also worried like you about that, but it's been 4 days now and the end of the stave stays dry.
When I sanded the end of the stave, it burned a bit (you can see that the round part is very dark) so I'm not sure if it helped to prevent this phenomenon?
This morning there was already a sligh bronze coloration from the oak. I tried to smell the lid to detect any spirit odours, and I didn't smelled anything so it loos like kinda sealed.

[Dancing4dan]

Interesting idea.

If it wicks try cross drilling the stave above the liquid level below the lid.

[BrewinBrian44]

I believe I saw a method just like this a while back while searching around HD. From what I remember, the assertions about potential “wicking” did in happen, giving the angels their share much faster. I’ll try to find the thread.

[montanan_hippie_man]

hey ive got a couple lids i did the same thing with. works pretty good in my opinion. lets it breathe, yes you do lose a little more but nothing to cry home about.

[Evil_Dark]

hey ive got a couple lids i did the same thing with. works pretty good in my opinion. lets it breathe, yes you do lose a little more but nothing to cry home about.

Good to hear! How long you did age your spirit with this setup?

[montanan_hippie_man]

hey ive got a couple lids i did the same thing with. works pretty good in my opinion. lets it breathe, yes you do lose a little more but nothing to cry home about.

Good to hear! How long you did age your spirit with this setup?

i was doing very small scale experimenting with pint jars. but usually it was 2 weeks at most i found to be ok. but thats also with the jar sitting in front of my heater vents to speed up heat and cold cycles. then air out a day or two. i tought i made a couple fine drinks with it... haha

[squigglefunk]

cool idea i like it!

[Evil_Dark]

Ok just wanted to give feedback on this way of Jar aging process/technique...
It went very well!
I did aged my Honey Bear Bourbon on this jar and on a 5L barrel, and the jar one with this stave went out very nice.
Had some angel share, but way less than in the 5L barrel (it is know that small barrels are breathing like crazy, angels are happy with their share!!!)
Small barrels tend to over oak the spirit quickly, especially when they are at their first fill like mine. After 7 months, I will pull out the spirit of the barrel.
On the jar, same base profile, but less tannins and oak, smoother, less spicier. (Smoother could be appropriate...)
But all in all, very sucessful!
Will repeat again. Now I will toast the stave a bit before, as I prefer the flavor profile provided by 350F toasted oak.
It never wick the spirit out of the dry end of the stave, and it breathe just enough to let the angel have their share reasonably.

[Dougmatt]

Thanks for following up. Interesting idea for small batch aging.