Learning about Nut Wood Aging

[OtisT]

Learning about Nut Wood Aging - Hazelnut and Pecan

I am finally ready to try aging spirits on a few different types of nut wood.

I recently acquired seasoned hazelnut to go with the seasoned pecan wood HomerD sent me a few years back.

About the wood
Pecan is a fairly dense and heavy wood. HomerD told me it was seasoned already in the round, and the split sticks he sent were clean and solid. I was not using it anytime soon I put the split pieces out with my stack of seasoning oak for a year. I planed off the dark layer before toasting. No real smell I could detect from the wood.

Pecan after seasoning

The Hazelnut was seasoned outside at least two years. Hazelnut is surprisingly light and soft. It splits quite easily and cleanly. No real smell I can detect.

Hazelnut logs

Split hazelnut

These both seem much less “strong” in the way of smell when compared to other woods I have aged spirits with. In light of this, I still plan to start with a modest amount of wood and go from there.

[OtisT]

Test 1 - Hazelnut and Pecan with panela rum
I’m starting the first test using a base rum spirit. I ran a small batch of panela rum through a short packed column. Clean cuts and it’s a lot like a vodka. I’m using that as my base spirit for this first test. In a few months I plan to do a follow up test of both woods using a bourbon base.

Wood Prep - Toasting
I toasted a small batch of both the hazelnut and the pecan at three different temperatures. 350 F, 375 F and 400 F for 35 to 40 minutes.

• 350 F. The color is hardly changed and it looks a lot like the raw wood. Not much toast smell

• 375 F. Still not much color and only some toast smell.

• 400 F. There was noticeably more toast smell coming from the oven at 400 and the wood is noticeably toasted now.

Typing this up, I’m feeling like I should add a 425F test to the mix.

I plan to also test with raw, untoasted wood.
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Hazelnut raw, 350F, 375F, 400F (L to R)

Pecan raw, 350F, 375F, 400F (L to R)

Amount of Wood per Volume
I plan to start with 2.5 grams of wood per 100 ml of spirit. I’m doing 200 ml samples, so I’ll be using 5 gram chunks of wood.

Hurry up and wait - day 1
It’s all done but for the waiting now. The pictures below are after one day and the 400F jars are starting to show a little color.

Hazelnut aging test jars

Pecan aging test jars

[Wildcats]

WOW. Nice write up. Will be following this to see how it goes.
Thanks for the excellent work putting this all together. I love it! Will be interesting to see your results. Time will tell. Now for the waiting.....

[NormandieStill]

I toasted a small batch of both the hazelnut and the pecan at three different temperatures. 350 F, 375 F and 400 F for 35 to 40 minutes.

• 350 F. The color is hardly changed and it looks a lot like the raw wood. Not much toast smell

• 375 F. Still not much color and only some toast smell.

• 400 F. There was noticeably more toast smell coming from the oven at 400 and the wood is noticeably toasted now.

A small query; my last batch of toasted oak was oven cooked at 185C (~375F) but for at least 2 hours. There was a slight colour change but most significantly, if I cut into the pieces the colour is uniform. 35 mins seems very short for a toast. Have you played around with toasting time versus temp?

[OtisT]

I toasted a small batch of both the hazelnut and the pecan at three different temperatures. 350 F, 375 F and 400 F for 35 to 40 minutes.

• 350 F. The color is hardly changed and it looks a lot like the raw wood. Not much toast smell

• 375 F. Still not much color and only some toast smell.

• 400 F. There was noticeably more toast smell coming from the oven at 400 and the wood is noticeably toasted now.

A small query; my last batch of toasted oak was oven cooked at 185C (~375F) but for at least 2 hours. There was a slight colour change but most significantly, if I cut into the pieces the colour is uniform. 35 mins seems very short for a toast. Have you played around with toasting time versus temp?

I have done some testing with various toasting times and temps. See my Toasting Wood link found in my signature below for those details. I think that for relatively thin sticks in a convection oven, 40 minutes is quite sufficient. It’s just my personal preference. I do like to see some gradient of toast level near the center (I.e raw in the middle, toasted outside).

You are getting a uniform toast at two hours but only a slight color change? 375F can get wood dark so the color comment surprises me. Is your wood heartwood or sapwood. Sapwood will not darken as much. Be sure you are using heartwood, and possibly check your oven temp with a separate oven thermometer to make sure your temp is really that hot.

[OtisT]

Normandie,
A little added info for you regarding your question on toast time…..

I reread some of my toasting thread and see that during those tests I found that the length of toasting time did not change the specific taste/smell of the spirits much. The depth of toast likely impacts the intensity of that flavor (how much is added to the spirit) over time so a stick toasted for less time may take a bit longer to get the same intensity of flavor as a stick toasted longer, but in the end they will both taste similar. It was a difference in toast temps that imparted different flavors/smells.

[jdthedj10]

Normandie,
A little added info for you regarding your question on toast time…..

I reread some of my toasting thread and see that during those tests I found that the length of toasting time did not change the specific taste/smell of the spirits much. The depth of toast likely impacts the intensity of that flavor (how much is added to the spirit) over time so a stick toasted for less time may take a bit longer to get the same intensity of flavor as a stick toasted longer, but in the end they will both taste similar. It was a difference in toast temps that imparted different flavors/smells.

Otis how did this turn out? I'm going to run my next batch through some pecan charcoal. Not going to shock it cold to create deeper cracks but let it cool naturally.

[OtisT]

Normandie,
A little added info for you regarding your question on toast time…..

I reread some of my toasting thread and see that during those tests I found that the length of toasting time did not change the specific taste/smell of the spirits much. The depth of toast likely impacts the intensity of that flavor (how much is added to the spirit) over time so a stick toasted for less time may take a bit longer to get the same intensity of flavor as a stick toasted longer, but in the end they will both taste similar. It was a difference in toast temps that imparted different flavors/smells.

Otis how did this turn out? I'm going to run my next batch through some pecan charcoal. Not going to shock it cold to create deeper cracks but let it cool naturally.

Hi JD. Sorry, but I don’t have a lot of time to really check these out right now. I’m moving again and trying to pack things. I’ve not looked at these since I started this test and you got me curious, so I just gave them all a quick smell check. Tasting and pictures will have to wait a few months.

The Pecan jars have a very wonderful smell. The toast smell is really nice. Seems like it would go really well with a whiskey. Checking these today I realized that I never added a piece of raw pecan to a jar when I started this test. I did have a jar of spirits ready to go for it so I just added that in. It will catch up.

The Hazelnut is not smelling so nice. They have a woody smell to them in addition to the toast. Hopefully time will do something with that.

[OtisT]

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Pecan after 6 Months

A few observations to note on my first tests with Pecan after 6 months.

Overall, nothing unpleasant in any of the pecan jars, but nothing really special at the lower temps.

The lower toast temp jars get a bit of a mellowing effect from the pecan wood, but nothing special.

The 400 degree pieces have a pretty nice toast smell and taste added to them, and of course the double wood jar has a stronger smell/taste.

I must have messed up and added a toasted piece that I thought was raw. I’m going to disregard that jar labeled as “raw” for now and on my next set of tests I may try a piece of raw pecan again. Considering I did not think the low toast temp jars were that special, I may just write it off.
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Pecan at 6 months

Analysis and possible direction

Toast Temp: I don’t think the lower temp toasts are adding much goodness, I feel my next set of tests with Pecan should start at 400 F and I should try some pecan toasted at higher temperatures.

Toast Time/Depth: I don’t think I’m getting much from the raw underneath the thin layer of toast. Nothing special in the lower temp jars. I will extend the toast time and focus on just the toast with my next set of tests.

I think with a deeper toasted Pecan (more time in the oven) I am likely to get a stronger effect so I will stick with the same wood weight to liquid volume ratio for comparison. 2.5 grams/100 ml.

I will check these again later to see how more time on Pecan wood impacts the spirit.

[OtisT]

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Hazelnut after 6 Months

Not really impressed by Hazelnut so far. There is a very slight off sourish/sweet smell I just can’t get over.

The 400 F jars are better than the lower temps, but still have that off smell. I’m not sold on any of the hazelnut jars yet.

Hazelnut after 6 months

I’ll let these go longer but I’m not holding out too much hope. Some it seems to get better with the 400 degree F jars, I’ll try a higher toast temp next time. Not much else to report now.

[Demy]

Thanks for the time dedicated to these experiments and sharing with the forum...for me this is already a success.

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Pecan after 6 Months

I will check these again later to see how more time on Pecan wood impacts the spirit.

Hi Otis. I am in the middle of a panela run and thought about aging some of it on pecan since I have it readily available. It's also my favorite cooking wood so it seemed like a good candidate to start playing with aging. Any updates on your experiment? Nine months on I would think there were some definite differences.

Thanks!

Rusty