Fluffy white sediment

[PossumPie]

Im in the process of making whiskey in two batches. I made low-wines from my first 6gal. of sour mash, and have my 2nd 6gal batch fermenting. I usually make low wines out of both, then combine them in the still to do a final run pulling off foreshots, etc. Anyway, I got thinking that toasted white oak barrels that I have take a long time to flavor/mellow the shine, so I took a piece of aged white oak I use in the fireplace, split it into manageable pieces similar to what people buy to add to their shine. I roasted them in the oven for several hours to remove residual moisture and caramelize the sugars in the wood. I then did a quick propane burn of them until the color was acceptable. I put them into my 5 qts of low wines and after 3 days it is turning the clear low-wines a slight whiskey color, but there are fluffy white precipitate on the bottom of the glass carboy. I can't recall ever seeing that in other batches of shine, so it may be something from the wood. Anyone have any idea? It looks like someone dumped instant mashed potato flakes in the bottom of my carboy.

[NZChris]

Did you check that the carboy was clean?

[The Booze Pipe]

Why are you putting wood into low wines?

[NZChris]

Probably just a bit of carry over that you didn't notice on stripping day.

I use wood in low wines and feints if they are not going to be distilled in the near future. I think I get a better yield, but I've never done a side by side to check that.

[PossumPie]

Why are you putting wood into low wines?

Just to see what would happen. The first batch of sour mash I ever made was underwhelming in flavor. I relied too much on added sugar rather than converting the grain to sugar. I ended up with 80 proof "vodka" with a bit of corn flavor. It was my first attempt, and I didn't want to age it in casks for months just to get the oak flavor. This time around, I'm going to try wood chunks in the product to see how that affects flavor. While I'm waiting 10 days for the second batch of low wines to ferment, I thought I'd throw some wood into the first batch just to see how it affected the flavor. I understand 10 days isn't long enough, but What the heck. It was just sitting there on the table waiting to be put through the final distillation.

The precipitate is not from the low-wines, they were crystal clear dripping out and I had a coffee filter over the jars to catch any copper tubing debris that sometimes comes off. It is also not from the carboy, that was spotless when I put them in. I'm fairly sure it is something to do with the wood, but I washed it before I roasted it in the oven. My light char was done then, and I didn't notice anything at that point. Oh well, it will all go back into the pot for the final run. I just want to taste it before I dump it in. I think I will put half of my final product into an oak barrel to age, and the other half I'll put the wood chunks into it to see which is more flavorful.

[MooseMan]

It is possible that you picked up some oils/fats from the oven while roasting the wood, but it's most likely a little oil from the tails that you collected whilst stripping.

[Renhoekk]

I’m guessing you used a bunch of corn and maybe wheat as well to make your whiskey. The “potato flake” sediment sounds like oils and fatty acids precipitating out. It’s more common with fattier grains, which make an oily low wines. It won’t harm your final product and can be filtered out if it bothers you.

[jonnys_spirit]

Can you share some pics?

Cheers,
-jonny