Home Distiller

Wifey is gone on Vacation.
Gave her an hour heàd start, and put 25 sticks of White Oak in the oven. Coming out in a few minutes; I think the house smells Great.
I have found that I prefer the sticks just barely Charred or Not at all Charred. It still amazes me how fast the Likker will pick up color from a non Charred Toasted only stick.
Thanks for all the info and discourse.

Hey Appalachia-Shiner, Do you use new oak or used Bourbon staves?

A happy accident. I found a 1/2 gallon bottle of oaked UJ which I didn't like when it was finished at four months (I thought). I put it back in the closet without any oak, and 3 months later I pulled it out again, gave it a taste and was still knocked over by the woody after tones. I divided it up into 4 quart jars and let it air for almost a full 48 hours, stirring once a day.....it is now my premier attempt at oaking, complete with a mocha chocolate after taste!!! And here I thought I liked my white dog best, I stand corrected !!!!

As promised I took 2 1G jugs of UJSSM. Both were 60%, not sure what if any was lost due to the corks breathing.

1st all 6 stick toasted, but 1/2 the sticks chard
2nd 6 sticks only toasted

at first there was a huge difference in color but now they are much closer as you can see.

I have a cold so no tasting yet.. will take them off oak now and should be ready for Christmas now... might take a taste for deer hunting also.

Tasting will come later once this cold is gone.

2 months on the sticks and you can see the resulting pic/color of the jugs. Both smell really nice but what do I know I have a cold
B

Bitter, hope you'll be posting up as time goes on. I'm very interested in hearing about the results of the comparison.

The first pic looks too light (Did not use a flash) so think was a bit over exposed.

So here is a pic with a flash. More what looks like to my eye. The bottle on the far left you see a sliver of is a 66er of Gibsons Finest Gold. Its for comparison of the color.

I will definitely post as times goes on and the taste comparison also.

Need some cheese cloth or unbleached cotton to filter and pull the oak.
B

charred definitely has some more color by the photo. interested in your tasting notes

That really looks good.
I have 2 half gallons about the same age, I tasted both of them today. Boy, it was hard to put it down. Just amazes me what Oak çan do to plain old white Likker.
And. I am using oak from a tree I cut for firewood last year. Tree was dead but sound....I burned most of it last winter, but I am going to tear into my barn woodpile and find some more big logs from that tree.

My last two batches I cut my sticks in half, toasted them both up to 380F, then took one out and took the other one up to 420F, then charred both and put together in my jar. Very happy with the results.

I've also noticed that the char may affect young whiskey. I now have a couple bottles that have sat undisturbed for many months after removing the oak, and there is a very thin layer of char sediment on the bottom of the bottles and the whiskey tastes much smoother.
I think some of that very fine char dust can make the spirit taste a little more harsh, ashy, until it settles out. Then again, maybe its just the many months undisturbed!

bitter wrote:Need some cheese cloth or unbleached cotton to filter and pull the oak.

A paper towel will do just fine. No need to get fancy.
Nice comparison job, bitter. At two months don't expect a miracle. Check it at six months for one.

tp

Thanks Tp,

Paper towel is my backup plan... I just keep thinking what is the alcohol pulling out of the paper? Some glue used to hold things together?????? Just trying to be careful.. I know lots here use it... Just paranoid....

What brands of paper towel you using? Up here last stuff I bottled I just used what I had at the house and it was very slow to filter (was some non name brand stuff the wife bought.)

I know that things have already come a long way.. but it is young whiskey. I find with the wine I make I don't touch it till at least a year and 2-3 years aging is night and day difference. I am hoping to keep going such that eventual I have enough stock that I'm making stuff about 4 years ahead to give at least 4 years aging for my whisky.. Might be pipe dreams... but since most the whiskey I drink is 12-18 year old.. I figure with good cuts maybe the 4 years give a good whiskey... and If I want something special just buy it and shell out the 75-150$ for a bottle. I really likes the flavors in the Gibson Finest Rare 18 year old. Smooth...... as a babies bottom also... Its my goto favorite if I buy right now. But at 74.45 for a 26er a bit pricey. It has sweet toffee, Caramel, Apple, toasty oak and vanilla with a hint of black licorice and pepper for me. Very sweet almost fruitiness to it. I hope to eventually get something close to this... as its really nice.

I did also made some Caramel and mixed with my first batch.. Amazing about 2-3 tsp can lift the caramel flavors in 1l if whiskey. This was a test I did with my very first UJSSM that had about 1.5 months on oak the TP way. I'm drinking it now actually. Its nicely oaked... but a bit more chard than I like as I chard all the sticks in the 1/2 gallon I aged. It has a hit on sweet smell, was very light caramel, light vanilla and hint of apple... along with toasted oak.... But it did have a taste from the chard... I did not like similar to the 40 creek copper pot double barrel... I could taste the charcoal almost.. my first UJSSM was the same.. and I like it a bit lighter so decreased the chard for this experiment. Most likely I normally drink Canadian whiskey and it lighter on oak/char that other whiskey's

I also have some Maple syrup to play with... A drop or 2 per shot really makes things nice!!!! on a young whiskey and the maple comes through really nice.

B

I always use unbleached coffee filters

If you have a ss funnel, put a cotton ball in it and strain through that.

papertowel in the funnel for me, it have not imparted any off-flavors as far as I can tell.
More my way of running, aging and equipment that needs some work to get good likker.

+1 on all that's been said.

As far as your answer, I have tried many brands. But take it from me. Scott's paper towel is perfect. I always wet it a little, so I don't loose likker just to prime it. But it is the best flowing towel yet.

Sometimes when straining fruit likker, I may have to switch it out, but it goes right back to flowing nice.

Scott's is all we have now...you know just in case I need it for something

Thanks guys Scotts paper towel on the shopping list

B

dieselduo wrote:I always use unbleached coffee filters

Me too. All the time I spend making it, I'm not cutting corners on filtration. Takes a bit more time, but hey, it's a drop in the bucket (ha ha) in the grand scheme.

Keep in mind, I did have a cold and things may not be 100% yet. This was cut to about 38-40% for tasting. /wChard
Smell
-Corn
-very light Rye smell
-Hint of apple, bot more a toastie apple like baked apple
-Toast oak

Taste
-Corn
-Hint is sweet apple
-Hint of Vanilla very faint
-Nice peppery rye finish. It linger a bit before I got to the finish
-Very small hint of ash/acrid from the char but not bad.
-Toasty oak
-Get a bit of sour on the finish

Only Toasted
Smell
-Corn (slightly sweeter smelling)
-Very light Rye smell
-Slightly less apple smell than chard more like fresh apple sause
-smoother smell
-Sweet light oak

Taste
-Corn
-More a hint of sweet than vanilla
-Nice peppery rye finish. The finish came in mush faster than the chard
-Smoother on the start. Finish comes in faster and more intense in comparison.
-More sweet notes
-Toasty oak slightly milder oak than chard
-Get a bit of sour on the finish from the sour mash, more than the chard

Overall I like the start of the toasted only with the finish of the chard.

Both are very good for being to young.
Both have very little or no Vanilla at this point.
Both have nice sweet notes the toast only being the nicest there
Both are much better than white

On ice both are almost the same very little difference... shuts down a lot of the flavor..only corn, rye and sweet left with some light toasted oak

Neither are over oak'd.. might even leave the oak in them longer.

Together I think they ballance out... overall think so far 1/2 and 1/2 is better

B

Are you saying that after tasting separately, you blended the two?

S-Cackalacky wrote:Are you saying that after tasting separately, you blended the two?

Yeah.. wanted to see what happened and I also figure if the wife seen me with 2 glasses of whiskey might be in trouble

B

bitter wrote:
Neither are over oak'd.. might even leave the oak in them longer.

Together I think they ballance out... overall think so far 1/2 and 1/2 is better

B

I've been aging my latest AG the "T-Pee way" as well. I use oak sticks, toasted in the oven and half of the surface charred. Reading as much treads as possible came up with the consensus that less oak for longer would be better than a lot of oak shorter. So, I settled for 3 oak fingers for each 4.5L of product (under a finger per quart?).

I've had about 12L on oak now, at 58% ABV for 2 months now. It smells and tastes great already. Now the question is whether or not to bottle now, and leave for at least 2 months to continue aging, or keep it on the oak for as long as possible. I doubt that the amount of oak will cause it to "over-oak", but it would be a pity if it would.

Any folks that age for longer periods of time on the oak, or do you pull the spirit from the oak, bottle and let it age for an indefinite amount of time off the oak?

Cheers,

Daantje wrote:

bitter wrote:
Neither are over oak'd.. might even leave the oak in them longer.

Together I think they ballance out... overall think so far 1/2 and 1/2 is better

B

I've been aging my latest AG the "T-Pee way" as well. I use oak sticks, toasted in the oven and half of the surface charred. Reading as much treads as possible came up with the consensus that less oak for longer would be better than a lot of oak shorter. So, I settled for 3 oak fingers for each 4.5L of product (under a finger per quart?).

I've had about 12L on oak now, at 58% ABV for 2 months now. It smells and tastes great already. Now the question is whether or not to bottle now, and leave for at least 2 months to continue aging, or keep it on the oak for as long as possible. I doubt that the amount of oak will cause it to "over-oak", but it would be a pity if it would.

Any folks that age for longer periods of time on the oak, or do you pull the spirit from the oak, bottle and let it age for an indefinite amount of time off the oak?

Cheers,

I don't even think about taking it off the oak until 6 months.

I have one quart that was sitting on (1) Stick of 2nd used oak for 6 months, then I decided I wanted more, so I threw a fresh sick on it. That was 6 months ago...starting to like brown sugar...mmmmmmm.

Mine comes off oak when the last drop goes down my pie hole. This jig has been on oak since July of 2014. It has six eight inch long finger size stick in it.

Hell yeah, just strain the charcoal through yer teeth.
I ain't got many....

What the teeth don't catch the live does.

LOL Jedneck

I now have 3 gallons of 60% on oak.. made a 4th gne UJSSM on the weekend. Taste buds are still not perfect from this cold so were super tight on cuts and only kept 50% other 50% or Gallon + is in feints. Now have over 2.5 gallons of feints to reflux. Going to make some Gin me thinks.

B

MichiganCornhusker wrote:My last two batches I cut my sticks in half, toasted them both up to 380F, then took one out and took the other one up to 420F, then charred both and put together in my jar. Very happy with the results.

I've also noticed that the char may affect young whiskey. I now have a couple bottles that have sat undisturbed for many months after removing the oak, and there is a very thin layer of char sediment on the bottom of the bottles and the whiskey tastes much smoother.
I think some of that very fine char dust can make the spirit taste a little more harsh, ashy, until it settles out. Then again, maybe its just the many months undisturbed!

yup, your best bet is when its finished aging, let it settle out, then ladle it out starting from the top, trying not to disturb the char at the bottom.

MichiganCornhusker wrote:My last two batches I cut my sticks in half, toasted them both up to 380F, then took one out and took the other one up to 420F, then charred both and put together in my jar. Very happy with the results.


I've also noticed that the char may affect young whiskey. I now have a couple bottles that have sat undisturbed for many months after removing the oak, and there is a very thin layer of char sediment on the bottom of the bottles and the whiskey tastes much smoother.
I think some of that very fine char dust can make the spirit taste a little more harsh, ashy, until it settles out. Then again, maybe its just the many months undisturbed!

are you doing the second and higher toast so when your oaking your getting a wider range of flavor thats listed on the chart at the beginning of the thread?


ive notice the same fine sediment . not a lot buts its there. i filter twice through paper filters.

rager wrote:Are you doing the second and higher toast so when your oaking your getting a wider range of flavor thats listed on the chart at the beginning of the thread?


ive notice the same fine sediment . not a lot buts its there. i filter twice through paper filters.

Rager, yes, I figure why shoot for just one slice of that pie, include oak pieces toasted at diff temps for diff flavors.
Just include smaller pieces of each so that total oak is still about right.

that really is a pretty good idea. im going to give that a try with my next bourbon i do so i can compare notes (aka the booze)