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pigroaster wrote: Use what you have but go for a char with depths of toasting. If I had your set up I would toast oak sticks first, then char so all the taste profiles are present to the spirits when you start aging at 63 % ABV, Then 53 %ABV and finally 43% ABV.

Thanks, this is what I've done. Toasted the sticks per your first post and used the BBQ to char two sides. Didn't get the croc skin but got the smell! Got my 2nd run of ujssm on oak for 3 days now and getting a really nice colour already! Smokey smell overpowering at first with all the sticks on the surface but now the sticks are on the bottom and it smells great!

Thanks for thread and response.

I don't know diddly about woodworking, but I have a drill. After reading this thread I wonder what it would be like to do the Charred Oak Aging for Idiots by using 2x2inch blocks of wood and drilling holes in it to expose as much end grain as possible. I'm guessing you'd want to drill only across the grain, but you could do it from two directions. If 1/8 inch is the goal, then drill holes 1/8" in diameter 1/2" apart from two sides with the goal to not intersect the holes.

Would that pretty much accomplish the same goal?

Since there would be holes through four sides I doubt it would be much of a problem if they stuck together.

How many would you need for one mason jar anyway? One or two?

I have a question, why are there no references to oak shavings? I have used them in wine by steeping in cheese cloth. Toast, bag, steep, is this not acceptable for distilled spirits? 'cause I can make a but load of shavings from my wood pile. I have a cord and a half of white oak stacked up next to my shed.

Thats amazing I use something very similar to these. They work very well.

chopper35nj wrote:I have a question, why are there no references to oak shavings? I have used them in wine by steeping in cheese cloth. Toast, bag, steep, is this not acceptable for distilled spirits? 'cause I can make a but load of shavings from my wood pile. I have a cord and a half of white oak stacked up next to my shed.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6597

I was wondering about the shelf life for these toasted sticks.. i'm doing small batches and won't use too much wood that often so can I put the remainder of my toasted oak in a jar n seal em up or are they depreciating so to speak? Must they be jared up? I made some nice cuttings and don't want to waste them even if they cost nothing...

Thoughts?

Swifty wrote:I was wondering about the shelf life for these toasted sticks.. i'm doing small batches and won't use too much wood that often so can I put the remainder of my toasted oak in a jar n seal em up or are they depreciating so to speak? Must they be jared up? I made some nice cuttings and don't want to waste them even if they cost nothing...

Thoughts?

I've torn into old houses and found charred wood from previous fires that was still the same as the day of the fire if that tells you anything... I would probably allow the pieces to dry before storage... You might also consider doing stepped cycling of your toasted oak where you using markings to know how many times each piece has been used... You can then use a mix of pieces to establish the aging profile you like... Just a thought...

I toasted some sticks a while back. I was doing to put the extras in a jar. Then it dawned on me. If there is any moisture in them and you seal them in a jar. Your just asking for mold to grow. Nothing to stop it. So instead of sealing them I used a ring and a coffee filter so the could breath. And the coffers filter would keep the dust off them. So far so good.

Just noticed on a particular site that toasted oak chips are ridiculously expensive. Like over 100 bucks for 10lbs. Why the hech would anybody buy these instead of making their own?

http://www.eckraus.com/10-lb-french-toa ... chips.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

There is a variety of white oak that grows all over the place around here (Chapman oak). I cut some small scrubs about 3/4" dia and striped off the bark after I cut them all 5" long. Took the green wood and toasted in the oven at 350f until brown. Put six in a pint jar and filled with uncut BW. After 2 months It smelled and tasted excellent! Didn't cut it - justed mixed a drink with some coke and used about a 1/2 shot in 8oz. It had a mildly smokey + hazel nuttish flavor. The sticks were a medium brown,no charing. The color is similar to Canadian Club and the taste is better. See avatar for color. Really surprised that BW can turn out this good. I think I will cut it before oaking next time I try this. Cutting afterwards lightens the color to an unrealistic yellow. Still can't get over what a nice flavor I ended up with using a simple BW I guess with the small diameter sticks I was getting good surface coverage since they are round. I lik the idea of the cut slots. Most of the pallet wood here in the SE is white oak. Still... the sticks grow on the vacant lot next door

Fritz The Cat wrote:Just noticed on a particular site that toasted oak chips are ridiculously expensive. Like over 100 bucks for 10lbs. Why the hech would anybody buy these instead of making their own?

http://www.eckraus.com/10-lb-french-toa ... chips.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Well the stuff don't grow everywhere and some folks just aren't able to cut their own.

A question about colour.
I've been collecting strippings from UJSSM and Hookrum up till the weekend just gone and having collected a few litres of each I decided to do some spirit runs. All went well and I am pleased with the output in quality and quantity.

A few weeks back I rang around the timber merchants and found a source for some American White Oak so I bought a couple of pieces. On Sunday I ripped a piece up into size that will fit into my bottles and toasted a dozen pieces till nicely coloured. I then used a torch flame to add a bit of extra charring to a couple. All set up I've dropped some in and I'm sure it's not my imagination, but the liquor is displaying a bit of a pinkish tinge, rather than the pure golden honey colour I'd expected.

It isn't much and today (day 3) it is harder to distinguish. Is this an experience shared by others? An explaination as to why maybe?

I have never seen pink but I have only used the above I mentioned two times. Did you cut it any? I cut afterwards and only see from an initial yellow moving gradually to a nice golden brown.

I hit a great lick about 15 days ago. No one in town had half barrel planters, wine or whiskey. So a little hunting on the web and I found a guy selling half barrel planters for 13 bucks each. Gave him a call and after a 50 mile drive, I bought 192 ( all I could get on the trailer I took) half wine barrels for $ 10 bucks each. Got on the phone on my way home and by the next afternoon, I had sold all but 12 of them for 18.50 each. Not counting fuel and time,made a nice profit of 1,530.00 for 1/2 a days work and I have all the oak I will need for the next many years. Cut up 6 of the planters on Sunday ripped them 3/4" wide and stacked them in the barn.

Damn that is a lot of wood!

Coyote

seaguy wrote:I have never seen pink but I have only used the above I mentioned two times. Did you cut it any? I cut afterwards and only see from an initial yellow moving gradually to a nice golden brown.

No, still was running from 75% down to 30% and a little bit warmer than ambient so I figured on these readings being high. Took the cuts (very easy) after airing for 24 hrs so I only figured on around 55% - 60% maximum, probably lower, which I thought would be OK for oaking with fresh sticks. The pinkish tinge is fading to orange so I'll see what it ends up looking like. The first colours to come off worried me and my initial thought was that the timber wasn't Oak. Just thought someone may have seen it before.

I'll be tasting fairly regularly as I'm not too certain of "time Vs surface area Vs volume of spirit" and I don't want to have wood flavoured hooch.

I was thinking maybe putting a clamp in the centre of your oak strip and the take an ax and split a bunch on both ends, giving it a bowtie shape. no wood wasted can compress & re-expand to fit in your bottle, and the peices should not clump together

Hi,

Using pigroasters method i cut up some oak and apple wood logs i use for smoking using my radial arm saw to shape them (watch your fingers) wound up with this collection toasted them at 400 for 90 minutes then 450 for 15 charred with a MAPP torch Using a 32 oz jar with sweet feed sour mash at 55% ABV (1st generation) should I use 1 or both sticks? APPR: 1.5 x 1.0 x 4

Thanks

ron71157 looks good, that second photo where you say watch your fingers sure looks dangerous, what did you use to hold the wood?

Ouch!!! did that hurt?

Did you cut cross grain? Looks like you did. If so, then its a little different than pigroasters profile. Be careful, I've got a feeling they will oak spirit very quickly...

i did cut across the grain so i think i'll start with one stick and see how it goes.

Held it with My fingers....I've done alot of close cutting with this saw so i know how it works..,.still dangerous..been lucky so far.

Oh, I thought I saw blood all over yer saw. Yea, you'll probably find that it will oak quicker than a with the grain cut... check out Odins post of Xmas came early this year...

Here's the progress after 24 hours...hope it tastes as good as its looking!!

Wow - more colour from apple than oak? Apple must have more sugars in the sap that caramalise to give the colour . . .

took a dip this morning..very woodsy we'll see if the sugars come out over time....feeling very impatient!! Almost drank all the shine from the last run. back to work today so i'll take a break.

Would wood chips in a wine bottle sealed with a cork age the same as a barrel?

Short answer, no.

Long answer, chips are very thin and therefore when they are toasted the toast goes completely through the chip. On a barrel, stave or cube. The toast level is lower the deeper you go into the wood. So, as the product seeps throughout the wood it crosses a complexity of different toast levels. A charred barrel would be charred on the surface, heavy toast under that, med toast under that and lightly toasted under that then into untoasted wood as it nears the outside edge. Chips are toasted, more or less, at the same level all the way through the chip.

Chips will add color fast but very little complexity in taste.

Will putting french oak chips in a wine bottle and corking it produce effects similar to putting it into an oak barrel? Any thoughts or suggestions for links.

Sorry did not see response. Any good ideas where to find inexpensive barrels?

SideJob wrote:Sorry did not see response. Any good ideas where to find inexpensive barrels?

Graden centers often have 1/2 barrels that you can pull apart and cut into stick to soak in you booze - re-toasted and charred they work better than chips and are arguably more controllable than a barrel for aging

Used some of Wacabi's white American oak, cut according to (pretty much) Pigroasters dimensions. They work great. What flabbergasts me is how QUICK they do their magic. I had mine in some 60% wheat whiskey and in a 60% single malt. Like 20 grams of medium toasted wood per liter. Deep dark brown in a few days. Took the wood oud in a week. It is currently aging of the wood in glass carboys.

Odin.