List of woods suitable for aging

[bellybuster]

just join off memory so do the research but... doesn't almond wood contain cyanide?

[Hammerhorn]

One issue is that all the charts listing the effects of hardwoods, almond is never on there. It is a highly sought wood for smoking and the smoking forums recommend it. The almond seed itself has cyanide. No info online about cyanide in the wood.

[bellybuster]

ah, maybe thats where i heard it.

[Hammerhorn]

If nobody has tried it yet, I will be in the next month or so. Will be comparing it to the same batch with test jars with different chars and different woods (live oak, black oak (I think), white oak(bought online), almond, cherry, and apricot). The live oak is a even a harder wood than the deciduous oak is an evergreen, which grows all over California. Got some in my firewood pile and figure I would put it into a pint and see what happens. Same goes for the black oak. Of course these are the common names from where I grew up and without being near a oak (miles upon miles upon miles away) I did a quick search based on memory of what they both look like. Seems they both are in the Red Oak family, too bad, I will try anyway.

Live Oak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_agrifolia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

"The red oak wood that is used in this style of barbecue is actually the Coast Live Oak, Quercus agrifolia, native to the Western California region which ranges from Southern Oregon all the way to the Northern portion of Baja, California (the California Floristic Province). It is classified as a red oak and is a hard wood. Its smoke is hearty but not too heavy, perfect for a simply-dressed cut of meat (just a simple rub, nothing more.)"
http://www.allqdup.com/santa-maria-style-barbecue/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Black Oak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_kelloggii" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Saltbush Bill]

Just because a wood is good for smoking doesn't mean its any good for use in this hobby. As an example, a lot of Australian hard woods, including many of our eucalypts, are very good for smoking. None of them as far as I am aware are of any use for aging spirits.

[Hammerhorn]

Agree, but at least you know that it is less likely to be toxic and maybe a better chance of it being good. If it was imparting bad flavors when smoking I would not even consider it. Another good example is hickory. One of the most popular smoking woods, but I have never seen anybody like it for aging whiskey, no personal experience. I don't have expectations and will only be doing test jars, I like experimenting.

[thecroweater]

One issue is that all the charts listing the effects of hardwoods, almond is never on there. It is a highly sought wood for smoking and the smoking forums recommend it. The almond seed itself has cyanide. No info online about cyanide in the wood.

when almond has a wound a gelatinous sap leaches out and I have always been led to believe this jelly is toxic and high in cyanide. This would tend to suggest that the wood is very high in the same

[culvercreek]

It isn't the cheapest out there but I do smoke and BBQ a lot of food. From fish to venison to sausages to beef. I can across this site when trying to find a supplier of fruit woods. They have 3 and 4 variety (U-pick) packs that might work out well if someone wanted something that wasn't locally available.

http://www.fruitawoodchunks.com/custom-mix.html

[Hammerhorn]

when almond has a wound a gelatinous sap leaches out and I have always been led to believe this jelly is toxic and high in cyanide. This would tend to suggest that the wood is very high in the same

I found this interesting site. It is for what food is edible for a gerbil like rodent. For what it is worth, http://www.degutopia.co.uk/degutoxic.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
The interesting thing is that almond, apricot, cherry, and peach are on there. One thing to note these little gerbils can't eat too many almonds either.

Can somebody tell me why I should not trust a wood to be safe if it is used for smoking food????

Unless somebody convinces me otherwise I am going to use almond. I can't find any documentation about the toxicity almond. Even wood carvers use it for cooking utensils. So...

EDIT: I did see some additional information that cherry sap is toxic.

[ron71157]

Just for for stopped by the local exotic wood store to check it out and found they had a wall full of various stick varieties..so what the heck...these are going into my next AG batch:

apricot mesquite rosebud

its gonna be fun!!

[elektrosport]

Richard7:

I know it's been a long time since you asked about cherry wood and you may have picked up the info you requested in another thread here, but..

I can highly recommend cherry wood for aging. It's got a very nice almondy taste to it (think amarena cherry sauce or amaretto), baked and charred it gives your spirits a fantastic hue too. However you should use it seasoned, as the wood contains cyanide when fresh.

Best rum I ever made was aged on cherry, gone too fast and haven't been able to replicate (yet)..

(the cherry wood I used was from a flowering cherry, not a fruit bearing one)

Cheers,
elektrosport

[Hammerhorn]

Richard7:

I know it's been a long time since you asked about cherry wood and you may have picked up the info you requested in another thread here, but..

I can highly recommend cherry wood for aging. It's got a very nice almondy taste to it (think amarena cherry sauce or amaretto), baked and charred it gives your spirits a fantastic hue too. However you should use it seasoned, as the wood contains cyanide when fresh.

Best rum I ever made was aged on cherry, gone too fast and haven't been able to replicate (yet)..

(the cherry wood I used was from a flowering cherry, not a fruit bearing one)

Cheers,
elektrosport

Neighbor has some large dead cherry branches that I will be getting soon. Will cut up and let dry. Thanks for the heads up. I will plan to use lots!

I know your not suppose to use red oak, but the live oak (evergreen of the red oak family) I am testing (sip) may have potential, but it still could go to piss.

[Richard7]

elektrosport, Thanks for the info. The cherry wood I have is from a wild cherry tree. It makes tiny cherrys that are no good to eat.

[RevSpaminator]

Lately I've been aging my UJSSM on toasted apple wood. (I call it Snake Oil*.) Gives it a smooth rich flavor and makes a good sippin' whiskey.

*No actual snakes are oiled in the process.

[Thirstylildesertrat]

I've been doin the same... UJSSM on Apple... Pretty nice!

[thecroweater]

I use apple tree wood for some brandies , different but nice

[magnetic_tarantula]

Now get this I started this awhile ago to get a list going for my own wheaten Bourbon experiment. I made 27 jars of various woods/chars etc. Life happened and a divorce and I sent those jars to friends for safe keeping 18 months ago. I just got back 9 jars this week. I tasted the Japanese Oak, awesome....spicy and veeeeery good.....I tried the sugar maple....cinnamon bomb HOLY EFF!! Good, nice mix of cinnamon/spices, warming. I also tried the crabapple. I don't even know what to say. The flavor profile on this is so good and so pleasant I was floored. I could've drank a whole bottle.

[Bushman]

Sorry to hear about your divorce but thanks for the update. I have the heartwood from a plum tree that I have used to age some of the whiskey I have made and although I like the taste I have yet to do a side by side taste test to see what flavor changes might of happened.

[magnetic_tarantula]

I was really surprised by the crabapple......so very different than anything I have tasted in a good way. I was surprised how cinnamon the sugar maple was. Not like that fireball garbage that is all the rage these days.....sweet, cinnamony, new make whiskey, worked really well together, and the Japanese Oak.....you know I had to have a fellow Home distillet in the UK actually send it to me as it is not available in this country. A typical bottle of Mizunara whisky runs in the range of 400+ so I figured I would track an un treated blank down. I had read it has lots of floral notes.....I didn't get that just a general spicy Ness but very good. I will try to post the "experimentioned one of these days. Hopefully this week I will be having a tasting at a friends house to get the thoughts of 5 whiskey conneseurs (sp?).

The divorce works out ok, I have 5050 custody of my kids and that is all I care about (also get to pursue my hobby/dream).

[Hammerhorn]

Awesome to see some updates. I have been making charred apricot aged whiskey that is delicious. I experimented with a bayleaf type tree that gives the whiskey a peppery taste that has most either loving it or hating it. Tried almond wood, but at the ABV I tried it at it was not very good.

[magnetic_tarantula]

It seems like the main way to define how much wood to use is by determining surface area. I think that works great with a barrel but not so much with aging in jars. I chose to use weight to define how much to use. In all my 27 Wheated Bourbon experiment jars i used 5 or 10 grams of each kind of wood. On one jar I used 35 grams and it quickly became over oaken. At 18 months the first 3 jars I tasted are awesome. I think they are better than anything I have picked up on the top shelf. I have tried almost 250 different whiskies and I think these rank damn near the top.....if anyone starting out doing this is reading it, I assure you with some effort and a little time your reward will be great.

My experiment is this:Wheated Bourbon
55% Corn
30% Malted Wheat(20% White/10% Red)
15% Malted 2 Row Barley

Distilled in April/May/June 2013
1-12, 17-20, Jarred July 06, 2013
13-16, Jarred September 29th 2013
22-25, Jarred October 4th 2013
Target distillation strength was 75%
Overall Strength before dilution is 76.5-77%ABV
Diluted to 55% ABV with FIJI water
Lincoln County Process = Run through Sugar Maple charcoal at 62.5%ABV


New American White Oak
Bottle #1 - Medium Toast(5grams) @55%ABV
***December 29th*** Nose:Raw Spirit Tongue:Green Apples
Bottle #2 - Medium Toast(10grams) @55%ABV
***December 29th*** Nose:Raw Spirit Tongue:
Bottle #3 - Heavy Char(5grams) @55%ABV
***December 30th*** Nose:Raw Spirit Tongue:
Bottle #4 - Light Char "Lincoln County Process"(5grams) @55%ABV
***December 30th*** Nose:Raw Spirit Tongue:
Bottle #22 - Medium Toast (35grams) @62.5%ABV
***December 31th*** Nose:Raw Spirit, slight Caramel/Vanilla Tongue: over-oaked
Bottle #23 - Medium Toast/Light Char (35grams) @62.5%ABV
***December 31th*** Nose:Raw Spirit, Caramel/Vanilla Tongue: over-oaked

New French oak
Bottle #5 - Medium Toast(5grams) @55%ABV
***January 5th*** preferred this over #6
Bottle #6 - Medium Toast(10grams) @55%ABV
***January 5th*** more oak than #5
Bottle #7 - Heavy Char(5grams) @55%ABV
***January 6th***
Bottle #8 - Light Char "Lincoln County Process"(5grams) @55%ABV
***January 6th***

New Hungarian Oak
Bottle #9 - Medium Toast(5grams) @55%ABV
***January 7th*** lots of vanilla
Bottle #10 - Medium Toast(10grams) @55%ABV
***January 7th***
Bottle #11 - Medium Toast/Light Char(5grams) @55%ABV
Bottle #12 - Medium Toast(5grams) "Lincoln County Process" @55%ABV

Japanese Oak
Bottle #13 - Medium Toast(4grams) @55%ABV
Bottle #14 - Medium Toast(10grams) @55%ABV
Bottle #15 - Heavy Char(6grams) @55%ABV
Bottle #16 - Light Char "Lincoln County Process"(6grams) @55%ABV

New Sugar Maple
Bottle #17 - Medium Toast(5grams) @55%ABV
Bottle #18 - Medium Toast(10grams) @55%ABV
Bottle #19 - Medium Toast "Lincoln County Process"(5grams) @55%ABV

New Cherry Wood
Bottle #20 - Medium toast(5grams) @55%ABV

White Dog
Bottle #21 - No Aging(62.5%ABV)

New Pear
Bottle #24 - Medium Toast/Light Char(11grams in a 375ml 58%ABV @70degrees)
Bottle #26 - Medium Toast/Heavy Char(11grams in a 375ml 58%ABV @70degrees)

New Crabapple
Bottle #25 - Medium Toast/Light Char(12grams in a 375ml 58%ABV @70degrees)
Bottle #27 - Medium Toast/Heavy Char(10grams in a 375ml 58%ABV @70degrees)

15, 18 and 25 are amazing so far

[magnetic_tarantula]

1-23 are in 750mL, and 24-27 are in 375mL

[Hammerhorn]

Beautiful idea on the weight. I have been using cubic inches, which was more of a guess no matter what.

[magnetic_tarantula]

I thought i saw Odin mention it in a post. When I thought about it surface area is great when we are talking barrels but get real we are doing jars here. The liquor is going to penetrate all the way through the wood so it strikes me that mass is a much better way to define how much the wood will influence. all the 5 and 10 gram ones taste very nice, but 22 and 23 are waaaay over oaked. The size of the stick in those is roughly 3/4"x3/4"x5". The Pear/Crabapple were diameter cuts of the tree rather than sticks or splits...so surface would be difficult to measure. 24 to 27 i put in more to very great effect but there aren't tannins in Pear/Crabapple so it avoids that over oaked bitterness to very good effect. My guess on those was spot on I think. Track down some crabapple and I think you will get a whiskey that is crazy good.

Thank you Ron by the way, I believe it was you and I that traded a bunch of different woods and I got the pear and the crabapple.....I'm totally psyched we did that!!

[markk]

Agree, but at least you know that it is less likely to be toxic and maybe a better chance of it being good. If it was imparting bad flavors when smoking I would not even consider it. Another good example is hickory. One of the most popular smoking woods, but I have never seen anybody like it for aging whiskey, no personal experience. I don't have expectations and will only be doing test jars, I like experimenting.

I grabbed up some hickory chips I use for smoking meat . I burnt them with a torch a bit and tossed a small handful in half a quart or so of sweet feed shine . After 1 week it was actually pretty good . After two weeks was real good 3 weeks degraded . It was the color of canadian whiskey only lighter and had that sort of flavor but no where near as strong . Was quite pleased with it .

I also tried some pecan chips . 1 week very bad . you know that bitter taste and dryness of tongue you get when you bite into a pecan and get some of the shell in your mouth ? that is what it tasted like . Left it for 3 weeks and it improved a lot . dark red color and much better tasting and a lot less bitter after . not really too bad but not great.

[ga flatwoods]

Ga Flatwoods does not take kindly to aging. Been same age for twelve years running.!

[SassyFrass]

I do things a little different than ya'll. I live in a region with quite a few white oaks, so that is my 2nd favorite wood to char with. I use limbs that the trees have dropped. I gather them, put them up to air dry for a couple weeks, then peel all the bark from them. I discard anything that isn't almost perfect. Cut 6 inch long sections of the branch, then use an old pocket knife to split the branch into thumb size sticks. I then char the splits in the coals of a fire. (I have also used a propane torch to char the splits.) They are then ready to use. A couple weeks to a month for a quart with 1-2 splits. I also use crab apple and pear. Each give the likker a good flavor and smooth out the taste. My favorite is the crab apple mixed with white oak. I just like the flavor it gives the likker, I use 1-2 splits of each in a half gallon for a couple months or longer. Flavor comes out like a cross between a really good bourbon and a really good Irish whisky, only better. I also have a little barrel that has been sitting for about a year. Sampled some last week and figure it will be courtin' likker by spring. I haven't tried red oak or some of the other hard woods that grow wild around the house. Might be fun to give it a shot. Anyway, that's how I learned to char likker from the old timers when I was a kid.

SassyFrass

[thecroweater]

got calvados done on apple and oak, its good for sure

[magnetic_tarantula]

I think Japanese Oak is a red oak, a number of people found that to be their favorite. The crabapple is killer. Far and away the best in my mind.

[ron71157]

Just finished drinking the last of the mesquite i put up last march with a little extra tails and i have to say..probably the best sipping spirit i've made so far. Smooth and peppery from an AG corn-barley mash at 125 proof. Try it !!