Nuclear Whiskey / Nuclear Rum and Spirits Rapid Ageing

[Antler24]

Actually a lot of people nuke the white dog as some of the fore and heads come off as low at 145F so it does take some of the bite out if it was ever there.... have read this on multiple forums...

FS

That's what I'm talkin about yes. I'm going to do a side by side comparison this weekend. If nothing else I'll get an idea how we'll I made my cuts.

[Truckinbutch]

We are looking forward to your results . Every bit of knowledge is useful . Positive or negative is not an issue .

[Jimbo]

I dont remember if I said this here yet or not, appologies if this is a repeat. My experiments with nuking found it helps if youre in a bind for short term drink, if you have nothing aged. There's a noticable difference after a couple passes for sure on fresh hooch. But after even a few weeks, the nuked next to the unnuked taste the same again. I thought anyway.

I like what FS said below

Actually a lot of people nuke the white dog as some of the fore and heads come off as low at 145F so it does take some of the bite out if it was ever there.... have read this on multiple forums...
FS

Stands to reason.

Also, the heat gets the molecules vibrating and banging against each other, and thats not a bad thing. See my dildo hooch thread for more on that.

[Antler24]

I just finished up the second pass on a quart of ujsm on oak sticks, and 2 pints of white.

Question: I put some oak sticks in 2 quart jars and a gallon jug of ujsm almost a week ago, most of the sticks are still floating. Is this normal? Every jar pic of aging hooch I've seen the stick were sunk.

[S-Cackalacky]

I dont remember if I said this here yet or not, appologies if this is a repeat. My experiments with nuking found it helps if youre in a bind for short term drink, if you have nothing aged. There's a noticable difference after a couple passes for sure on fresh hooch. But after even a few weeks, the nuked next to the unnuked taste the same again. I thought anyway.

I like what FS said below

Actually a lot of people nuke the white dog as some of the fore and heads come off as low at 145F so it does take some of the bite out if it was ever there.... have read this on multiple forums...
FS

Stands to reason.

Also, the heat gets the molecules vibrating and banging against each other, and thats not a bad thing. See my dildo hooch thread for more on that.

Jimbo, I've been using the nuke process as a sort of adjunct to aging. I usually do 3 cycles with 1oz of JD chips in 4/5 quart distillate. I include a trip to the freezer after it gets to room temp. After 3 cycles, I strain it into gallon pickle jars about 3/4 full and further age it for at least 2 months. It makes a nice drop. Most recently I have also started to nuke at a lower power for a longer period of time - 20% power for 15 minutes per cycle. I'm figuring this takes advantage of the molecular vibrations created by the microwave process. I look at nuking as a sort of pretreatment of the spirits before allowing aging to do it's own particular magic. As far as I know, this is doing the job for me - tastes pretty good to my untrained palate.

[MDH]

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[CR33G3R]

Well thanks to this thread for pulling me through in a time of need. I had a failed experiment with some traditional ageing with apple wood, but I needed some spirits to take with me to an elite eight chili cook off today. So last weekend when I found that the apple aged I was going to take wasn't up to par I needed to do something.

I had on hand some fresh All-Bran neutral that I intended to try to blend into a light wheated whiskey (Odin has a post on pure whiskey)
So after blending, a little reading I got me some JD chips and headed to the microwave.

I am happy to report that after three sessions in the microwave I have a pretty good result especially considering how young the whiskey is.
Thanks guys,

Now off to eat some chili watch some b-ball and enjoy some drinks...

[jmashspirits14]

Not intending to induce a shit storm here but there is no aging method going to get you the dark amber color, rich notes, floral essences, and aromas that traditional barrel aging or roasted and charred oak sticks provides. If someone just starting would just wait the first two years, make enough spirits and just continue to make and age spirits by the time two years has passed they will have fantasticly aged whiskys and will continue to have a supply as long as they continue distilling and aging spirits. If its that hard for some to wait a year or two just buy your favorite whiskies to drink while you wait or drink unaged spirits. Just my thoughts even though no one asked. Well worth the wait I think. High proof alcohol in the microwave? At some point even if brief some alcohol vapors have to occur. All it would take is one spark from a malfunctioning nuker to explode. Just because is hasnt happened yet doesnt mean it cant or wont. Doesnt sound like a risk I would take for the sake of attempting to speed up aging. Cudos to those who like this method, use it, and havent had a fire yet or worse.

[ranger_ric]

Jmashspirits15,
Yep, all the way I agree with you. Good Lord who cant wait 2 years to see if their hobby is paying off.
You already risked whatever to ...Ferment....Distill... Bottle.... and dream of some aging process that would let you enjoy your endeavors.
and then some foreigner/local walks and suggest to speed up the warming and cooling process with a microwave oven...
Yep I agree there are some risks but what i am reading here the survivors are all reporting some success. (Come on folks if you didn't survive you have to speak up to SAVE the rest of us....)

[NZChris]

If its that hard for some to wait a year or two just buy your favorite whiskies to drink while you wait or drink unaged spirits. Just my thoughts even though no one asked.

No one asked.

What do you do with the pint or so left over when you've done your cuts, put your white dog aside, and have your aging likker in it's barrel/jug/whatever?

I chuck mine in the nuke for a preview.

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

Not intending to induce a shit storm here but there is no aging method going to get you the dark amber color, rich notes, floral essences, and aromas that traditional barrel aging or roasted and charred oak sticks provides. If someone just starting would just wait the first two years, make enough spirits and just continue to make and age spirits by the time two years has passed they will have fantasticly aged whiskys and will continue to have a supply as long as they continue distilling and aging spirits. If its that hard for some to wait a year or two just buy your favorite whiskies to drink while you wait or drink unaged spirits. Just my thoughts even though no one asked. Well worth the wait I think. High proof alcohol in the microwave? At some point even if brief some alcohol vapors have to occur. All it would take is one spark from a malfunctioning nuker to explode. Just because is hasnt happened yet doesnt mean it cant or wont. Doesnt sound like a risk I would take for the sake of attempting to speed up aging. Cudos to those who like this method, use it, and havent had a fire yet or worse.

That may be the case. But my 2 week old nuked UJ tastes a lot better then stuff aged 6 years in a barrel.

[thecroweater]

you run a worm on a pressure cooker and you're worried about a microwave

[FullySilenced]

OK GUYS This is a nuking thread get it back on topic please.... If you wanna talk crap please put it in a

"I wanna talk crap thread" somewhere else...

FS

[wtfdskin]

I cant wait to try this. Has anyone used pochine's rum nukin recipe? I would love to hear a taste comparison to store rums. I'm shooting for a kraken style and will be using bobs ferment recipe.
Thanks
Skin

[FullySilenced]

@ jmashspirits14 ... Read this entire thread ... all the stuff in your last post has been covered... to my knowledge there has not been an issue anywhere with this method... on 6 forums covering thousands of posts

Some have even gone to great lengths to try and create an accident... look up Jarhead's posts in particular ...

FS

[Truckinbutch]

Not intending to induce a shit storm here but there is no aging method going to get you the dark amber color, rich notes, floral essences, and aromas that traditional barrel aging or roasted and charred oak sticks provides. If someone just starting would just wait the first two years, make enough spirits and just continue to make and age spirits by the time two years has passed they will have fantasticly aged whiskys and will continue to have a supply as long as they continue distilling and aging spirits. If its that hard for some to wait a year or two just buy your favorite whiskies to drink while you wait or drink unaged spirits. Just my thoughts even though no one asked. Well worth the wait I think. High proof alcohol in the microwave? At some point even if brief some alcohol vapors have to occur. All it would take is one spark from a malfunctioning nuker to explode. Just because is hasnt happened yet doesnt mean it cant or wont. Doesnt sound like a risk I would take for the sake of attempting to speed up aging. Cudos to those who like this method, use it, and havent had a fire yet or worse.

I call BULLSHIT ! Nobody has reported any problems with this process . Read the entire thread and edit sober . Just some friendly advice .

[jmashspirits14]

Ill eventually get to it all, that's a lot of pages. Just not something I would do. If others want to thats thier business but I think I would just rather wait for natural maturation. I did read about a product called Time and Oaks Whisky Aging Elements that are supposed to perfectly age spirits in 24-48 hours with no microwave. Two sticks are $14 and you use one for every 5th of spirits you intend to age. Something about the way the oak is cut providing more alcohol to cell contact resulting in a very fast age. They claim the reason barrel aging and oak stick aging takes so long is due to the wood being cut with the grain minimizing the amount of wood pores to absorb and retract the alcohol. Im going to try it. Knowing my luck id have a damn explosion first attempt doing it this way., however I was very nervous the first time I distilled alcohol also. If anyone knows about these elements and has tried them please let me know. Again, I didnt intend to piss anyone off here. I guess some are just wound too tight.

[FullySilenced]

I didnt intend to piss anyone off here. I guess some are just wound too tight.

And i know of at least one that lives under a bridge...

happy stilling

FS

[aquavita]

Or in a van, down by the river....






God Bless Chris Farley

[Truckinbutch]

Ill eventually get to it all, that's a lot of pages. Just not something I would do. If others want to thats thier business but I think I would just rather wait for natural maturation. I did read about a product called Time and Oaks Whisky Aging Elements that are supposed to perfectly age spirits in 24-48 hours with no microwave. Two sticks are $14 and you use one for every 5th of spirits you intend to age. Something about the way the oak is cut providing more alcohol to cell contact resulting in a very fast age. They claim the reason barrel aging and oak stick aging takes so long is due to the wood being cut with the grain minimizing the amount of wood pores to absorb and retract the alcohol. Im going to try it. Knowing my luck id have a damn explosion first attempt doing it this way., however I was very nervous the first time I distilled alcohol also. If anyone knows about these elements and has tried them please let me know. Again, I didnt intend to piss anyone off here. I guess some are just wound too tight.

You got a couple years to start sampling your first run and build up stock to keep on aging Sounds like an ammatuere to me .

[thecroweater]

Nothing about being wound too tight sport, just if you are going to rail against an excepted method it is expected you bring some evidence to the table. Never tried nuke aging myself but enough ppl have for me to be comfortable trying it should I be pressed for time, I can't see it doing the same job as barrel aging but I imagine this method is as good or better than other methods of distress aging

[Yummyrum]

First off , I haven't tried this aging method yet but I would like to comment on dangers of this .

I think we would all agree that the likelyhood of alcohol catching fire requires a flame or spark to ignite either vapour or liquid .In normal operation there is neither a flame or spark present while a microwave oven is operating .

However my job has been for the last 30 odd years a TV technician and as part of that job I have repaired Hundreds of microwave ovens .Although there are a multitude of things that fail ,two very common failings do in fact cause sparking and flames .
The first is due to bad connections . Due to the high voltages and currents , push on connections to the Magnetron can arc when a tight connection is lost . Solder joints on the control PCB behind the touch pad can become "dry" and arc causing localized burning of the PCB .Now there is a fan which blows air past the Magnetron and into the cooking area where it exits out the back or bottom vents .IMHO I think that any alcohol vapour would not be able to enter the area where these arcs happen due to them being up wind of the Alcahol vapours ( should they be present)...a slight possibility perhaps but highly unlikely .

The second issue is more of a concern.Below is a picture of a Splash guard . It is a mica sheet that is on the wall of the oven and the microwaves pass through it while stopping all the fat and shit that splatters around a typical microwave oven from contacting the Magnatron .

You will see that despite keeping our 1 year old microwave reasonably clean , the splash guard is starting to show a patch of deterioration . With a few years of use , fat predominantly and other shit will build up and get impregnated into the splash guard creating hot spots that eventually leads to arcing and finally combustion .Yes , I've seen it dozens of times ..... Very spectacular to watch , sparks , flames , smoke .....all within inches of where a jar of Booze might sit.
Some of the holes were only a few mm while some dickheads had continued to operate them with half it burnt away until finally the magnetron or HV diode/Varactor had spat the dummy

OK so I am not qualified to say if there is a real risk of an explosion happening but like all harm minimization , I can only say there is a risk .
Keep your microwave oven clean . Check the splash guard and if it appears to have dark spots appearing , replace it or the oven .....they are not that expensive .

Preferably have a dedicated microwave for aging that is not used to heat pizzas and pies

Would I be prepared to try this method to age my booze ?....sure , but I will head my own advise .I use gas to strip my Booze....some would say that's riddled with risks .Its all about being away of the dangers and using your noggin

[Drunk-N-Smurf]

There's what I like to see, warning backed up by some reasonable information as to why other than "this is dangerous, don't do it". Now I can make an informed decision.

I also have not tried nuke aging, but was thinking of giving it a go. With all the back and forth "it's perfectly safe" and "this is super dangerous" I didn't know which side of the fence to jump on.

Thank you for this information giving me an idea of what to watch for. Now I know that rather than use my regular microwave, I should sneak the backup one my wife keeps hidden away that she thinks I don't know about if I choose to try it.

[whistlewetter]

I just ordered a bag of the JD BBQ chips. I will be microwaving the day they get here!

[HDNB]

don't recall this being in this thread...
evryone sez that tails are the complexity we look for, but need years on oak to develop. when they are young they are bitter and astringent and nasty and stuff.

nuking has been commented to drive off heads, which is good, but a good cut can do that too.

does somene have a more tailsy fraction that they can try nuking and see what happens? It will be some time before i have any to play with and i'm curious.

[FullySilenced]

Actually a lot of people nuke the white dog as some of the fore and heads come off as low at 145F so it does take some of the bite out if it was ever there.... have read this on multiple forums...

FS

I understand cuts will and can remove fores and heads... oak chips, sticks, staves or chunks may help with TAILS by nuking and leaving it for a bit.. days, weeks or months... give it a try and see if it works for you... I am not a nasty tailsy kinda guy... hate the taste and smell

FS

[HDNB]

Thats what i was asking...i got no tails to try for a while, so has anyone tried nukin' tails to see if the nasty smelly crap turns into apples and toffee?

or does it just turn it into warm, wet cardboard?

[Bagasso]

Thats what i was asking...i got no tails to try for a while, so has anyone tried nukin' tails to see if the nasty smelly crap turns into apples and toffee?

or does it just turn it into warm, wet cardboard?

I was gifted some nasty stuff and decided to nuke it. I'd say it's basically low wines at 50%ABV, aged on some kind of wood. It's real rotgut stuff.

I saw some lab results around here that said that ethyl acetate went down to 0 when nuked to 160ºF so that is what I did. Don't know if it took all the heat out but it took it down to the point where it's hard for me to sense it but, it seems to me, that all the nasty tailsy stuff is still there.

[whistlewetter]

I just finished round one of the microwave. It didn't blow the house up....yet lol.

[Snuffy-ga]

Just a note, after reading a fair portion of this thread and considering the pro's and cons, what is wrong with just gently heating the stuff on an electric stove in an open pan and monitoring the temp carefully? I mean we can easily bring it to 155 degrees F and hold it for a period of time to reduce the bad stuff. seems to me it would accomplish much the same thing. Or did I miss something?