Home Distiller

Was it just on the mesquite Ron? Or on all three apricot mesquite rosebud? Did you remove the wood after a couple months or leave it the whole time? I never thought about using mesquite for aging. I have a whole shitload of that available.

Brutal,
I use 1x1x5 inch sticks toasted @ 400 for 90 minutes and then 450 for 15;brings out the sugars and spices nicely. no char lately as i don't like the added smokiness. 1 stick per quart of my AG corn/barley brew 125 proof. Let it flavor a month then remove the sticks for use in my woodbox on the grill YUM!
The longer it sits (not very long at my house) the smoother it gets.
Have Fun!!!
Ron

Came across this thread soon after reading this one - http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =4&t=53244 . The OP seems to be a big fan of crab apple wood. There's a lot of ornamental crab apple trees around where I live - might have to keep an I out for people pruning in the Spring. I was also wondering about those ornamental pear trees. I can't think of the name, but they're the ones that produce those itty bitty marble sized pears. Has anyone ever used that wood for aging?

Edit: Just noticed that the 2 threads were started by the same person.

Pear and crabapple were very good. It has a great flavor that is different and good. I think it isn't a big deal to leave the wood in since the fruitwoods I believe are low in tannins so it avoids some.of the bitterness of leave alcohol on wood too long

ron71157 wrote:Brutal,
I use 1x1x5 inch sticks toasted @ 400 for 90 minutes and then 450 for 15;brings out the sugars and spices nicely. no char lately as i don't like the added smokiness. 1 stick per quart of my AG corn/barley brew 125 proof. Let it flavor a month then remove the sticks for use in my woodbox on the grill YUM!
The longer it sits (not very long at my house) the smoother it gets.
Have Fun!!!
Ron

So, to be clear, you are doing this with mesquite wood right?

Yes mesquite all by itself....delicious.......the apricot was ok and found the rose to be on the bitter side.....I have a steady supply of crab-apple and pear and both of these produce an excellent result.

ron71157 wrote:Yes mesquite all by itself....delicious.......the apricot was ok and found the rose to be on the bitter side.....I have a steady supply of crab-apple and pear and both of these produce an excellent result.

Thanks man. I've got some weather aged mesquite that I am going to experiment with. I'll post about it in a few months.

hmm that stuff is a noxious weed in Oz didn't know it was of any use reckon i got it growing straight across the road from my house

Have drank about 1/2 gallon and still kickin'

ron71157 wrote:Have drank about 1/2 gallon and still kickin'

Tonight???

Well not just one night...2 or 20 is my philosophy.

Lots of great info here, especially about some of the procedures that you have used for trying out various woods. I want to use the stuff that I can find locally, and for the most part there is plenty of California Scrub Oak and a few other species. Because of problems with the Gold Spotted Oak borer, the state parks have a ton of this stuff that they have had to cut down. Many of these fall into the "white oak" category, so I am assuming that they would be good for aging / flavoring.

Some other wood types that are really easy to get are avocado and citrus. I frequently use avocado for cooking, but as many people have mentioned, it probably doesn't work well for aging. Also, what about some of the various pine species, like Sugar Pine? These trees are a local species, and I have always loved the way that they smell.

I wanted to post here to keep up with the chatter, and get back to you with my results in a few months.

Forget about pine of any sort it don't taste like it smells

Pines also have some toxin in them too. You are not to cook with pine for that very reason. FYI, cows also can't eat pine.

The citrus I am curious about but it will be included in my next experiment. I know there is a Bourbon from Florida aged in 5 gallon oak barrel with some orange wood inside the barrel......it tastes pretty good(Palm Ridge Reserve).

I recently got my hands on some really interesting/exotic woods; Padauk, PurpleHeart, and Zebra wood. I found two of these listed on a site http://wiki.bme.com/index.php?title=Wood_Hazards as being no-go for body jewelry (Padauk and Purpleheart), but also found reference to Padauk used as herbal medicine. I can't really find anything on zebra wood, good, bad, or indifferent. Anyone have experience with any of these?

ron71157 wrote:.....I have a steady supply of crab-apple and pear and both of these produce an excellent result.

Tell me more, please, about the crabapple. I had several cords that I've burned as firewood ... there's a 1/2 cord left and that's been drying for about five years.

I have been aging slivovich on plum wood, ghetto flavours marry up perfectly. So much so I'm not sure I would ever go back to oak for fruit brandy

I have found most any fruit or nut tree makes great wood for aging, same with smoking meats and cheeses.

thecroweater wrote:I have been aging slivovich on plum wood, ghetto flavours marry up perfectly. So much so I'm not sure I would ever go back to oak for fruit brandy

I've been using the heartwood of a plum tree for about 3 years now, I toast it on the BBQ and combine it with toasted oak.

Ghetto flavours jeez my phone hates me, yeah I did lightly oak some before using untoasted plum wood and was quite happy with that too

Oregon White Oak - Oregon Oak
Oregon Oak (Quercus garryana) can be added to the list of suitable oaks for aging spirits. I’ve been using it for a few years with success, and have received positive feedback from a half dozen distillers who have tried my stuff. There are also several commercial distilleries that use Oregon Oak with their spirits.

Oregon Oak can not be commercially harvested so you won’t likely see much in stores, but there are plenty of private land owners and small mills that process this oak that is found all over the costal ranges of the PNW from Northern California through Oregon, Washington and up into BC.

Oregon Oak is said to be higher in tannins than american oak so longer seasoning is recommended. I have used Oregon Oak that was air dried in a solar kiln for three years and it worked fine for whiskey and rum. Seasoning that same kiln dried wood for an additional year outdoors makes for an even smoother, less bitter finish.

The first thing folks notice about a spirit aged on Oregon Oak is the nose. I see lots of smiles after that first whiff. It is lighter so you get more of the base spirit notes coming through, and this wood has more fruit notes. I also find that Oregon Oak makes my spirits a bit darker than American Oak.

Otis

According to Wikipedia, oak which is Quercus, has some sections. A famous section is Quercus which includes the favorite oak we know as "white oak". I was wondering if all oak woods which belong to the section "Quercus" are suitable for aging. Specially Quercus Hartwissiana which is technically not white oak but "Strandzha oak" cuz where I live, I only have access to this one.
If it's hard to say Hartwissiana is OK or not, then wouldn't it be dangerous if you test an unknown new wood? Cuz it might give you kidney disease or something.
Are there any general rules for choosing oak at all?!