Home Distiller

first time i used these dark toast chips i have, they worked pretty well... a little light maybe
i've had spectacular results using them since then.... but since a little worked good... a little more worked better....and a little more worked even better than that...

well i finally took it too damn far......
my ujsm is over oaked


gonna do another spirit run in a couple days....will blending white dog into my over oaked distillate take it back the other direction.....?

i ask this because i know when i over steep a hot tea, thats it..done deal.... no amount of water added back to the tea gets rid of the astringency...it only dilutes the flavors that are there, and they're bad....

i'm hoping thats not the case and i am going to experiment with a pint or so first to see what happens.....

my other options

1...to bottle and cork it and see what it turns into..
2...dump it in the neutral carboy....

i really don't really wanna reflux it and i dont think it's too, too far gone... i can still taste good flavors behind the wood...

are there any other ways to deal with over oaked distillate....?

I have had a little bit of success adding whitedog to over oaked spirits. Takes a little more time to mellow. Don't add any new oak to it, let the old chips settle to the bottom of the jug, give it a couple more weeks and see how it does.

Hawke,
Can you desrcibe the color you are trying to acheive? And how long on average it takes to get that color.

Do you ever remove your chips after a period of time and continue to let the likker age?

Do you ever start with a couple of dark char then later install a light char?

Are you typically able to enjoy your (oaked) likker neat?

I do my aging with sticks, cut from a wine barrel. It's way to easy to over do it with chips. The sticks are approx. 5/8 square by 5 inch long. Toasted in a single layer, wrapped in foil, for about 1.5 hours @ 400*F

I prefer a light to medium toast. I usually end up with several different levels of toast from the same packet.

I use 4 sticks to the gallon of +/- 65%. Cover with a coffee filter for about the first week, then put the lid on and do a shake and air-out cycle for the second week. From there on, I leave the lid on loose and let it set.

Sometime after the 3rd week, the sticks will get waterlogged and sink to the bottom of the jug. Once that happens, the flavor just keeps improving.

I don't try for any particular color, but when cut to 40 to 50%, mine usually looks like R&R Canadian. I would put the taste somewhere between R&R and Pendleton.

Edit: I drink everything neat. Mixing is just a way of hiding mistakes.

Hawke wrote:Edit: I drink everything neat. Mixing is just a way of hiding mistakes.

Oohh, that cut me deep.. and I'm fading.

Thanks for the lesson.

I just don't care for all the froo froo stuff when I drink. Pour a bit in a glass and sip.
Bought some recomended, top shelf bourbon, thought about running it through the still, it was that rank. Had to mix it to finish off the bottle. It's amazing, how much my taste has changed since I started doing my own.

How do you know when it is over-oaked?

Sandhusker wrote:How do you know when it is over-oaked?

By taste. It's overoaked when it tastes overoaked to YOUR taste buds. Remember, you're making this to suit yourself, not to emulate the commercial crap. Over oaking can be fixed by diluting with white dog until you get the taste you are after. Best to not overoak in the first place by being more judicious in the amount of oak placed in the likker. Easier to add another stick later than to do it in reverse, IMHO of course.

blanik

blanikdog wrote: Best to not overoak in the first place by being more judicious in the amount of oak placed in the likker. Easier to add another stick later than to do it in reverse

blanik

kickin' myself for 3 days now.......

Hawke wrote:

Hawke wrote:I have had a little bit of success adding whitedog to over oaked spirits. Takes a little more time to mellow. Don't add any new oak to it, let the old chips settle to the bottom of the jug, give it a couple more weeks and see how it does.

Sometime after the 3rd week, the sticks will get waterlogged and sink to the bottom of the jug. Once that happens, the flavor just keeps improving.

i removed the chips....?
should i have left them in.....maybe more vanilla and caramel would work off and tannins would stay at the same level... and everything would balance out....

From what I've observed, the tannins are the first to come out of the wood. Mine will usually get maximum color within the first week, and taste like wood. Goes through several phases, some not so pleasent ones, before everything melds.