Buying oak

[pumpman]

Does anyone here every buy oak from the hardware instead of going to a brew store or ordering on line?

[JeepJunkie]

i do woodworking, all my aging wood comes from my scraps, the brew store doesn't have a monopoly on oak bits...

[myles]

There is a post somewhere about buying oak direct from the sawmill. It seems they always have offcuts left at the end of a log that are big enough for us!!

[LWTCS]

http://www.constantines.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I go down there sometimes. They have a scrap barrel filled with odds and ends.

I'll grab some for you no matter.

3 bucks can gitcha 25-30 sticks.

Its on my list.
But don't wait on me cuz I'm usually a sorry ass.

[kiwistiller]

I got a used wine barrel for $50. broke it down into staves, removed about half of the wine penetration, and then toasted / charred as needed. the sticks I made gave me a noticeable improvement over chips and cubes (tested on the same raw spirit). I won't ever buy raw oak again, not that I'll need to at this rate, one barrel goes a long way

[LWTCS]

That sounds interesting Kiwi

[kiwistiller]

If you're interested, the base spirit was doubled DWWG + barley malt. all oak was medium toasted. the chips was very flat in taste. tasted oaky but there was no depth too it. colour was piss yellow as well, so not that happy there... the cubes had a more complex taste, and the vanilla started to appear, as well as the warm toasty aftertaste and a hint of nuttiness(?). colour was better, but again far too yelow. don't know why. The sticks from the barrel had a very complex tasted. some winey notes came over, with a distinct muskiness standing out in a complex nose... the toastiness and vanilla were there in taste as well and the slight undertone of wine really made the whisky-ish tastes stand out. colour was what it should be, golden brown.

I ended up mixing the three together and filtering through manuka charcoal. yum!

[/offtopic]

[LWTCS]

Sheeee...ewt. Not off topic to me ( sorry pumpman).

Excellant verbal illustration. Then comes the watery mouth.

[myles]

I am not using it for ageing, as I saved it for timber use, but some time back I bought 20 old folding school desks. small child size but pure solid oak. Sanding down takes off the ink sains etc.

Its worth keeping an eye on the auction sales.

[pumpman]

I'll grab some for you no matter.

Maybe you'll get down there before I get my corn done.

[LWTCS]

Do or don't.
I'm grabbin some for you.

I hope I can.

[JeepJunkie]

saw the saw mill post, made me wonder if it's better to use kiln dried stuff or green wood....???

[Dnderhead]

air dried .

[HookLine]

I got a used wine barrel for $50. broke it down into staves, removed about half of the wine penetration, and then toasted / charred as needed. the sticks I made gave me a noticeable improvement over chips and cubes (tested on the same raw spirit). I won't ever buy raw oak again, not that I'll need to at this rate, one barrel goes a long way

He he. Same story here. Got a half barrel of French oak for $75. It had been used for ageing red wine. When I pulled it apart I got more oak than I will probably ever need.

I did a comparison between removing the red wine stains and leaving them on. With the red wine stains it seemed to give slightly richer smoother flavour. Try both ways and see which you like best.

[myles]

I bought some fresh cut and peeled oak logs from a coppice worker. They are intended for the timbers in a fruit press, but if they have split too much will find a differebt use.

I got 13 yards of 4-6" diameter for UK £30