I Did It ..... I think....

[CUwithSNSB]

I dug thru my firewood pile of planks ---- cut skids and pallets... and found some Beautiful White oak boards. The smell reminded me of Jack D, with a hint of ginger spice...ummmy!!! So I cut a few pieces, sanded the rough surfaces, tossed them into the oven for 30 minutes @350* the Aroma was sooooo sweet even my wife commented of the very aromatic scent wafting thru the kitchen... snifffffffff...... went to the local grocery store and bought the cheapest bottle of vodka I could find.... my boiler isn't finished yet.... found a quart sized mason jar and added the vodka to the toatsed oak.... after about 26 hours I stirred it around and popped the top..WOW!!! Very Very similar to Korbel Brandy flavor!!

Then today I was digging thru my fire wood pile and found some Sugar maple---- spent a little time making charcol---- Surgar maple charcol!!! So you know where this is going, yep I'm gonna give it a try and run my "oaked" vodka thru the sugar maple charcol.... I'm thinking I'll try a coffee filter first, or maybe an empty tea bag.....

Question is:
How Long do I let the Vodka "age" with the oak?

How many times should I run the Vodka thru the charcol?

Is there an easy way to make a charcol filter?

oh yeah, rest assured, I Know my wood, I spent 6 years as a cabinet maker....although I'll admit, next time I sand my oak, I'll use compressed air to blow ALL the dust off of the surface and the pores of the wood!!!

Thanks

[LWTCS]

Yer hooked.
I hope yer missus is a benevolent soul.

Best wishes to you and your missus

[kiwistiller]

when I charcoal filter I grind the stuff up in my mortar and put in in a coffee filter. just like makin coffee the more charcoal you put in the filter, the stronger the resulting flavours.

[LWTCS]

just like makin coffee the more charcoal you put in the filter, the stronger the resulting flavours.

Sorry kiwi,
I'm a bit thick.
Say that again please.
Thanks Larry

[kiwistiller]

just like makin coffee the more charcoal you put in the filter, the stronger the resulting flavours.

Sorry kiwi,
I'm a bit thick.
Say that again please.
Thanks Larry

Now I'm not sure if you're taking the piss or not

ok. benefit of the doubt: so when you've ground up the charcoal, and are putting it in the coffee filter, the more you put in the slower the distillate will trickle through. the slower it trickles through, the more character is imparted by the charcoal. also, the more charcoal is in the filter, more contact. so, more charcoal in the filter = more flavour from it.

I use three coffee filters for this to make sure no dust gets into the product.

[LWTCS]

Recon I was pissing pickle water when I asked the question.

Made perfect sense today.

Hehe