Oak stick turned my neutral green!

[Bob421]

I put a lightly toasted white oak stick about 3/4 inch square by about 6 inches, just will fit in a quart jar, in my 65% gerber run and it has turned a dark green in three days. The oak came from my dads farm and he harvested it about 3 years ago had it cut into planks right on the premises and air dried it so I know the history of the piece of wood. I was not expecting the green color. It did not seem to hurt the flavor any gave it some oaky taste which might be too much for some but I like it and it helped the aroma quite a bit. I can definitely smell a little caramelly smell to it now.
Anyone ever have this happen?

[kiwistiller]

thats pretty, unusual? what type of oak is it? did you toast / char it?

[Bob421]

It's white oak. I dont know what particular variant.
I toasted it on the grill untill it turned brown and just a little but charred in the ends and edges.
Then I dunked hem I water. They fizzled a good bit in the water.
I got them to try in some wine I made and had one left over so...
I am drinking it in some strawberry lemonade right now and it definitley helped the flavor. With the unoaked stuff I can't even tell it is there untill I stand up

[kiwistiller]

um. Ok I'm out of ideas. Unless it was sap-wood as opposed to heartwood? not sure if that would make it green though.

[blind drunk]

Try pouring it through a coffee filter. Happened to me too and I figured it was suspended particles and it was, in my case. Worth a try. Good luck, bd.

[Bob421]

I ran it through a single coffee filter and it helped but stilll very green. When I get time I will run it through some more.

[rubber duck]

Where did you get the oak? Could it have been treated with a chemical?

[Bob421]

Dad had it milled on site about three years ago. I was there to help. I has been air drying untill dad decided to use a plank for a project and I got a piece ripped off one edge of a plank. I suppose it could have the odd mouse pee or some such on it but certainly nothing chemical added after milling. Now I don't think I will drink any more of it. I have two more batches that will be ready this weekend so I really don't need to take the chance. Shame, it tastes pretty good.

[Barney Fife]

The charring should take care of any mouse pee or other nasties that may have got on it. I suspect the green tint comes from your having unknowingly used sapwood, especially since you say it's an off-cut from the edge of the board. There could have been insects or insect larvae in the layer, though dead, that could do this. The wood itself may also have mineral deposits, which can also cause strange coloring at times. None of these would be reason to toss it. And it could simply be that you have more heads or tails than you think in your product, and we've had a simple chemical reaction to the tannins and all, creating a greenish tint, that if left to age longer, will continue to change and turn gold as expected. I forget what the chemistry is, but oak was often turned green in color in olden days, on purpose, through some simple home chemistry. Iron oxide(rust) comes to mind.

[Bob421]

The mineral deposit/chemical reaction makes sense. There could defintly be more heads than I think because it was my first run and I am still learning. But I got some
pretty good warm fuzzies off of it with no adverse affects.
It definitly was not sapwood. It came from a board intended to make nice furniture.
He knows what he is doing and is adamant about there being chemicals or such on it.
I think maybe I will charr the piece a little more and put it back infor a while and just see what happens
Thanks guys
Bob

[Barney Fife]

The sapwood is of no concern to a cabinet maker, carpenter, or anyone else, except for us. It's good wood, and it's only a small portion of any board. Most don't know it exists, so don't expect any piece of wood, high quality or not, to be free of sapwood.

Char the piece a lot....

[Bob421]

Ok. I do t know that much about wood. That is Dads territory. I just figured sapwood was the bit at the outside of the tree and that would have been included in the portion we trimmed off when it was milled. Some folks keep a lot more of the log than we did.
As long as you folks dont think it could be dangerous I will keep experimenting with it.
Thanks
Bob

[Barney Fife]

Yes, most of the sapwood gets tossed by the slabbing at the sawmill, but a large tree can have 3+ inches of sapwood, so lots get through, also. It's not evil for woodworking, but it will make our booze awful bitter.

I'm leaning moire towards you having deep tails in your drink, causing this tint. I'd re-run it, with the next spirirt run; just consider this as feints. By the way, you did clean your still correctly with a throwaway run before this one, right? right? Please say so!

[Bob421]

I ran some beer through it (big mistake, that smell still haunts my dreams)
then ran some more water and vinegar, the. Ran a small amount of gerber through it again. So it should have been thouroghly cleaned.
All the rest of this run is crystal clear with barely a little sweet odor that was clearing with airing.

[Barney Fife]

Sounds good! Just toss the green giant in with the next run.

[blanikdog]

As opposed to the "Green Fairy", barney.

blanik