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I bought a 100g bag of bourbon chunks from LHBS and added it to 2L of 40%ABV neutral spirit as per instructions. The instructions say to leave it like that for 10 days, then it's ready to filter off. Am I better off leaving it for longer to get a better quality product?

Essencia?
Thats a lot of oak for 2l, I'd be checking it daily after 5 days and when it tastes alright drain it and put some more neutral in.
You will still need something in for smoothing (mouth feel).

personally, when using those oak chunks, I have used more oak / spirit than instructions say, and left it longer. just my experience though.

I defer to Kiwi on this one, I use the chips or charred oak

airhill wrote:Essencia?
Thats a lot of oak for 2l, I'd be checking it daily after 5 days and when it tastes alright drain it and put some more neutral in.
You will still need something in for smoothing (mouth feel).

Yes, it's Essencia. As for smoothing, are you meaning glycerine or something different?

Glycerine is about the easiest to use, and doesn't really alter the flavour much (or put on calories). There is a couple of threads around about mouthfeel that are worth looking at especially if you can't age for a long time.

Kiwi, I got a packet of those, any idea how many litres they will make as I haven't tried them yet?

um I had the bigger size pack that they say to use three times. I followed the instructions but soaked for longer than recommended and then only used them twice, then retired them to augment other oak in rum aging. so my pack made 4l.

That would be pricey in OZ for just 4l.

The instructions on the Essencia packet say "more essencia Bourbon Chunks in the same volume of alcohol, soaking for less time will produce better Bourbon". Why will soaking for less time produce a better quality bourbon? Surely using lots of oak and leaving it in for a long time will give it better flavour?

SMOKEU wrote:The instructions on the Essencia packet say "more essencia Bourbon Chunks in the same volume of alcohol, soaking for less time will produce better Bourbon". Why will soaking for less time produce a better quality bourbon? Surely using lots of oak and leaving it in for a long time will give it better flavour?

Don't believe everything your read as true fact... Less oak longer has been proven to work better for many years now and multiple members here have proven that theory out to be fact... Who would you be more inclined to believe...???

this isn't really oaking in the normal sense of the word - you're just trying to leach out the flavours that have been left in the wood. I used the more / longer approach that you've thought up, I was pretty happy with it. Certainly far superior to essences. I'd probably say better than my UJSM attempts as well. Not cost effective, though.

SMOKEU wrote:Why will soaking for less time produce a better quality bourbon?

Leaving it for a couple of days will extract flavour and colour but not the "woody" flavour in chips. Leaving it for (about) 1 - 4 weeks will extract that horrible "dead tree" flavour. Flavour starts to mellow out after about 4 weeks. Like we all say - little oak for longer produces a better drink.

I use oak staves for aging but I use oak shavings for colour and extra flavour. I don't use caramel for colour.
Staves are about 2" long and about 1/2' square. I use 4 per 4 litres.

Left to right is raw oak, light toast, dark toast and charred.
I use 1 tablespoon DT shavings per 4l in my Bourbon (which is aged on charred oak)
I use 1 cup (about 30g) of DT shavings per 4 litres in my Dark Rum (which is aged on charred oak)

Dark Rum on the left, Bourbon on the right. (Hic )
scarecrow

Love the colour of the rum, SC. I can almost taste it.

blanik

That's just the Captains label clouding ya judgement

scarecrow

rad14701 wrote:

SMOKEU wrote:The instructions on the Essencia packet say "more essencia Bourbon Chunks in the same volume of alcohol, soaking for less time will produce better Bourbon". Why will soaking for less time produce a better quality bourbon? Surely using lots of oak and leaving it in for a long time will give it better flavour?

Don't believe everything your read as true fact... Less oak longer has been proven to work better for many years now and multiple members here have proven that theory out to be fact... Who would you be more inclined to believe...???

I'll believe you guys.

I previously reported here that I purposely over-oak'd some UJSM with deeply charred oak, and I mean, very deeply charred oak(used whiskey barrel staves). There were 3-4 large sticks(about 3" long) in a quart jar. By anyone's definition, this was way too much oak. I did it to see how quickly I could get the color, but I then forgot about it, and something like 6 months or more later, I found the jar and thought "oops!" The spirits had turned a deep brown/gold, damn near the color of co-cola. Well, when I opened it up and took a whiff, I was amazed. Smelled like store bought bourbon! So I takes a little taste, and even at full strength, it was great, and my most authentic bourbon yet! Yet there was no "over oak'd" taste to it; in other words, it didn't taste like I was sucking on a oak toothpick, like I'd had happen previously when I'd over-oak'd, using toasted oak.

I repeated that experiment to be sure it wasn't a fluke, and it wasn't. Since that day, I've deeply charred all my woods, to the point of making charcoal of a lot of it, and the trick, I found, is to char it, and immediately add it to the spirit. I mean, dunk it in cold water first to extinguish it, but go from the water to the aging vessel. I have not over-oak'd anything since charring like this.

Leave the toasting the wine makers; whiskey and rum like real char!

I use the Infrared burner on my Bbq to quickly char white oak. It takes just a couple of minutes. I use a pair of tongs and move them from the "cool" side of the Bbq to the super hot Infrared side. Works a treat.

I just set 'em fire... If they're not flaming, they're not charred, only toasted.

Can i use the used chunks,which will be used twice following instructions on my own bourbon,to then soak in rum i have had sitting in the cupboard??I am not a big rum drinker but it is for my wifes grandfather who loves his rum,he got me hooked on Making and distilling my own booze.I am after a rum that he will be blown away by.
Thanks in advance.

for the essencia chunks I use 125g (i.e. 1/4 of the 500g bag) for 4L of 40% neutral. At 1 month it tastes ok, after 2 months it tastes pretty good. Leaving it longer makes it taste better.

I have around 40L bourbon (all from various oak chips) sitting on the shelf. I drink them in rotation so they get to age for around a year or so. Very easy to make, very smooth tasting.

For best results oaking should be done at 65ABV.


OD

Normal oaking yeah, but these chunks are just for leeching out some flavour...

Just sippin on my first try of the essencia chunks,and must say it is very good.Came out such a nice colour too.Will leave the next lot soaking for at least a month on the same chunks.well impressed with them!

Just out of curiousity, My wife bought me two charred, one time use barrels from the Jack Daniels Company store in Lynchburg and I would hate to see them just sitting around collecting dust when they could collect dust while making such a fine tasting product. Though I know it would take a bit to fill'em. i would love to see what would happen. Any insight or suggestions.

just collect in corny kegs until you have enough to fill,second use barrels just make for a liter product.or you can add a spiral
(hang from bung) your going to have to soak them up a good while.