They are an oaking chip, not a flavoring chip. They work particularly well for whiskey. UJSSM, SweetFeed, Etc.
They will not make a neutral taste like whiskey.
Other chips or staves, no matter how deep the char always seemed to leave a bad woody taste from the tannins that can take months or years to dissappear.
Because the JD chips have already been exposed to alcohol the tannins are not present.
They are well suited for the impatient distiller. You can over oak without ruining your booze with to much tannin. For this reason, oaking can be done faster by using greater amounts of chips. You literally can fill your oaking vessel with chips.
How to use them. Fill oaking vessel ½ full with new chips, top with blended UJSSM and cover air tight. Leave a couple inches of head space.
Start tasting after two weeks. On the first use of the chips 14 – 21 days your booze will be ready to bottle.
On second and third use of the chips it will take an extra week. When chips start to wear out add a little fresh chips to the mix.
I like to oak at 100-110 PROOF (sorry my bad
). Lower ABV= darker, rich caramel notes. Higher ABV= lighter smoother tasting after dilution.Caution! You can over do! I left a vessel open, soaking for six weeks on new chips. I got a dark nasty syrup. Left on chips too long then too much alcohol had evaporated concentrating the remaining tails.
Rum. I have rinsed spent chips and used them on rum. I found that they smoothed it out after a few weeks but also removed some of the rum flavor.
I don’t recommend their use on rum.
Do not discard spent chips. They are great for smoking meats on the BBQ
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