Excellent results with oak cubes

[AfricaUnite]

Hey all I just thought I'd let you know Ive been using oak cubes (not chips) to flavour my UJSM and after 2 weeks, ive got a product thats better (more flavourfull) than a lot of the whisky's for sale. Ive been playing with american medium and heavy toast. They also have a medium plus toast. I find these much better than chips as chips have uneven surface area and are almost always dried out. Next to chopping down a tree or having a barrel I think these are the next best thing.

I get mine from the US as I cant find a supplier in Canada.

[Rocky_Creek]

It takes about 6 months in a 15 gallon barrel to surpass the cubes. They are absolutely the best non barrel solution.

[Dr. Lector]

What is the size of the oak cubes you are using and how much ?

I am aging some whiskey on oak strips , chared and medium roast that I make here at home . Mine is 3 months old now and I am having trouble staying out of it . It is a cooked grain mash of 70% corn 16% wheat and 14% malted barley.
As for the oak I am lucky enough to have a large limb that has fallen from a white oak tree in the woods about 75 yards from my back door. It has been down for several years now.

[AfricaUnite]

They are all very evenly sized at about 1/2" per side. 8oz is $8 US for the american. I get mine from northern brewer http://www.northernbrewer.com/oak-products.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow.

I dont measure how much I use, a small palmfull it what I used on a 1.5 litre mason jar full, I added a couple american heavy toast after the medium toast and am very pleased with the flavour.

I just distilled 2.5 litres of UJSM @70% last night so im going to do some trials and see what type of oak and how much I like best.

[copperstill]

Don't you want the effect of the barrel? Wood profile is important yes but that isn't going to smooth things out like time. Plus you don't have to play by the rules on fresh chared oak, so you can age longer in a bbl with out getting to much wood in the profile unlike the the big boys.

[hornedrhodent]

In and out of the fridge works wonders.

In at night - out in the day - but perhaps it should be opposite in a climate that has -32deg at this time of year.


I wonder what they do in Antarctica - I bet someone down there has a still tucked away somewhere.

[AfricaUnite]

Copperstill - yes i would like the effect of the barrel, but I do not want the cost, or upkeep of a barrel at this point, plus I do not intent to produce enough whisky to warrent the purchase of a barrel. Oak cubes are as close as I am going to get to a barrel I think

hornedrhodent - Interesting idea, I am going to try this with 1/2 of the UJSM i make this weekend.

[muckanic]

I wonder what they do in Antarctica - I bet someone down there has a still tucked away somewhere.

Not that I have tried it yet, but I suspect the shed here might work over winter. We get more or less constant frosts from May through Sept, with day-time thaws. Failing that, an old chest freezer on a timer might be the go. You really want something that will hold jugs rather than just bottles.

[AfricaUnite]

Its been over a week, I had 3 -1 litre mason jars filled with UJSM @ 45-50%ABV.

Jar 1- Medium Toast cubes
Jar 2- Medium Plus cubes
Jar 3- Heavy toast cubes

By far the most pleasent was the medium toast in terms of aroma and flavour, smooth mellow vanillas.

The heavy toast smelled the most unapealing but the taste was nice and smokey.

The medium plus was kind of in between, not too smokey, not much vanilla kind of a wierd place to be for a whisky. at this point.

I blended them all together and added a bit more medium toast to finish off the flavour.

I have 1 jar in the fridge to compare against a jar I kept out of the fridge, Im interested to see any differences.

I distilled 3 litres of UJSM @ 70% ABV friday night, so I diluted to just under 4L total and have added mostly medium toast, with a pinch of medium plus and just a couple cubes of heavy. Will adjust for taste later on. At this point now I have 9 litres of UJSM at around 50% ABV so im moving on to other things until I get to the 2L mark.

Much thanks to UJ for his recipie it has been a great success and great fun trying to create a whisky compareable to that at the store. Ive shared this whisky with a few friends and the compliments have been very positive, most stated that if I hadnt told them it was homemade they would have never known.

[Clem]

I have used cubes from Northern Brewer with very good luck. About 8 cubes per 1 quart jar for about eight weeks makes pretty good whiskey. I'm thinking about trying some homemade cubes from my own apple or peach trees. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

[Uncle Jesse]

if you're doing a straight corn whiskey then the tradition is to use uncharred oak. you'll know when you get that tennessee 'tang' to your spirit, it's unmistakable. i have also had great luck with charred oak cubes of varying types. hungarian is good but american oak seems to work best, or at least it's the most familiar taste. the real experiment is with different proofs and barrel sizes; smaller barrels age faster.

[Spriit Tisler]

I just got my corn flakes whiskey stripped and now doing first 1.5l batch at 50abv with 15 cubes that are about 1cm3 each. Jack for reference.

[Smokee]

I have used cubes from Northern Brewer with very good luck. About 8 cubes per 1 quart jar for about eight weeks makes pretty good whiskey. I'm thinking about trying some homemade cubes from my own apple or peach trees. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

I use Stavin oak beans, started a thread last week looking for some input from other users on quantity. Your cubes looks similar to the stavin beans, I'd imagine they make these in a similar process. I've found that the amount you mentioned works best for me. I weigh mine but track the count too, I currently have 1.5 gallons of 60% AG on 1.3oz/45 cubes, medium toast. I have the same thing on French oak aging parallel with the American oak. Looking forward to seeing the difference.

[Shine0n]

I love the med toast oak cubes and been using them for 3 years now.
I lay them side by side 5lg and per quart this has been the best ratio, I also do 3 cycles in the nuke to 150f and seal the lids, open once at room temp.
After 3 months it's some fine sippin but improves well after that 6-9 months.
I couldn't tell you the difference from my barrel and them on my rums at least.

[Smokee]

I lay them side by side 5lg and per quart this has been the best ratio

5 Large cubes?

[Shine0n]

Mine are 1/2" x 1/2"
lay out a row 5 cubes long and another one on the side, it works well for a quart 32oz of 125ish proof.

I have some oak and cherry domino's that are 1"thk x 2"w x 4" lg sill sitting in the weather to season, I may try one in a gallon of rum for 6-8 months to see if the ratios are what I like.

I do mainly med toast but will char a few for my bourbon.

[Cu29er]

Oak alternatives have been used in the wine industry for decades. So I was kind of surprised when touring Makers Mark they were showing 'inserts' cut like roof shingles to put in an old barrel as a recent R&D project.

If you search for it, you can find the wine industry oak calculators, basically compares the volume to surface area of a standard barrel to the surface area of your 'cubes' and the volume of your container as a good starting point. Those counter-top 2 to 3 gallon mini barrels will age in three months like a big barrel in four years. Cubes and sticks are all surface area!

Check out these folks. Look at their Kickstarter project too... $195,000 paid to them by subscribers to start up burning sticks. Clever.
https://www.timeandoak.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/26 ... in-24-hour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Clever again, a pair of these sticks for $15 shipped to you.