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So I have gathered that the biggest problem using chips is that you get a mono-flavor from them because you can't toast the thin chips to different degrees because they aren't thick enough. So how bout toasting 4 or 5 piles to different degrees and then char some piles too. Wouldn't this give you all the same ranges and levels of a toasted/char stave? Or am I missing some scientific reason why the wood acts differently in chips than in staves?

This should clear it up a bit for you..
http://homedistiller.org/aging/aging/wood" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Sorta... They talk about boiling chips and things like that, but I didn't see anything about adding a range of differently toasted and charred chips to get the same flavor profile as a toasted and charred stave. The little graph was helpful to see what tempreture the chips need to be toasted at to get the flavor I want. I was just curious if anyone had thought of this, or tried it.?

bcboyz86 wrote:Sorta... They talk about boiling chips and things like that, but I didn't see anything about adding a range of differently toasted and charred chips to get the same flavor profile as a toasted and charred stave. The little graph was helpful to see what tempreture the chips need to be toasted at to get the flavor I want. I was just curious if anyone had thought of this, or tried it.?

I have not done it as most folks (myself included) toast sticks rather than chips as they are pretty thin and hard to draw the different flavors seen on the chart.

Do you make your own, like buy a board and cut it up.Or buy them somewhere?

bcboyz86 wrote:Do you make your own, like buy a board and cut it up.Or buy them somewhere?

BCB, here's a post I made this morning on how I do sticks, with some pics. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 4#p7091674

PS: Youll get the sweetness and flavor faster from fresh new white oak. If you go that route tho you have to first toast the boards in your oven at 400 for 2+ hours. then cut them up and char them all around. Soak in water overnight too. Im finding the used JD staves still have lots of life left tho, and at 30 bucks for a half barrel planter at Menards its cheap. Makes a mountain of 1x1x5 sticks.

Only ever used JD chips once to age my shine. I used them straight from the packet and although they produced a nice shine it failed to produce a product I get from using the staves from a used whisky barrel.

I bought a full-sized used Scotch whisky barrel here and once the barrel was stripped down, and the oak planed to remove old charring and surface dirt, I cut them into 6" x 1/2".
I lightly toast, heavy toast and char some of them. When it comes to using them, I place 1 of each to a gallon of 65% shine. I just opened a 1 gallon jar of 2 YO UJSSM using this over-oaked method. Its friggin awesome...

I have a friend here who uses JD BBQ chips exclusively for his shine, which is a nice drop. But even he is starting to add a some oak I gave him.

Dont get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with using JD chips for ageing and it does produce a nice smooth shine, but I guess the thicker the wood, the better.
I've never toasted them though, something I will mention to my friend...

Just my 2 cents...