Home Distiller

I was hoping someone could provide a little insight as to why there seems to be such a difference between chips and an oak cube. I have been distilling for a few months now and so far the only thing I've made has been Sweet Feed Whisky that I've been oaking with chips I got from Mile-Hi. The color changes overnight and the flavor and smell is completely different within a couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I toasted my own oak cubes (1×1 and 1×2) at 360º for 3 hours wrapped in aluminum foil. I placed a 1×1 cube in a pint jar 10 days ago. The cube has continued to float with no color change. Why do a pinch of chips work so much faster. Did I do something wrong. Thanks

My guess would be that the surface area of a hand full of chips would be much greater than even a large solid cube.

S-C

Chips will supply more surface area. Were the chips charred as well? Sounds like you did not char the cubes.

No, I didn't char them, just toasted in foil. Although they were black but not alligator char. Does charring speed the coloring process or is it mostly for flavor.
The chips from Mile-Hi are described as medium toast and are too small to char probably.

Charring helps to open the wood to allow spirits in more readily and helps to remove sulfur compounds.
A full charred barrel is 1/8th inch deep throughout. Toasting will help. And making chips.
Charring helps across the board. Too much may remove more flavors than you like. Too little not enough.
All a part of this wonderful craft. Finding out what floats your boat. So much fun.

Thanks for the help. I think I'll pull that cube out, char it and see what happens.

Careful with that as it is soaked in alcohol. Better to toss it, buy some JD chips and put those in there.
Make friends with a local high end cabinet maker. They usually have more scraps of white oak around than they no what to do with.
A few years back I had a hookup with a guy here who threw away 50 gallon trash cans of hardwoods every couple of days. His wife did not like a wood burning stove so he tossed it. To me. I still have racks of it in a shed.

Be careful with wood if you don't know how it's been handled. Construction wood gets sprayed with a variety of poisons for mildew, rot and wood-eating insects. No harmful chemicals are allowed in the production of food grade wood, so JD chips, cut up pieces of food grade barrels and wood cut from trees and dried by you or someone you trust are good choices.

Well after 10 weeks still not much of a color change. I'm starting to wonder if it isn't white oak or is this not unusual? The chips I put in the jar on the left turned it that dark in about 2 weeks and the 2 toasted and charred 1x1 cubes have changed the color little. I got my wood from an Amish sawmill. He said it was white oak and looked like it to me although I am no wood expert. Thoughts?

That is not normal are you stressing the product? Changing the temperature around 30 to 40 degrees every few days?

No stressing. It's just been sitting in my basement at a fairly consistant 60 degrees

Try putting it in the freezer at night. You want to simulate season change. The oak will soak up the spirit and then release it at different temperatures. And when I used cubes I put enough to cover the top of the liquid.

Thanks. I'll try that. I just thought the color should have changed more without distress aging