Home Distiller

I had a wild thought and decided to try this. Everyone talks about how using Mason jars won't let the aging whiskey breath . so I went down to Lowe's and got a small piece of 1/4 inch thick white oak and made some replacement caps for my mason jars. I am going to toast them and soak them for awhile and see what happens.

There is an old thread around here somewhere where a guy did this same thing and said it worked pretty good. Although i would be weary of lowes wood, wondering if it were treated somehow.

pfshine wrote:There is an old thread around here somewhere where a guy did this same thing and said it worked pretty good. Although i would be weary of lowes wood, wondering if it were treated somehow.

I checked on it , it is clean with no treatment done. I will toast them and soak them in some whiskey that I have, that should get them ready to use. Hope it works well. If not they look pretty cool.

That is a clever idea corene. I was just looking around for something to layer in there between the metal flat piece and the ring, like a sheet, film, or gasket. I store at about 50%, I'm not sure it's an issue but this is a good way to handle it.

How did you make them? Lathe or hole saw and router or something else?

Oh very good. I like that a lot.

Humbledore, I would like to hear your description of the lids again. Ring? metal piece? I have no idea. Jars I see are just normal jars with plasticised lids we can't use. Have a look at my solution: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PTFE-SHEET-0- ... 35b6174d01" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Friendly that is a good price. McMaster here in the states you will pay through the nose for that. I have lots of jars too. What I'm talking about on the lids is they are 2 piece for canning, like vegetables, jellies, what have you. They are called Ball jars here.

I gotta say nice work and way to think out side the box. It looks like a hole saw because of the hole in the middle but how did you make the lip and was it a hole saw? I don't think toasting or charing will help any because it won't come in contact with the likkker. GOOD JOB!

I posted this link in another thread a while back - http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The 2.725" disc fits a standard mason jar lid and the 3.5" disc fits a wide mouth mason jar lid. I bought 24 of the standard size for $.50/each. They work great. I've also used disc cut from heavy duty aluminum foil.

Corene, unless those wooden lids are sealed against moisture, they'll probably contract and expand with changes in humidity. I don't know how critical that is for your application, but something to think about.

S-C

humbledore wrote:Friendly that is a good price. McMaster here in the states you will pay through the nose for that. I have lots of jars too. What I'm talking about on the lids is they are 2 piece for canning, like vegetables, jellies, what have you. They are called Ball jars here.

Oh I see I thought the op had cut the lids up to produce that ring. I'm going to presume this two part design aids home canning, so the product contracts holding the disc and the ring is kinda security we add afterwards. We don't really have home canning machines in the uk. Totally new to me.

I just had a friend drop a couple of dozen used wine bottles to me. I like jars, but as ptfe is the costly part of packaging my product the small cap size on a wine bottle is a big plus.
He is an outdoor caterer, working in a marquee up for christmas. Such venue's use many bottles, and have disposal issue's you could help them with. Free glassware!

I cut an over sized blank with a hole saw then made a mandrel for the lathe to bolt them on through the center hole and turned them to size then hit them with a bit of sandpaper to smooth them. Just thinking you could probably do the whole thing with 2 hole saws. Get a smaller one and run it 1/2 way into the wood then use that pilot hole and cut the whole thing out with a bigger hole saw and clean up the edges.
I am toasting and soaking , not to add flavor but to make sure there are no impurities from manufacture left in the wood. I was thinking too that toasting might open the pores in the wood so it could breath a little better. Some day I would like to get some small barrels but they are out of my price range right now. I only have about 75 cents apiece in these lids if they work.

S-Cackalacky wrote:I posted this link in another thread a while back - http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The 2.725" disc fits a standard mason jar lid and the 3.5" disc fits a wide mouth mason jar lid. I bought 24 of the standard size for $.50/each. They work great. I've also used disc cut from heavy duty aluminum foil.

Corene, unless those wooden lids are sealed against moisture, they'll probably contract and expand with changes in humidity. I don't know how critical that is for your application, but something to think about.

S-C

I was thinking of that so there is a bit of room for them to move. The smaller diameter has about 1/16th of an inch to move and it seals on the flat going out to the bigger diameter. The good side is , if they get stuck it will keep me out of them so they can age.

S-Cackalacky wrote:I posted this link in another thread a while back - http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The 2.725" disc fits a standard mason jar lid and the 3.5" disc fits a wide mouth mason jar lid. I bought 24 of the standard size for $.50/each. They work great. I've also used disc cut from heavy duty aluminum foil.

Corene, unless those wooden lids are sealed against moisture, they'll probably contract and expand with changes in humidity. I don't know how critical that is for your application, but something to think about.

S-C

S-C that is a good find! Thank you. Sorry to drive the thread off topic corene.

corene1 wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:I posted this link in another thread a while back - http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The 2.725" disc fits a standard mason jar lid and the 3.5" disc fits a wide mouth mason jar lid. I bought 24 of the standard size for $.50/each. They work great. I've also used disc cut from heavy duty aluminum foil.

Corene, unless those wooden lids are sealed against moisture, they'll probably contract and expand with changes in humidity. I don't know how critical that is for your application, but something to think about.

S-C

I was thinking of that so there is a bit of room for them to move. The smaller diameter has about 1/16th of an inch to move and it seals on the flat going out to the bigger diameter. The good side is , if they get stuck it will keep me out of them so they can age.

Good on you for allowing the tolerance for expansion. I was thinking too that the wood would allow the product to breath a little as it would in an oak barrel. If they get stuck, I guess that would be like an aging vault.

S-C

S-Cackalacky wrote:

corene1 wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:I posted this link in another thread a while back - http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The 2.725" disc fits a standard mason jar lid and the 3.5" disc fits a wide mouth mason jar lid. I bought 24 of the standard size for $.50/each. They work great. I've also used disc cut from heavy duty aluminum foil.

Corene, unless those wooden lids are sealed against moisture, they'll probably contract and expand with changes in humidity. I don't know how critical that is for your application, but something to think about.

S-C

I was thinking of that so there is a bit of room for them to move. The smaller diameter has about 1/16th of an inch to move and it seals on the flat going out to the bigger diameter. The good side is , if they get stuck it will keep me out of them so they can age.

Good on you for allowing the tolerance for expansion. I was thinking too that the wood would allow the product to breath a little as it would in an oak barrel. If they get stuck, I guess that would be like an aging vault.

S-C

That just put the picture of the child trying to get into the piggy bank into my head .

humbledore wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:I posted this link in another thread a while back - http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The 2.725" disc fits a standard mason jar lid and the 3.5" disc fits a wide mouth mason jar lid. I bought 24 of the standard size for $.50/each. They work great. I've also used disc cut from heavy duty aluminum foil.

Corene, unless those wooden lids are sealed against moisture, they'll probably contract and expand with changes in humidity. I don't know how critical that is for your application, but something to think about.

S-C

S-C that is a good find! Thank you. Sorry to drive the thread off topic corene.

I think those are a great find. I have a bunch of liquor stored trying to decide what to do with and I have noticed that some of the older lids do get a touch of rust in them. I think I will try to get a few of those for long term storage. I tell you , when I am gone and whoever comes to clean out my house is going to have one BIG party for sure!

Would you store the jars horizontally when using the wooden lids, so it actually touches the wood, also would you char the lids with torches to actually put some burn on it or would you say broil them in the oven?

corene1 wrote:

humbledore wrote:

S-Cackalacky wrote:I posted this link in another thread a while back - http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . The 2.725" disc fits a standard mason jar lid and the 3.5" disc fits a wide mouth mason jar lid. I bought 24 of the standard size for $.50/each. They work great. I've also used disc cut from heavy duty aluminum foil.

Corene, unless those wooden lids are sealed against moisture, they'll probably contract and expand with changes in humidity. I don't know how critical that is for your application, but something to think about.

S-C

S-C that is a good find! Thank you. Sorry to drive the thread off topic corene.

I think those are a great find. I have a bunch of liquor stored trying to decide what to do with and I have noticed that some of the older lids do get a touch of rust in them. I think I will try to get a few of those for long term storage. I tell you , when I am gone and whoever comes to clean out my house is going to have one BIG party for sure!

I was wondering too if the smaller ones might fit inside a likker bottle cap.

And, please make me executor of your estate.

Just sayin',
S-C

corene1 wrote: The good side is , if they get stuck it will keep me out of them so they can age.

if they expand enough to get stuck they can break your jars. flip them over with the plug out.

So, I made a little drawing. Hopefully it explains my idea well enough. When I refer to cover the edges with tin foil, think like you would for baking a pie, so the edges of the crust don't burn. Also, the plug width could be undersized, to account for swelling. The gasket could be made out notepad backing, to be thin enough. With an undersized plug, you could also make the gasket a tad wider. Think I may just put this idea into practice, and test a single jar of store-bought moonshine. This would be mainly just to test the functionality.

Ha, I see what you are saying. Rather than turn the jar upside down, why not just have a 1" round cylinder of wood coming down off the lid into the hooch to do the aging. As long as we are daydreaming.

S-Cackalacky wrote: I was wondering too if the smaller ones might fit inside a likker bottle cap.

Nothing better to do, so I grabbed the calipers. Standard plastic liquor bottle cap liner is 1". The metal caps, like Stoli or others, are slightly larger, like 1.04". US Plastic lists .92" and 1.065", so probably go with the bigger one.

The gallon jug metal caps are closer to 1.41". Size available: 1.455". Check. Just keeps getting better!

Just so all the data's here in one spot:
Standard Mason jar lid - 2.725" liner
Wide mouth Mason lid - 3.5" liner

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... &catid=720

The KYChemist wrote:

So, I made a little drawing. Hopefully it explains my idea well enough. When I refer to cover the edges with tin foil, think like you would for baking a pie, so the edges of the crust don't burn. Also, the plug width could be undersized, to account for swelling. The gasket could be made out notepad backing, to be thin enough. With an undersized plug, you could also make the gasket a tad wider. Think I may just put this idea into practice, and test a single jar of store-bought moonshine. This would be mainly just to test the functionality.

Just for reference. I turned mine upside down to check the seal and they don't leak so no need for all the gaskets they would just be insurance, You could make them from 3/4 think wood so you could get a good char on them also. The only drawback I see is that there would only be about 7 sq. inches of surface area so you would need to add a small piece of oak inside to get a little more wood contact.

UPDATE! I soaked the lids in whiskey over night and they grew 3/16ths on an inch opposite the grain direction and stayed the same running with the grain so we now have a oval. So I will have to cut blanks , toast them , soak them , then dry them , then shape them. Even the dry one I put on a jar expanded slightly and it was not in contact with any liquid and it was moist. So re work is in order. On the other hand it tells me that since the capped lid was slightly moist it is doing it's job of breathing slightly. I think it is worth pursuing .

I like the waves in your jar of hooch

Cool idea!

cob wrote:

corene1 wrote: The good side is , if they get stuck it will keep me out of them so they can age.

if they expand enough to get stuck they can break your jars. flip them over with the plug out.

1 +
Been there done that

Did you ever perfect that? If so how did it work??

bovillia wrote:Did you ever perfect that? If so how did it work??

I never gave it a go, yet... Didn't have a chance last weekend. I'm also modifying my idea...

I understand. You had talked about milling it to an oval, what do you plan on using to do that? I was thinking if you had a template, which I would make a round plug, let it expand, and use it as a template and used a router with a 1/8 inset flush bit, you may be able to make a good oval. You could use another inset bit, but the principal that cam to mind for me is to use one already swelled up to cut the new one from. Just a thought to maybe make it easier for you.

corene1 wrote:UPDATE! I soaked the lids in whiskey over night and they grew 3/16ths on an inch opposite the grain direction and stayed the same running with the grain so we now have a oval. So I will have to cut blanks , toast them , soak them , then dry them , then shape them. Even the dry one I put on a jar expanded slightly and it was not in contact with any liquid and it was moist. So re work is in order. On the other hand it tells me that since the capped lid was slightly moist it is doing it's job of breathing slightly. I think it is worth pursuing .

Sounds like you have it going on now corene1. Charring the inside of your lid will give you nice flavors over time in those jars.