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I have toasted 8 inch white Oak for one hour at 400° I plan to cut circles in it tomorrow with a Dremel tool to fit a widemouth mason jar hopefully I'll be able to put the band on straight down on top of it after their wet and get a good seal

Seems like a nice idea.
However, my concern would be the thickness of the wood and that it will crack.
If you want to try, I would like to suggest a thing.
What about finding a pipe with the same diameter as your jars. then wet the wood and press the pipe a bit down in the wood..?
Alternatively, put the wooden discs in the late and cut a small groove that fits the jar..?
That should provide a good seal...if the wood doesn't bow of course.

Edit: If you make one prototype and it doesn't work out, you can still use the wood for aging.

This has been done and documented in the past by a few members here. The results have varied but most have had success. From what I remember you will need a pretty thick lid to hinder the angels and the flat part of the lid should be down with the majority of the wood sticking out the top of the metal band.

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Its a good idea but probably not a whole lot of benefit in toasting the wood as it wont be in contact with spirit.

Saltbush Bill wrote:Its a good idea but probably not a whole lot of benefit in toasting the wood as it wont be in contact with spirit.

Depending, of course, of the orientation of the mason jar during aging.

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Interesting concept! Definitely worth trying.

Make different wood thicknesses, see what works for leaks, cracks, and charing. You could also make them thin enough and still use the metal lid behind the ring. The wood will help with sealing under the ring.

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Hears the product.

That turned out pretty nice.

Nice, I see that you still put oak in the jar as well.
Is that because you need more Sq inches of wood to achieve the desired effect?

Very nice concept and craftsmanship!

What about drilling holes halfway through a large cork to mount oak dowels in, then bunging the mason jar with the cork?


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Thank you everyone for the comments trying to increase the air exchange or oxidation rate when ageing but on a smaller scale most do not leak some of them do trying to think od a seal like the wax used in jelly making

If you are wanting to make a better seal between the wood and the jar , try wrapping the edge of the wood with a couple of rounds of PTFE tape.

corene1 wrote:If you are wanting to make a better seal between the wood and the jar , try wrapping the edge of the wood with a couple of rounds of PTFE tape.

I will try that thanks

Cool!

love seeing people trying different things.

As it turns out 1/8 is not thick enough. They seep. Going to try them standing up. See if I get air exchange

I think they will do very well standing up , the oak in the spirit will do its job while the oak lid lets the angels have their share.

I'm seriously looking at making a few of these. I've got staves in my bottles, but they're not breathing in any way, shape or form.

It literally seems like it might be a waste of time (almost 2 years) without any breathing. I won't be barreling, so this honestly seems like the best way to get a (very) little aeration going.

There's a makerspace near me with a CNC router, I might have to do a few experiments.

Here is a style I worked with a couple of years ago. They are 1/2 inch think and the seal ring is cut down to 1/8 inch. Never could get them to seal 100% liquid tight laying them on their sides. It seems as though the metal clamp ring can't put enough pressure on the wood to compress it to the rim of the jar, but left in the standing position they work well and let the spirit breath in cycles.

Thanks, Corene. I’m going to make a couple of prototypes like this and maybe do a small production run of them.

I have been making oak caps like this for a few months, 1/8th inch thick is as thick as you can go to get the mason jar cap on tightly. Plus, you can't lay them on their sides, because they leak/seep through the wood. The whiskey in these jars is much better than similar runs aged in other vessels. I still think there is room for improvement...

I'm going to try using a lathe to make a 1/2 inch thick piece that will fit snugly into the mason jar, with the 1/8th t-piece on top. Kind of reverse of what corene1 has shown here. I will char the inside portion only, and screw a mason jar lid on top for a tight seal.

VERY IMPORTANTLY, and something that may be so simple but overlooked- if you want to match BOTH the surface area/volume ratio of oak AND that of oak to spirit to air (ie surface area only), the only glass mason jar size that meets both requirements is a 500mL wide mouth (3 inch diameter) mason jar. This is assuming 91 cm2/mL which converts to 14 in2/L (or 7 in2/500mL). The area of wide mouth mason jar at 3 inches is pi*1.5in2= 7in2!

If these calculations are correct, then you should not need to add any additional oak to this volume. Yes, this may be tedious to age in 500mL bottles with having to make several lids, but if it can accurately recreate the ratios of a 53gal barrel, it may be totally worth it. Plus more of the fun in making your own lids by hand.

Will post my results!

Curious what are you guys using as the source of wood for say 1/8" thick oak lids?
I might give these a go as well. For me it won't be for touching the spirit but for slow air exchange (breathing). I'll still put wood in the jars.

Have you guys taken ABV readings to see if you loose anything over time?

boschd wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 6:59 pm If these calculations are correct,

when the DeLorean hits 88 MpH...


no seriously, try hot waxing the 1/8 edge and wrapping with PTFE tape and see if it will seal.

I have not found 1/8th thick white american oak. I've found 1/2 inch, and run the board through the table saw to get my 1/8th thickness. If I had a planer, I would cut the piece into half on the table saw and then plane down the rest to not waste too much good oak.

My longest aged whiskey is 6 months old now, and proof is holding well, with very slight angles share loss.

I'd definitely give this a shot- the whiskey is so much smoother. I'm hoping it's even better when touching the spirit.

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no seriously, try hot waxing the 1/8 edge and wrapping with PTFE tape and see if it will seal.
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Like Brazilian hot wax? I've tried the PTFE tape with no luck, but I'd be willing to wax if I knew what supplies I needed and where to get this wax.

boschd wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 7:32 pm
Like Brazilian hot wax? I've tried the PTFE tape with no luck, but I'd be willing to wax if I knew what supplies I needed and where to get this wax.

I use bees wax, sold at my local hardware store. I melt it in a pan over very low heat. If the pan is big enough, you could simply dip your edge in it or you could use a paste brush ( also sold at the local HW store) to apply the wax. If the wax dries too quick or you want to melt it into the grains further, simply use a micro torch (from a distance) or a lighter to melt the wax on your board.

Check out Badmotivator’s link on making barrels that I have in my signature below. In the thread he has a link to his YouTube channel and there he has a video showing how he applies wax with a brush. That may help.

Otis

Thanks for the link Otis- Badmo and I think alike...

I just got doing a slight variation on what he is doing, with the ideal SA/vol ratios, using a lathe and glass mason jars. 1/2 inch thick wood, and so far, no leaks. I fill the middle hole with a SS bolt/washer (and probably wax). I will probably seal them up with bee's wax when I put spirit into them.

Now I gotta go make a mash and fill these suckers up!

Your talking about just sealing the edge, right? Just want to be sure. You want the head to breath I would think. I think what you are doing is a great idea if you can keep the edges of that ring dry.

Suggestion. Maybe try an oak dowel to plug that hole? Melt wax into the hole to plug the end grains inside, place the lid on a flat counter and tap that sucker in.

Otis

I'm envious of your lathe.

I'm curious to find out how your turned lids 'stretch' once saturated with spirit. I seem to recall Corene once mentioning that oak tends to expand along the open end of the grain.

Nice work boschd,

Have you thought of drilling the hole out bigger and using a cork bung? Might even look cool too.
Otis' oak dowel idea is really good. With the right size dowel or hole you might not need any wax or anything if it's a tight fit.

When can I place my order? LOL