What I Did Today

[Easydrinker]

Today I decided to ask the question
"What spirit have you aged in glass, no wood chips or pieces, that you think has really improved?"

I have a slight cheat in mind, but wonder about others experiences.

Robert.

[Leatherman]

Talking about wood chips. Maybe someone can advice. I did liters 35-40 abv with Still Spirits | Gobbler's Genuine Bourbon Chips. On pack it advice to use 50g for 2 liters. I used all all, 100 grams for 5 liters. After 26 days of aging in glass I tasted a bit today. And it tastes a bit woody, but more soapy. Can it be that I aged it to long?
Made neutral from vodka star with 5.5 kg sugar, spirit run and 2 times filtered with carbon

Didnt want to create new topic for this soap opera. Thank you for answers

[Easydrinker]

domasj,
In my opinion you have used too much, and/or left it too long.
I do not know the chips that you used.
I use homemade matchsticks from old barrels.
The surface area on your chips will be greater.
I use about 100g of Oak per 5 lires.

You can always try diluting some of this product with some new clean filtered neutral, shake it about and taste it, to see if it improves?

Robert.

[Mash]

Soapy. Not come across that one. Does it have a smell too?

There is a difference between woody and oaky?

I wonder if it will mature out. Has the spirit been open for a few days and allowed to breathe

[Leatherman]

After did spirit run I left it for the night in open demijohn jar. And it felt that smell improved, after that I diluted and filtrated. I think that is the case that I left it for to long to mature with chips.

By the way big thanks for idea about diluting it with neutral. Very simple and smart solution.

Cheers!

[Easydrinker]

That sums me up nicely.
Simple and smart.
I can live with that

Robert.

[Leatherman]

Ordered and waiting for a pot still. Cant wait to try it ordered a whiskey kit aswell. Any advice on this? Is is this a good thing to start on?

[H12rpo]

If you're talking about the SS whisky kit, I bought it and have had some good fun with trial and error adding bits of flavourings esters etc. For the most part the essences are for doing a basic profile then adding various 'notes' . Some experiments turned out great some not so much but you can always recycle!

[packapoo]

A 'whisky kit' can cover a bit of ground.

If yours is the basic grain for mashing, yeast (hopefully not Turdbo) and oak pieces for aging, you have all you need.
Will be fun and you'll learn a lot.

Otherwise you're just going the long way round and eventually will get back to what I wrote

[Leatherman]

I ordered Barrel 674 Single Malt Whiskey Distillers Kit. From Love brewing.

[Easydrinker]

I just read about the Barrel 674 Single Malt Whiskey Distillers Kit.
It sounds interesting.
I can't agree with using turbo clear though, I never do with AG washes.
Scotch distilleries run cloudy brews and recycle feints to produce flavour.
As do I.
I don't see how this can compare?
Eager to hear your results.

Robert.

[packapoo]

Think in another life that geezer used to flog snake oil....


Kit not quite what I had in mind but looks decent enough to get you started, learning a lot and having fun. Hope you enjoy your labors, then when you move up to all grain.....

[Easydrinker]

Yarp, sounds like snake oil to me, but maybe a snake oil worth a try?

Robert.

[packapoo]

Oh I think it is worth a try Robert, and domasj should take into account your comment.

I know even from here that it seems to be a pretty well regarded HBS but a couple of things got me....


Drongo was yabbering on about 'the alembic' while flicking up shots of the standard T500.
Twice he flicked up info 'that if we were doing an all grain whisky then we'd be doing an 8 hour boil'. Words to that effect, I can't be bothered going back to quote exactly. This mash he was on about was for a 25 litre wash. I find that on a one hour boil I lose +/- 3.5 litres, so at the end of 8 hours

Just to make sure I was watching a knowledge deficit person I took in a couple more of his vids and his Michaela Mouse approach was apparent in both.

Glad he's not my local HBS go-to.

[Easydrinker]

Today I did the second strip of my latest 50 litre neutral wash.
Gob smacked,just as last night with the first, as to how little alcohol it contained. >:(
I do this on a regular basis, and assumed that it was like colouring by numbers.
I have stopped taking SG's and simply use FG's to know when to rack and roll.
I can only assume that I was light on the sugar for this one,the missing alcohol equates to around 2Kg.
I want to blame the fairies, but accept that as no leaks or spillages were evident, it must be operator error.
It seems that I cannot count up to 5 when brewing late at night after a drink or two.

Robert.