The search for the holy grail - well Jacky D

[Superslim007]

In my quest for a good replica of my fave tipple JD I have tried all the essences and they don't come close, Bourbon barrel chunks were good/nice but not that distinct flavour, even tried the Jack Daniels BBQ wood chips from B&Q to no avail.

Well just bought some Still Spirits Bourbon wood chips 100 grams, 50 grams allegedly is enough to make 2 litres in 10 days, Well I'll give it a go

To my surprise on opening the bag and smelling - Wow it smells like a bag of Jack Daniels, smells beautiful the closest I have ever smelt, unfortunately that is no indication of taste so I have done 1 litre for a 10 day soak and I'm trying 1 litre Nuke style so fingers crossed I'm hoping for good things tomorrow.

Has anyone else used the Still Spirits 100 gram bags - what were your experiences?

[Almanac]

I got one bag that was musty and never went back but if you get good ones they will give a good result just too expensive in my book.

If using the JD BBQ chips you should blanch them in boiling water before adding your spirit and the ratio of spirit to wood is critical. 6lt to a full bag of rinsed and blanched JD Chips worked for me and I was a 25 year JD drinker ...wouldn't touch the stuff now!

AM

[YHB]

Odin is selling JD Barrel Blocks in bulk and here is an extract from his site.

"Can be used directly or after an extra medium, medium plus, or heavy toasting in the oven

For direct use: use 1/5th of the drink volume as wood volume, age for 5 to 7 weeks, rack of for further ageing "of he wood"

These blocks can be used up to three times. First in a whiskey, then in a brandy or genever, thirdly in rum ageing

For use after toasting: use < 8 grams per liter of whiskey for a prolonged maturation (< 1 year)

Maximum ABV of drink on wood: 63% (more complex taste)
Minimum ABV of drink on wood: 50% (smooth vanilla taste)"

If you want all the details try this link.

http://www.istill.eu/#!product/prd2/737 ... s%3A-10-kg

[Superslim007]

Thanks though I thought less than a £5 for 100 grams just over £1.00 per litre when you look at most essences they are £2+ per litre.

You say 6L to a full bag, is that the bag that's about 800grams? from B&Q?

[Capt-Cudellez]

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Odin is selling JD Barrel Blocks in bulk and here is an extract from his site.

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YHB, I bought some of those from him. The wood was very good, lots of long grain. I have to say, the low quality label on the plastic barrel makes me wonder if it is indeed a bona fide JD product, but it definitely smells of bourbon, and seems to be a good product.

I'm using it to age stuff rather than trying to use it to flavour something like bourbon. And its too early to tell how thats going to work out, but its imparting a good colour.

For a bourbon, I find its best to take some of the wood (even those chunks) and blast it with the blow torch until it goes orange and you see the surface crack.

[Superslim007]

Odin is selling JD Barrel Blocks in bulk and here is an extract from his site.

"Can be used directly or after an extra medium, medium plus, or heavy toasting in the oven

For direct use: use 1/5th of the drink volume as wood volume, age for 5 to 7 weeks, rack of for further ageing "of he wood"

These blocks can be used up to three times. First in a whiskey, then in a brandy or genever, thirdly in rum ageing

For use after toasting: use < 8 grams per liter of whiskey for a prolonged maturation (< 1 year)

Maximum ABV of drink on wood: 63% (more complex taste)
Minimum ABV of drink on wood: 50% (smooth vanilla taste)"

If you want all the details try this link.

http://www.istill.eu/#!product/prd2/737 ... s%3A-10-kg

Nice 1

[billmcc]

I also have used the still spirit bourbon chunks,from my notes i use 100grm(1 bag) in 4.5 ltr at 40 abv and add 1 bottle of ss top shelf bourbon essence leave for 4 week then add 4 tsp maple syrup filter and bottle,not sure how close to jd this is but my bourbon drinking friends prefer it.i'm just macerating some black cherrys in a bottle of this and awaiting the outcome,fingers crossed
Cheers

[RumJohn]

I have just read all the posts on "...holy grail" and I have to ask what your base spirit is. I would venture to say it is a neutral. JD starts out with their formula whiskey and ages it in new (as in unused) American white oak. These barrels are only used once by JD.

The Holy Grail will continue to be elusive if using a neutral and essence or JD flavoured wood.

Make yourself a good rye whiskey and age it in or with charred American white oak. You just might get a glimpse of the Holy grail, or at least where it should be.

[Almanac]

Yes, Grasshopper, the path to true enlightenment involves using grain alcohol on virgin toasted and roasted American White Oak for 12 months.

However, using a decent neutral with a little late heads, on some JD chunks is not a bad quick fix....I do both and my first REAL whisky will be cracked open for christmas this year

AM

[Superslim007]

I have just read all the posts on "...holy grail" and I have to ask what your base spirit is. I would venture to say it is a neutral. JD starts out with their formula whiskey and ages it in new (as in unused) American white oak. These barrels are only used once by JD.

The Holy Grail will continue to be elusive if using a neutral and essence or JD flavoured wood.

Make yourself a good rye whiskey and age it in or with charred American white oak. You just might get a glimpse of the Holy grail, or at least where it should be.

I would love to do rye whiskey but only having a T500 and no pot head I can only produce a neutral but I do appreciate the advice

[Superslim007]

Right the nuke method did not produce what I was looking for, whether its the nuke method or the chips I won't know for another 9 days.

I disagree with the comments that you can't make a good JD replica buy using neutral spirit for this reason.....

If you buy a bottle of JD and run it through a reflux still removing the ethanol (alcohol)you end up with 2 products - 1 container of neutral spirit and another container of wash, theoretically unless the boiling process destroys the flavours the wash left behind can be recombined with the separated spirit turning it back into JD, if that is the case then take the wash and reduce down to leave you with a JD essence, if you can recreate that flavour/essence than you can indeed made a good JD replica using neutral spirit. this is of course theoretical and I do not have the time or resources to do this.

So my next trial that I think will get me the closest is to bite the bullet and buy a litre of JD, the 4 litres of neutral I have soaking up the Still Spirits bourbon chips for 10 days will be added to the litre of JD in an attempt to blend in some of the flavour, this will of course add another £6.50 a litre to the price but if it works well I will have produced a decent JD replica for about £7-8 per litre which can't be bad

Wish me luck

[Easydrinker]

While I will agree that a grain wash,pot-stilled and aged with chunks or chips maybe the the best way to go...
There is logic to your idea,
I have encountered many instances,browsing several forums,where people state that adding some of the finished desired product to the distillate worked wonders,-sometimes as little as 10% of the "desired" product added.
I wish you well in your trial,and please do report back.

I do think it sounds expensive for a home product,but if it floats your boat,then go for it.

My own favourite tipple of the moment is a variation on on the Southern Comfort recipe in this slot,varied with every batch made,and I compare them with great fervour,most evenings.Costs well less than two pounds a litre,including neutral and all ingredients.

Robert.

[Superslim007]

Thank you for your comments Robert, I do agree it is a little expensive for a home product but the cheapest in Asda is £32 a litre, I don't know why they make it so expensive but I suppose there is a huge market for it, most of my friends don't like it though the ones that do really like it as do I so if it comes out comparable £7-8 aint to bad, I do also like Southern Comfort.
Do you have any good recipes you don't mind sharing using a neutral? I only have a T500 and no pot head so can only make neutral at the moment but that is my problem, think I'll have to start looking for a pot head for my T500

[Almanac]

I think one of the most important lessons I gleaned on my journey along this learning curve is not to try to copy commercially produced products.

Many commercial distilleries do not bother with such niceties as 'cuts' they just chuck it all in the barrel and let the wood sort it out. This has led me to the point where I simply cannot abide spirits like JD or Knob Creek because I can smell the fores/heads and taste the tails

As home distillers we are a little more discerning and take out the nastier heads and tails so, no matter what your wash or wort recipe you will not produce a copy of a commercial spirit like JD.

I simply label mine as JD Style Sour Mash and Bourbon Style Whisky

Once I learned the difference I stopped trying to copy and concentrated on developing a spirit to my tastes but in the style of the commercial spirits I used to like

Also, be careful about letting people outside immediate family and your closest friends know about your stilling activities. Something that's general knowledge in a circle of friends is likely to be discussed or commented on openly and can be overheard by someone you really wouldn't want knowing about your illicit activities.

Plus today's friend could be tomorrow's arresting officer there's nothing like a little paranoia to make you careful

Loose lips can get distillers lifted best rule in this hobby is don't sell and don't tell...anyone

Keep experimenting and you'll come to a spirit you really like and when you do you'll wonder how you ever drank the commercial shit

AM

P.S. I'm officially off the Soap Box now

[Easydrinker]

@ Superslim
I started by following the recipe posted here by emptyglass.
I now do not add any sugar until the liquid has been filtered off the other ingredients(makes the filtering easier),and I use a lot less,or it is sickly sweet.
I also throw in a few barrel chunks for colour,not caramel,and I think it improves the taste.
Freezing (and thawing)the peaches before use helps get the flavour out.
It works very well with neutral.

Robert.