Aging with casks/wood chips

[Andy]

I have been using the SS Tennessee chips for a while.

I soak 5 ltrs for 1 month then a second 5 ltrs for 2 months then chuck the chips away.

I then add the Bourbon flavor.

I then leave the flavored spirit for 1 month before drinking.

Everybody seems to love the stuff.

[Jimmy]

Marc83 - I really would advise you not to use plastic for anything that has been distilled, to be honest I am not entirely happy about many of the types of filter than are made from it but I would definitely worry about having something in contact with it for days or weeks at a time. Clearly it\'s none of my business what you do, but I wouldn\'t be comfortable with someone doing that without saying something about it. Over on the Home Distiller site there are a few chemists with some horror stories about tests done on plastic with alcohol - at the end of the day, it\'s a few quid for a glass demijohn and it might save your health so why take a risk?
Apologies if this sounds nannyish, but I do feel a responsibility as I\'m (nominally) running the shop around here! Lecture over!

[marc83]

Cheers for the concern Jimmy,you will see that my post 3 weeks ago says that i had transferred all the spirit into a spare glass demijohn.

I only had the spirit in the foodgrade container for a few hours but i wasnt happy with it so into the demijohn it went.

[Jimmy]

Nice one - sorry for being a bore, just have to be careful in case someone new reads something and gets the wrong idea - better safe than sorry. Cheers!

[trelliS]

Hi Folks

Finally got around to getting some chips tennessee chips which i am going to use for ss classic tennessee bourbon and a prestige tennessee bourbon as this makes three bottles am gonna have a mess with some glycerine too maybe 1 without and then a 4ml dose and a 6ml dose and leave the prestige as is

Got some gobblers too for a ss top shelf kentucky bourbon am gonna do same glycerine doses on these three.. would love any advise on the amounts i am going to use if they are too little or too much

Many Thanks

Mark

[optic]

trellis

I would reckon IMO 4ml sounds about right in that amount of spirit,when I have used glycerine when making whisky with the profile kit,using 5ml in 750mls of whisky was far to much resulting in a wierd sweet tasting whisky,so I would say be carefull you can always add more to taste.
Optic

[trelliS]

Many thanks for the advice optic so maybe try a 2ml and a 4ml.

Cheers

Mark

[marc83]

the tennessee bourbon is sweet enough,IMO,i only use the chips on that one for a couple of weeks and drink it,dont use the glycerine on it at all.

[trelliS]

Cheers for your comments marc83

Its been 9 days for the tennessee chips and i have to say i am impressed they have a lovely light caramel colour and a wonderful aroma

The kentucky ones been soaking a day less but have a slightly darker colour and a slightly bitter aroma.

I\'m still gonna add some glycerine for the sake of experimenting (i\'m curious and looking for a little more after-taste).

Next lot of chips am just gonna leave for a month to mature in the loft.

Will keep you posted on my findings
Bottoms up folks

trelliS

[andyt]

hi

does anyone know what kind of flavour a chestnut barrel would impart to a rum , i do know that chestnut barrels do impart a sweet flavour to a cider and gives a white wine a rose tinge, at the moment i have a 15 litre chestnut barrel so i was thinking maybe i,d fill this one and see what the outcome would be .
andy

[Frank]

Hi. I\'ve got 3 questions re soaking 40%ABV spirit in tennessee bourbon (or similar)chips. Firstly, does it matter what type of lid the glass \'soaking jar\' has? Secondly, is there an optimal period to let the spirit soak before filtering/flavouring/bottling? Thirdly, has anyone tried the soaked spirit as a basis for scotch whiskey? Thanks.

[hic52]

I used JD chips which i bought off ebay, these chips were sold for smoking food etc.

I soaked them in glass jars.

It depends on how you are going to age them as i found on the net advice about speeding up ageing by putting the jar in the freezer overnight and then taking them out to room temp.

I tried that way and it did speed things up, without that it takes about 3 months, i use a mixture of in and out of the freezer, usually a week to 10 days then ageing naturally for about a month.
If you have read my other postings i am now using (mainly) a 10% to 20% mix of adding the normal spirit instead of essences.

ie; if i want scotch i add usually supermarket scotch to 10-20% and then the rest is neutral spirit.
I have tried the JD chips with scotch and it really is a nice taste.

The chips do add a nice golden colour.
I did a test with 2 people who 1 drinks JD all the time and the other only occasionally and used 15% JD with the aged chips.

1 could tell the difference but liked the taste the other preferred mine and when asked why he said it tasted less chemically

Nice result!!
Hope this helps

[short2]

HI aidenmac,woodbarrels.co.uk-shop. I am saving up for one from themme thinks. Hope this is a help Short

[short2]

Hi hic 52, I have been keeping my Bourbon in the shed as it is freezing. All have been giving me rave reports after a few weeks. Personally I taste the difference myself but now feel that I need to leave it longer for experimental purposes. Did a Potatoe sugar and turbo wash waste of time. Think it needs to be like a proper whisky using the pot still as all flavours you hope to catch are ironed out by the reflux. You live and learn by doing it yourself even if it means going against the common consensus.

[short2]

That was a wash for Vodka I tried feel it was a waste of time.