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In this Discussion
- CothermanDistilling January 2018
- Craig January 2018
- crozdog August 2017
- DonMateo January 2018
- Fiji_Spirits August 2017
- GD50 August 2017
- grim January 2018
- heaters August 2017
- kimbodious January 2018
- Pa_bon January 2018
- punkin December 2017
- SBB_ August 2017
- Smaug August 2017
- Sunshine August 2017
- zymurgybob August 2017
Comments
Just be careful you don't kill someone by using a wood that might contain toxins or allergens.
American Oak is a gift from the alcohol gods. It's widespread use has nothing to do with geography or availability, and everything to do with the fact that it's creator was clearly looking to provide the best wood in which to age Whiskey.
Ash, acacia, chestnut, oak, cherry and the other fruitwoods.
Tannin is a big issue in many alternative woods. Chestnut is most promising after oak.
Issue with fruitwoods is the casks leak like a sieve.
Realistically, weathering for at least 2 years, toasting, and charring - and you'll manage to control most off flavors. The longer you can season your staves the better.
What i will be trying is putting whisky in 30l cornelius kegs SS with the alternative woods in staves or lingots. Once a week bubble air for oxygen through them and see what they taste like over time. Historically oak was used because it made the best water tight barrels, but who said you need the barrels to be of wood to age spirits with wood. I am a complete amateur in this but i will post the results of my experiments. I will also post a bottle or two to SD in Miami and Punkin.
Yippee! Always love a sample.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
Ok guys. I found a brazillian barrel maker that makes barrels in various sizes out of Urumburana as well as Brazillian Oak.
I am sure that they would sell internationally.
Tanoaria Barros Fabrica de Barris e Dornas
These are on my shopping list.
Here is another one.
:: Tonéis & Cia :: 2001-2012 - 11 Anos - Tudo em Tonéis e Similares - Linha de Tonéis
These guys have 6 different woods and seem to make them from whatever size.
Here is another one with a very nice website.
Tanoaria Mesacaza - Barris | Adegas | Ofurôs | Artesanato
These guys are only about 2000km from my house. I could drive there in my Kombi pickup in a couple of days. Hmmmmm Now thats a good idea.
A little cruise from Mendosa up thru the Singani region of Bolivia then a quick detour to Pisco Peru then across to Brasil . You need a passenger fully experienced with Kombi repairs ( well old 70 models )
@GD50. I am a Kombi nut for the last 10 years. I have a really nice Brazillian bay for my pickup for my distillery. It would be a nice trip driving to go pick up some barrels.
I'll race your Kombi pickup with my American version?
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
@punkin. Nice truck mate. On a separate aside for those people who are interested. I am talking to this barrel maker. Tanoaria Mesacaza - Barris | Adegas | Ofurôs | Artesanato.
Gents, I just got my first order of two alternative Brazilian woods, Incinenso and Amburana and my Jequetibia arrives early next week. So when I get back from Armenia in a week or so I will start the trials. I will post the results.
Palo Santo wood anyone?
A porter aged on Palo Santo medaled at GABF this year.
Palo Santo Porter | Spellbound Brewing @ BeerAdvocate
Pretty sure its FDA GRAS.
Ladies and gents, I just finished my first trial and the Amburana on a smokedbarley/moonshine combination was very nice and I also tried Jeuqetibia and put that on a very nice straight corn moonshine and it was really nice. Both of them came out like light Japanese whiskies, without any tannins or harsh flavours you get from Oak. I used the fridge heating/cooling/vacuum cycle after oxygenating the whiskies. 5 cycles and I wanted to drink the lot. I think Amburana barrels with a whiskey over 6 months would give an amazing product. I am broke right now but I am going to buy a dozen of those barrels and try and get them here into Argentina.
OK here is a photo of the results of my brazillian woods on whiskey after a day of heat cycling with a freezer and then 5 days natural heating and cooling, its about 35deg C here. The one on the left is Amburana and the one on the right is Jequetibia. The Amburana tastes more like a light irish whiskey and the one on the right tastes more like a scotch. No tanins and lots of different flavors. Very intriguing tastes actually. The whiskey I used was light scotch 90% barley and 10% smoked barley. I am doing some bourbon with rye runs and a couple more scotch runs right now to see what the difference is. The only thing I would say that these things are missing would be probably a bit of time on some oak toasted to #4. But that is because I am enjoying bourbon more lately and I am enjoying having a touch of vanilla. But that being said they are very nice. I oxygentated the whiskey with an air pump before sealing the jars too.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
@punkin Thanks mate.
Couple if questions. Just bought a 10ltr barrel and filled with sherry for a couple if months then filled with 70% (molasses wash) and planned on leaving for 12months but read a few posts and seems as usual longer is better. Is it worth topping up a little over time due to evaporation? Also just bought some oak dominoes and I've heard 10grams per litre,is that about right? Thanks, trying to get in to a bit of aging but i tend to drink it before it gets past a couple/few months
10l, 70%, 12m? Suspect the end result will be an oaky tannin bomb. You might want to consider dumping much sooner for the first spirit fill, and letting it mature in glass or stainless for a few more months. The port fill is going to help quite a bit, but I would still err on the side of regular tasting in months 2-3, anticipating that I might pull around 2-3 months, and let it mellow for the remainder of the year outside of the barrel. Once pulled from the barrel, you can still tweak the wood contribution with a smaller amount of domino if you feel it needs a bit more wood. This will give you much more control, and let you manage evaporation more effectively. Your second spirit fill (technically third fill if you count the port), you'll be able to push more time in the barrel without the risk of over-doing it.
Thanks mate,I'm nearly at 3 months now so i might take a sample and see how it is. It was pretty strong (oaky ) 1 month ago.
I think it is a good idea to rinse the dominos with some water before using. This is to wash off the dusty fine material that they end up with.
This post is just to show my modified kegs. I was trying to figure out a cheap stainless vessel to stick in oak dominoes, actually mine are not oak dominoes. So I struck on the idea of getting a 50 SS beer keg and cutting the top off and changing it with a SS tri-clamp ferrule. I oxygenate each barrel on a weekly basis.
Anyway its just something to share with the forum. A couple of these I kept the beer G access port but all the future ones I will just put the 4" tri-clamp ferrule on. The good thing about this is no-angels share.
This kind of modified barrels would be great for you to put your StillDragon oak dominos in with your whiskey. (shameless plug for SD)
That's exactly how I age mine @DonMateo.
yet another use for the 'Unikeggle'... (8" top, 4 2" ports near bottom for 2 elements, racking arm, level sensor and temp probe)
Latest progress fotos. The two on the left are the scotch at 55% the two on the right are corn/rye whiskey at 45%. These are the colors after 4 weeks. I wish I could tell you how they taste but I am freezing my ass off in the mountains of Armenia so that will have to wait a couple of weeks. It was minus 18 C this morning. yeyyyy... The two on the right have a lower dose rate of the wood but I was aiming for a more subtle flavor. The best is Jequetibia on the scotch.