How To Add Oak Chips To Your Moonshine?

Using Oak Chips & Whisky Profile Kits! I love scotchscotch scotch scotch.rum too, oh and bourbon as well. Actually I’m partial to the entirety of the brown spirit family. On the rocks, mixed with coke, mixed with ginger beer, its all good to me. Actually my love for the dark spirit has pushed me at times, no I’m not talking about borderline alcoholism or constant partying.

1. No I much prefer a quite one or two at home, where I can really begin to appreciate the merits and uhh, demerits of my fine brews.
2. This fun little past time however has made me wonder, made me think, almost forced me at times to seek out the best spirit I can, forced me to tinker and play with my spirits, developing and re-developing my favorite drink.

It is a never ending cycle but one that I love and I feel it is almost my duty to pass on the things I have learnt. Let me first start by saying don’t feel pressured reading this article, most people find that just using an essence is fine, so do I, its just on special occasions its nice to know you have something truly fantastic in the cabinet.

I have come across many a skeptic in my time, the snobby nosed ‘high class’ citizen who hear’s home brew and goes yuck! Its just nice to know you have something really capable of changing opinions. Apart from creating your own essence, there is basically two ways of modifying your spirit. Either oaking or tailoring with an assortment of extracts (profiling).

Lets start with the most simple and better known of the two, oaking. Oaking: Oaking is a relatively simple concept. It involves soaking your neutral filtered spirit on wood. But not just any wood, most oak chips come from old whisky or bourbon barrels, used by breweries for centuries to soak there own spirits on.

In turn the barrels have absorbed the flavor from the spirit, this is what you are trying to obtain from them (except in the case of “American Oak” chips, which are simply from an American oak tree). Oaking you spirit will not only receive the flavor and receive the colour from the chips, but as you might have guessed, that woody and sometimes smoky flavor that is so prized in some of the top quality spirits.

The method is simple but varies slightly depending on the type of chip and the brand. In general it involves soaking 10gms-50gms of oak chips for every litre of spirit for about 1-3 weeks (dependant on taste). The longer you leave it the more flavor and woodiness it will impart.

• You can often reuse the same chips once or twice after, just soak it for longer.
• Some people use the flavour just from the oak chips itself whilst others use it in conjunction with an essence, in an attempt to add an build on the flavour profile already present in the essence.
• If, and it will probably happen eventually, you leave it for to long and you find its like drinking bark, you can use more neutral spirit (unflavoured) and an essence to dim it down and smoothen it out.

Using Extracts: The best way to go about using extracts and flavour profiles is to obtain a whisky profiling kit. These kits come with all the basics that you need, plus some instructions and recipes and give you an easily to follow guide on what to do and how to go about it.

The kits come with 4 different whiskies base essences, which generally the 4 different major styles of whiskies (as reflected by the different regions of Scotland), Lowland, Highland, Irish and bourbon. The also come with a range of adjunct flavours used for exentuating certain flavour profiles in you drink.

These Are:

Oak cask (the main flavour which is present in most whiskys) Sweet vanillin (a sweet vanilla flavour with a slight sherry flavour) Peat Smoke (A strong almost pungent peat smoke flavour, a very prominent note in Scottish Whiskies) Astringent Notes ( A sharp bitter astringent flavour that helps to add some bite to the whisky) Fruity Esters (more prominent on the nose then anywhere else, they add a lot to the whisky bouquet) Cereal notes( often described as grainy, these flavour notes are a part of any grain and are contained in the whisky bases) Carob Notes ( a chocolate grain flavour that results from the use of some mildly roasted grains) Cedar Oak ( imparts a distinctive drier oak flavour, often found in Irish whisky styles) Distillers Caramel (purely for colour, imparts a warm golden hue) Glycerine (contribute to smoothness and mouth feel)

Using just this small list of flavours you can create almost any whisky, bourbon and add to many rums. What you do with them is up to you though! The only way your going to know what your spirit can be is to try it. It was with the best of intentions that we all started homebrewing.

How much oak chips per liter?

How to use: Add the oak wood chips to the liquor of choice in a dose of 1-3 g per 1 L of alcohol for a period of 6 weeks.

How much oak chips to add to rum?

Description – Toasted oak chips made from American White Oak. Oak Chips Light Toast for a lighter color and strong oak flavor.1 lb bags bagged right in our shop for freshness. This light toasted oak works well for aging spirits like whisky, rum, tequila, or brandy.

1. Also available in Dark Toast Other methods for oak aging spirits are; Oak Spirals Barrels Liquid Oak Extract Instructions; Let these chips soak in your distillate and test every week until you get to where you want to be.
2. In other words flavor to taste.
3. Easily add a hand full or one cup of oak chips to one quart of spirit.

Adjust quantity up or down to fit your flavor to taste. These chips will give spirit flavor, color and will also help with making the end product smooth. An inexpensive and straight-forward way to oak age your spirit. Creative ideas using oak chips ; You can also char these oak chips with a propane torch and get the effects of a charred oak barrel.

How do you add oak chips?

The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Grape and Granary provides oak chips to home winemakers which allows them control the flavors of oak in their red and white wine fermentations without the need for a Wine Barrel.

1. Our oak chips are toasted in the same traditional way that wine barrels are toasted.
2. Unlike Oak cubes, chips offer faster flavor extraction (often full flavor extraction can be obtained within a few weeks).
3. Oak chips can be added directly to Carboys or Small Barrels.
4. At first they will float.
5. After a week they will sink to the bottom of the bulk aging vessel.

We recommend 3-4 ounces of oak chips per 5 gallons of red wine or 2 oz per 5 gallons of white wine. Wine should be tasted on a regular basis and racked off the oak when the desired flavors and aromas are extracted. Oak chips may be put directly inside the bulk aging vessel or can be put inside a Infusion Tube to help with quick removal. Filter

How do you add oak chips to homebrew?

Sanitizing of Oak Chips – All brewers fear introducing anything into their brew, but reference material varies heavily on this subject. Here’s a summary of different approaches for adding oak chips to beer:

No sanitary steps for wood in a package – just throw the oak chips in. Add chips to water and steam via microwave to remove bugs, introduce water only. Boil just enough water to cover, place chips in boiler, cool, place wood and water into secondary Soak the chips in vodka, bourbon, or rum for at least a day, and add it all to the beer. Not always an option on a budget! Pressure cook wood chips for 20 minutes. Pasteurize the wood at 195F for five minutes. Sanitize wood with chemicals such as campden tablet solution. (Not highly recommended as this can damage the wood and flavor the beer – but is a method utilized by some)

All contents copyright 2023 by MoreFlavor Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. : How to Use Oak in Homebrewing

How do you add wood chips to alcohol?

Using Oak Chips & Whisky Profile Kits! I love scotchscotch scotch scotch.rum too, oh and bourbon as well. Actually I’m partial to the entirety of the brown spirit family. On the rocks, mixed with coke, mixed with ginger beer, its all good to me. Actually my love for the dark spirit has pushed me at times, no I’m not talking about borderline alcoholism or constant partying.

No I much prefer a quite one or two at home, where I can really begin to appreciate the merits and uhh, demerits of my fine brews. This fun little past time however has made me wonder, made me think, almost forced me at times to seek out the best spirit I can, forced me to tinker and play with my spirits, developing and re-developing my favorite drink.

It is a never ending cycle but one that I love and I feel it is almost my duty to pass on the things I have learnt. Let me first start by saying don’t feel pressured reading this article, most people find that just using an essence is fine, so do I, its just on special occasions its nice to know you have something truly fantastic in the cabinet.

I have come across many a skeptic in my time, the snobby nosed ‘high class’ citizen who hear’s home brew and goes yuck! Its just nice to know you have something really capable of changing opinions. Apart from creating your own essence, there is basically two ways of modifying your spirit. Either oaking or tailoring with an assortment of extracts (profiling).

Lets start with the most simple and better known of the two, oaking. Oaking: Oaking is a relatively simple concept. It involves soaking your neutral filtered spirit on wood. But not just any wood, most oak chips come from old whisky or bourbon barrels, used by breweries for centuries to soak there own spirits on.

• In turn the barrels have absorbed the flavor from the spirit, this is what you are trying to obtain from them (except in the case of “American Oak” chips, which are simply from an American oak tree).
• Oaking you spirit will not only receive the flavor and receive the colour from the chips, but as you might have guessed, that woody and sometimes smoky flavor that is so prized in some of the top quality spirits.

The method is simple but varies slightly depending on the type of chip and the brand. In general it involves soaking 10gms-50gms of oak chips for every litre of spirit for about 1-3 weeks (dependant on taste). The longer you leave it the more flavor and woodiness it will impart.

You can often reuse the same chips once or twice after, just soak it for longer. Some people use the flavour just from the oak chips itself whilst others use it in conjunction with an essence, in an attempt to add an build on the flavour profile already present in the essence. If, and it will probably happen eventually, you leave it for to long and you find its like drinking bark, you can use more neutral spirit (unflavoured) and an essence to dim it down and smoothen it out.

Using Extracts: The best way to go about using extracts and flavour profiles is to obtain a whisky profiling kit. These kits come with all the basics that you need, plus some instructions and recipes and give you an easily to follow guide on what to do and how to go about it.

1. The kits come with 4 different whiskies base essences, which generally the 4 different major styles of whiskies (as reflected by the different regions of Scotland), Lowland, Highland, Irish and bourbon.
2. The also come with a range of adjunct flavours used for exentuating certain flavour profiles in you drink.

These Are:

Oak cask (the main flavour which is present in most whiskys) Sweet vanillin (a sweet vanilla flavour with a slight sherry flavour) Peat Smoke (A strong almost pungent peat smoke flavour, a very prominent note in Scottish Whiskies) Astringent Notes ( A sharp bitter astringent flavour that helps to add some bite to the whisky) Fruity Esters (more prominent on the nose then anywhere else, they add a lot to the whisky bouquet) Cereal notes( often described as grainy, these flavour notes are a part of any grain and are contained in the whisky bases) Carob Notes ( a chocolate grain flavour that results from the use of some mildly roasted grains) Cedar Oak ( imparts a distinctive drier oak flavour, often found in Irish whisky styles) Distillers Caramel (purely for colour, imparts a warm golden hue) Glycerine (contribute to smoothness and mouth feel)

Using just this small list of flavours you can create almost any whisky, bourbon and add to many rums. What you do with them is up to you though! The only way your going to know what your spirit can be is to try it. It was with the best of intentions that we all started homebrewing.

How do you know when to add more wood chips?

Page 2 – Most seasoned pitmasters recommend adding wood chips every 30 minutes to 1 hour, but this will depend on several factors for you. They are your smoker model, whether you want a mild or strong smokey flavor, the type of meat, and the cooking duration.

1. As a professional pitmaster, perfecting the I use today has been quite a journey.
2. Over the years, I have used plenty of smokers and in my experience, using flavored wood chips in an electric smoker is a forgiving, hands-off technique that gives excellent results.
3. In this article, I will tell you what to consider when adding wood chips to your electric smoker, and the best way to use wood chips in your smoker.

I will also explain how your electric smoker uses up pellets and how to pre-test it.

Do wood chips need to be soaked?

You Do Not Need to Soak Wood Chips – The most popular, and most argued about, tip when it comes to smoking is the soaking of your wood chips and chunks for at least an hour before smoking. The thought is that doing this will slow combustion and create a better-flavored smoke than dry wood would. In truth, soaking your wood chips and chunks isn’t necessary and here’s why.

It takes more than 24 hours for a significant amount of moisture to penetrate the wood Soaked wood is producing steam Soaked wood will lower the smoker’s temperature

Wood chips and chunks that have been soaked have to get rid of any moisture before they can produce smoke. The water on the wood will have to heat to 212°F (the boiling point of water) and will stall there until the water has been evaporated. Only then will it begin to smoke.

Soaking wood chips or chunks can be used to your advantage in other situations, like when smoking on a charcoal or gas grill – as opposed to an Apollo® or similar bullet smoker. Using a tray with soaked wood and another with dry, you can create a time-release for your smoke as the dry chips/chunks will smoke while the wet ones will dry and begin to smoke later.

Plank grilling is an exception to the no need to soak rule. Soaking the plank ensures that there is enough surface moisture on the plank that it should not combust while you are cooking. There is not enough moisture to produce significant steam or smoke, however, it will produce delightful flavor on your food.

How long do you leave oak chips in?

Howdy Ed, To balance the tannins, we French oak chipped the must at the start of fermentation and at the half way point applied the Aussie method of Rack and Return to decrease the seeds in the must. Sieving out the seeds also removed the oak chips. My question is, at what stage should we re-oak the juice? Jamie O.

— CA —– Hello Jamie, I would not automatically assume that you will need to add more oak chips to your homemade wine. In fact, I would not consider adding more French toasted oak chips to the wine until it has cleared and maturated to some degree while in bulk. See what tannins and other proteins drop out on their own, first.

There is nothing wrong with adding toasted oak chips during the fermentation, but you want to use a moderate dosage. Don’t go to overboard. It is possible to add to much. If you want to add oak to the wine during the fermentation, you may also want to consider using oak powder instead of oak chips.

Oak powder does not strain out like the oak chips. Having said that, I do prefer using toasted oak chips after the fermentation. If it is only protein stability that you are concerned about, you also have the option of treating the wine with bentonite, instead of more oak chips. Among other things, bentonite will collect and drop out excessive tannins.

This will help to make the wine more heat stable while aging in bottles. If it is the flavor effects of toasted oak chips you are primarily looking for, it would be best to wait until the wine has aged in bulk for a month or so after the fermentation has completed. Buy waiting you are allowing the wine to get to a point where you can start to distinguish its developing flavor profile. Adding oak chips at this point will not only help you to stabilize the wine further, it will allow you to monitor the oak balance of the wine.

1. Since the wine is already maturating, you can do this with a little clearer perception of the final outcome.
2. Monitor the wine by sampling along the way.
3. Depending on the dosage you will want to sample every 1 to 4 weeks.
4. I recommend 1/4 pound of toasted oak chips for every 10 gallons of wine.
5. At this dosage a typical amount of time for oaking is about 30 to 90 days.

Sample the wine every 2 weeks. Here is some more information on how much and how long to use oak chips, What you are looking for is balance. You want the reduced harshness of oak aging to be in line with woody character the oak is adding. Best Wishes, Customer Service at E.C.

Can you reuse oak chips?

Modifications in volatile composition influenced perceived sensory characteristics. Oak chips can be reused for accelerated ageing of differentiated beverages.

What temperature are oak chips?

Product details – These chips were roasted between 350 – 375 °F to give them a medium toast. American Oak Chips will allow you to imitate storing your wine in an oak barrel without the expense. A medium toast will give you notes of vanilla and caramel.

How long to boil oak chips?

Oak Flavoring Methods – Three major methods are available to home brewers:

Oak Aging – The simplest method – which involves adding the oak chips/spirals/cubes after fermentation while aging the beer. Also this is the method used with barrels, since you store the beer in the oak barrel. I recommend sanitizing the chips/spirals/cubes first by steaming them for 15 minutes to reduce the risk of infection (don’t use sanitizing solution as it is absorbed by the chips). Most home brewers add their oak shortly after fermentation completes and before bottling (i.e. in the secondary) and leave the oak in there until they achieve the desired taste – sampling every day or two. Some brewers with keg systems also add the oak chips/cubes in the keg itself – containing it in a bag so it will not block the keg’s dip tube. Oak aging can take anywhere from a few days to several months depending on the oak used and desired flavor level. Oak Tea – You can boil the oak to make an oak tea. Simply drop your chips/spirals/cubes in enough water to cover them fully and bring it to a boil for 10-15 minutes. Once the tea is complete you can add it a bit at a time to the finished beer until you achieve the overall beer flavor you desire. Making a tea is much faster than aging with oak, and also lets you more closely control the flavor. Liquor Tea – If you are looking to add burbon, whiskey or your favorite liquor flavor to the beer you can make a tea using liquor instead. In this case you add the chips/cubes/spirals to a small amount of your favorite liquor (possibly diluted a bit with water) and let it sit for a week. Then mix the liquor in with you beer in small amounts until you achieve the desired overall flavor. Obviously moderation is important here as the liquor can easily overpower the flavor of the beer or wood chips.

Can you add oak chips during fermentation?

10.6 When and How Use Them – The oak chips can be added at different moments during winemaking and at different doses ( Bautista-Ortin et al., 2008 ; Dumitriu et al., 2016 ; González-Saiz et al., 2014 ): • During alcoholic fermentation, chips may be added to the tank, affecting the wine aroma and color.

• Some of the phenolic compounds extracted from wood could help to stabilize wine color.
• However, a high volatilization of the volatile compounds, accompanying the CO 2 formed during alcoholic fermentation could occur.
• At this moment, doses may vary from 1 to 10 g/L, depending on the final objective.
• After the end of alcoholic fermentation and before MLF, the addition of chips is very effective for improving aroma and wine structure, especially if it is combined with MOX, increasing its stability.

Doses may vary between 2 and 15 g/L. • During aging, doses should be more controlled to avoid an excess of wood aroma compounds that could hinder other wine aroma components and may harden the wine. Doses around 2 g/L are the most common used. The equivalent extraction of compounds obtained after 1 year in barrels could be obtained with a total of 10–15 g/L of chips, added to the wine at different moments.

How much wood chips to add?

HOW MUCH WOOD DO I NEED? – For long smokes, add a packet of chips every 30 minutes to keep the smoky flavor going. About 2 to 3 handfuls of chips placed on direct heat will smoke for about an hour.

Do you need to sanitize oak chips?

A good proportion of oak chips for home use is 3 grams of chips per liter. To use oak chips, sanitize them in a 1 gallon of water with 2 oz of metabisulfite dissolved in it. Let them soak for 20 mins then strain with a sanitized strainer and add to your wine.

Add oak chips to your wine after it has been racked for bulk aging. Use a glass or a stainless steel container. A handful of chips (about one-quarter cup) is all that is necessary to add complexity to the wine. While the heavy-toast cubes are recommended for big reds that benefit from a heavy, caramelized oak flavor, they may also be used to supplement the medium-toast cubes for a subtler flavoring.

Many of our customers use a blend of French and American cubes, usually using the French cubes in a higher percentage. We have had success blending all three oaks, again using the French in the highest percentage. Recommended usage is 3 oz. of cubes for every 6 – gallons with a contact time of 4-8 weeks.

1. You should taste your wine two to three days after you have added the oak.
2. Continue until you notice the oak flavor.
3. Then taste on a daily basis.
4. When your wine has reached the level of oak you wish, rack it off the oak into a clean container.
5. If you think more or different oak is needed, follow these steps again.

Remember, you can always add more oak, but you can’t remove oak. Read how to use Oak Spirals for oaking your wine.

How many oak cubes for 5 gallons?

Suggested dose is 2.5 – 3 oz per five gallons ; can be added during fermentation or aging. Leave wine in contact with the cubes for a minimum of two to three months.

How many oak chips do I need for 1 gallon of wine?

How to Oak Wine? by Brewsy Recipe Team sun, oct 2, 22 There are a plethora of different kinds of wood, but out of all of them, oak stands out as the go-to type of wood to use for barrels in winemaking, carefully manufactured by coopers. In winemaking, it is both common and traditional to use oak barrels to, but how to oak wine? Oaking wine is just that, placing wine into oak barrels and left to age.

However, it is not only red wine that is aged in oak barrels, but also white wines such as the classic Chardonnay. Also, it is not also wines on the more affordable end of the price spectrum that gets subjected to the oak experience, but pretty much all of the high one wines as well as are aged in oak.

History of oaking wine Very early in the winemaking history, a history that spans thousands of years, wines were kept and transported in amphoras; ceramic vessels with a tapered end and handles on both sides that could be easily, and safely, tied together.

The history of using oak as an aging vessel is a bit unclear, however, an early reference to wooden barrels dates back to ancient Greece where palm wood was used. Palm wood, although prone to warping, is a wood that is difficult to bend, so wine merchants at the time experimented with different kinds of wood.

While the history is blurry, oak barrels have been used for at least two thousand years. So why is oak one of the most popular types of wood for wine aging even today? It is simply because of its inherent qualities and traits. The porous nature of an oak barrel allows evaporation and oxygenation to occur in wine but typically not at levels that would cause oxidation or spoilage.

However, winemakers tend to lose about 10% of a barrel’s content due to evaporation, but, on the good side, it leads to more concentrated flavors and, However, there are different oaks that produce different results. What kind of oak to use for wine? There are three main oaks used for oaking: the French oak, found in eastern France and central Europe, the oak of western France which is also known as English oak; and, lastly, the American oak.

Each oak has different levels of tannins, lactones, as well as grain tightness. The French oak is regarded as the highest-quality wood for winemaking, commonly used by French and Italian winemakers. On a smaller scale, however, such as winemaking at home, it would not be practical to age one gallon of wine in a traditional 59-gallon barrel so the alternative to that is oak chips which, on homemade scales, can produce a similar effect to barrel aging.

• How to oak? When oaking from home, it is much simpler because, for one thing, you do not need a cooper or to purchase barrels.
• Regardless of which kind you use, after at least once, for every 1 gallon of wine, you will want about 4 oz of in a sauce pan with 3 cups of water, and boil for 3 minutes.
• Strain, and added the oak chips to the wine, then return the wine to the fridge to let it infuse.

Duration is subjective; the longer you let it soak, the more oak accents you get, so give it a taste every day until it achieves a flavor with which you are happy. From there, all that is left to do is discard the oak chips and let the wine age in the fridge.

How long do you leave oak chips in whiskey?

Using Oak Chips & Whisky Profile Kits! I love scotchscotch scotch scotch.rum too, oh and bourbon as well. Actually I’m partial to the entirety of the brown spirit family. On the rocks, mixed with coke, mixed with ginger beer, its all good to me. Actually my love for the dark spirit has pushed me at times, no I’m not talking about borderline alcoholism or constant partying.

• No I much prefer a quite one or two at home, where I can really begin to appreciate the merits and uhh, demerits of my fine brews.
• This fun little past time however has made me wonder, made me think, almost forced me at times to seek out the best spirit I can, forced me to tinker and play with my spirits, developing and re-developing my favorite drink.

It is a never ending cycle but one that I love and I feel it is almost my duty to pass on the things I have learnt. Let me first start by saying don’t feel pressured reading this article, most people find that just using an essence is fine, so do I, its just on special occasions its nice to know you have something truly fantastic in the cabinet.

I have come across many a skeptic in my time, the snobby nosed ‘high class’ citizen who hear’s home brew and goes yuck! Its just nice to know you have something really capable of changing opinions. Apart from creating your own essence, there is basically two ways of modifying your spirit. Either oaking or tailoring with an assortment of extracts (profiling).

Lets start with the most simple and better known of the two, oaking. Oaking: Oaking is a relatively simple concept. It involves soaking your neutral filtered spirit on wood. But not just any wood, most oak chips come from old whisky or bourbon barrels, used by breweries for centuries to soak there own spirits on.

In turn the barrels have absorbed the flavor from the spirit, this is what you are trying to obtain from them (except in the case of “American Oak” chips, which are simply from an American oak tree). Oaking you spirit will not only receive the flavor and receive the colour from the chips, but as you might have guessed, that woody and sometimes smoky flavor that is so prized in some of the top quality spirits.

The method is simple but varies slightly depending on the type of chip and the brand. In general it involves soaking 10gms-50gms of oak chips for every litre of spirit for about 1-3 weeks (dependant on taste). The longer you leave it the more flavor and woodiness it will impart.

You can often reuse the same chips once or twice after, just soak it for longer. Some people use the flavour just from the oak chips itself whilst others use it in conjunction with an essence, in an attempt to add an build on the flavour profile already present in the essence. If, and it will probably happen eventually, you leave it for to long and you find its like drinking bark, you can use more neutral spirit (unflavoured) and an essence to dim it down and smoothen it out.

Using Extracts: The best way to go about using extracts and flavour profiles is to obtain a whisky profiling kit. These kits come with all the basics that you need, plus some instructions and recipes and give you an easily to follow guide on what to do and how to go about it.

1. The kits come with 4 different whiskies base essences, which generally the 4 different major styles of whiskies (as reflected by the different regions of Scotland), Lowland, Highland, Irish and bourbon.
2. The also come with a range of adjunct flavours used for exentuating certain flavour profiles in you drink.

These Are:

Oak cask (the main flavour which is present in most whiskys) Sweet vanillin (a sweet vanilla flavour with a slight sherry flavour) Peat Smoke (A strong almost pungent peat smoke flavour, a very prominent note in Scottish Whiskies) Astringent Notes ( A sharp bitter astringent flavour that helps to add some bite to the whisky) Fruity Esters (more prominent on the nose then anywhere else, they add a lot to the whisky bouquet) Cereal notes( often described as grainy, these flavour notes are a part of any grain and are contained in the whisky bases) Carob Notes ( a chocolate grain flavour that results from the use of some mildly roasted grains) Cedar Oak ( imparts a distinctive drier oak flavour, often found in Irish whisky styles) Distillers Caramel (purely for colour, imparts a warm golden hue) Glycerine (contribute to smoothness and mouth feel)

Using just this small list of flavours you can create almost any whisky, bourbon and add to many rums. What you do with them is up to you though! The only way your going to know what your spirit can be is to try it. It was with the best of intentions that we all started homebrewing.

How long do you leave oak chips in?

Howdy Ed, To balance the tannins, we French oak chipped the must at the start of fermentation and at the half way point applied the Aussie method of Rack and Return to decrease the seeds in the must. Sieving out the seeds also removed the oak chips. My question is, at what stage should we re-oak the juice? Jamie O.

CA —– Hello Jamie, I would not automatically assume that you will need to add more oak chips to your homemade wine. In fact, I would not consider adding more French toasted oak chips to the wine until it has cleared and maturated to some degree while in bulk. See what tannins and other proteins drop out on their own, first.

There is nothing wrong with adding toasted oak chips during the fermentation, but you want to use a moderate dosage. Don’t go to overboard. It is possible to add to much. If you want to add oak to the wine during the fermentation, you may also want to consider using oak powder instead of oak chips.

• Oak powder does not strain out like the oak chips.
• Having said that, I do prefer using toasted oak chips after the fermentation.
• If it is only protein stability that you are concerned about, you also have the option of treating the wine with bentonite, instead of more oak chips.
• Among other things, bentonite will collect and drop out excessive tannins.

This will help to make the wine more heat stable while aging in bottles. If it is the flavor effects of toasted oak chips you are primarily looking for, it would be best to wait until the wine has aged in bulk for a month or so after the fermentation has completed. Buy waiting you are allowing the wine to get to a point where you can start to distinguish its developing flavor profile. Adding oak chips at this point will not only help you to stabilize the wine further, it will allow you to monitor the oak balance of the wine.

1. Since the wine is already maturating, you can do this with a little clearer perception of the final outcome.
2. Monitor the wine by sampling along the way.
3. Depending on the dosage you will want to sample every 1 to 4 weeks.
4. I recommend 1/4 pound of toasted oak chips for every 10 gallons of wine.
5. At this dosage a typical amount of time for oaking is about 30 to 90 days.

Sample the wine every 2 weeks. Here is some more information on how much and how long to use oak chips, What you are looking for is balance. You want the reduced harshness of oak aging to be in line with woody character the oak is adding. Best Wishes, Customer Service at E.C.

What does oak do to alcohol?

Roll Out the Barrel – French and American oak barrels add texture and flavor to a beverage to wine and spirits. This process also mellows or removes the harsh taste of distilled alcohol. These barrels of both oak types have variables that impact the flavor of the wine and liquor. Not all oak barrels are the same.