Charring Oak Wood Chips or Cubes for Aging Moonshine – Charring differs from toasting in that we physically burn the wood with an open flame until the wood becomes black. Charring forms new chemicals in the wood while destroying others, it opens pores into the wood increasing surface area in contact with the alcohol.
- This speeds up the maturation process of the final product and can contribute color, honey, vanillin, spice, and a wide range of other flavors to the final spirit.
- The charring created during this process acts like an activate carbon filter, eliminating sulfur compounds and various unwanted congeners in the distillate.
But not all congerners are bad, in fact we want to maintain many of these flavors in the final spirit. Which is why we need to be careful of over charring, generally we want a low to medium Char.
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How do you use wood chips in 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.
- 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.
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.
Why do people put wood in whiskey?
What Are Staves Used For? – Image created by, Whiskey staves are used to change the flavor profile of alcohol. Different staves will have different flavor outcomes. Whiskey enthusiasts can experiment with staves to create a flavor profile they like. To use the stave, you simply add it to a bottle of alcohol of your choice and let it sit for a set amount of time.
What is the wood that you put in whiskey?
The Quercus Family Tree – Quercus alba, also known as white oak or American oak, dominates the whiskey industry thanks to the mandated use of new charred oak barrels for bourbon aging. Contrary to popular belief, there is no legal mandate to use white oak, however its abundance has made it the de facto choice.
- After one use, these barrels then find a second life maturing scotch, other whiskies, or even rum, brandy, or tequila.
- The next most common variety is Quercus robur, also known as pedunculate oak or European oak.
- It’s prominent thanks to its use in Spain’s sherry industry, and therefore the sherry casks which are highly valued for maturing scotch, and sometimes hold other whiskies for a brief but flavorful stay in a process called barrel finishing.
” Quercus robur is very porous as a species and it’s slower growing than its American counterpart Quercus alba,” explains Stuart MacPherson, Macallan’s master of wood. “The spiciness, the dried fruits, are the different flavor characteristics you associate more with Quercus robur,” Macallan sources slow growing, 100-125 year old Quercus robur from northern Spain.
Slow growth tends to produce a tighter or more narrow grain, with more rings per inch. “Take the flip side Quercus alba ; it’s generally cut a lot younger, and it’s a much faster growing oak,” says MacPherson. Faster growth leads to a wider grain, with fewer rings per inch, yet increased density, thanks to more cellulose-rich summer wood comparative to spring wood.
For the new Double Cask 12 year old, Macallan uses first-fill sherry casks constructed from both species. “With the influence of the American oak, you start to get lighter colors, more sweetness, the vanilla flavors,” says MacPherson. This serves as a counterpoint to the Spanish oak influence, which can be experienced on its own in the standard Macallan 12 year old, officially part of their Sherry Oak series.
- Not all American oak is Quercus alba, either.
- Enter Quercus garryana, or Oregon oak, a species being deployed with whiskey for the first time by Westland Distillery,
- It’s kind of been a forgotten oak from an industry standpoint,” says master distiller Matt Hofmann.
- Since Quercus garryana has much higher tannin levels than Quercus alba it requires a longer seasoning period to ensure the bitter and astringent qualities of tannins don’t over-influence the whiskey,” says Hofmann.
The longer the staves are seasoned, the more those tannins break down. Conveniently enough, when Westland came across an unwanted stockpile of garryana from Hardwood Components, a Salem, Oregon mill, the wood had already been left seasoning for between three and seven years.
- As for garryana’s flavors, “it’s like everything in American oak, but darker in flavor,” offers Hofmann.
- So instead of caramel, it’s molasses.
- Instead of baking spice, it’s like heavy cloves.
- There’s blackberry jam, there’s actual smoke in there.
- It almost has a fruity, Kansas City-style barbecue sauce feel to it.” Another lesser seen species is Quercus petraea, or sessile oak.
French Limousin oak, most commonly used for wine or brandy casks, including Cognac, is Quercus petraea sourced from the Limousin forest. Brenne puts virgin Limousin oak barrels to use, as well as used Cognac barrels, for their French single malt whisky, with Limousin’s wide grain allowing for easier passage of the spirit into the oak and more influence from tannins. Kevin O’Gorman, Midleton’s master of maturation, evaluates the impact of an oak cask.
How do you age moonshine with wood?
How to Age Whiskey – There are two ways to age whiskey at home. The most traditional method of DIY whiskey aging is to purchase or build a charred white oak barrel. To prep a barrel to be used for aging, make sure to first fill it with warm water and leave it sit until the wood swells enough to prevent leaking between the staves.
The hydration process could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. It’s very important that you do this to prevent your spirits from leaking out of the barrel when you initially fill it. Once hydrated, drain the water then fill it with clear, un-aged store-bought whiskey and leave it sit for a couple of weeks.
Remember, it’s illegal to distill your own alcohol for consumption without a distilled spirits permit. But no need to fret, there are plenty of un-aged whiskey options to be found at any liquor store. The easiest way to accomplish aging is to add charred American white oak sticks or shavings to a jar or bottle of spirits (such as the product picture to the right). The charred wood will naturally absorb and release spirits contained within the vessel, allowing the wood to impart its flavors to the spirit.
What is the best wood for aging moonshine?
Why Oak? – There are so many types of woods to choose from such as maple, acacia, chestnut and cherry. Yet oak (a few exceptions notwithstanding) is the only wood used for aging spirits. And not just any oak tree will do. Of the hundreds of oak species, only a few rise to the occasion for cask cooperage. White oak rings More so than most other wood types, oak has large radial rays—cells that run perpendicular to the rest of the wood fibers. This gives it the strength that’s needed for shaping a cask. Oak is also a rather pure wood, as opposed to pine or rubber trees.
What wood is used to age spirits?
Barrel aging of wine and whiskey is one of the most effective processes in the beverage industries that construe the taste of liquors. The barrel wood transmits different intricate flavors to the distillery character already in the newly formed spirit.
- Wooden liquor barrels are appreciated not just because they add nice flavors to spirits, but they are also one of the immense expenses for recent beverage makers.
- Different oak trees differ in their levels of flavors, compounds, porous effects.
- The most commonly used wood for barrel making comes from oak trees.
Wooden liquor barrels are made up of oak due to expedience and porosity. The American white oak barrel is primarily used for aging because it adds great flavors to whiskey and wine. Other wood barrels used for aging whiskey and wine are hickory and maple wood, French oak, redwood, walnut, cherry, and chestnut.
What do you get when you distill wood?
Distillation of wood is the process in which wood is heated (not burned) to form charcoal and vapors. The vapors condense in a cold collecting test tube to form a brownish liquid. This liquid is called pyroligneous acid.
What do wood chips make?
Woodchips, with hand for scale Woodchips are small- to medium-sized pieces of wood formed by cutting or chipping larger pieces of wood such as trees, branches, logging residues, stumps, roots, and wood waste. Woodchips may be used as a biomass solid fuel and are raw material for producing wood pulp,
They may also be used as an organic mulch in gardening, landscaping, and ecosystem restoration ; in bioreactors for denitrification ; and as a substrate for mushroom cultivation, The process of making woodchips is called wood chipping and is done using a wood chipper, The types of woodchips formed following chipping is dependent on the type of wood chipper used and the material from which they are made.
Woodchip varieties include: forest chips (from forested areas), wood residue chips (from untreated wood residues, recycled wood and off-cuts), sawing residue chips (from sawmill residues), and short rotation forestry chips (from energy crops).
Why do people put wood in moonshine?
One way to trigger the aging process is with oak wood chips, which can improve the bourbon’s flavor and give it a smooth, mellow taste. It is advised for those making their own moonshine to use wood chips rather than aging the wash in a barrel, as they are better at flavor enhancement.
Is wood alcohol drinkable?
Methanol ☠️ – Also known as wood alcohol – it is the simplest alcohol with the formula CH 3 OH. It is also a primary (1°) alcohol, meaning the carbon the hydroxyl is attached to is attached to only one other carbon. Don’t drink it! It is a poison and should never be confused with ethanol.
One ounce (only 2/3 of a shot) can kill you. And, it is possible you can ingest this unintentionally by drinking what you think is just ethanol. This is possible when quality standards in making ethanol through fermentation are not followed – careless creation and treatment of the fermented liquid can make methanol along with ethanol.
As a matter of fact, methanol is typically made in small amounts when fermenting to get ethanol. The trick is to remove it during distillation. Scary stuff – just be careful of your neighborhood “backyard distiller” and their special moonshine concoction.
What is the wood thing in alcohol?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Contemporary cellarette, built in 2009 A cellarette or cellaret is a small furniture cabinet, available in various sizes, shapes, and designs which is used to store bottles of alcoholic beverages such as wine or whiskey. They usually come with some type of security such as a lock to protect the contents.
Such wooden containers for alcoholic beverages appeared in Europe as early as the fifteenth century. They first appeared in America in the early eighteenth century and were popular through the nineteenth century. They were usually made of a decorative wood and sometimes had special designs so as to conceal them from the casual observer.
They were found in pubs, taverns, and homes of the wealthy.
Is moonshine wood alcohol?
Methanol – A Deadly Byproduct – The fermentation process used to make moonshine produces alcohol in two forms: methanol and ethanol. Ethanol is the drinkable version. Methanol, known as wood alcohol, is a byproduct that’s toxic when large amounts end up in the finished product,
- The distillation process that follows produces concentrated ethanol by boiling the fermented product.
- The problem moonshiners run into is ethanol has a boiling point of 173.1 degrees Fahrenheit while methanol’s boiling point is 148.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
- This means methanol evaporates at a faster rate than ethanol and can become concentrated.
When done correctly, it only forms in small amounts and is easily separated out and discarded. Without the right equipment, high concentrations of methanol can end up in the drink. What makes methanol so dangerous is the human body converts it to formaldehyde, an ingredient used to make embalming fluid.
What whiskey was John Wick drinking?
In the winter of 1881, Albert Bacon Blanton was born into one of the first families of Bourbon. At the age of sixteen, he started work in the Distillery as an office boy and fast became a leading pioneer in the development of Bourbon. Blanton’s is only aged in “Warehouse H,” built from steel walls with little insulation.
- This is significant because the greater temperature fluctuation made the barrels “breath” the Whiskey in an out, creating a richer product.
- Every bottle is hand lettered with specifications, including unique distilling date, barrel date, and other details.
- Each bottle has one of eight Kentucky Thoroughbred horse stoppers on top.
The core “Original Single Barrel” Bourbon from Blanton’s is a fairly traditional corn/rye/barley sour mash aged in dark, #4 char white oak casks. It is bottled at an absolutely perfect 46.5% ABV and has a rich mouth feel with lots of citrus zest, caramel, and praline flavors.
vanilla spicy caramel oak honey fudge butter sweet clove
Visit Blanton’s shop Shop Blanton’s gift sets
What wood is best for alcohol?
Different types of barrels – Mainly there are 2 types of barrels which are European oak barrels and American white oak barrels. Barrels made up of American oak wood offer caramel, vanilla, and soft and mellow flavors. Barrels made up of European oak wood offer bitter, spicy strong, and wooden flavors.
American oak barrels are heavily charred and are used to create smoky spirits having an inherent vanilla flavor. French oak barrels are lower in tannins. These are usually lightly charred to create spirits that are spicy and smoky. The most popular wood used to make classic barrels is oak. It is most distinct for aging liquors.
Other types of wood may impart assorted flavors. Oak has unique properties. Oakwood barrels can be frequently used with various types of spirits. It animates each batch with delicate aspects from the previous batch for a truly unique spirit. You can age almost any alcohol in oak barrels including beer, dry wine, port, sherry, tequila, brandy, rum, whiskey, and many more.
Even you can age balsamic vinegar and hot sauce in oak barrels if you want. Bourbon is matured in fresh barrels and it always acquires the maximum taste from them. Oak barrels are perfect for aging whiskey. Oak is the perfect container for wine. People have stored wine in oak barrels for thousands of years.
It gives appetizing flavors including butter, caramel, and vanilla to wine. Wine maturation in an oak barrel makes it unique and more interesting. Whiskey is aged in barrels in almost every country. Mostly beer is not aged in barrels. Beer lovers can age their own beer in barrels.
Beer contains lighter flavors and contains less alcohol than liquor or wine. So, they don’t take as long to age. The best way to age beer is, age it with strong flavors and high alcohol percentage. Vodka, gin, and cognac are aged in whiskey barrels, Japanese whiskey, Irish whiskey, and Canadian whiskey are best aged in wood barrels; doesn’t matter what kind of oak barrels.
Cross-reaction and oxidation occurring between various organic substances present in the alcohol lead to the formation of additional unique congeners. A combination of European oak and smoky, spicy, and sweet flavors given by oloroso sherry gives rise to fine flavors in scotch.
Bourbon whiskey needs new oak barrels with charred inner surfaces. Most non-whiskey and some whiskey spirits do not require fresh, unused, or charred oak barrels. Cognac supervision allows only the use of French oak barrels. These are not charred. Newly distilled cognac is kept inside new oak barrels for 16 to 18 months.
A plurality of malt whiskey is aged in bourbon barrels. Only a few malt whiskeys are kept in sherry barrels. American oak barrels are quite hard so whiskey matures slowly. Spanish oak barrels contain a resin that directly affects the flavors. Sherry and bourbon both leach out stronger oak extracts and tannins, hence result in a lighter whiskey.
Why can’t you drink wood alcohol?
How Japan’s New ‘Wood Alcohol’ Makes You Drunk, Not Blind A arises when you’re from the natural world, and the problem seems to grow more intractable by the day. But despondent urbanites might soon be able to reinvigorate that lost connection with nature through libations.
A team of Japanese scientists has invented a new type of wood alcohol — and this one is safe to drink. Generally, “wood alcohol” is a stand-in term for methanol, a main ingredient in, and formaldehyde. Methanol is made by distilling fermented wood, and it is extremely toxic. Even drinking a small amount of methanol can make you go blind or kill you, because blood becomes dangerously acidic after the body metabolizes methanol.
The researchers from Japan’s Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute on Monday that their invention, however, is ethanol — and therefore totally potable. They began the process by mashing wood into a pulp, similar to the first step of making paper.
But whereas paper makers would add bleach to the mix, they introduced active yeast to catalyze the fermentation process. Finally, they distilled the mixture, yielding eight pints of 30-proof liquor from almost nine pounds of cedar. They say it tastes woody, like liquor aged in a cask. Typically, the wood distillation process requires boiling a mixture of wood pulp and water.
This method produces methanol, the kind of wood alcohol that you shouldn’t drink. But the researchers found a way to avoid using heat in production, thereby preserving the flavor and ensuring that the beverage was safe for consumption. “Our method can make it drinkable, and with a wood flavour, because it does not require high heat or sulphuric acid to decompose the wood,” researcher told The new, intoxicating beverage was created by researchers at Japan’s Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, a government-funded venture that studies any and all things forest-related.
Thus far, the team has prepared liquor using cedar, birch, and cherry. They hope to partner with a business to sell wood alcohol within the next few years, drawing upon trees from across Japan to create regional flavors and styles of hard alcohol. Wood alcohol will probably appeal to many high-minded alcohol lovers, given the bespoke cultural preferences of our time.
It might sound a little pretentious, but who hasn’t wanted to drink a tree? : How Japan’s New ‘Wood Alcohol’ Makes You Drunk, Not Blind
Why are spirits aged in oak?
Barrel Aging Effects on Whiskey and other spirits A ll spirits, no matter what the starting ingredients, are clear when they come off the still. Some stay that way, while others don’t. Generally, those without herbs or other additives establish color from the aging process. And beyond just providing color, aging a spirit deserves credit for doling out much of the flavors and aromas.
What wood lightens with age?
Hardwood Color Changes Over Time – All hardwoods will undergo the natural aging process and change color overtime with exposure to UV light and oxygen. In general, while lighter woods tend to become a bit darker and richer, woods that begin dark will lighten up.
- We all know and love cherry as a rich reddish brown color.
- However, freshly cut cherry boards have a light color much closer to straw.
- At Chilton, we personally love the look at this early stage of the wood, but the surface is so light, that it is often confused with maple.
- Within a few weeks, change is noticeable, as hints of red begin to develop, though the wood is still light.
It will take about six to 12 months to reach that rich dark hue that so many people have come to expect with cherry, depending on light exposure, and this reddish tone will only continue to deepen as time goes on. Comparison of newly built cherry table with light straw color and naturally aged cherry table with deep red color. Like cherry, maple will darken over time, though far less dramatically. Maple starts off very light and bright, with a few pink and grey tones. Comparison of newly built maple media stand with light pink color and naturally aged maple dresser with golden honey color. Of the primary woods Chilton offers, walnut is the most different in its aging process. Rather than darkening over time, walnut begins as a beautiful, rich dark brown color and over time will gradually lighten, taking on notes of honey throughout.
How many wood chips to add to moonshine?
Directions: –
Grill the prepared chips in the oven or microwave. Notes of smell and flavor depend on the degree of burning. A light burning (when the first smoke appears) gives the beverage a hint of vanilla, fruits, and flowers. A medium burning (when there’s smoke and smell) gives the aroma of coconut, caramel, almond, and spices. A strong burning (when wood changes color) enriches the moonshine with a smoky taste with chocolate hints.
During the burning it is important not to burn the chips out. For the first time I recommend training on a small amount, in order not to spoil all wood.
- Add the oak chips to the moonshine (45-50%) in proportion of 20-30 grams per liter and tightly seal it with a lid. Infuse it in a dark cold place for 3-6 months. With time its color will change. Take a sample each month, controlling organoleptic properties of the beverage. The duration of maturing process depends on the properties of the chosen wood and your taste and aroma preferences.
- Pour the infused moonshine into another container, Filter it through a funnel with a strainer and/or with gauze/ cheesecloth, Mature it for 3-5 days in a dark cold place before drinking.
Moonshine of 9 months of maturity
How do you smoke alcohol with wood chips?
How to Smoke a Drink Using a Smoking Gun (aka Cold Smoking) – Marisa Chafetz Step 1: Choose Your Smoke Pick out what you’ll be using to flavor your spirit or cocktail. Again, barks, wood chips, hard spices and herbs will all work. Step 2: Choose Your Smoking Vessel “When using a smoke gun, you want to make sure there is enough room to house both the smoke and the liquid,” Sarkis says.
Mason jars or carafes work well for this purpose.” Whatever you pick, make sure you can cover it with a lid or some other top that will hold in the smoke. Step 3: Add Your Cocktail or Spirit to the Vessel Pour your spirit of choice into the vessel or build your cocktail and strain it into the jar or carafe.
Step 4: Pack Your Gun Fill the chamber of the smoking gun with a teaspoon of whatever flavoring you chose. Switch the gun on and ignite your herbs, spices or wood chips. Step 5: Smoke Your Drink Pipe the smoke into the vessel, then cap it off. Swirl the liquid around so the smoke infuses into it.
How do you apply wood chips?
Step 3: Spread Your Woodchips – The wood chips should really be scattered to a depth of 3 or 4 inches for the best effect. You should always leave a few inches between each plant and the wood chips you’re distributing to ensure that the plants you want to keep are not harmed in the process of getting the effect you want.