wood

[ketel3]

Just wanted to open this part of the forum,nothing was posted here yet

A while ago I toasted my own wood,birch and oak,the oak is not the same type as in the Usa so it is european oak harvested it myself  .
As I used it in my wisky ,made a big mistake right away  as I used far to much and learned not to go over 20 grams/ at 1 liter ,the taste is total differant as from Jd chips or Jm beam chips.
The birch is someting special not every body's taste I think maybe used combined with oak is better.

First step was dry the wood in the oven on low heat say 80 dgrs  2.5 hours.
Next day a couple of hours  on  220 dgrs rapped tinfoil around it , the upper bowl is the birch wood ,wen I opened the oven a lovely vanilla sense was there

Later I have put some of it in a jar with Sherry   and some  was charred,but I like the Usa wood more.
Did one of you any experiments with wood ?

[Eucyblues]

Hi k3:
Brown spirits are my 'thing' so I'm right into wood - I've been toasting/charring/soaking/testing for some years now - I'll put some more detailed info up later - right now I'm supposed to be packing.....

Cheers

[ketel3]

Happy Packing    love to read about your experiments.
By the way I  have barrels too.

[YHB]

Next day a couple of hours  on  220 dgrs rapped tinfoil around it 

I am OK up to this point  "wrapped in tinfoil" is the bit I am not sure of. Is that wrapped and sealed or losely wrapped or wrapped with the foil pierced. 

[ketel3]

Just covered , not tight ,so there is space under the foil.

By the way the wood soaked in sherry makes the taste more complex  I use a small piece together with with JD chips or Jim Beam chips.
Next thing to do smoke some barley or rye with peat in my smoke oven.

[Eucyblues]

If you use an oven then wrapping is optional due to the relatively low temperatures, but it will keep the burning house smell (somewhat) contained (until you uncover it to check them).  .  If you (ie read 'your partner') doesn't/don't mind the toasty smell just lay them uncovered in a metal roasting dish or 2 as per K3 pics, then you can check on them and turn them etc like oven roasted chips

You can also wrap tightly with alfoil and place in a wok or barbecue - don't pierce it - the wrapping is to restrict oxygen and promote toasting instead of catching fire. Not as controlled as the oven but faster.   

I use both commercial American and French oak 'dominoes' and my own American white oak (Quercus Alba) 'fingers' (I buy my oak from a local timber supplier - the last purchase was a 2 metre length of 200x25 so I have a fair supply)

I typically saw the 'fingers' about 100mm long x 25x15 - **ALONG** the grain 

You should also experiment with charring - toast some at varying levels (see attachment), leave some untoasted. soak some in sherry/port then take some of each, arrange them on a piece of cement sheet and hit them with a gas burner draw the flame in and out (red to blue) and you'll see the effect of an oxidising vs reducing flame - give them a good char all over.  The soaked ones will smell like cooked raisins.  Charred oak will colour up the spirit faster than uncharred - also gives a filtering effect

     

[law-of-ohms]

reminds me of the big box of american oak staved i have somewhere that need toasting

[Eucyblues]

Over the years, I've collected a large volume of 'interesting articles' and such like

Here's a link to my 'oaking' folder (as distinct from my 'aging' folder) - feel free to download

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3HbDPQKnW5LMk5RQngySngtVTQ?usp=sharing

Considering this we should have a literature section where we can share libraries..thoughts??

EDIT: I guess we have this in the Resource Library

[YHB]

Nice

Thanks for sharing your research.

[ketel3]

I love all info I can get,my testwith european oak was a bit disapointing ,tje only good thing was the sherry soaked ones.
I will try again the local oak and use less.
Birch was not as good as I expected.
Please keep posting your tests ideas and toughts.
cheers K3
now a sip of bison grass vodka 

[YHB]

First Go  - Not much in the olafactory department - perhaps hotter ? longer ?

wood
DSC03423.JPG (74.21 kB. 350x238 - viewed 892 times.)

[ketel3]

First Go  - Not much in the olafactory department - perhaps hotter ? longer ?

wood
DSC03423.JPG (74.21 kB. 350x238 - viewed 892 times.)

What kinda wood is that,European our Usa wood ?
Maybe char a few with a gas tourch,we have such a nice hobby doint you think.
Right here it is 17,45 hours so a couple off hours left in the old year,my toughts are with Edwin.

[YHB]

What kinda wood is that,European our Usa wood ?

  I bought it from the local timber merchant, it just said "Oak" 

I had a chat with the guy who runs the buisiness, he could not say what variety of oak it is or even where it came from it, but he bought it as offcuts from a saw mill in England and assumes it is European. He has had it in stock for a few years so it is nice and dry and relatively cheap. I paid £5.00 for a few pieces that has given me half a bucket full of sticks.

I cut it into blocks 1" x 1.1/2" x 3" long, split each of the blocks into six pieces. On average 10 pieces wieghs 80 grammes.

The picture is my pilot batch.

[ketel3]

Even when it is European good results are possible.
There are 2 main groups ,winter and summer oak.
Your supplyer had it in stock for a few years , that sounds good,taste will be softer.

I think heat up to above 220 dgrs celsius , will give you nice smell and better taste pallete,2 hours+

Drop a few into a little sherry,there is so much to try.
If you char some sticks  rinse them with water before adding to your distilate.

My great mistake was to use to much wood the first time as I expected less taste as from usa wood,but this is not the case,the color of your distilate will be great.
I hope to learn from your experiments so please post your results,tests.

[Eucyblues]

Worth a try - it could be Q. Robur which is very common (it's actually called 'common oak') and although used sometimes for barrels is not preferred flavour-wise. 

Q petraea is the French white oak.

Look around for some Q. alba - American White Oak - You'll know it immediately if you can get them to cut a piece - smells strongly of bourbon when freshly cut (it's so good!!) - very fine grain.

You've not toasted them enough from the photos - as a guide see the attached photos of American Oak pieces -

This was taken from pieces used in an on-going oaking test - T1 is the 'oaky' range in the previous chart i posted, T2 is Sweet, T3 Vanillin - Unfortunately I think the samples may be wet from the look of paler ones - however the T3 sample equates to a 'Medium' toast and is the most common - needs to be a chocolate colour - note the grooves cut in the top of each so I know which toast level they are (mainly for the lighter ones and to differentiate when charred (charring only penetrates abput a mil or 2)

The bottles where photgraphed on 22/2/15 - You can see the varied colour achieved from each toast level in 3 weeks.  The dark sample has an old charred stave piece - You can see the effect of the different toast levels and charring.  The smell and taste from each toast level is markedly different and changes with time.  I was surprised by the depth of colour from the old stave piece - It was a bigger piece and heavily charred though (was only added as an afterthought comparison - not part of the 'proper' trial). 

The test continues...(I'm keeping notes) - On 22/2/15, I halved the samples of the T1/T2/T3 batches, halved the oak pieces and charred half of them.  As they are today is shown in the last pic - The light is a bit lower than in the 2015 pic but you can still see the changes.  Note that also, the T2 Char sample was heat teated for 5 days in July 2015 - You can see the darkening effect - It has a deeper colour than the T3 Char sample.

You can also see that most of the colour is extracted quite early in the process.  So colouring up is only the very beginning of the aging process, and does not indicate maturity     

I've also attached a photo of the SD medium toast dominoes as a colour guide - these would equate to T3

Happy New Year and happy toasting/soaking/charring !!

[YHB]

Second Go.

A lot darker and a nicer aroma.

wood
Second Go.JPG (63.83 kB. 350x225 - viewed 750 times.)

I charred 8 pieces out of this batch and dropped it into my latest cornflakes.

After 5 days it has a wonderful colour, that just says "Drink Me"

wood
5 days.JPG (124.2 kB. 350x439 - viewed 727 times.)

I try to resist but I have never been very good at that kind of thing . The booze was good before I added the oak, in the short time only there is a significant change for the better .

I am one happy bunny and will report back in 3 months time, if I have any left by then.

Toodlepip

[ketel3]

It looks great warm colored,inviting  drink me taste me , dont let me wait ,but the challenge is to wait,however a small sip does not heart anybody.
A succesfull experiment.

[Swedish Pride]

I like wood 

I started with oak chips from the HBS, quite nice

Then I realized I had an apple tree that fell over a year back so I went to work on that, did the whole toasting and charring bit, liked it too.

Then I found  a cheap source of staves from used whiskey barrels (3€ per stave), used a chisel to get rid of all  old char and paint and re-charred (did not toast as they were toasted originally), didn't care for it, turns out the oak had had sherry in it previously, I don't like whiskey finished in sherry casks.

Then I got a bag of JD chips as most are using them seem happy enough and have been using them in conjunction with the apple.

Will look at getting some french wood oak for my brandy next as apparently french oak is better for it, for not I have a few jd chips and apple wood in it.

[ketel3]

A very nice post Swedish,
I like others test and try outs.
Jim Beam  JD are always good start, but own try en test is nice and developes your tasting palete.

My Birch was a nice experiment but a bit disapointing.
I have some apple wood  laying around to leach out the heavy stuff hope it will be fine.
cheers K3

[law-of-ohms]

Screw the oven,

Use a blow torch