Whiskey Aging

[frank]

Hi everyone! I have a question regarding aging whiskey with wood chips. I have read through a handful of books on aging and not one of them explain the wood chip to spirit ratio in detail. Do any of you know a formula that will allow me to better asses an appropriate amount of wood chips in Lbs to gallons of spirits? Or any best practices using wood chips as an alternative to casks? Thanks!

[Panoscape]

This wine industry chip/cube/stave flavor analysis report uses 10g per liter, so you might start there. Here are some links that go into the flavor profiles of the chips, cubes and staves, they range quite drastically. It would be interesting to marry several different kinds to custom tailor your flavor profile. Seeing that 80% of the whiskey flavor comes from the aging process, this could be just as, if not more important than your grain bill.

I understand that these reports are based on a 13% neutral white wine, but they should be pretty close for aging spirits.

http://www.oakchipsinc.com/pdfbook.pdf

http://www.oakchipsinc.com/key.pdf

rw

[cowdery]

Note too what the regs say about chips. If you want to make whiskey they are not an acceptable alternative to barrel aging and if you use them with barrel aging their use has to be disclosed on the label because it's considered an additive.

[Panoscape]

^ Which could be a good thing if marketed correctly. I've found that regular people don't care much about what goes into it, only if it takes them on a sensory adventure. Be bold, be different, try new things or things that have been lost for many years. Mix it up and proudly promote your difference on your label. The world really doesn't need ANOTHER whiskey, what it needs are new adventures that take them down unexplored paths which send them on enjoyable sipping holidays.

[pressure9pa]

A few notes:

Shape of the chip is as important as weight. Weight is a factor, but total surface area is a bigger one. If the shape of your chip changes, so will the desired weight.

Proof of the whiskey is a minor factor, but needs to be considered.

Like all aging, the biggest factor is time. More chips can accelerate the aging to some extent, but there are limits.

[Rob]

Excerpt below is taken from one of the ISC's International Barrel Symposium reports:

"Five pounds of French oak chips should give approximately the same flavor intensity as 14 interior staves."

[The Barrel Mill]

www.infusionspiral.com

Med and Heavy are best for spirits

Cheers

[frank]

Thank you all for the information, its been a big help!

[Curtis McMillan]

AWWWWWW (wood chips) WARNING .... to much wood is a bad thing!!!!!! (willing to give free tutorials on Skype or over the phone)

[IrishRosie]

Amen to too much wood........you better go real light when you batch up your first batch of whiskey with chips...in my experience, you can really kill a batch of nice product with a heavy hand...it always seemed to me as if all the cross sections and surfaces on chips imparted a much more robust oaking to the spirit....GO SLOW and easy.....contact me if you want more info regarding cross sectional areas and converaion information....just batchup a small amount before you commit to heavy for what is arguably a shortcut in the taste process.....Rosie

[EllenJ]

^ Which could be a good thing if marketed correctly. I've found that regular people don't care much about what goes into it, only if it takes them on a sensory adventure. Be bold, be different, try new things or things that have been lost for many years. Mix it up and proudly promote your difference on your label. The world really doesn't need ANOTHER whiskey, what it needs are new adventures that take them down unexplored paths which send them on enjoyable sipping holidays.

Thank you!!!!!

I could hardly agree more.

I'm not sure just what "regular people" are, but I feel that too many people are hung up on labels they've been taught are "desirable". What artisan and craft distillers need to do is to work with "artisan" or "craft" MARKETERS to educate drinkers about the benefits of such new adventures and not trying to fit into current expectations. The finest American "bourbon" whiskey I've ever tasted cannot be marketed as "bourbon", or even "whiskey". Unfortunately for the world of potential customers and folks who enjoy what can be done with fermented grain, the distiller refuses to market his product. Why? Because he feels no one will buy a bottle of something that has to be called "spirit" instead of "bourbon".

His loss.

Ours, too.