Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

A question for the brains trust :think: after reading, reading then some more reading to try determine if a wood is suitable to age my booze with, I came up with nothing, but the generic "may cause irritation to the skin". The wood in question is Brigalow that has been curing for at least 10 years and Crows foot ash, which is close to the same. They both have amazing aromas when sanded. My mate made me some dominoes, into some UJSSM they went. Im not going to drink this, unless I can get it tested. What do I get it tested for? Any input is appreciated :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Perhaps direct contact with mac or doc may help? Or baldwin distillery they may know. Scientific name of trees would be the go :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I think here is a perfect spot to find the answers your seek :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I hope they are suitable though!

Natural resins / oils in the wood can have inflammatory reactions with skin without actually being toxic, one would assume the same would apply to your gut

Tas, being a wog myself, the safe bet is fruit wood. Pear, cherry(especially) apple etc... cant go wrong there as these have been used successfully for many moons. All the others, as implied have dodgy repercussions.. Google... woods for ageing alcohol (or something like that), you will find the right link, and it gives a comprehensive list of safe woods... GLuck

Send me a sample ;-)

So after a lot of reading this pretty much sums up why oak is used, its known to make water tight barrels, its relatively cheap, some spirits are required to be aged in oak, it adds a known flavour profile, the American producers will keep up the supply of barrels due to their laws and of course tradition. Most fruit and some nut trees seem to be ok, most woods seem to have the same effects as irritants, most don't seem to be toxic. Im going to find someone to run some tests with oak aged spirit as a control, then compare a few other woods, does this seem like the way to go about it? :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Kenster wrote:Tas, being a wog myself, the safe bet is fruit wood. Pear, cherry(especially) apple etc... cant go wrong there as these have been used successfully for many moons. All the others, as implied have dodgy repercussions.. Google... woods for ageing alcohol (or something like that), you will find the right link, and it gives a comprehensive list of safe woods... GLuck

Did this, and it opened a plethora of options full of good ideas and discussions, one (from HD) is trying to discuss the use of - 'Oak vs. Other Woods' (link - not sure if I this acceptable?) but you can look up the title your self.

I am, finally at the stage where I can make a reliable product that is good and easy to consume without wanting to vomit or throw the whole glass over the fence ( :laughing-rolling: ), but I'm not personally happy with the end flavour. So ageing on wood is one of several aspects of flavouring to consider/test. Yeast and/or yeast combinations is another. Who knows how many others there are that I haven't thought about yet myself (step fermentation? Temperature of fermentation? FV? Agitated fermentation vs. non-agitation? etc, etc,etc)...

Only way to figure it out is to keep having a go!

Cheers Ezi, reinforces my thoughts on why oak is used, time to start experimenting :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sam, if you want to try some dry cherry wood, PM me your address and i will send you some. I have pear also but have not tried it. I find the cherry is fine for quick colour & taste seems ok too.Not a lot different to my oak cask taste.

for me cherry is lovely... quick to flavour but dosent colour much... real easy to over-wood tho.... never more than 3 months for me...

:D

Kenster wrote:Sam, if you want to try some dry cherry wood, PM me your address and i will send you some. I have pear also but have not tried it. I find the cherry is fine for quick colour & taste seems ok too.Not a lot different to my oak cask taste.

I meant the finished product :D

Anyone tried Citrus?

Tas try searching if the wood is suitable to smoke food over, if it's safe to eat it's generally safe to drink. To be triple sure, send me & Sam a sample :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

I use toasted cherry wood, along with oak in my CFW, rum and even added a small piece to some McWhisky. Adds a great flavour and really rounds out the spirit. Have tried toasted apple wood with cherry & oak but not just apple & oak. And haven't tried just cherry. Or just apple... There's always more experiments!! :-B

Ive got some macrum on toasted plum wood from Jan this year that smells pretty good, also some whiskey on apple and cherry. Im more interested in trying some native hard wood :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Does your state have Herbarium they may have the information about native trees some trees have Drug precursors that can be used to make illegal drugs 'Safrole and related compounds'

After extensive research Brigalow seem safe to use, colours like French Oak and its starting to smell good at just under 3 months. I put 6gms med toast into 500ml @ 67%, dipped my finger this morning, big fruity/floral burst that mellowed out to a nice corn finish

Boys, i realise this has taken some time to respond to...BUT... what sort of diameter wood are u using.. (in terms of offcuts) ... branch diam less or greater than , say, 1 inch... just gettin a feel out there...thanks. I have been using wood around 2 to 3 inch diam, seems to be a bit more mature, (not really sure if younger wood imparts the same stuff)

Hey tas have you ever come across spanish oak in your travels?

TasSpirits wrote:After extensive research Brigalow seem safe to use, colours like French Oak and its starting to smell good at just under 3 months. I put 6gms med toast into 500ml @ 67%, dipped my finger this morning, big fruity/floral burst that mellowed out to a nice corn finish

A friend cut this into domino size for me, the wood has come from mature trees.