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Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:19 am
by Studdha
Hi there,
I have a new 10litre oak barrel that i'm looking to fill with sugar wash. I am looking for a nice oak taste after 8-12 months. I have a wee issue-

Most whisky barrels are filled for maturation at 63% abv, but I can't carbon filter above 50%.

Should I reduce my abv to 49%, filter and fill or just fill at the 63%?

Thanks

Stu

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 4:58 am
by Nathan02
Personally I would make a rum or whiskey to put into your new investment mate. A sugar wash isn't going to benefit much from being barrelled. BUT if you choose to I would choose a neutral wash from the T&P section and make nice tight cuts and theres no need for carbon filtering. Theres no substitute for good cuts. Then oak at 65ABV. Cheers

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 4:59 am
by warramungas
What are you distilling? Turbo, sugar head, all grain?
You need to make cuts while you're distilling (read the beginners section) so you can keep and water down higher abv alcohol or you can filter it all at 40ish and then rerun it through a clean still and you should just get a higher abv product.
Not sure how well neutral would go in a barrel but others here may have tried it. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:24 am
by Studdha
yes was just going to use turbo yeast with sugar. Not advanced enough yet to make a rum or whisky.

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:38 am
by warramungas
I'd look up some of the sugar recipes here like tpw or the kale one.
Turbo's are 'Ok' (big apostrophes there) but need really good cuts to get rid of that metallic taste.
You can get better results but usually a lower yield. Probably good for a practice and to know what they're like though.

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 6:42 am
by Studdha
thanks warramungas, what yeast would you recommend?

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 7:49 am
by Nathan02
Yep for sure jump on a TPW wash mate. Use lowans bakers yeast. All the info is for you there in the recipe in the tried and proven. It's cheaper to make then a turbo and with tight cuts its extremely clean. You want to put the best quality possible into the barrel so I would do a stripping run and then second spirit run.

But quickly...what still are you using mate? A base line rum or whiskey is quite easy to do...

Cheers

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:30 am
by Sam.
Putting nuetrel in a barrel is going to end up as oaked vodka.

You need some form of flavour base for the barrel to make something decent. Try a nutrigrain whisky or macwhisky etc.

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:44 am
by Studdha
Really appreciate the advice guys.

I have a T500 copper column

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 8:51 am
by Studdha
Could I make a top shelf flavour rum or whisky then put in barrel?

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 9:07 am
by RuddyCrazy
Just go look for the CFW wash in the tried and proven section mate. A big box of cornflakes and I use 1/2 a small box of weetbix and lowans baking yeast. Try and keep the wash to around 1060 so you don't stress out the yeast. Now if your still can strip do enough stripping runs so you can fill the boiler with no higher than a 40% low wine wash and run that with tight cuts.

You may need to do a generation or two to get more flavour but the end results are proven and well worth the time to learn.

Cheers Bryan

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 12:58 pm
by Professor Green
Studdha wrote:Really appreciate the advice guys.

I have a T500 copper column


I think you're going to struggle to get flavour using a T500 which is designed to strip it out but using any one of the recipes in the tried and proven section and doing good cuts will get you spirits you don't need to filter so oaking at 65% would be possible. I agree with Sam though, it's going to be oaked vodka.

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:13 pm
by baznkez
Try a corn flake whiskey wash that is easy to make & in a oak barrel it will improve over time.
I would not bother filtering a neutral spirit run no point if it will be sitting in an oak barrel for 12months plus the bad stuff will evaporate over time through the barrel

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:08 pm
by bluc
Do cuts no need to filter....Make your fav rum bourbon essence and put that in barrel or just sraight vodka :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 3:46 pm
by RC Al
I'm getting good results by doing 1.5 washes - you use wash to water down the stripped product.
It may work on the t500, can't hurt to try - just run it as fast as possible to strip (without melting anything), on the spirit run run as normal for fores and heads, then faster for the rest, the hearts and tails will smear a bit, this is where you will get the flavour through, the hearts cuts probably won't be huge.
Give it a go, the worst thing that could happen is you get some flavorless neutral or something to run again normally for neutral

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2018 4:30 pm
by woodduck
Your fighting an uphill battle here sorry mate. The T500 is a reflux still you won't get much flavor out of it if any. If you want flavor I'd be more tempted not to do strip run, just do a single run. Don't push the T500 too hard or it will melt. You've got to push on with it now cause you've got the barrel but I'd be looking for a pot head to go on your boiler as soon as you can so you can make the most of the barrel.

I can't help but think that neutral in a barrel will just taste like wood but don't know. You could try a small amount of essence to help maybe? Oh and don't bother filtering if your doing cuts, you won't need to :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Good luck with it mate.

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 5:54 am
by Studdha
Thanks for all your advice folks. Going to flavour with spiced rum essence and put in barrels. I'm sure it won't be wasted.

Going to try CFW with my next wash :-)

Re: Oaking Moonshine

PostPosted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 6:29 am
by Nathan02
Let us know how you get on mate! I'm sure you'll end up with a nice drinkable product