by Whiskey Baron » Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:04 pm
For ageing, I do it in 2L preserving jars with the top/ lid cracked for it to breathe & have the spirit around the 63-65% range - which incidentally is the total of my hearts. My personal preference for hearts (using both nose & taste) generally fall in the 75-55% range. (I go down to 50 occasionally for my spiced blackbeard's rum & wheated bourbon - but that's another story/ thread). I use a combo of toasted & charred American oak chunks (chips just don't do it for me) that were once barrels - they can be easily sourced on E-bay. For the 1st 3mths a 50/50 combo of charred & toasted oak @ 60g/2L (maybe heavy for some on here but for me it adds good colour & flavour in a shorter amt of time) then back it off to 20g & just let it sit (if you can resist the "taste testing" temptation) :laughing-rolling:
Basically that's it. With recent batches though, 5-6mths seems to be the average length of time it lasts before it's consumed :text-lol: At BBQs, parties, mates get-togethers - it's always the 1st drink people are drawn too (I guess due to curiosity of a home made spirit) & the 1st to disappear.
For those that have been following my recent posts, thankyou for your interest & I hope you get similar results as I have achieved. All I really done is made a slight tweak to Zak's simple, brilliant, hip-pocket friendly recipe. Some may question my ratios/ methods etc - but after some 15-18mths (& batches) of trial & error - this works for me & produces a drink that I'm happy with that is both smooth & flavoursome.
Cheers & happy brewing & drinking :obscene-drinkingdrunk:
Whiskey Baron