2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

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2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby Guppy » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:32 pm

Howdy distillers,

I have around 15 litres of a scotch whiskey I've distilled that is aging on medium toasted oak and a few sticks of charred oak but even after two months I'm not really happy with the flavour. The recipe was ale malt and peated with some munich and a little sugar to boost the abv. I had good ferments near 10% abv.

Does any scotch makers here find the same thing that it takes a long time for it to come good?
A mate of mine made some scotch with a similar recipe and he has found the same thing.
Hard to describe the flavour but it's sort of sweet tasting.

At 62% I can smell the vanilla from the oak and it burns the front of the tongue, not the lips though.
When cut to 40% it just burns the back sides of the tongue and throat but the vanilla is gone.

Im not really getting any peat although that could be because I'm currently drinking a bottle of Ardbeg so expecting the same peatiness..lol

I've just started a ferment of 8 kgs peat and 5kg base malt which I'm going to strip and run a spirit run so I can top my 15 litres up to 19 litres (I'm ageing in a corny ) and hopefully I will end up with some peat from this. I know it won't be an Ardbeg but a little peat would be nice.
Last edited by Guppy on Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby MacStill » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:36 pm

at only 2 months it's not going to be very nice mate, give it at least another 4 months and see how much it changes.... I wont touch mine until it's at least 12 months old ;-)
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby TheMechwarrior » Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:39 pm

My 2 cents, don't underestimate the benefit of time on oak. Before you're tempted to start tinkering with it or worse still re-run it, leave it and forget about for the next 6 months, then report back if you still think it's no good.

PS...for a scotch you really want to stay around the 8.5%abv MAX, so no need for sugar. Above this you start to stress out the yeast and create some undesirables.

Cheers,


PS...what Mac just said too.

Mech.
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby huggy_b » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:01 pm

You're not going to get the same peatiness as Ardbeg, the most heavily peated malt that I've found available is around 35ppm where an Ardbeg from what I have read use 50ppm+ and 100% peated malt so you are behind the 8 ball from the start!

IMO just tuck it away (hide it in a dark space) for 12 months and put a reminder on your mobile to pull it out.
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby dogbreath vodka » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:06 pm

:text-+1:
put it aside of a year or so.... then it will be better.

I shake mine every night and it's now 14 months old... very nice but not enough length.. Flavour doesn't linger enough.
23ltr keg for ageing.JPG


Nothing beats aging.
:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

If you can't get enough peat... why not make up some peatreek?
Peatreek


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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby Guppy » Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:11 am

Oh well looks like I will have to forget about it for a year.

I don't exepct the peat levels of Ardbeg from this, but just want some peat flavour out of it.
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby Sam. » Thu Dec 18, 2014 6:42 am

The peat comes out with more time on oak ;-)
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby bt1 » Thu Dec 18, 2014 11:50 am

put it aside of a year or so.... then it will be better.

:text-+1:

kinda figured that was the entry level for this spirit

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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby Urrazeb » Fri Jan 09, 2015 12:19 pm

I have a carboy fulla oat whiskey that definitely didn't show any promise off the still and quite frankly tasted like shit.

Well it's been hidden away on American oak since April '13 and I had a whiff last night, it smells damn good! Can't believe how far it's come.

I'm going to pour out a sample bottle tonight and give it a nudge... Responsibly of course :pray:
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby TheMechwarrior » Fri Jan 09, 2015 5:26 pm

I tasted some new make spirit from a local distillery and that proved an amazing eye opener. I've simply been too hard on my own spirit and not allowing the oak to do it's job.

I've said it before but it never hurts to say it again, never underestimate the power of time on oak.

Keep us informed on the progress of that oat whisky.
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby Urrazeb » Fri Jan 09, 2015 5:52 pm

I too tasted some new make from a local distillery, thought it was too much tails TBH

Too far into tails for a new make, I am a huge fan of some tails for long term ageing but if you're gonna market it as ready to drink then the cuts need to be a bit more thought out IMO
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby TheMechwarrior » Fri Jan 09, 2015 6:10 pm

I was of the same opinion as you regarding too far into the tails, but then I tasted a sample of 2year and it was an amazing transformation. I've since adjusted my cuts and adjusted my patience.
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby Guppy » Sat Oct 26, 2019 9:16 am

Well 5 years on and this has a nice oaky taste to it but still has a very harsh rough hot alcohol sort of taste to it that has never smoothed out. I recently scored a 20 litre oak barrel thats had red wine in it and was considering dumping this into the oak barrel for a few more years.

I dont know if my off flavour is from using too much sugar in my initial washes or some type of yeast off flavour as I think I fermented at high temps originally as I couldnt control ferment temperature. Is there anyway to clean this up? Someone suggested adding glycerine?
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Re: 2 month old scotch, not happy with taste

Postby markus » Mon Oct 28, 2019 1:22 pm

I’d say it’s pretty much over oaked by now after 5 years sitting in staves.
I played around with staves or dominos for years. Different stills different recipes different oak different yeasts and was never happy with any results.
Got a Jim beam equivalent result at best :ymsick:
I only use casks now. 20 litre. And will never look back.
It’s said up to 60-70% of a whisky’s flavour comes from the cask.
Fill that cask up with new make.
And in 2 years time you will be glad you did.
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