BOB2 wrote:thanks for the advice: I have now got my heads and hearts sorted.
any recommendations on oaking ratio's and toast ratio's and duration on oak for the nutrigrain spirit
I have about 16 variations of tpw and another wine based spirit on american oak toasts ranging from 120 deg to 220deg and char combinations running at 20gms / litre and some up to 60gm/ltr trials but they have only been down a week. So its to early for me to draw any conclusions.
Im keen to lay down the nutrigrain.
Im assuming that the sweet spot for me is something like eg 180deg toast at 20gm/ltr of american oak chips at 62.5% abv. How long would you recommend keeping it on oak.
Some of the sites suggest 7 days on chips and others 3 months minimum ? Im keen not to over oak it ?
Some of my trials at 7 days have a very strong oak flavour already, and h im not sure if it will smooth out and get more complex flavour over time of if that raw oak flavour is there to stay ?
TPW is a neutral wash that you would be using for a gin or for use with an essence. I wouldnt bother oaking it. All you will end up with is a wood flavoured vodka. Keep the oak for the nutrigrain wash.
That over oaked flavour is there to stay, and wont develop in to anything special. You will need to dilute it with more spirit.
As Stig has said, chips are no good for long term oaking/aging with all the end grain. I personally wouldnt use them any longer than 12 -24 hours.
For reference i use medium toasted oak dominos at 7g/L. For a 5L demijohn thats approx 2 dominos per demi.
The general rule with oaking is less for longer.