Oaking and dilution

[shadow74]

Newbe question on oaking , i have had 7 ltrs on toasted oak for 90 days at 10g per litre at 58% for a month then brought.it down to 50% a month later and a couple of days ago now down to 40% after tasting it this morning i am finding its nice but may be a little strong on taste , can i add some fresh spirit at 40 % to dilute the taste down a bit ? And should i remove the oak to stop it adding more flavour

[RuddyCrazy]

Shadow I use 5 litre demi's and age at 65% now I only put in about 5-7 grams of my French oak and on the bottom shelf it goes to age. I do find with my AG whisky it takes well over a year to get to purfection. So 3 months is a tad early mate and do remember this hobby motto of

HURRY UP AND WAIT........

So get fermenting and distilling so at different time stages your product will ready and well aged as those Angels do need a nice long drink and we don't want what they drink anyway.

Cheers Bryan

[marls]

You can add fresh spirit if you want, but think of how commercial distilleries do it. They take multiple barrels (hundreds to thousands sometimes) and blend to make the batch taste how they want.

Obviously not suggesting you fill an entire 200L barrel however make a few more batches and split them up and oak them slightly differently and play the long or short game with them and experiment. Aging isn't an exact science just go for it is my method.

[Wellsy]

Shadow remember this is all about what you enjoy drinking mate, not what we say.

It is a bit of a surprise that it is a bit strong so quickly. Are you using oak chips by any chance. Lots of end grain will over oak spirit quickly unfortunately.

[Purple98]

Hi I was also wondering when oaking in glass do we need to leave space for air to escape (angles share) and if so what do you guys cover the jars with? Or is it fine to just close them up with lid provided?

[The Stig]

Cover with paper towels or just old towels etc really anything breathable to keep critters out

[Purple98]

Thanks will do.

[Multipleg]

Coffee filter over the open top of the flagon and a rubber band to hold it in place. Works great for me.

[B-Man]

Shadow I use 5 litre demi's and age at 65% now I only put in about 5-7 grams of my French oak and on the bottom shelf it goes to age. I do find with my AG whisky it takes well over a year to get to purfection. So 3 months is a tad early mate and do remember this hobby motto of

HURRY UP AND WAIT........

So get fermenting and distilling so at different time stages your product will ready and well aged as those Angels do need a nice long drink and we don't want what they drink anyway.

Cheers Bryan

is that 5-7g /L ? or total?

I have found around 6-9 months at 13g/l to be a rough time to oak for so i could understand half as much for twice the time...

[bluc]

No real "right" way to aok all about personel taste. Do lots of experimenting to find what you want. I have done lots, different chars and toasts and smokey oak from burning in a sealed container.Dont be in a hurry to get to finish line enjoy the learning along the way too.
Most say oak at 10g/l for 12mnths bare min.
But I enjoy tasting and learning the process of ageing. Early on there is some really wild flavour swings lots of really interesting flavours good to taste along the way then after x period of time to give you an idea and ability to steer the end results :handgestures-thumbupleft: