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How to prepare oak chips. Oak chips for moonshine

We will disappoint you. Not so simple. If you follow the instructions above, with a 99% probability you will get a "plinth" - a drink that bears this name among moonshiners because of its dense, heavy taste and woody smell. He has nothing close to homemade cognac.

To prepare a fragrant and tasty oak tincture on moonshine at home, you need to follow the infusion technology. It is simple and is divided into several stages. But first things first.

Preparation of oak chips and moonshine before infusion

At the first stage, it is necessary to prepare our ingredients for infusion: soak the chips properly, and clean the moonshine.

Soaking wood chips is necessary to rid the wood of excess tannins. In small quantities they flavor and improve the drink, in large quantities they "harden" it.

Chips happen different kind roasting. The stronger the roasting, the stronger the aroma imparted to the beverage. Therefore, if you want to get a mild taste and light aroma of the drink, use a medium roasting. For a richer flavor and darker color, strong-fired chips are suitable.

It is necessary to soak the chips during the day, changing the water 4 times at approximately the same time intervals. But first we rinse it under normal water to wash off dust and dirt. We change the water and start soaking. The first 3 times we soak in cold water, and for the fourth time we fill the chips with boiling water and add baking soda. (for 40 g of chips - half a teaspoon.) Let the boiling water cool down, then drain the water, rinse the sticks and dry them in any convenient way (in the sun, in the oven, in a frying pan). The chips are ready.

Much also depends on the distillate itself. First, the moonshine must be clean, free of impurities. Read about the cleaning methods in our article "How to properly clean moonshine". Secondly, the type of raw materials from which the moonshine was obtained affects the production of the finished drink. For example, from sugar moonshine you get cognac drink, from fruit - an analogue of Calvados, and aging grain distillate on the chips will give whiskey at the exit. Corn moonshine will generally give a semblance of bourbon. It is clear that we will use sugar distillate to obtain cognac liqueur.

Homemade cognac recipe from moonshine on oak chips

The final stage is, in fact, the insistence itself. Let's make a reservation right away that it will not be possible to get real cognac or bourbon from moonshine on oak chips. But here is cognac tincture, almost indistinguishable in taste and color - easily.

To prepare cognac liqueur, we need:

  • Glass bottle with tight stopper
  • Moonshine with a strength of 45-50%
  • Soaked oak chips.

Mix the ingredients in bottles, cork it tightly and put it in a dark place. How much to insist on oak chips on moonshine, everyone decides for himself. On average, the aging period is 1-3 months. During aging, the tincture can be tasted, and only the manufacturer himself decides when the drink is ready to drink.

As for the proportions, there are many opinions. But on average, it takes about 10 g of oak chips per liter of moonshine. To achieve a cognac color, the tincture can be tinted with a color scheme.

If desired, the taste of the tincture can be varied with various spices and additives. This method can be used to prepare, for example, Latgalian cognac. This liqueur, invented in Latvia, completely repeats the taste of real cognac. By at least, so say its creators.

To prepare this tincture we need:

  • Moonshine with a strength of at least 50% - 3 liters
  • Oak chips - 2 tbsp spoons
  • Cloves - 3-4 things
  • Nutmeg - 0.5 g
  • Coriander - on the tip of a knife
  • Sugar - 3 tbsp. spoons

Dissolve sugar in 100 g of moonshine, get syrup. Pour it into the rest of the moonshine, add the rest of the ingredients there. We seal the bottle, remove to infuse in a dark place for 1 to 4 weeks. The doneness can also be determined by taste.

In this article, we have listed the basic steps to create oak moonshine at home. Of course, there are much more recipes for moonshine tinctures on oak chips and various spices. All of them cannot be listed or remembered, and there are dozens, if not hundreds, of potential ingredients for creating tinctures. But this fact will give room for experimentation and invention of your own unique drink.

Oak moonshine on wood chips (video)

Oak barrels are needed, but at home there is a good alternative for them - wood chips. It gives the drink similar taste, aroma and aesthetic properties.

At the same time, for the preparation of a high-quality tincture, it is important to choose the right wood from which the chips are made, fry it moderately and, following a proven method, insist. You can make chips yourself or replace them with bark.

It remains only to familiarize yourself with the issue in detail and enjoy - "homemade cognac" -.

Moonshine oak chips are a convenient and affordable alternative to “barrel aging”. At the same time, the processes of saturation of the liquid with tannins and tannins are very similar.

Distillate, and you can insist not only sugar, but also any grain or fruit option, acquires a characteristic cognac aroma and flavor with notes of chocolate, vanilla and fruit. The result is a drink that combines flavor and aroma properties both from the original raw materials and newly acquired ones.

This is one of the ways, even a simple sugar one, and besides, the technique is very simple and not expensive, and for those who are not looking for easy ways, we can advise making “moonshine-whiskey at home”.

How to properly use oak chips for moonshine

The right alcohol

A distillate based on raw materials such as:

  • sugar;
  • cereals;
  • fruits and berries.

The optimal, of course, is the authentic cognac raw material - grapes, but other options will delight you with an extraordinary taste and aroma. For other types of raw materials, oak chips are not always suitable, as a result of unpredictable biochemical reactions, the appearance of various harmful compounds, a pungent odor, or simply — the moonshine will start to taste bitter — is possible.

Oak varieties for chips

Depending on the region of growth, climatic conditions and soil vary, which directly affects the saturation of wood with various substances. As a result, chips made from different varieties oak or the same, but growing in different countries, gives the drink different taste and aroma qualities. The best is the wood of ordinary oak., or in another way, petiolate, grown in France, in the homeland of cognac.

In addition to this species, in Western Europe grows winter, aka stone, and summer oak, which are also used in the distillery industry for the aging of alcohol.

On the territory of the Russian Federation, oak wood from the Khadyzhensky, Afipsky and Absheron districts is distinguished by good properties. Krasnodar Territory... Other successful options are varieties that grow in the Caucasus, Crimea, Tatarstan, near the Ural Mountains, in the Voronezh region, in Western Ukraine and in the Republic of Belarus.

Standing apart is the white oak that grows in the United States, which is also used to make some whiskeys. It gives the tincture a unique flavor and aroma color, at the same time similar and different from that obtained with the use of petiolate.

Firing degree of wood

Another important criterion that, like the region of oak growth, affects the taste and aroma of the drink, is the degree of roasting of the chips. There are three main levels:

  • Easy. The wood acquires a light brown color, the distillate acquires fruity, floral and vanilla notes and a straw color. Material processing should be stopped when the first haze appears.
  • Average. The material acquires a brown color, moonshine - notes of almonds, herbs, vanilla and caramel and a rich brown color, similar to cognac.
  • Strong. The wood chips turn dark brown, close to black, like the color of the tincture afterwards. On the palate, notes of smoke and chocolate appear.

Cooking method


To make a tincture on oak chips, you will need a clean container, preferably glass, chips in a ratio of 4-6 g per liter and, in fact, moonshine made according to the right recipe- with a strength of 45 degrees. If the strength is lower, there are —methods to increase it—; if higher, you can —dilute the moonshine with water—.

  • put wood chips in a jar and pour over distillate;
  • hermetically close and set aside in a cool place out of the reach of sunlight;
  • insist 3-6 months, the first time it is better to start with a weak tincture;
  • at the end of the period, the product is filtered through a paper filter folded with a funnel, for better aeration, the height from which the liquid falls should be about half a meter;
  • the tincture is ready to drink or bottled.

Did you know? To make the color of the drink more cognac, you can add - burnt sugar - in the proportion of 1 tbsp. spoon for 1 liter of liquid. It is better to dissolve caramel in a tincture heated to 40-50 C degrees. In this case, the strength of the moonshine will decrease by about 2-3 degrees.

Did you know? The aging period can be reduced by 3-4 weeks by adding 0.3-0.5 g of vanilla, a few cloves and allspice peas per liter of distillate. It is important not to overdo it with herbs, otherwise the taste may become unbalanced.

In order not to get a large amount of tincture with the "wrong taste" for the first time, you can close not large cans, but 0.5 and 1 liter each with different amounts of chips and additional ingredients... In this way, it will be possible to calculate the appropriate proportions with minimal risk.

What not to do

  • Frying the chips for too long.
  • Use raw wood.
  • Insist in a plastic or metal container.
  • Putting a lot of spices, both by the amount of one, and by the number of different ones, it is almost impossible to overtake the spoiled taste.
  • Leave the tincture too long.

DIY oak chips for moonshine

An alternative to purchased chips, and the opportunity to purchase high-quality goods in a store is not always available, are homemade ones, ordering on the Internet is just playing roulette. You can get raw oak wood in almost every construction market. You need to process it as follows:

  • First, the bark is peeled off the logs.
  • The wood is split into splinters 10 to 15 cm long with an approximate diameter of 5 to 25 mm.
  • Oak chips are soaked in water for 24 hours with liquid change every 3-4 hours.
  • This is followed by drying at a high temperature to remove some of the tannins from the wood.
  • The dried wood chips are poured with a soda solution in the proportion of 1 teaspoon per 5 liters of water for 6 hours.
  • After insisting, the oak chips must be thoroughly rinsed with water and boiled for one hour over low heat in clean water.
  • The pegs are then hung to dry for 24 hours.
  • At the final stage, oak chips are roasted in the oven at a temperature of 160 ° C to one of the three described conditions: light, medium or strong, which will determine the final taste of the tincture.

How to insist moonshine on oak bark from a pharmacy

For tincture, you will need the following components in the following proportions:

  • oak bark - 2 tbsp. spoons;
  • moonshine - 2 liters;
  • honey - 1 tbsp. a spoon;
  • St. John's wort - 1 tbsp. a spoon;
  • oregano - 1 tbsp. a spoon;
  • carnation - 4 buds;
  • ground cinnamon and vanilla - a small pinch;
  • peppercorns - 8 pcs.

The manufacturing process is as follows:

  • Pour the ingredients into a glass jar and pour over the distillate, mix thoroughly and close with a tight lid.
  • The minimum exposure period is 14 days, while the container needs to be shaken every one or two days.
  • At the end of the infusion period, the liquid should be filtered through cheesecloth or a paper filter from solid inclusions, after which it can be bottled.

Spices will enhance the formation of sediment, which is why the number of strains must be increased at least 5 times. The resulting drink can be safely attributed to the “list of the best, made from home-brewed moonshine”.

Did you know? When making a tincture from moonshine on oak bark for the first time according to an unfamiliar recipe, it is better not to change the proportions of the ingredients at once "by eye", but to do it after having tasted the finished product well, thinking over what it lacks, for example, flavoring for moonshine, or what it might to be superfluous. Thus, the chance of getting a completely illiquid tincture is greatly reduced.

Instead of an afterword

Insisting on oak chips is one of the options for improving moonshine at home. The simplicity of the manufacturing technique and the availability of ingredients make it possible not only to get a tasty and aromatic drink, but also to discover an amateur distiller in yourself.

By experimenting with the proportions of the main ingredients, as well as complementing them with herbs and other spices, you can create a unique, extraordinary brandy, and who knows where the next Richard Hennessy will appear.

In production, oak barrels made of boards of varying degrees of roasting are used for the same purposes, but in everyday life, buying it is quite expensive. Chips and, to a lesser extent, bark, which can be bought at any pharmacy, will be not entirely complete, but quite a worthy replacement. How to use it correctly and what to do with it in general - in our article.

What is the use of wood chips

The cost of a barrel is directly proportional to its volume. Very small - 5-liter - will cost an average of 4-5 thousand rubles, 50-liter - from 8 thousand, etc. But even this is not bad, with the regular preparation of cognac products, you can fork out, but the fact that the barrel is designed for a maximum of 10 dressings. After that, there is no longer any benefit from it - it will just be a storage container. You don't have to be a mathematician to figure out how much the pleasure will cost. Oak chips for cognac and whiskey are several times cheaper, especially since they can be found for free - in the nearest forest or in the country where oak trees grow.

You cannot use boards from logging enterprises - the wood goes through a stage of chemical treatment from beetles, decay and to increase the shelf life.

Even if we assume that the tree has not yet been processed, the dubious benefits of such an acquisition are obvious - dusty warehouses, oil and fuel oil from loaders level everything beneficial features wood.

The easiest way is to find a middle-aged tree in the nearest forest and cut off a branch from it (forgive us the Greenpeace employees and the environmental inspectorates). It will be a truly 100% natural product that only needs to be split into small pieces and prepared in advance.

There is an option to buy blanks in specialized stores - 50 grams on average cost 80-100 rubles. This amount of oak chips is enough to infuse 2.5-3 liters of future cognac.

Oak chips "Premium" (strong firing) cubes - the price is 112 rubles. for 50 gr.

Log or bark?

In extreme cases, you can use pharmacy bark, which is sold in all pharmacies. But this is exactly a backup option, since real cognac will not work on it. Before packaging, it is processed, as a result of which a large volume of tannins is lost. The finished drink will not have an intense aroma and color, and the aftertaste will be completely indistinct.

VIDEO: Harvesting technology at home

How to prepare oak chips for cognac

Do-it-yourself preparation of oak chips for cognac consists of several stages:

  1. Cleaning

It is imperative that after collecting and cutting into pegs with a cross section of 5-7 mm, they are washed under running water from small particles, dust and litter. Rinse 3-4 times, between which it is dried.

  1. Soak

The task of this stage is to clean the wood from the inside. You can just soak the pegs in water at room temperature for a day, or you can add baking soda at the rate of 1 tsp. for every liter of water. Soda in this case absorbs all those substances that the tree has managed to gain during its growth. They are soaked for an average of 2-3 days (changing the water every day), after which they are dried again. There is no need to wait until the water becomes clear. This may not work. But some of the substances will go away during the soaking process.

  1. Digestion

It is a very important stage to avoid the “plinth” aftertaste of the finished drink. On the other hand, during the digestion process, the pores open as much as possible, respectively, with alcohol there will be a better composition.

To do this, put pegs in cold water, bring to a boil, cover and leave on minimum heat for a quarter of an hour. Then they took out, cooled and dried.

  1. Burning

Depending on the conditions in which oak chips for cognac are prepared, they can be roasted in the oven at a temperature of 160 ° C or over direct fire. The degree of roasting can be different - minimal, medium and intense. In the future, this affects the color and taste of the drink. We recommend that you do all 3 types and insist on each separately, in order to determine your preferences in the future.

  • minimal roasting - golden wood - the taste will be vanilla with a slight bitterness;
  • medium - brown - a distinct sound of almonds with caramel notes, the bitterness is felt more, but unobtrusively;
  • intense - dark brown - in the future, you will feel the taste of freshly brewed tea and chocolate.

If black markings appear on the tree, it cannot be used - such cognac simply cannot be drunk.

  1. Storage

Store prepared pegs in an airtight container to preserve the flavor of the smoke. It is advisable to use oak chips for the moonshine as soon as they are cooked. In this case, all notes and accents of the fragrance will be preserved. The more the workpiece is stored, the less pronounced the organoleptic properties will be.

Making homemade cognac

In this case, we are not talking about imitating the taste of cognac, but about real brandy made from grape mash. Try to follow the instructions as closely as possible in order to get, if not a drink of French masters, at the exit, but very close to this.

For mash, you need to use sweet grape varieties - Isabella, Lady finger, Lydia, etc. It should be ripe.

  • grapes - 15 kg;
  • sugar - 1.5;
  • water - 2 liters.
  • oak chips.

If sweet juicy southern grapes are used for mash, sugar is not needed at all. In this case, you get pure grape alcohol - an ideal base for brandy.

Preparation:

  1. The grapes are removed from the bunch and crushed right along with the seeds.
  1. The slurry is poured into a bottle and, if the grapes were not very juicy, sugar is added at the rate for every 10 liters of wort 1 kg of sand. Drinking water is also poured there, it is measured in advance at the rate of 1 liter per 7.5 kg. Cover with cotton cloth and send to a warm dark place for 4 days.

  1. Stir the mash daily with wooden sticks so that the foamy cap of the mash does not collect - it blocks the oxygen, and the yeast cannot fully develop.

By the end of the first day, you can start stirring the mash to prevent souring.

  1. On the fifth day, the mash will have all the signs of active fermentation - hissing, aroma, the pulp will all rise to the top. Now the slurry needs to be filtered, and the pieces of berries are well squeezed out.
  2. Add sugar (a small amount) to the juice, mix with a wooden stick, pour into a bottle, leaving a third of the volume empty. Close with a water seal and send to a dark place for 35-40 days. The temperature of the mash during this time should be in the range of 19-27 ° C, for which it is convenient to use an aquarium heater.

  1. When fermentation stops, the wort brightens, and the sediment falls to the bottom, you can filter and send for distillation.
  2. Ideally, for distillation, use an alambic ( copper apparatus), but in the absence of one, the usual one will do. Poured into distillation cube and run at maximum temperature, without taking off the tails and heads. Stop as soon as the strength of the raw material drops to 30 °.
  3. The resulting crude is diluted with water to 8 °, and then put on the second distillation. Here the heads are already taken away (no more than 12%) and the tails are cut off - when the fortress decreases to 30 °.
  4. In order to get pure wine alcohol, you can send it to the third distillation, for which the crude is diluted with water to 20 °. Again, heads (12%) and tails are taken after 45 °. The strength of the distillate is measured and diluted with water to 42 °.
  5. Now it is the turn of the infusion on oak chips. On average, the infusion time should be at least six months, but the longer this process takes, the brighter and richer the taste will be. The maximum exposure time is 3 years.

  1. Caramelization is an indispensable step for adding color to the finished drink. This is done at all production sites. Prepare caramel - 1 tbsp. sugar for 1 tbsp. water is boiled down to Brown and added to the strained and filtered beverage. Insist 10 days and bottled.

The cognac is ready, now it's tasting time.

VIDEO: How to make sugar color for homemade cognac

mihasic 12/20/2014 - 16:27

Here is moonshine on oak chips, right? I think there is no need to talk about this drink, everyone knows. The question is different. After drinking the product, chips remain. Throw away or re-supply? This is not an extreme form of stinginess, but the opposite. It is known that Scots almost never pour their whiskey into freshly chopped barrels, using either American bourbon barrels, or, less often, Spanish sherry or Madeira barrels. Probably for a reason? So with a new bookmark - take fresh chips? to use used ones? What are the opinions?

Gone 20.12.2014 - 18:18

"The history of whiskey and Scottish stinginess.
The style of whiskey was also influenced by the world-famous Scottish stinginess. Scotch whiskey gets its taste thanks to aging in wine or sherry barrels. They came to this decision not because of experiments, but only because used barrels were sold cheaper than new ones. Of course, no one remembers this anymore, but still. "(C)

ZY
A tourist in Scotland decided to check if the stories about the stinginess of the Scots are true.
Calls the first house he comes across. A man comes out.
Tourist:
- Will you give me a drink?
The man leaves - and returns with a pot of milk.
The tourist drinks and says to the peasant:
- They lie all about you that you are greedy ... And you give excellent milk to the first person you meet!
Man:
- Well, to be honest - I wouldn't give it to you if the rat hadn't drowned in it ...
- WHAT?!!! Bastard !!!
And the tourist throws the pot into pieces.
Scotsman:
- VANDAL !! (Turns, shouts to his wife) Elizabeth, did you see - this goat broke your mom's chamber pot !!! 😊

mihasic 12/20/2014 - 18:24

Go away
Scotch whiskey gets its taste thanks to aging in wine or sherry barrels. They came to this decision not because of experiments, but only because used barrels were sold cheaper than new ones.

Well, don't. Bourbon barrels brought from overseas are more expensive, whatever one may say, but they are mainly used.

Deceased 12/20/2014 - 19:24


And every barrel is not small chips. I think everything useful comes out of the chips. And it seems like it's necessary to prepare the barrels, but here they are already ready 😊

APavel 12/20/2014 - 11:14 PM

Aging of whiskey in sherry barrels, wine in cognac barrels, etc. the topic is extremely complex and long. Stinginess, if it was, has not been to blame for a long time. I’m for throwing it into the brazier, so that the material itself will still serve

KM 12.21.2014 - 12:08

Isn't it easier to try to prepare another portion of the drink on used chips, and one on new ones and compare?

B8F761 12/21/2014 - 12:10

You can mulch the soil or use ikebana 😊

mihasic 12/21/2014 - 02:18

KM
Isn't it easier to try to prepare another portion of the drink on used chips, and one on new ones and compare?

Wait a long time. I’m holding it for at least a year. And it is interesting now.

mihasic 12/21/2014 - 02:20

B8F761
You can mulch the soil or use ikebana 😊

You can burn it on coal and make black powder. A lot of things are possible. But what do you need?

Abar 12/21/2014 - 10:04

Stir in fresh and taste ...

PILOT_SVM 12/21/2014 - 13:18

mihasic
Here is moonshine on oak chips, right? I think there is no need to talk about this drink, everyone knows. The question is different. After drinking the product, chips remain. Throw away or re-supply? This is not an extreme form of stinginess, but the opposite. It is known that Scots almost never pour their whiskey into freshly chopped barrels, using either American bourbon barrels, or, less often, Spanish sherry or Madeira barrels. Probably for a reason? So with a new bookmark - take fresh chips? to use used ones? What are the opinions?

Assuming that nutrients there are many in the wood and they do not come out in one go, then reuse and watch the quality of the drink.
First by color, then by taste.

I think that in 2-3 times everything useful will come out of the chips.

Postoronnim V 12/21/2014 - 21:00

Probably need to look - what chips are in thickness.
While I have new barrels under Calvados soaked, so that would not waste time in vain, apple moonshine put it in a glass bottle and threw in the fried oak chips. About a centimeter by a centimeter and about one mm in thickness. For a month it gave both taste and color.
Then he poured the whole thing into a barrel, and poured apple macerate over the used chips (purely out of curiosity, since I have enough correct chips and I do not mind).
For a week and a half, the color practically did not change. So ..., it turned yellow slightly and that, rather, due to the fact that the previous moonshine there probably was absorbed in chips ... I'll look at the taste tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. If I don’t feel the right tendency, I’ll throw in new chips and then back into the barrel.

At the expense of whiskey, etc. grain drinks - there seem to be barrels used not forever, but up to five to ten fillings. Further, these barrels can be used for quite a long time for fruit and berry distillates. However, the new barrel undergoes preliminary alcoholic soaking without the use of the first infusion. At the same time, excess substances are washed out of the oak, which are unnecessary for the formation of taste, and fusel impurities penetrate into the upper layer and already interact with other substances of the oak (ions of copper and iron, including). Temperature and oxygen aeration accelerate the process. And when the barrel is prepared in this way, then the distillate is poured, from which whiskey will be produced, etc. distillate-based spirits.
If the distillate is infused not in barrels, but on an aged oak rivet, then this rivet is planed from time to time.
Thin chips, I strongly suspect that there is not much point in reusing.

KM 12.21.2014 - 21:51

mihasic
Wait a long time. I’m holding it for at least a year.

Yes, then comparison is not an option.

Lodbrock 12.24.2014 - 03:19

EMNIP, it is believed that in a year it is washed out of oak rivets by 3 mm in depth. Accordingly, if your chips are less than 6 mm thick, reuse for the same product is useless.
In general - http://forum.homedistiller.ru/index.php?board=152.0

APavel 24.12.2014 - 11:36

Postoronnim V
At the expense of whiskey, etc. grain drinks - there seem to be barrels used not forever, but up to five to ten fillings. ...

Again, IMHO - aging in an oak barrel aims not only to enrich the distillate contained in the barrel material, but also to reduce / bind the harmful from the distillate

Lodbrock 12.24.2014 - 12:59

Fired before first use. Please tell me where you saw the firing movie after each use.

APavel 24.12.2014 - 14:23

I will not say for sure, some kind of scientific pop, because for a long time there was also a topic for me that was not so important. But I remember the picture well - the production of whiskey, the story about where the barrels come from, what the process looks like (stone cellars, the guy walks with an important air, tries from different barrels, to work with a person 😛), then the empty barrels are disassembled (the hoops are moved to the edges , the bottom is removed) and on a special machine with an open fire they burn the insides to coal, peel off the excess and collect the barrel back.
Several years ago, I planned the process described above for Postoronnim V, I was looking for barrels, I found the barrels themselves, but here's how to maintain them after the first use - no, it's dumb to disassemble and assemble yourself, I'm not sure of a positive result.

Postoronnim V 12/24/2014 - 16:59

APavel
I'm not a great specialist, but IMHO, after each use, the barrel is disassembled and fired, judging by the picture in the movie on this score, five millimeters of the inner layer is just for scrap.
Again, IMHO - aging in an oak barrel aims not only to enrich the distillate contained in the barrel material, but also to reduce / bind the harmful from the distillate



At the expense of "reducing the harmful" - this is not entirely true. Rather make it tastier. And the content of the same notorious and harmful furfural increases.

Lodbrock 12/25/2014 - 12:29

the empty barrels are disassembled (the hoops are shifted to the edges, the bottoms are removed) and on a special machine with an open fire they burn the insides to coal, peel off the excess and put the barrel back
I can assume that they are removing the very layer from which everything tasty has already been washed out. But this is not after every use. Also, let's not forget that barrels from one drink can be used to produce another. (Of course, nothing will be cut off.)
The primary firing prepares the surface layer for faster interaction with the distillate.
If anyone uses subsequent firing, then again to speed up the process.
Faster interaction with the distillate is achieved by increasing the area / volume ratio and increasing the temperature. Also, the aeration mentioned above is used to accelerate maturation. Firing itself does not accelerate maturation in any way. But it affects the taste very much. By using different degrees of roasting, very different flavors can be obtained in the same time and with the same distillate.
the content of the same notorious and harmful furfural increases
I did not understand this.

APavel 12/25/2014 - 02:28

Postoronnim V
If anyone uses subsequent firing, then again to speed up the process. These things only reduce the resource of the barrel.
And how are you? I mean what barrels you take and how you serve them after the first try.

Postoronnim V 12/25/2014 - 08:32

APavel
And how are you? I mean what barrels you take and how you serve them after the first try.

Lodbrock
Faster interaction with the distillate is achieved by increasing the area / volume ratio and increasing the temperature. Also, the aeration mentioned above is used to accelerate maturation. Firing itself does not accelerate maturation in any way. But it affects the taste very much. By using different degrees of roasting, very different flavors can be obtained in the same time and with the same distillate.
All this is exactly what contributes to a faster ripening.
Because maturation is accelerated by aeration with oxygen, at elevated temperatures, with UV and gamma irradiation ...
So in the charred layer, aeration occurs much more intensively due to an increase in the surface. Naturally, the barrel should not be completely filled and pitching is desirable, so that the distillate would splash there, wet the charred walls above the surface and flow down the coal more intensively aerated.
At the expense of changing taste - everything is clear here. The distillate has access not only to substances from oak wood, but also those substances into which they turn on the gradient between coal and primary wood. Different firing - different ratios of gradient substances.
Lodbrock
I did not understand this.
In the process of maturation of distillates in oak containers (or baths with rivets), the content of furfural increases. For cognacs, for example, one and a half or two times is easy.

CMS-UA 25.12.2014 - 08:36

Certainly not moonshine 😊 ... but I had Camus's booklet in Russian as early as 1971. so there it was very accessible it was written that the first infusion is 1 year, the second 3, and only after the third exposure the barrel gains nobility for the aging of higher cognacs in it from 10 years. So chips can and should be reused only to increase the aging period.

Postoronnim V 12/25/2014 - 09:00

CMS-UA
Certainly not moonshine 😊 ... but I had Camus's booklet in Russian as early as 1971. so there it was very accessible it was written that the first infusion is 1 year, the second 3, and only after the third exposure the barrel gains nobility for the aging of higher cognacs in it from 10 years. So chips can and should be reused only to increase the aging period.
And in that booklet, was it not by chance and easily written - what is the capacity of barrels for this very Samus?

APavel 25.12.2014 - 14:12

Postoronnim V
I have barrels burnt on the inside and waxed on the outside. I have already ordered such. Before using it, I knocked down the hoops a little to the middle, soaked it in water for three weeks, then poured it with a mixture of apple moonshine tails, tails of just moonshine and alcohol for three months to strengthen this mixture to 55 degrees. Well, from time to time he splashed the barrels and topped up the tails as the angels sipped their share. Then he poured the whole thing and put it on for re-distillation, and poured apple moonshine into one barrel, and into the second a secondary distillate of macerate of simple moonshine on apples. Further, the barrels only topped up to compensate for the drunk. I did not perform any maintenance and do not plan. Theoretically, the service life of barrels for fruit and berry distillates is much longer than barrels for whiskey, bourbon .., but if something is depleted, I will not disassemble and plan, but I plan to simply fill the barrels with moonshine previously infused with wood chips.
By the way, yesterday I tried moonshine on spent chips. Something is not imbued with. I threw in new fried chips and put them on a weekly thermostat (60 degrees Celsius).
I apologize in advance for the malicious off, but it is hefty interesting
- If it's not a secret, where did you order it? And, I correctly understood that these are not barrels after something, but freshly made,
- Why were the tails poured in, and not the normal distillation of the desired strength? And why raise a fortress in the process?
- I understood correctly that it is not planned to fix the "harvest of the N-th year", but simply the contents will be periodically supplemented with fresh distillate of the required strength (and what strength is planned to be maintained in the barrel?)
- Can you explain about temperature control?
-What serves as a distiller for you?
Thanks in advance

Postoronnim V 12/25/2014 - 15:34

I have three devices.
1.Simple distiller from a 6L pressure cooker. with a small reflux tube and glass. ball refrigerator for absinthe.
2. distiller from a pressure cooker 12 l with a long pipe-reflux condenser, a steam boiler and a glass ball condenser for distillation of mash.
3. distillation column for the production of alcohol, odorless, fuselage, etc.

Yes, it is not planned to fix the "harvest" in barrels. The fortress is planned in the region of 50 degrees. I'm not chasing accuracy, I don't really believe in alcohol meters, and I'm often lazy to determine the exact strength by weighing. And what, actually, the difference is forty degrees or fifty there .. Anyone who distills the body ends with me as soon as it stops burning. This already means that the distillate is strong enough. Everything that does not burn goes to the tail.

He poured the tails because there are more fuels, and it is she who determines the taste of subsequent fillings. It is not necessary to raise the fortress. It should be between 18 and 60 degrees. The alcoholic soaking time depends on the strength. Optimally 45-55 degrees, but 18 is also good, and if time suffers, it can even sometimes be better. For example, my godfather just bought 10 liters of Madeira, poured it into the same barrel and kept it for 9-10 months. I prepared the barrel well too ..

I ordered the barrels from Pavel Nechaev (Stavropol Cooper http://www.stavbondar.ru/) The barrels were fresh. They can be burned and waxed if desired. Specifically I ordered these http://www.stavbondar.ru/catal...-product-2.html
It would be tempting to buy old barrels, of course, but, to be honest, I am reluctant to deal with possible leaks later. And the volume of such barrels is not 10-20 liters. Although at home, a volume of 10-20 liters is just optimal, because there is a more favorable ratio of volume / int. the surface and drinks in such barrels mature much faster. In the post above, it was no coincidence that I asked CMS-UA about the volume of barrels for Camus. Because on an industrial scale, classic (and vintage) cognacs are made in rather large oak containers, where the maturation processes are, in principle, many times slower than in 10-20 liter barrels. Maybe it ripens better, but it makes no sense to wait so much for an ordinary moonshiner. Otherwise, it will turn out, as in the joke - ".. but I don't feel like drinking .. 😞"
Ordinary cognacs are made in enamel baths with oak rivets. Moreover, maturation is artificially accelerated by forced oxygen aeration, etc. tricks.

Temperature control is when I pour apple moonshine at 10 liter jar(not completely, but somewhere 7-8 liters) and throw in 1 tea. spoon per liter of fried oak chips (again from Stavr. Cooper), the bank is wrapped with a cable, then outside with insulation (polyethylene foam, foam rubber) Under the insulation, a temperature sensor is connected and the whole thing is connected to a home-made temperature controller, which is set to 60 degrees Celsius. And so it costs a week. I shake it up periodically. With this mode, 1 week is equivalent to 2-3 months of infusion on wood chips with room temperature and moonshine is already becoming much more edible.

CMS-UA 26.12.2014 - 03:36

Postoronnim V
It was no coincidence that I asked CMS-UA about the volume of barrels for Camus

in her words, they should be at least 50x50x300 mm and be 1/10 of the infusion product by weight, her drink will go nuts, although she also uses the bars from the winery after vintage wine, she uses the bars many times, the main thing, according to her, is that they do not dry out, then into the junk.

Postoronnim V 12/26/2014 - 08:40

CMS-UA
I don’t remember the volume of the barrels, but they evaporate 3000 liters of cognac into the atmosphere every year 😊 (although maybe 30,000 liters? 😊)
Processes natural aging in home brewing, of course, unrealistic, a familiar winemaker just in an autoclave at t 80 * keeps moonshine for three days, oak beams
in her words, they should be at least 50x50x300 mm and be 1/10 of the infusion product by weight, her drink will go nuts, although she also uses the bars from the winery after vintage wine, she uses the bars many times, the main thing, according to her, is that they do not dry out, then into the junk.
I strongly suspect that your friend has three days at 80 degrees - this is the same as I have for a week at 60. I would also do this, but there is no autoclave, and from under the PE can lid, moonshine hotter than 60 degrees is already starting to run out noticeably.
By bars and dose - everyone has their own recipes. Some pour wood chips (or even sawdust) up to a third of the volume, some use bars, some just plug a bottle of moonshine with a special oak cork ..
Having a rivet from a vintage wine - then it naturally turns out that it is optimal to use large bars. The surface has already been prepared by alcoholic soaking and riveting is fine - only spoil it.
I use roasted oak chips. I consider more than 1 spoon per liter unnecessary and, in my case, harmful. The surface of the chips is already large enough, the roasted chips and the increased temperature of infusion greatly accelerate the extraction and aging processes. If I added more chips, then I got an overkill in the direction of "woodiness" of the taste and clogging of the apple taste of moonshine.

APavel 10.01.2015 - 16:15

Postoronnim V
[B] poured apple moonshine into one barrel, and into the second a secondary distillate of simple moonshine macerate into apples / B]

pf 01/10/2015 - 17:27

Go away
As an option, they bought up empty barrels left over from imported drinks. And ..... "James IV, was very fond of building ships, and was so keen on this business that he cut down almost all the oaks in Scotland. In particular, he built the ship Great Michael, the largest in Europe at that time. fond of bas-reliefs, there are no trees left and they had to be imported. "(c) Maybe they really had a problem with the material?
And every barrel is not small chips. I think everything useful comes out of the chips. And it seems like it's necessary to prepare the barrels, but here they are already ready 😊

barrels, first of all Spanish from sherry, got scotch almost for free, because in Europe phylloxera in the 50s of the 19th century gulped all the vine and there was simply no wine.
at the moment, only 10% of such barrels are in use, which are used only for elite aging.
the French, as far as we know, have cognac casks produced over 200 years ago. are considered the best.

Gee 10.01.2015 - 17:41

Poke your finger into the correct and beautiful device to buy.

Postoronnim V 01/11/2015 - 22:56

APavel

Can you explain what is the difference between apple moonshine and moonshine for apples in your particular case?

The difference is in taste.
Moonshine from apple wine after the second distillation with high-quality trimming of the tails has a very pleasant taste, but the taste of the apple is not always unambiguous. As if the wine was a mixture of apple with some other fruit-berries. After oak barrels notes of Calvados and cognac are felt.
Moonshine macerate and its subsequent distillation give a more distinct apple flavor. After the oak, the Calvados taste is present, but also the whiskey taste.

By the way, macerate does not have to be done on moonshine and taught in oak. A kilo of apples, 5 liters of water, 5 liters of alcohol and then distilled on a distiller - we get a good apple vodka.

APavel 12.01.2015 - 13:14

Postoronnim V
Personally, I like the first option more, but the message Apple juice fermented and distilled back in the fall, and moonshine for macerate is always available.
By the way, macerate does not have to be done on moonshine and taught in oak. A kilo of apples, 5 liters of water, 5 liters of alcohol and then distilled on a distiller - we get a good apple vodka.

Sorry, slightly confused in terminology. You call a liqueur (tincture), in this case on apples, a macerate? And what is the strength of moonshine for infusion? In what container do you do this?
"moonshine for macerate is always available", i.e. after the autumn "utilization" of the apple harvest, only part of the moonshine is sent to barrels, and part is stored in a neutral container? And what kind of container? And how many distillations and what is the strength? And where do you get the apples for infusion?
It is not clear about the last recipe, if it means alcohol with a strength of 100 percent, it turns out that the finished product is a tincture of about 40, what is the point of distilling it and the strength will rise strongly?
And thanks for the detailed answers, it turns out very informative

Postoronnim V 01/12/2015 - 14:26

We cut into small kilos of apples and fill them with ten liters of 40-60 degree moonshine. We insist for a week, drain. Then we fill in 2 liters of water and insist for another day. It is possible and longer, tk. the last operation is needed for a more complete extraction of the remains of moonshine from apples. Again we drain, mix with the first plum and distill (I must note that the first time you can not drain, but distill together with apples, but personally I don’t like to do that).
The recipe is not strict. If the aroma is small, then two kg can be. apples to use

I insist in glass jar 10 liters. IMHO, it doesn't matter. You can also insist in a plastic container.

Apple moonshine is sent to the oak partially, because the rest is drunk with great enthusiasm by friends shortly after the ferry.
What remains after the ferry is quite suitable for re-filling and ferrying. I add wine yeast and glucose.
When the "second" ends - then I simply overtake the mash on glucose and wine yeast... With a supplement of ammonium chloride and orthophosphoric acid, the content of fuselage is minimal.

I keep apples for maceration since autumn. A bag and a half of Antonovka and now there is still left.

If for vodka - then a kilo of apples per 5 liters of alcohol 96 degrees and 5 liters of water.
We distill so that the water in the distillate is distilled, in order to take the aromatic component from the apples, and leave the excess in the stillage. Roughly speaking, distillation is much better than haemorrhoids with de-suspension and water correction.
However, it is advisable to keep the drink in glass for at least a week after distillation.

Fruit, berry, herbal, fruit spirits are best distilled.
Sometimes this is just necessary.
For example, when distilling wormwood-anise-fennel tincture onto absinthe, we take away herbal aromas with thujone with alcohol, and leave unhealthy and unpleasant-tasting resins in the stillage, which are extracted side-by-side into the tincture.

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Not everyone can afford to buy high-quality elite alcohol due to high cost... But it is quite possible to make a good brandy or whiskey at home. To do this, you need to prepare a grain or fruit distillate and keep it in an oak barrel. Such a drink will be much better than the cheap counterparts that are offered to us to buy in stores. But again, there is a small snag here - the purchase of a good oak barrel, which also costs a lot of money. There is a way out, replace the barrel with oak chips. Chips are easy to prepare yourself.

Tannins contained in oak wood, in contact with alcohol, improve its qualities, saturate it with new aromas and tastes. In the distillate infused with oak chips, fruity notes, vanilla, chocolate and floral aromas appear.

To a greater extent, alcohol is insisted made from fruit or grain raw materials. After infusion, it contains the taste of the raw material: apples, grapes or grain flavor. But even ordinary sugar moonshine becomes more pleasant and aesthetically pleasing, the taste becomes softer, it is easy to drink.

Attention! For brewing moonshine, chips are made not only from oak chips. For infusion, cherry, apple, bird cherry wood is used. Each type gives astringency and uniqueness of tastes and aromas to the distillate. Each home distiller decides on the choice of the right breed for himself, depending on his tastes.

Instructions for preparing oak chips

Currently, many specialty stores and online stores offer oak chips for moonshine or brandy of various qualities, different roasting and origin of oak. Often you can buy low-quality material, so if there is an opportunity to find raw materials on your own, it is better to cook wood chips with your own hands. Oak chips for moonshine have a larger contact area than a barrel, so the infusion process is faster. People often ask how much oak chips are used per liter of moonshine. The usual weight is 2-4 grams per liter. Too much can spoil the alcohol. The taste of the drink will be dominated by the smell of wood, which is not very good.

  1. For wood chips, you need to choose oak logs of old oak. Oak branches are not used for chips. Also, oak bark in which there are a lot of tannins is not suitable.
  2. Remove the bark. Saw the log into 5-7 centimeters each, then chop it into 0.5-1 centimeter thick pieces. Such chips can be placed in the neck of a regular bottle.
  3. Put the required amount of wood chips in a saucepan, pour water over it and let it stand for a day. Every 3-4 hours it is necessary to drain the dirty water and fill in clean water.
  4. Pour the chips with a soda solution of water. One teaspoon for 5 liters of water. Soak in soda water 6 o'clock. Then rinse the bars in cold water.
  5. Pour the chips with clean water, put on fire and cook after boiling for about 1 hour.
  6. Spread out the chips on a mesh tray, dry in a draft for 24 hours.
  7. Spread the dried oak chips on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 140-160C, place a baking sheet in it and let the chips stand for 2 hours.
  8. The final stage of roasting the chips to the desired firing. The taste and color of the resulting product depends on the degree of roasting. homemade alcohol... According to the degree of roasting, the chips are divided into three types:
  • Light firing - light brown wood chips, occurs at the moment the first haze appears. Light roasting gives the distillate a fruity floral aroma with light notes of vanilla. The color of the infused moonshine turns out to be straw.
  • Medium firing - brown chips. The infused distillate contains almonds, coconut and caramel. The color of the drink is more intense, closer to cognac.
  • Strong firing - chips of dark brown color closer to black. Distillate with chocolate and smoke flavor.

Video instruction on the preparation of oak chips.

How to properly insist moonshine on wood chips

As an alcoholic base, it is necessary to use fruit or grain moonshine with a strength of 40-45% after the second fractional distillation.

Ingredients:

  • Moonshine - 3 liters;
  • Oak chips 10-12 gr;
  • Caramel for color - 1 tbsp;
  • Vanillin - 1 sachet;
  • Allspice - 3 pcs;
  • Carnation - 3 pcs.

How to make a drink on oak chips.

  1. Place prepared oak chips in a jar, pour in moonshine. Add spices and vanillin.
  2. Close the jar and insist the contents for 3-4 months. Once a week, you need to open the can in order to saturate the infusion with oxygen. It is better to use an aquarium compressor and turn it on for 3-4 minutes. In the process of infusion, it is necessary to taste the drink; excess infusion threatens alcohol with excessive saturation with tannins. As a result, you can spoil the moonshine and get a baseboard.
  3. At the end of the infusion, prepare caramel from sugar and water. Kohler will give the drink a noble color. For cooking, put sugar in a frying pan and pour in water at the rate of 3: 1. Cook over low heat until brown, let cool and pour into moonshine. Stir well until completely dissolved.
  4. After insisting, filter the drink through a cotton-gauze filter. Pour into bottles, cork well. Leave for several days before use. Ready moonshine stored on oak chips in a cool place for an unlimited time.