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How long do you usually age your hooch ?
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Joined: 6/4/2012(UTC)
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Before enjoying the fruits of your labor.
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"At least a couple minutes...naw i'm lying i'll drink it straight off the still.
When you start out its easiest to collect in small jars and let it sit overnight to air out. Then do a sniff test to pick your keepers. Once its in a sealed jar or bottle it is no longer aging. After you have done it a while, have an idea of how much keepers to expect and learned the taste of heads and tails you can make your cuts as you run by taste.
Really it depends on what kind of product you are producing. Neutral spirit? Rum? All Grain Whisky? Or traditional corn moonshine(corn/sugar mix)?
For any of them i will put a paper towel over the jar with a lid ring for a couple days, though i may drink from that jar in that time. After a couple days i put a regular lid on it. If i'm oaking it which i only do to whisky i throw some burnt staves in the jar with the same paper towel lid and leave it like that until it has the colour i am looking for. I will also take small samples to check for flavour along the way."
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I have a quart of "hooch" that I put some Jack Daniels Smoking Chips (made from JD barrels, found in the charcoal briquets area in major grocery stores) about 5 months ago. It's been in and out of the fridge several dozen times (to imitate the seasonal temperatures of an aging warehouse). It's just now starting to smell like real whiskey. I have not tasted it yet. The rest of the stuff I've made is in the "white dog" form. I still haven't developed a taste for it. 
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I age mine in small quantities... I do about 10 oz at a time as I drink alot of mine as white dawg then I also have mine that I age on cherry wood. Now I don't know if the cherry is different then oak on timing but personally here is what I have done. I started with small thin chips.. added about 5 or so to the jar and found out that no more then two days before it got woody tasting. I did that awhile and now cut myself some bigger chunks. I now use bout inch thick few inch tall chunks that I throw in the jar. This I keep in for about a week. I do a taste and smell test every couple days and it honeslty seems to vary. Some takes a couple days and some a week. I'd say all chips/chunks/staves whatever you use is different. If your gonna be using the same thing for awhile I'd just test it out giving it a test every couple days and see what works for you. I just know personally with mine I can't keep it on wood for more than a week or so before its to much for me.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 6/4/2012(UTC)
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I've just started using well burnt JD chips and my oldest jar is a little over a month old. It's just startin' to smell like Bourbon. I'm not a big fan of the overpowering woodsy taste you git from raw or toasted chips hence burning them. Never did understand why "toasting" them would be OK. When it's aging in an oak barrel, the hooch is in contact with charred oak, not toasted. Gonna keep the oldest jar going for a few months to see where it goes.
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Are you guys flavoring output from pot stilling or refluxing?
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
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Originally Posted by: Mkjt88  I pot still Ditto.....
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Joined: 4/4/2012(UTC)
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I started out by placing 1in sq 4in long chared white oak in qt jars with 60 abv and one tb spoon maple syurp. After time I got a one gl jar and started storing oaked shine that was 6mo or better in that. Now I have three one gl jars and I will pull a qt from the one that is oldest. This qt is for drinking. Then I replace that qt with a qt from jar 2 and I replace that qt with a qt from jar 1. Next I put a qt of new hooch into jar one.This way everything in jar3 is aged and mixed with stuff that is over a year old. Let me tell ya I would put my stuff up with any as having a great taste and going down smooth.
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 Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 7/1/2012(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: 24racefan I started out by placing 1in sq 4in long chared white oak in qt jars with 60 abv and one tb spoon maple syurp. After time I got a one gl jar and started storing oaked shine that was 6mo or better in that. Now I have three one gl jars and I will pull a qt from the one that is oldest. This qt is for drinking. Then I replace that qt with a qt from jar 2 and I replace that qt with a qt from jar 1. Next I put a qt of new hooch into jar one.This way everything in jar3 is aged and mixed with stuff that is over a year old. Let me tell ya I would put my stuff up with any as having a great taste and going down smooth. This is a great idea. Gonna give it a try.
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How long do you usually age your hooch ?
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