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Offline NCSpirit  
#1 Posted : Sunday, December 09, 2012 5:14:06 AM(UTC)
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I've been aging my whiskey for about 3 months now. I made it from a mash of 60% rye 35% corn and 5% 2 row. I added a handful of medium and a handful of heavy toast oak chips with the spirit at 50%. It's been in the fridge and out and swirled with the cap of every few days. The flavor is "meh" with a less than pleasurable oak after taste. I'm torn between keeping it and somehow polishing it into something worth drinking or distilling it into a neutral spirit, run it through carbon and forgetting about whiskey for a while. I would like to continue trying to improve my liquor making skills beyond vodka so any advice would be very helpful.
Offline fatboylo  
#2 Posted : Sunday, December 09, 2012 10:04:38 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: NCSpirit Go to Quoted Post
I've been aging my whiskey for about 3 months now. I made it from a mash of 60% rye 35% corn and 5% 2 row. I added a handful of medium and a handful of heavy toast oak chips with the spirit at 50%. It's been in the fridge and out and swirled with the cap of every few days. The flavor is "meh" with a less than pleasurable oak after taste. I'm torn between keeping it and somehow polishing it into something worth drinking or distilling it into a neutral spirit, run it through carbon and forgetting about whiskey for a while. I would like to continue trying to improve my liquor making skills beyond vodka so any advice would be very helpful.


How much whiskey you talking here? If its only a qt or 2 I 'm thinking you over shot the chips, I've used the dark before and just used several chips, not handfulls.
Offline ohyeahyeah  
#3 Posted : Sunday, December 09, 2012 11:54:51 AM(UTC)
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I don't understand how that grain bill gave you enough enzymes for conversion. Is rye whiskey your favorite? What kind of whiskey are you interested in making?
Most whiskey made in north america uses corn as its main grain. Canadian whisky is distilled to a much higher abv then bourbon. Personally i do a bourbon grain bill (70 corn, 15 rye and 15 6row malted barley) and enjoy the end product. I'm not a big fan of chips and use oak staves i char myself for aging. Though i find it quite drinkable with no oaking.
Offline NCSpirit  
#4 Posted : Sunday, December 09, 2012 10:48:16 PM(UTC)
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"
Originally Posted by: fatboylo Go to Quoted Post
How much whiskey you talking here? If its only a qt or 2 I 'm thinking you over shot the chips, I've used the dark before and just used several chips, not handfulls.


I have just shy of a gallon. You may be right about too many chips, would it help if I add more neutral spirit and take most of the chips out? I hate to throw good hooch in with the bad and just get more bad."
Offline NCSpirit  
#5 Posted : Sunday, December 09, 2012 11:01:52 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: ohyeahyeah Go to Quoted Post
I don't understand how that grain bill gave you enough enzymes for conversion. Is rye whiskey your favorite? What kind of whiskey are you interested in making?
Most whiskey made in north america uses corn as its main grain. Canadian whisky is distilled to a much higher abv then bourbon. Personally i do a bourbon grain bill (70 corn, 15 rye and 15 6row malted barley) and enjoy the end product. I'm not a big fan of chips and use oak staves i char myself for aging. Though i find it quite drinkable with no oaking.


I left out the ad-junks. I added enzymes and about 3 pounds of sugar to get the ABV up to 6%. I'm working with the product of two low ABV washes one almost all Rye and a little malt, the second Rye, corn and malt. Yes, I like rye but my attempts to make it have turned out less than great. I used flaked rye which turns into a gloopy mess if you don't have enough other cracked grains to go with it. I'm swearing off rye in favor of bourbon once(or if) I get this batch straightened out.
Offline fatboylo  
#6 Posted : Monday, December 10, 2012 3:06:49 AM(UTC)
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"
Originally Posted by: NCSpirit Go to Quoted Post
I have just shy of a gallon. You may be right about too many chips, would it help if I add more neutral spirit and take most of the chips out? I hate to throw good hooch in with the bad and just get more bad.


Don't think I would add anymore, the flavor is already there. Believe I would run it again and hope the off taste stays behind, most of it should."
Offline heeler  
#7 Posted : Monday, December 10, 2012 7:38:23 AM(UTC)
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Well you titled this thread polishing/aging but haven't mentioned polishing your hooch yet. A carbon filter (carbon filter polish) will help if your initial product is not totally nasty. It wont turn urinal water into wine but it may help with what you got.
Offline NCSpirit  
#8 Posted : Monday, December 10, 2012 2:42:57 PM(UTC)
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"
Originally Posted by: heeler Go to Quoted Post
Well you titled this thread polishing/aging but haven't mentioned polishing your hooch yet. A carbon filter (carbon filter polish) will help if your initial product is not totally nasty. It wont turn urinal water into wine but it may help with what you got.


Yea, that is what I was asking about. I was looking for someone to suggest some additional stuff to add to my hooch that would ""polish the turd"". I'll try the carbon before I run it again. Thanks for the suggestion."
Offline NCSpirit  
#9 Posted : Monday, December 10, 2012 2:51:32 PM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: fatboylo Go to Quoted Post
Don't think I would add anymore, the flavor is already there. Believe I would run it again and hope the off taste stays behind, most of it should.


I'm going to take both your and heeler's advice, run it through the carbon and if the taste still sucks, run it through the still again. Guess I can't expect Rittenhouse on the second try but I thought it would at least taste a little like rye.
Offline heeler  
#10 Posted : Tuesday, December 11, 2012 1:32:36 AM(UTC)
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"re-distill it first and then carbon it...
Add enough water to your distillate to fill your boiler and still it good and slow then pour it through a carbon filter....Cool"
Offline mike mash  
#11 Posted : Monday, February 11, 2013 3:54:21 PM(UTC)
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Hi ,Ok what i have is a corn and barley and a single grain barley only Whiskey that have been Doubled and i want to age them in glass gallon jugs with American oak curls and french oak curls .
Could you Whiskey pros in here feed me some input as to how long the curls should set in the Whiskey .
Thanks mike
Offline NCSpirit  
#12 Posted : Saturday, June 01, 2013 12:14:56 AM(UTC)
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In the end, I took out the oak chips put a tablespoon of carbon in for a week, filtered that out and let it sit for a couple months. Just finished the last shot last night, the longer I waited the better it got. Last bottle tasted like a commercial rye. Nice spicy notes and good toasted oak flavor. Thanks for all the advice on this one. BigGrin
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