"Hi Bushy,


I just did some math on this ... I don't believe I made any mistakes ...

[COLOR=""#FF0000""]In order to increase the surface area, the diameter of the hole must be less than half of its width.[/COLOR]

For example, when using a 1/4 inch drill bit, the thickness of the wood (length of hole) must be at least 1/2 inch in order to realize an increase in surface area. Basically, we're removing two circles (top and bottom surfaces) and replacing them with a cylinder (without a top and bottom) ... which is why we need a minimum thickness in order to get an increase. However, if a hole is not drilled all the way through (like only half way) we wouldn't be trading two circles for a cylinder ... we'd only be adding a cylinder ... so we'd always get an increase in surface area regardless of the thickness of the wood.

Anyway, if the wood is thick enough, I think we'll get the biggest bang for the buck by drilling holes that don't go all the way through. Maybe drill half way through, staggered on each side. What do you think?

BTW: This only speaks to surface area ... it totally ignores any ""flow"" that may (or may not) occur with a hole that passes all the way through ... but I'm not sure if that's even significant.

--JB"

I soaked one of my sticks in filtered water and left the other stick dry. Then dropped them into two separate jars, each with 4 oz of 50% neutral spirit to see what would happen. You can see from the picture that initially, the soaked stick added color quicker, but after only 10 days there is little difference in the color. I can't comment on the flavor as 10 days is way too short of an aging period ... but so far, I see no advantage to soaking the sticks.

The left side is the jar with the soaked stick, the right side has the dry stick.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]751[/ATTACH]

--JB

"I used the two sticks shown in the picture earlier in this thread ... the ones that look to be between a medium and dark toast. And as usual, sir, you are correct. The aroma and flavor are not very appealing. I only sampled a teaspoon worth from each ... not even close to something I'd be proud of. Since they were basically identical by the 10 day mark, I decided to combine the contents into a single jar with one stick. I'm going to just let this continue and I'll snap a photo every so often along the way.

I've read that the toasted sticks take a good while (measured in months rather than days/weeks) to have any significant effect on the flavor ... and that the flavor is likely to get considerably worse before it gets better?? But I also read a paper from Copper Run Distillery that makes the statement:

Which is pretty much me ... I'm not a fan of Bourbon ... I guess just don't like the corn flavor. But I'm encouraged by their apparent enthusiasm for toasted (v. charred). I'm thinking that many complaints about aging on toasted oak are due to poor quality distillate from the get-go, then a failure to give it enough time. Or conversely, that some preferences for charred sticks/chips are because it provides a quicker filtering fix to poorly distilled spirit (i.e. - it's more of a filtering/masking activity rather than a true aging activity). Please note that I fully acknowledge a personal preference for true charred aging. So no criticsms intended along those lines.

Anyway, I hope you get that pantry cabinet completed without too much more bother. But I know how those projects go. I just spent the entire long weekend on a very simple replacement of some roman shades. It was the ""project from hell."" There was no way to get those things installed without drilling into the window frame ... other than building out some custom framing. So rather than simply driving in nine screws, I was measuring, sawing, sanding, painting, squaring ... then finally came the nine screws! I ended up using red oak ... was wondering if the scraps had any potential for toasting???

--JB"

Never tried useing red oak before but have heard that it imparts a truly different flavor that most find ummmm repulsive. But may be worth trying a small chunk heavily charred in a half pint. Maybe.

"I've had good luck ageing in used whiskey barrels. Woodinville Whiskey here in Washington sells 8 gallon chared oak barrles. The insides are also slotted for max exposure with the chared wood.

http://www.woodinvillewhiskeyco.com/barrels/"

I did a few experiments using partially charred oak sticks. I charred one light toast and one medium-plus stick and aged with some old neutral at about 46% abv. I used a neutral in hopes that I would be able to pick up the flavor due to the oak -- without being distracted by other flavors. Overall, the results were positive as there were signs that there was a sort-of "best of both worlds" quality.

I charred only one side of the stick as shown in the image below. The top stick is the medium-plus, the bottom is the light.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]839[/ATTACH]

The light toast had a sweetness and subtle light caramel flavor. The medium-plus was mostly vanilla with a hint of nutty. But both had a more "classic" whiskey flavor coming through. Previous experiments with uncharred sticks lacked that classic flavor. I didn't care much for the uncharred light toast as it seemed to be more of an oak flavor (which just doesn't suit my personal palate). As for the uncharred medium-plus ... well, it eventually developed an almost dank kind of flavor (I don't quite know how to describe it). The vanilla was still there, but the overall flavor wasn't what I wanted.

A nice side-effect of the charring was an improvement in color.

Anyway, just some food for thought. I liked the initial results so I decided to volunteer my latest wheat germ for the next round of experiments using partially charred sticks. If it doesn't work out, I'll be sure to follow-up and make some noise.

Regards,
--JB