Aging bourbon at home

[CigarStone]

I may have posted this before, but I couldn't find it and I don't remember , I'm old.

A close friend, who is a bourbon lover, brought me a bottle of Evan Williams bottled in bond because he said it was his favorite budget bourbon.

I bought another bottle of it, and bought some Oak chips. I charred the oak chips on a cookie sheet with a torch, and dumped the charred chips in the bottle. I left the bottle in my shed for a year where it went through temperature changes from 110 to Five Below zero. I then filtered it through a coffee filter back into the original bottle.

We tasted both together last week and agreed that the bottle with the charred chips was significantly smoother and a much better finish.

 

[CigarStone]

I was able to find ancient age and ancient ancient age 10 star. I have been told by more than one person that the 10 star rivals blantons.

I am trying the same experiment but with a charred spiral.

If you look closely you will see the charred spiral in the 3-year bottle.

 

[Scap]

I love experiments like this.

 

[JoeGibs]

You can buy pre-charred oak on homebrew supply sites and I’m sure Amazon. They offer a range of types of oak and levels of char. I should start doing this with cases of Windsor for my regular consumption.

 

[jfields]

Saw an experiment that Stevehawk did at home on his Facebook page. His thing was tequila and I forgot what barrel he used and how long he did it for.... But, he had a small 2 liter barrel he found online, and used cheap tequila in case the experiment didn't work, so he didn't lose good tequila. At the end though, he was singing the praises of aging yourself.

Oak Barrel - 67 oz (2 liter) Black Hoop

buy Oak Barrel - 67 oz (2 liter) Black Hoop online

www.barrelsonline.com

 

[CigarStone]

You can buy pre-charred oak on homebrew supply sites and I’m sure Amazon. They offer a range of types of oak and levels of char. I should start doing this with cases of Windsor for my regular consumption.

I bought some chips on Amazon and I charred some lightly and some heavily before putting them in the bottle.

I also did this with a bottle of moonshine. Now it tastes like Okie moonshine

 

[Nihon_Ni]

We were at the local distillery in VA last weekend and toured the facility. They said they have heaters in the rick house because the aging process stops if temps dip below 45*. It generally doesn't get below freezing in VA for very long during the winter, but it's long enough to make a difference. It would be interesting to know how the cold affects aging, as I'm sure it's not as simple as the tour guide explained.

 

[CigarStone]

We were at the local distillery in VA last weekend and toured the facility. They said they have heaters in the rick house because the aging process stops if temps dip below 45*. It generally doesn't get below freezing in VA for very long during the winter, but it's long enough to make a difference. It would be interesting to know how the cold affects aging, as I'm sure it's not as simple as the tour guide explained.

From what I've read, the extreme temperature variations assists in the aging process. But I'm sure there are others here who know a lot more than I do about it.

 

[Mr. Faltz]

These are very good for aging...

 

[lherzolite]

I got a couple of the new and used American oak barrels from Ten-30 Barrels (just a customer). They are only 850ml, so kind of pricey especially compared to chips, spirals, etc... They claim that the distillate to wood ratio is similar to what happens in a full size barrel which I thought was pretty cool, and hoping I can age stuff for a few years without it getting overly oaked.