Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

So... Been thinking bout astrigency and end grain.
I have tasted astringent spirit from a 2l barrel but not from my own 10l barrell. All side grain.

I have personally made astringent spirit from chips but not from dominoes.
Dominoes are fully saturated as are chips. So shape of dominoes is moot point because its completely saturated anyway.

So.....
You reakon it's the end grain that causes the problems or is it more so the spirit wood ratio that is the issue.
To much oak =astringent

I have however made astringent rum when aged at 80% on a domino. But again high abv higher solvent capability higher extraction from oak=same as too much oak?

Or have i just drunk too much piss..

bluc wrote:
Or have i just drunk too much piss..

mmm why not try drinking what you made instead :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

I only use about 4g's a litre on aging and never have a problem with over oaking but then again with using my big domino which I cut off what I need it is that well toasted the result is mm thick long grain :handgestures-thumbupleft: does the same job but no end grain to worry about

I have gone as high as 30g l without issue.
But tiny barrel /chips/ high abv all caused issues all have something in common high oak spirit ratio.

I have a big issue with astringency after as little as 8 weeks Bluc, but never with dominos.

My issue came when I got a 2 foot long strip of oak from a winery. I then foolishly cut it into inch blocks and exposed heaps of end grain. To maximise the long grain I split these blocks in to little slivers. Oaks very fast but gets astringent quickly. Hence why I was drinking whiskey mixed with vodka.

I only use the dominoes for long term aging now. I have put it all down to end grain and won’t make that mistake again.

Chips tend to have more long grain than end grain, the way I did it was to expose heaps of end grain, but you live and learn lol

1. Too much end grain is never a good idea

2. Over oak anything at a "correct" ABV and you will pull more tannins, wether this be too many dominoes in a batch or too small a barrel for too long (surface ratio)

3. High ABV spirit will pull more tannins out of the oak

My thoughts anyway.

what type of oak are you aging with? Is it first use?

I've found that French oak is alot milder and less astringent than US oak.

I age NGW at 60-65 ABV. Drops down to about 50 - 55ish after a year in 2L glass jars with PTFE tape seals.

I monitor the jars fairly closely. I use 6 inch long staves that weigh around 12-14gms for 2L. Leave them in until I feel the colour is getting to where I want it then I replace the 6 inch stave with a 3inch.

I've found blending the French oak aged with the American oak to be the best.

Cheers
Rumble

I mainly use French Oak and this year with my AG generations I did put one down with American oak so in a years time it will be time to sample each generation to see if there is any difference in the oak.

Now as I age long term like I said above 4-5 grams a litre for a 5 litre glass demi is all that is needed and every month I do give the demi's a good shake to get some bubbles happening.

With my brandies well they are all French oak and as they are in 2 litre demi's 7-8 grams is all that is needed as it does take a long time for the fruit to come thru in the spirit so with too much oak it would spoil a good drop.

A good rule of thumb is thinking of the time to age and if it's short well use more oak but for long term aging use less oak.

Next year I'm going go to oak barrel aging so the learning curve will start again.

Cheers Bryan