Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

i used still spirits bourbon staves recently for some rum using about the surface area suggested in the hooks rum recipe. after 2 months the level of oakyness seemed about right, but the colour was a bit more pale than i would like. i'm trying to avoid adding caramel to darken it. would charring the other surfaces of the pieces result in a darker spirit?

Howdy,

yep your on the right track. A few things here.

Alligator char(a complete char causing timber surface to craze in small squares /oblong shapes based around timber grain) is best done on thinner strips of timber and finished with on a LPG ring burner or Butane torch, I use the torch as get better coverage.
These are what I term colouring strips. They're there for colour and not longer term flavouring. They are added at the rate of 2-3 per 5lt of spirit for approx. 2+ weeks to 1 month for colouring. Then removed leaving thicker less charred strips in for ageing.

Trick with these colouring strips is they can be very smoky and really upset the flavour balance. Dip them in boiling water for a sec or two only so submerged with a pair of food tongs given them a shake about, remove quickly and allow to sun dry then add. it removes the over the top smokiness. If you boil for to long the boiling water discolours quickly and you loose part of the colouring impact they will have.

bt1

One thing I have found with ageing is when it tastes good I bottle it, the colour is irrelevant really.
Some just turn out darker than others. ;-)

Kimbo wrote:One thing I have found with ageing is when it tastes good I bottle it, the colour is irrelevant really. ;-)

yep that's what I do! :D that's the only thing to really go by, colour of course is a bit of a guide