French Oak

[audistiller]

Hi Aud,at that price mate I'd definately grab one.Geez they look in good nik.Would look good sanded up and a light polish :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks for that Don, and yes they do look in very good condition mate, I am also not sure I could bring myself to chop it up, but when you think about the cost of a bag of chips, this works out much cheaper, and they have a few of these I believe, so I could chop this one up and grab another, or just chop this up and keep looking an American Oak barrel, which is ultimately what I want. The best part is they are very close to me, so I wont have to pay shipping, they also do them pre sanded and varnished for $30 extra. :think:


Regards

[Sam.]

How do you tell the difference looking at a french oak or american oak barrel? :think:

[MacStill]

How do you tell the difference looking at a french oak or american oak barrel? :think:

one may wee
:))

[Kimbo]

How do you tell the difference looking at a french oak or american oak barrel? :think:

One's loud and obnoxious,
and so's the other :D

[Kimbo]

How do you tell the difference looking at a french oak or american oak barrel? :think:

Really they are very similar,
the american oak tends to have more "islands" in the grain and that "Zebra" pattern, More like a sheoak
whereas the French Oak has a slightly more subtle grain pattern (and can be a little darker- but not always) ;-)

[audistiller]

Yesterday I went to have a look at the French Oak barrels I posted the photo of in this thread. They have a fair few but are selling fast, as I didn't have enough to pay for it, and my car isn't big enough to bring it home anyway, I gave them a deposit and they put my name on one to be picked up in the next few days. I was shown one that was cut in half, identical to the one I bought, and they have a crystallised sugar looking roughness as well as the Wine coloured stain inside. So I might just cut it up for toasting and charring for use as sticks or whatever, and I am going to grab some American Oak from 5Star until I can source a good barrel, so this should keep me going for a while. I was told the barrels haven't been used since 2009.


Regards

[Kimbo]

Hi Aud,
you will find that Am. Oak is quite hard to find over here, the barrels are generally Fr. Oak.
IMO i cant taste the difference, some probably can tho.
It might be a good experiment?

[audistiller]

Hey Kimbo,

I'm not bothered about finding a decent American Oak barrel yesterday, but I do have intentions of getting hold of one in the near future, however as I mentioned, 5Star can provide me with enough American Oak to satisfy my experiments for the time being. Having read a few people saying the same thing as you, I would of thought there would be a difference in the flavour between the two timbers, or should I say more of a distinct flavour people are able to tell the difference.


Regards

[MacStill]

I really like what wine stained french oak does to my rum, but only use 'merican for my UJ ;-)

[audistiller]

I really like what wine stained french oak does to my rum, but only use 'merican for my UJ ;-)

We all know how much you love rum, and you would probably drink it out of a bird bath. 8-} But thanks for that, point taken, and I myself love rum too, but my kidneys cause me alot of pain quite often when I drink it, but that wont stop me trying some of yours. :-D

[chrisc]

i find with french oak i get a much more toasty flavor and stronger general oaking flavor i find it a nice complex and the color is a bit darker but i have heavy charred stuff that i pay top dollar for say did you or are you cutting it up if so let me know ill pay for a small amount of it i have found the 6+ month mark with it freshly toasted works great re toast my chunks after every use

[squid]

I usually go for french oak over american oak, sits pretty well with UJSM. I've used woodchips in the past instead of oak staves but the downsize is occasionally small pieces slip past the coffee filter. Oh well, people love seeing oak in the bottle.

[TJM]

iv had great results with french oak wine barrels. I go toasted for rum and charred for AG corn whiskey. I got half a barrel for $50
and i just cut it into sticks that i need. Nothing smells better than toasting oak mmm

[R-sole]

hops do.

[MR-E]

Is there anything wrong with toasting & then charring french oak sticks :?:

[Kimbo]

Is there anything wrong with toasting & then charring french oak sticks :?:

Nothing wrong at all mate ;-)

[MR-E]

I just put 3 x 5ltr demi's of rum @ 65% away for aging.
2 x 5ltrs of rum with 2 x toasted French Oak sticks in both & 1 x 5ltr with 20gr of American Oak chips.
Looks like I'll be set for X-mas & New Years :D

[emptyglass]

I got hold of some french oak staves, all the staves I could hold for a bottle of bourbon, with deep red wine stain. I have charred them,toasted them, roasted them, burnt them, done all sorts of stuff to them.
The best I come up with was shave the grey surface off and any mouldy bits, cut 6" long, split with axe to 10 x 10mm bits, scorch their ass off one side with an oxy torch and quench them with water, then toast till that delicious vannila smell fills the air, 1 to 2 sticks per 700ml.
Used in UJSM, it gives some real nice, original flavor to it.

I got maybe 1.5kg of american oak offcuts from a cooper and did the same thing to them. Bourbon is american, and american oak is just better for UJ, imho. Made it taste like the real deal. I've used american oak for my bourbon ever since.

[Spiritof87]

Man I couldn't imagine not having oak trees around. What type of American oak is most popular? White, black, pin, red, or water oak? Maybe I can mail you guys a tree lol

[Brendan]

For those interested, French Oak has a tighter grain than American Oak and therefore takes longer to impart character and colour...

This comes as an advantage for us at home with barrels smaller than 200+ litres, as the spirit gets more ageing time before it gets over-oaked.

I bought a 25L French Oak barrel for this reason, and am soaking it in Sherry as my favourite whisky's are aged in French Oak Sherry barrels :D