blond.chap wrote:WineGlass wrote:I hearda rumor years ago that Glenfiddich bubbled the peat smoke through the whiskey itself.
Dont know if its relavent or not, or true or not.
That is an interesting rumour, I'd have 2 issues with trying that myself, 1 is I can't find any peat km the second is you'd need to bubble it through 65% before ageing, and I'd worry about setting it on fire. Would be easy if I could suss those though.
You actually might try these if you're after peat.
http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_pro ... 61316.aspx
The main ingredient is in fact peat and the secondary ingredients are coconut pith and wood pulp. These might add other tannins or oils, but in the end will probably be extremely similar in chemical composition the the peat itself. I used them for years in my aquariums for soft water fish with good results. Knowing how sensitive fish are to foreign compounds in their water column that says volumes about them. They definitely had the desired effect on my water chemistry. The water hardness dropped and the acidity rose into the specific ranges I was after for the species I was raising.
The pellets are cheaper on ebay actually and I've just ordered some myself to use for peat filtering my water for whiskey making/dilution, and perhaps even smoke treating finished spirits if I can work out some kind of positive pressure smoker/bong arrangement (probably with a cooling coil to avoid any chance of igniting the alcohol) to get the smoke to travel through the whiskey.
Just make sure to peel off the plastic mesh after you re-hydrate the peat if you plan on exposing it to heat. If you have a Gin basket you can use, you might try wrapping the peat in cheesecloth and placing it in the vapor path. I think If it was me I would expand the pellet, then dry it before using it, the water in the peat might act as a barrier to the vapor entering it.
If you have, or would build yourself a smoker, you might even smoke your own barley using the peat as fuel. doesn't take much fuel to make a whole lot of smoke as any meat smoker can tell you.
I still have to get set up with a dedicated pot still for this sort of thing, I'm using a reflux column with the packing removed when I want a lower ABV product, and haven't come up with a Gin Basket arrangement yet. Been eyeing off some of that modular stuff of Macstill's in fact. I think he has a custom made basket available that fits his equipment.
I'm going on too much. Hope the info helps :geek:
Shame you're all the way in Perth, I'd love to collaborate on this one with ya.