An Experiment in Oaking

[grfrazee]

I have an idea that I want to try out, namely toasting my own wood for oaking and also attempting to "homebrew" some whisky in the process.

Essentially, I want to take some hardwood lumber scraps from the workshop, cube them up, toast/broil them in the oven to mimic the toasting process professional coopers use, and then soak them in white dog whisky/moonshine/everclear for an appropriate amount of time.

My idea was to use a couple different wood species, just to see what kinds of flavors they impart to the liquor. White oak is an obvious choice, since that's what has the monopoly on whisky barrels. I also wanted to try red oak, maple, and hickory, just for funsies.

After they sit in a liquor bath for (enter appropriate amount of time here), I would decant off the liquor for later imbibery, then reuse the cubes for oaking/maple-ing/hickory-ing beer.

Now, my knowledge of whisky making stems from a partial tour of the Jim Beam distillery, a History Channel special, and a general love of the brown liquor, so I'm sure I'm missing some point here. If anyone has any suggestions, safety warnings, personal experience, or success stories, please share them with me and my brother, urbanmyth.

 

[TyTanium]

I love this chart for toasting oak:

 

[grfrazee]

Thanks, I had seen that chart before but couldn't find it.

 

[Schemy]

Other than the distilation of liquor is "illegal", I say go for it.

 

[grfrazee]

That's the beauty - we'll be using store-bought liquor and just soaking the wood cubes with it. I don't trust myself enough with boiling alcohol to even attempt distilling.

 

[Stout-n-Braggot]

Don't use lumber, the chemicals used to treat it are generally toxic. Besides that, go for it!

 

[grfrazee]

What do you mean by lumber? I wasn't planning on using any construction-grade lumber (spruce, pine, fir, etc.). As far as I know, hardwood lumber, like the kind I want to use, is just kilned for treatment and that doesn't involve anything other than heat and time.