Age your own Whiskey kit

DIY
1

Saw this in one of the local papers today. Being that they are a local company (to me anyway) I’m thinking of maybe picking one of these up. Anybody else seen one of these or tried one?

http://yaharabay.com/WhatsNewatYB/tabid/57/Default.aspx
2

Never seen or tried one but that’s pretty cool. It would be neat to let it age for about 15 years… if you could just keep your hands off it!
Now, if that pesky federal government would just mind their own business… :slight_smile:

3

I have used a similar kit. It is a lot of fun to pull samples ang see what effects the barrels can have.
A few tips from pro distillers.

  1. Rinse barrels with hot distilled water. X3
  2. Soak Barrels with distilled water for a week.
  3. You may need to plus up the whitedog with some everclear.
  4. Barrels need to experience tempature “Swings”
  5. Have fun & Enjoy.
4

I haven’t used that brand, but a local distillery, Cedar Ridge, sells similar kits. The 1 liter barrel only successfully “oaked” two bottles of clear spirits. The instructions mentioned leaving a bottle in the barrel for 1-3 months for optimal aging…my third has been in there around 5 months and is almost vaguely straw colored. :frowning:

5

I used a similar kit, it worked great. My kit (as I recall) had you fill it with hot water for 24 hours to force a seal with the barrel. I could never get a good seal on one spot in the front of the barrel so I had a slow drip on the average of 1 drop per day. After 3-4 months when I bottled it I had lost 1 of the 2 bottles to absorption and leakage.

Flavor and color were spot on to the commercial version. I didn’t try additional batches due to leak but would expect color to reduce with each batch. Probably why bourbon makers only use the barrel once. Good luck.

6

Recently completed a tour of Garison Brother’s Distillery + I’m a chemical engineer so obviously an expert …
Bourbon needs to be aged 2 years in barrels.
The more temperature swings the better. That’s why Texas hill country bourbon is better at 2 years than Tennessee at 2 years - our climate is more variable. As the temp swings the bourbon goes into and then out of the charred layer - picking up good color and flavors along the way.