maple wood chips to 2x age.

[Soulshine2]

I don't post in distilling much . I own a Clawhammer 5 gallon reflux still that I've run a half dozen batches through and got some good liquor from 80 to 138 proof just not lately in the last 2 yrs . I do still have 5 of Jack Daniels "handles" full of what I made in the past that I aged on Jack Daniels Oak barrel chips. Between my recipe and the oak chips , tastes very good smooth and a lot like Jack. In past JD taste tours my wife and I found they had in limited availability a product that was aged twice- once in charred oak barrels for I think 3 yrs then aged again 1 yr in charred maple barrels and it gave a nice butterscotchy flavor added to the old no 7 flavor. So, after searching for a source of maple chips I finally found a small bag at my hardware store. Theyre smoking wood chips but Id like to char them and age my already aged whiskey on that to see if I can get a similar result.

 

[Shine0n]

Charing chips can be dicey at best because of the inconsistent size, they should sell chunks for grilling as well. I'm not sure about the maple but my lowes and Home Depot have the chunks of Oak and Apple wood.

The oak if you toast them at 400°f for 2 hours will bring out the most of vanilla for your buck.
The apple wood I do at 280 for 2 hours and it makes the spirit interesting to say the least.

 

[Soulshine2]

I appreciate your comment but I have oak, apple , cherry, alder ,etc. What Im after is the flavor that maple imparts . Trying to "clone" the JD stuff ,since I don't think it is in production anymore. I was told during the taste tour it was a limited run and not for sale in the US outside of the distillery.

 

[Homergah]

I could cut up a few maple limbs and mail them to you for a small consideration. Lol. Will work for booze.

 

[Soulshine2]

lol, again , I sure appreciate the offer but I already have the maple chips .

 

[Homergah]

Oh yeah. I see that now. I've charred my own before. Just took a torch to it. I did one side of the planks and left other side natural, with the intention of lending a maple flavor without killing the liquor with toast. It came out decent. It still had a bit much on the char side of things. I intended to use the planks again thinking some of the char would fade. Big C got in the way for a while. I had totally forgot about the experience till you posed the question. Thanks!

 

[Shine0n]

JD uses maple charcoal they make on site (anymore?)
anyway they pour the spirit thru before barreling.

 

[Soulshine2]

JD uses maple charcoal they make on site (anymore?)
anyway they pour the spirit thru before barreling.

thats correct, they do still make their own charcoal in their rickyard. however, that is processed for mellowing the Gentleman Jack (10 ft of maple charcoal). But , they have a small run product labeled as 72 (stands for #7 ,twice barrel aged)which is what I mention before, aged in the normal charred oak barrel for the minimum amount of time then re-barreled in a charred maple barrel for an additional year. My wife liked this better than anything else, just figures it was in limited production and availability. My personal JD favorite is Sinatra Select (100 proof), where the oak barrel staves are cross cut a little which when charred gives 3x more surface area to be in contact with the whiskey as it ages. More depth of flavors .

 

[Shine0n]

I like the idea of charred maple (sugar) barrel.
I have a few maples on my property and might get some of the wind fall limbs and plank them out and age for a year.

I'll have to look the maple barrels up tho for profile it imparts.

 

[madscientist451]

To the OP: Thanks for posting the question! I've been thinking about using different kinds of wood, but its been on the back burner for quite a while.
I've only used JD barrel chips so far.
There are several "reports" about bourbon makers using maple barrels, but I'm skeptical they are using actual barrels.
Barrels made from maple are prone to leak.
A commercial distillery won't tolerate their product leaking away.
I believe the distilleries that say they are using maple barrels are actually using toasted maple staves in a tank.
I'm probably wrong about the above, its just a theory, but one based on logic and experience. Years ago, I was in the lumber business and sold white oak to a barrel mill. I never heard of them buying any maple for their barrels.
I also looked around for any barrel producers /re-sellers that had maple barrels available, and I can't find any.
Their are many types of maple trees, usually divided into two groups: hard maple and soft maple. Note that soft maple wood isn't soft, its just not as hard as hard maple.
Hard maple is what is usually used to make maple syrup, although you can use the sap from soft maple trees as well, it just won't have as high a sugar content.
Hunting around for information, I came across this gem, a brew club did an experiment where beer was aged on different wood, great stuff:

http://www.nordeastbrewersalliance....ments/2016-experiments/wood-aging-experiment/

Apparently there is a difference in the flavors supplied by hard and soft maple.
If you want a butterscotch flavor, it looks like yellow birch will supply that.

If you want to use your own wood, note that barrel makers season their wood outdoors for 2 years before making a barrel. If you use kiln dried wood available to wood workers you'll get a different result.
If you try to season wood like birch or maple outside (uncovered in the weather) its going to rot, so keep it under cover during seasoning.

I don't usually drink whiskey, but I'm going to use the information in the above experiment in future beer, cider and mead projects.

Articles about research regarding whiskey and wood:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/whiskey-makers-break-tradition-to-make-new-flavors/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/extreme-whiskey-barrel-aging?ref=scroll