Finding, Prepping & Using Oak For Home Made Spirits

Toasted &/or charred oak does magical things to a spirit. It's even more satisfying watching your own spirits slowly turn into something more magical than the sum of all the parts. In this video, I show you how to find, season, toast, char, and use your own oak.

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Time Stamps:
00:00 Why Oak
01:00 US White Oak VS
02:20 Get Oak
05:40 Season
08:30 Break It Down
10:16 Good News Bad News
11:25 Toast & Char
20:33 Use it!

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[AndyHammer]

Hell of a video, Jesse! I work at a cooperage in the US that deals with a lot of wood flavoring products and makes a lot of toasted wood for flavoring spirits. You nailed everything on your prep! Well done. With that being said you forgot one small but crucial step 😉 boiling it!

[jessbarclay]

I make various wood “essences”….& spices too. I just pack a small jar with whichever thing I want n add 55% spirit in to it. Fill up the jar. Use drops of the “essence” in a 40% spirit, till it tastes good.

Another option is….I speed up the “aging” by popping it into the fridge n out again. 24/step….it speeds things up HUGELY.

[justcheckinm]

Hey Jesse. I had a 1.2M long (just a bit shorter now) 4"x2" of white oak from City Timber down here in Welly. Missus not too happy about the smell coming out of the oven but I explained why.."Jessie said I had to" Thanks for the awesome vids, ran my first ever run (like first ever) and on a T500 kit. Got lots of tips and confidence from your vids and having a lot of fun beginning the distillers journey.

[BigEdsGuns]

+1 For Chris, God Bless to the Family. RIP Ben. 😢 Cheers Jesse..
May the sorrow pass. Let the good memories Begin..

[AleCuostea]

fun fact about wood flavoring: when I was smaller I have seen people use a branch of cherry wood to flavor the spirits - when distilling they inserted the cherry branch so it acts a pour extender, the spirits were warm and take some of the flavour.

[Glaudge]

"a whole barrel for a hobbyist is a BUTTLOAD of wood" I don't know if he realizes the pun he just made.

[davidwilliams]

Quick question: at what point is the oak not worth keeping anymore? Sure, second use is valuable, but at what point should you just pitch it? Third, fourth, fifth use? Presuming, of course, that you’ve gone a decent length of time with it in spirit for each use and used a decent amount of wood to the amount of spirit it was in. What’s a good way to tell when the wood’s been “used up”?

[Madmick]

All that wood and still missing that front part of the bench on our right that has bugged me for years, lol.

[i_fuze_hostages]

I’m not a super big drinker outside of some wellers occasionally but it’s amazing to see someone that has this much passion for a craft

[theimpatientbrewer]

I bought 2 chared staves about 2 years ago on ebay for about £8 in the UK.
So far I've used about 25 cm of 1 stave.

[pacman]

my dad has a pile of American white oak 4x4s that are too warped for big projects
going at a split end with a saw yielded more than I'd ever use

[the_whiskeyshaman]

Love it brother. That big🦶shirt is my jam. Wood is a great topic.

[Brumbie]

Thanks m8, your knowledge and and delivery are 1st class !!... you set my OCD off with that oven, just thinking you could always put some foil on the bottom of it 😘

[mulletjocks]

Must must must do a follow up on storing, retreating and preparation techniques for second use oak! 🎉

[Roanke]

I have actually purchased your own aging oak. Im still dialing in on the char so i do appreciate the video.

[richardwalkden]

Would you consider my practice of making separate jars of different wood and different levels of char full of wood to create an "essence" and then decanting small amounts into your newly distilled spirit to achieve the balance you might be after? I have been doing this with some success.
I take a 500ml jar, half filled with prepared wood and add alchohol. This stands for years, just getting older and stronger and when I do a new batch I take a dropper full out at a time adding it to my batch.

[nigelwhite]

Hi mate I have always used old barrels with a heavy char but no heat cycle and found that after 3 months it tastes like arse 6 months it cleans up a bit 12 months it suddenly turns yummy I wish I new why all I know is 12 months + is when I will know if its drinkable or not hopefully this helps new guys and girls coming in to the craft and not to get worried or despondent when you don't get a good result quickly keep up the great work both of you 👍👍

[jasonjerabek]

Jesse, or anyone who knows...how long after toasting/charring are the chunks of oak/wood good for? IE with time will there be undesirable breakdown of the yummies we have worked to create if we do not put it in liquid?

[SamwiseOutdoors]

Into the AM distilled my entire psyche into that shirt and I must have it.

[johnp.]

I love the flavor profile French oak (medium roast around the 380-410F mark with a light char) gives to spirits. I keep tasting a good amount of vanilla, hints of marshmallow, and the subtle oak flavors. It seems to work best with a grain-forward whisky, as those flavors balance out the heavy graininess, IMO.