Mutaneer
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 5/3/14
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
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So back in June I tasted some of this
http://williesmiths.tumblr.com/post/67918495069/willie-smiths-limited-release-lark-distillery
Whiskey barrel aged cider. and loved it.
I like my whiskey and I like my cider, why not have both in one drink
So I went on the hunt for a small barrel to have a crack at it myself,
picked up a new, Charred White Oak barrel from the Barrel Barn (great to deal with) and set about seasoning it.
Given that it's traditionally a Bourbon barrel, I figured that filling it with Bourbon would be a good idea.
So in went 5 litres of Jim Beam White Label, where it sat and soaked the timber for 4 months. Given the room it was in is very unstable in temperature It allows the oaking to happen very rapidly as the barrel timbers expand and contract with daily temperature changes.
So a month ago, I drained out all the liquid that was left, and i'm about 150ml short of what went in. So that has both gone to soaking into the barrel and maybe a little for the "angels share".
In with some freshly fermented cider, after a short racking of a few days to reduce the sediment and cork it up lightly.
As expected there was a little more yeast activity for a few days, probably some sugars in the char plus the residual bourbon aswell as the aeration that happens when filling a barrel through a cork-hole.
I'd been tasting it from the tap once a week and nothing much to report for the first two weeks, the third week began to give a few smokey notes, and upon tasting today, it's VERY boozy.. But in a good way.
the last two weeks has had a lot of unstable weather patterns here with some extremes in temperature and pressure which really gets the barrels going.
So this week will see it come out of the barrel and into a final racking before bottling. And hopefully have a bottle ready for New Years Eve.. I'm tipping a really nice drink to be the end product, I probably won't carb it is much as my regular cider 10-12g/L, so maybe only down around 7-8g/L for a light fizz
I've also got another 5 Litres of Cider that's been racking for 4 weeks and is extremely clear that I might throw straight into the barrel and run another batch.,
exciting stuff, for me anyway :chug:
http://williesmiths.tumblr.com/post/67918495069/willie-smiths-limited-release-lark-distillery
Whiskey barrel aged cider. and loved it.
I like my whiskey and I like my cider, why not have both in one drink
So I went on the hunt for a small barrel to have a crack at it myself,
picked up a new, Charred White Oak barrel from the Barrel Barn (great to deal with) and set about seasoning it.
Given that it's traditionally a Bourbon barrel, I figured that filling it with Bourbon would be a good idea.
So in went 5 litres of Jim Beam White Label, where it sat and soaked the timber for 4 months. Given the room it was in is very unstable in temperature It allows the oaking to happen very rapidly as the barrel timbers expand and contract with daily temperature changes.
So a month ago, I drained out all the liquid that was left, and i'm about 150ml short of what went in. So that has both gone to soaking into the barrel and maybe a little for the "angels share".
In with some freshly fermented cider, after a short racking of a few days to reduce the sediment and cork it up lightly.
As expected there was a little more yeast activity for a few days, probably some sugars in the char plus the residual bourbon aswell as the aeration that happens when filling a barrel through a cork-hole.
I'd been tasting it from the tap once a week and nothing much to report for the first two weeks, the third week began to give a few smokey notes, and upon tasting today, it's VERY boozy.. But in a good way.
the last two weeks has had a lot of unstable weather patterns here with some extremes in temperature and pressure which really gets the barrels going.
So this week will see it come out of the barrel and into a final racking before bottling. And hopefully have a bottle ready for New Years Eve.. I'm tipping a really nice drink to be the end product, I probably won't carb it is much as my regular cider 10-12g/L, so maybe only down around 7-8g/L for a light fizz
I've also got another 5 Litres of Cider that's been racking for 4 weeks and is extremely clear that I might throw straight into the barrel and run another batch.,
exciting stuff, for me anyway :chug: