Homemade Bourbon| Oaking, Aging, and Proofing 

I'm an old and lazy moonshiner and mostly prefer the white, but periodically save some 180 to add oak to. I used to add oak to high test but find I prefer the results when I proof it to around 155-160 first. I used to use staves from an old swish barrel but now use oak chips from wine kits that my daughter sends me - she doesn't use them in what she does, so passes them on to me, and as I said, I'm a lazy shiner. I have gallons and quarts squirreled away, some of them fifteen years old now. One thing I can say - mason jars are not good for long-term storage, the lids go bad. Change them out every few years, if you remember where they are. Jugs with plastic caps are the way to go. Usually, if I oak any shine it is not just a sugar shine but something I've added corn and malted barley to, for the taste.

beautiful color and yes it is Bourbon enjoy my Friend

“Iam don’t need to be EXACT on it all…” …..hits us with some colegete level trigonometry on the dry erase board 😂😂 love it

Love the ingenuity on the box method. There’s a wonderful formula for this. (C1)(V1)=(C2)(V2). C1=starting concentration(110 proof), V1=starting volume(1700ml), C2=ending concentration(80 proof), V2=ending volume. (110)(1700)=187,000. 187,000=(80)(V2). 187,000/80=2337.5 2337.5-1700=637.5ml of H2O. Cheers!

Thank you for your video. I'm new to making whiskey. Very informative.

Use a pickling (wide mouth) funnel, to get a wider filter surface (you might need to hold/clamp filter to the funnel. but it works a lot faster.

LOVE the shirt !!! I'm ordering me one soon from your website! Miss the live streams, but still watching every video. May your lids stay sealed, and your rings turn easy !

Great vid. I figured out my stalled ferment. Turns out, I'm an idiot. Simple as that, but it is fixed now and back to bubbling away. Thanks for all the hard work.

Hope the surprise is your starting to do a few live streams. Time permitting 👍 thanks for the great video

Nice!! Happy to see a new video from you!

Got a jar of my first grain mash I did with your help and advice, still sitting there with oak in it .I check it's aroma every few weeks it's changing all the time.....I'll have to give it a try soon

I’d love to see an apple rye video using store bought apple juice

There's also a couple of free dilution calculator apps

Your recipe is awesome and will go very high.of course it will be very tasty to eat.😋 I love it .I will definitely try it.You will tell me in the comments. How do you like my recipe?Thanks........👍👏

I know that you know what you are doing but my ancestors would beat me like a rented mule for putting water in good shine , that is why you keep a jug of backings for just such a time. I'm to old and broken down now to make it so I have to take what I can get. Thanks and keep the fire down lo

At the very end after you had proofed down your spirit to 80 could you have confirmed the proof using the alcoholmeter once again for an accurate reading or does the added water throw off the reading?

Great detailed vedio

Good stuff Cyrus. When my teachers use to tell me to pay more attention in math class this ain't what I thought they were talking about, but glad I did! On a side note, I just read somewhere that if you're aging in glass, you should put a coffee filter in place of the lid and let it breath the whole time. Any thoughts on that? I know you said you let it breathe now and again, but was that for any length of time, or did you just open it and check it. I have just kept mine screwed down tight and only opened once every few weeks for a taste test then screwed them back down. Not that that is right, it's just what I did not knowing any better.

You did good maths

If it isn't corn based it's not bourbon. Small stave aging is very easy, and faster than barrels.

I like that you explained the process of proofing down your aged bourbon as it turns out, I am in the process of proofing down my 140 proof gen 0 of UJSSM to 110 to make some apple pie shine. After adding the water, is there any way to proof the alcohol or can I just use the triple scale hydrometer to see what I've created?

Did you temperature correct 110 proof reading?

How long did you oak it? Like your videos.

Isn't the rule of bourbon just 51% corn? No matter what you do as long as it's good who cares... cheer's 🥃