Has anyone used a small 1 liter oak barrel for aging white dog or any other whiskeys ? Thought I might try one any tips or techniques thanks

In. There’s some BT white dog at the liquor store...

The Dic had a video on it, besides that all I know from reading is it imparts a flavor faster, but its sharper and brittle. I think aging like rum or cognac or some other experimental liquid in that barrel before the whisky is what the small barrel use would be more for...

Use chips.
Barrels only last a couple cycles. You can open them and re-char, but it's not easy.
Chips don't cost much and you can mix different varieties. They also don't take nearly as long to age the spirit.

Thanks guys

Just got these
Oak Spirals

Was going to do the barrel, but this looks better..

Let me know how it works and what you used

Ok, so you can add charred oak to a bottle to add flavor, but what about letting it age longer and get smoother, more refined?

It's about surface area. The reason you need to age 50gal oak barrels so long is because the ratio of fluid to avaliable surface area, of the interior oak, is small. Drop down to a 5L barrel and you can age to the same degree in as little as 3wks. Using wood chips drastically increases the available surface area of exposed wood. Usually, the back of the wood chip's bag will give a weight to fluid ratio. I recommend using several small jars (250ml/8oz) and varying the length of aging. Another thing that can change taste is getting spirit to proof, prior to aging.

I had the Tuthilltown kit a few years back.  The idea is you pour their very chuggable corn into the barrel and wait for it to turn into bourbon.  I waited about five months and all I got was well whiskey.
Shortly after that I had a customer hip me to Redhead 5l barrels.  He poured me a glass from one that he claimed was 6 month old Canadian Club,  it was delicious.
And last year I did this....

The idea came from a friend who went to a local distillery that served 6 month aged old fashions,  I was intrigued.  Don't know their recipe but I got mine from an old whiskey bar in NYC.
Tapped it this past October after six very patient months and we were rewarded with cocktail that I never want to be without.  We have two more aging now,  one is the same as the first (shown) which will be tapped 10/20(1 year).  The other was made with mostly Scotch and various bottom of the bottles to get the math right,  will be opened in March(6 months).

FWIW, some of the best whiskey I've ever had was moonshine aged in a jar with a piece of charred white oak.  It was the exact opposite of fancy, but damn smooth and delicious.

Very interesting and very unique.

I wonder if you could put some Everclear in that small barrel and get some barrel strength whiskey in a few years.

will it still work ok using bottle strength instead if barrel strength?

How does the extra water influence the aging?

that is an interesting idea. I wonder what charred apple wood chips would be like.

That's the basic idea of the Tuthilltown kit.  I was just impatient and like their straight corn

Bottle strength is so that adding water, after aging, doesn't change the flavor.

Is the oak spirals kiln dried , can you cut your own oak slices char  them yourself and use them

While a lot of this is fun to experiment, I’ve never had a small (under 10ga) barrel aged spirit taste good.  Lots of things in play with a real distillery doing it.  Size of barrel, seasoning of staves (most are seasoned for years before being used in a barrel), surface area, entry proof, location and temperature of the barrel.  Small barrels are great for vatting and blending (like the OF mix above), but not suitable for aging the entire life.

Someone above mentioned ever clear - which can never be whiskey regardless of how it’s aged.

The oak spiral and chips are a joke.

Yes. You can dry them in your oven and char them with a torch. I know there's a couple videos on it. They're not too expensive, if you want to buy and try, first.

I disagree and so would plenty of the folks I know, that have used and tasted the spirits.

Fair enough, but there are plenty of distiller, blenders and industry experts that would agree with my stance.  There is more going on in a barrel during its aging process than simply pulling flavors out of a wood stick.

Sixish months ago.
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Today.
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I do. Currently sipping on Evan Williams that’s been aging for a few weeks. It mellows, smoothed, and I get to pour from a tap

It's their standard 100 proof rye.  The China China is 80 proof and the Remy Rouge is 17 IIRC.
Dangerously smooth.

ETA.  I tapped a 1 gallon barrel that's been sitting for a year and it was very sweet.  Same mixture (shrugs)

Honestly, that stuff is great on it's own. At least Mash #1 is anyway.

I think the small barrels make good whisky, but you can't age them for very long without being over-oaked.  The surface area ratio is all off.  Ageing them long enough to really  smooth out might be a bit too oaky and you're going to lose a lot of whisky to evaporation, but aging in a new micro barrel to the proper level of oak you want might not be long enough to let the liquor smooth out as well it could be.  Don't get me wrong, good homemade hootch with good cuts will always be smooth, but it can always smooth out even more... nothing beats letting time do it's work.  One way around the smoothness issue of young whisky from a small barrel is to use white dog that is not young... let it sit several months on it's own - some of the lighter volatiles will work their way out just given enough time if you crack the jars every few weeks ot let them breathe.  Another trick is to use a small barrel that's been recently used once or twice before - the oak is seasoned a bit more and doesn't impart as sharp of a flavor as quickly  

The coolest method I've seen for hobby size aging is using a stainless bain-marie with press-fit charred oak lid.  It looks just as easy as jars or a barrel but gives a surface area is much more proper for aging proper lengths of time without over oaking or too much volume loss.  Search HomeDistiller for info on the bain-marie method.

Personally, I just use the Jack-Daniel's Smoking chips in quart sized mason jars; I rinse them off well with warm water to clean them, fill a mason jar halfway with the chips, then add a tablespoon or two of small heavy toast oak wood chips from a brewshop before filling up the jar about 80% full with white dog.  Some other good additions for whisky is the peelings from 2-3 granny smith apples or chunks of honeycomb with muddled blueberries or a 1/2" length of split madagascar vanilla bean.  I crack the lids every week or so to let it breathe and they're done on the wood in just a few months.  I strain it out the stuff and put the whisky back in clean jars, cracking the lids every couple weeks to let the liquor smooth out more.  In several months it's smooth as hell.  I've got some that are a few years old and amazing.

If you use mason jars for ANYTHING involving higher proof alchohol, please use PTFE/Teflon disks under the lids.  The plastic/rubber sealant on the mason jar lids is not rated for alcohol and the high percentage alcohol will soften and leech out plasticizers and chemicals from the seal.  Ever open a brand new mason jar and sniff the chemically smelling air inside?  Yeah... you don't want to be leaking that crap into what you're drinking. These are cheap as hell so there's zero excuse not to buy some now that you know better: Teflon Jar Lid Liners

My 1 gallon old fashion concoction that sat for a year was reduced by half,  leaving it very sweet

I have been lazy and just filled mine with good vodka. After the first batch was “done” I pulled half off and refilled. Now I just keep drinking and refilling. If it gets too much oak I pull it out and adjust for balance. I got my barrel for fathers day last year and have had it in rotation since. Ymmv.

my buddy gave me some white oak scraps he had from woodworking. Split them up, charred them with a torch, washed them off, and plunked them into some mason jars full of really bad moonshine. A week in and already they are smelling better. Like by a lot. Can't want to try it with decent hooch