Do you think it would be beneficial in some way to age a mash or a hot sauce in oak barrels? I'm thinking it could really bring out a nice, sophisticated flavor to a fermented hot sauce. I wonder if you can age it like wine or balsamic vinegars and create very fine hot sauce. Thoughts?
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Aging Hot Sauce in Oak Barrels
- Thread starter misterbittman
- Start date
Usually the flavor not only comes from the charred oak but from what was aged in it previously. Bourbon, sherry, etc. You can really get specific to get the profile you want. And it is expensive.
Actually, I just did a little online research and found that Tabasco is aged for three years in Oak. And there are other hot sauces as well that are aged in barrels. How would you go about doing this in order to keep it stable while aging?
I saw the documentary about Tabasco it is aged in Oak in barrels was awesome tah watch!!
I just put down my $.79 and take home the Tabasco......
.....and I don't have to worry about getting rid of the barrel.
.....and I don't have to worry about getting rid of the barrel.
Go to a home made wine shop or any suplyer of cellarcraft or winexpert product (wine in kit) and buy OAK CUBE
throw that in your sauce to have the oak taste without all the assle... once old enough throw out the cube or put them in the BBQ while smoking meat.
Check for STAVIN OAK CUBES they are the best (in my humble opinion)
http://www.stavin.com/barrelsystems/beans.htm
throw that in your sauce to have the oak taste without all the assle... once old enough throw out the cube or put them in the BBQ while smoking meat.
Check for STAVIN OAK CUBES they are the best (in my humble opinion)
http://www.stavin.com/barrelsystems/beans.htm
LOL. Aging is more than oak flavor. That's like liquid smoke for smoking. 
salsalady
Business Member
google "how to make tabasco" video, there are several clips and I'm sure between them all you will get the gist of, if not the actual documentary footage of the Tabasco episode. I've seen it and it' really interesting. If I remember right, in addition to the 3 year aging in barrels, they have batches of mash(or crushed chiles, if they haven't been fermented yet) agitating in kettles for (?3 weeks?) .
Wow interesting concept. My bro owns a bar and I often buy things from his suppliers like hard to find scotches and beers. I noticed once that they sell small oak barrels for aging and almost bought one. I think they are only about 5 gallons so I wouldn't need to make too much sauce and could age it for a few years. I'll have to revisit that thought.
On the show where they aged tabasco did they age the finished product or age the mash to make the finished product?
On the show where they aged tabasco did they age the finished product or age the mash to make the finished product?
As I recall they scrape the char out and age the mash for 3 years then make the final sauce.
Cork-sniffing non-sense IMO. With such ridiculously strong flavor profiles that hot sauces command, the subtleties of oak barrel aging will be lost. Guarantee you won't be able to tell the difference between aging in oak for 3 years and aging in plastic barrels for 3 years. McIlhenny I'm sure uses spent oak because they're cheap and last a long time. And makes for good marketing fluff.