Any use for Large Staghorn Sumac Trees?

[Nick3757]

Hello All. We are in the process of cleaning up an old abandoned grain mill and turning it into a distillery.

We have a bunch of really big staghorn sumac trees we want to clear out that are around 12"-18" in diameter and 30-60 feet tall. Does anyone know if this wood is useful for anything?

We were hoping to find some big oak trees on the property so we can build a few big wooden vats to use as fermenters, but so far we only have sumac, some really big birch trees, and a handful of small red oak trees. Unfortunately, the red oak trees need to be cut before I could get any usable lumber because they're encroaching on a wall.

[GAB]

First off welcome to the Forestry Forum.
Could you also list where you are located.
I have never seen a sumac larger than 4 or 5" in diameter in my area.
I sure would like to see a few pictures of the trunks and also some pictures of the leaves.
I'm thinking that you have a different variety of sumac than there is in my area.
Gerald

[thecfarm]

Yes,welcome to the forum.
GAB is right on the sumac in this area. I have seen one maybe 20 feet tall. It's right next to the road.

[Nick3757]

Below are some pictures of one of the smaller trees. The pictures aren't the best, so I'll take some better ones after I get out of work today.

They are much larger than the normal sumac trees I'm used to seeing. There are a bunch of smaller sumac trees with the red fuzzy clusters on them around the area of the trees, which led to my assumption of the big trees being a staghorn sumac.

When I break one of the shoots off of a branch it has that distinctive smell of a sumac too. I'm not really sure what else it could be, but I just don't want them to go to waste after they're cut.

[Ron Wenrich]

Ailanthus.  Invasive species in PA.  Prevalent in abandoned fields and along roadsides.  When you started describing large sumac, I figured it was ailanthus.

The wood is pretty light and has a yellow hue to it.  I wouldn't use it for outdoor use.  I don't know how it would work in a fermenting vat.  I would think you want the charred oak flavor of white oak.  The taste that ailanthus would put in your liquor probably wouldn't be good.

[Nick3757]

Ailanthus.  Invasive species in PA.  Prevalent in abandoned fields and along roadsides.  When you started describing large sumac, I figured it was ailanthus.

I checked out the Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailanthus_altissima and that looks and sounds like exactly what I have. It makes sense too considering there are some other ornamental and asian trees on the property.

The wood is pretty light and has a yellow hue to it.  I wouldn't use it for outdoor use.  I don't know how it would work in a fermenting vat.  I would think you want the charred oak flavor of white oak.  The taste that ailanthus would put in your liquor probably wouldn't be good.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be using it to build any tanks. There is a history of using white oak, cypress, cedar, douglas fir, and redwood for fermenters. The mash is only in there for a couple days to a week before it gets distilled, so I'm not sure how much flavor transfer there is compared to aging in barrels, but it is definitely something to think about.

Pusser's Rum even has a couple of stills made from wood that are over one hundred years old, but they use greenheart in theirs. We'd like to try and build a wooden still ourselves at some point, but we need to find the right lumber first. I think we may use an old wine or bourbon barrel with a steam coil in it for our first shot at a wooden still.

[DelawhereJoe]

We have those trees here in Delaware too, what junk they are, only use I can find for it is starting fires...past that its worthless.

[WV Sawmiller]

Nick,

   We have them here too. I asked about sawing Sumac and the Doc set me straight on it being Allanthus. We call them stink trees as they have a foul odor and I can't imagine them being using in the beverage industry. Good luck.

[CTYank]

We have plenty of Ailanthus around here too. Looking at some stumps of recent take-downs, their annual rings are >1/2" wide. They seed prolifically, trying to take over the world. You can not terminate them by cutting; you either have to pull out the roots or dose them with glyphosphate right after cutting.

The wood is really poo-quality. Only redeeming quality is that once properly split and air-dried, it'll burn okay for shoulder-wood. Best time to fell them: now!

[petefrom bearswamp]

Also called "stink tree"
It was featured in the novel A tree Grows In Brooklyn

[gspren]

  Nick, you mentioned Birch, if it's Black Birch it may work, has a nice citrus smell.