A beginner's reflection and questions

[claes]

I am in the process of my second run on the smartstill and I just wanted to share a few of my thoughts. Maybe you guys can give me some feedback on whether or not I'm wrong in my assumptions here. Please bear with me on my probably naive thinking...

As far as understand there are two ways of doing this thing, either trying to distill as pure ethanol as possible or try to capture the essence of what you are distilling. With the first I figure it's just a matter of how much time you are willing to spend on it. If you have a decent wash and distill it two times followed by a carbon filtration, you cannot really miss. It takes a bit more skill to make a whisky/brandy/gin of course.

On my first run I distilled a cheap white wine and gave it only one run. The hearts tasted like a "rustique" grappa. Not bad, but not great. I ran it through some carbon and then it was just like a vodka.

- Is there no point in carbon filtering a spirit if you want to keep some taste?
- What about the carbon filter at the nozzle of the smartstill, should I not use that when I want to make a grappa?
- And what about the same filter when I run a second distillation? It shouldn't be over 50% when going through carbon, right?
- How much of the grape taste will continue in the second distillation and how can I manipulate that?
- Should I always discard the foreshots? On both stripping run and 2nd?

In the end, a pretty silly question, but I would like to know the specifics - instead of distilling a white wine, if I add grape juice to the spirits before the second run, what would be the difference?

I really appreciate your feedback! I have already learned a lot in this great forum, but I have a long way to go... Thank you!

[Mash]

instead of distilling a white wine, if I add grape juice to the spirits before the second run, what would be the difference?

No. Just a waste of grape juice. It needs to have been fermented.

[Benoit]

Carbon filtering isn't selective unfortunately, it will eat up tasty compounds just as easily as nasty ones.

Does it have to be fermented mash? I've heard of people charging thumpers with juice to get extra flavour into a drink, not tried it myself yet but is that different to just adding stuff to the boiler?
Maybe one of your Sputniks with cut grapes in will add more flavour?

Benoit

[Mash]

White grape juice has little flavour, so imo it would be better to ferment or put into the finished spirit.

[Mash]

Neutral spirit = clean wash. cut hard heads and rails. Filter if necessary.

Whiskey / rum etc. = flavoured wash. Cut heads and tails selectivity to retain just the right flavours. A bucket full of mason jars will help. No filter as this will strip the flavour

[chill]

The point of carbon filtering is to remove taste. It is therefore harmful to carbon filter a spirit if you want to keep some taste.

The carbon filter in the nozzle is a useless marketing gimmick. Use it or don't use it - it makes no difference. It is fully ineffective.

At of of the grape taste will continue in the second distillation, but what you lose is what you lose. You will find some in the heads and tails, but adding parts of those can detract from the taste of the final product. A lot depends on the quality of the initial fermentation.

You only need to discard foreshots once, they don't re-animate like a Terminator. I do it on the second run as there are fewer of those than the stripping run. Laziness is a virtue.

You can add grape juice to the second run and you will get a flavour product. I have done things like this. The taste will depend on the juice or fruit or whatever you add. It won't taste exactly like grappa any more than grape juice tastes exactly like wine.

[GrunthosTheFlatulent]

The carbon ring filter which often comes as part of the airstill package is close to useless.

The carbon 'tea bags' which fit in the still output nozzle might be marginally less useless. But if you are doing a two-stage distillation process then on your second spirit run the output will start at around 80% abv. I generally make my cut from hearts to tails when it's coming out around 64%.

Collect everything on the stripping runs, foreshots are only discarded on the spirit run, heads and tails are saved and added to your next wash before stripping.

The biggest difference I've found is, after the stripping runs I reduce my Low Wines to 35% and then run them 2-3 times through a Brita jug filter.

One day I may invest in an Essencia, but I can't justify the expense at the moment.

[claes]

Thanks for great advice! I will probably get rid of the 'tea bags' then.

So, if I do a second run on my grappa, I will likely be able to still keep a lot of the taste? Depending on what I do with heads and tails after.

[chill]

You will have less taste. It is a learning experience. Run it and learn.

[Easydrinker]

What a hodge podge of Q & A's there.
I think chill made most sense,with contributions from the rest.
The whole post made my head spin,maybe as yours is doing claes!
Buckle up!
It will all start to make sense.

Robert.

[Mash]

You will be giving us marks out if ten soon Robert

[Easydrinker]

The "homework" is good though,No?

Robert.

[Icefever]

When I started home brew many years ago I was told "patience is a virtue"...this old adage also holds true with this new hobby of yours Claes.

Read everything you can on here from the Airstill section....take your time...when I started we were drinking "nail polish" for the first run, then I found this forum and the difference was stick with it mate you'll get there.

B.

[Mash]

@Robert

[Easydrinker]

A is nearly as good as a

Robert.