Sugar wash with tripled distilled yeast tastes like rum

[Jedmau5]

Hi everyone, I'm relatively new to this and have just recently made my first tripled distilled yeast sugar wash as per wineworks.co.uk instructions with the air still but made cuts.

I am just mainly experimenting and getting some experience before moving on to using better equipment and methods .

My problem is that my final diluted spirit after filtering has a faint sweet smell and when mixed with Pepsi tastes a lot like rum (cheap rum). Now I'm not complaining as I do occasionally like to drink rum and coke but I was expecting much more of a neutral spirit (I'm more of a vodka lover).

My question is has this ever happened to anyone and if so, what was the main cause(s) for the rum off taste?

Thanks

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Further detailed info and questions for those interested

A bit more background on my wash:-

21L of water at 30°C and dissolved 6KG of sugar (Silver spoon) in to this giving me just over 25L of wash. Adding the sugar didn't bring the temp down to 24°C as advertised by wineworks, but it stayed around 28°C. I left it for a few hours before pitching the yeast and adding the turbo carbon. I would say the temp at this point was 26°C which I believe was a little on the high side for a start temp. My fault for being impatient.

I left it to ferment for 7 full days and checked the specific gravity on day 8, it read ~1.000 iirc. (I forgot to take a start reading) I gave it a quick stir and left it another day. On day 9 it read 0.990 so I degassed manually and cleared with the turbo clear.

After 24 hours a lot of sediment had settled to the bottom but there was a layer of bubbles and carbon left on the surface still. Is this normal, or should I have left it longer and/or degassed better? I carefully removed the surface layer with a jug and siphoned into another container. I only managed to get 23L. The wash looked quite clean.

So far I have performed 3 4L runs on the air still (First 2 runs on the same night I cleared the wash):

First run

I got approx 900ml (after diluting) of 37.5% ABV clear spirit. Taking 50ml foreshots, 250ml heads, 400ml hearts and 100ml of tails as my cuts. I mixed the heads with the hearts. Alcohol level was approx 54% ABV at this point.

Was expecting nearer 60% but without taking a start gravity on my wash I have no idea what the final ABV of the wash was or whether there was more to ferment still.

Filtered with the new style carbon filter collector you get with the air still and bottled without adding any flavourings. (Will buy a better filtering system later once my experience level increases )

This tasted like rum when added to pepsi and smelt a little sweet on it's own.

Second run

Same as the first but left the cuts to air over night before mixing heads to hearts, diluting and filtering.

This still had a rum taste but not as strong as the first batch.

Third run

Almost a week later and when I went back to my wash I found some carbon sediment had fell to the bottom of the bucket So maybe it wasn't quite cleared causing my rum taste problem?

Anyways, this run was same as run 2 but I'm leaving the cuts to air for 2 days. I haven't yet had chance to filter but after 1 day airing I couldn't smell anything from all the cuts so I'm hoping this batch will be more neutral.

I have already kicked off another wash, but this time I left the sugar to dissolve over night so the start temp came down. I added the turbo carbon first this time then pitched the yeast at a temp of 20°C. Will see how this one turns out .

[Jimmy]

With a turbo yeast, you do often get a bit of a flavour with an AirStill unless you double distill and/or carbon filter it with something a bit more useful than the standard filter.

Pitching yeast at 26 should be OK, over 30 I'd say would be too high for a turbo.

Clearing - again, if you leave it longer you might get it clearer but I don't think you did anything wrong as such.

Did your hearts have this smell/taste before you added the heads?

My advice would be to take what you have already, however much it is, put it back into the still and top up to 4 litres with clean water, then do another run. You should be OK to collect from the start if you've already ditched foreshots but I would keep 50 - 100ml separate and see how you feel about it when it's all done. Likewise I'd keep the end parts in different jars and so you can find out which part of the run contains this smell/taste. There is a great writeup of the recommended method for top purity as a sticky in the forum - worth trying that method and seeing what kind of quality you get out of it, then you can experiment if you like.

[chill]

I'll guess that your post distill filtering was not sufficient. Try more carbon and a slower flow rate. Also, are you boiling and soaking the carbon to activate it? I find that any wash with a significant sugar component has a rum flavour to it coming out of the Airstill. To my taste, careful filtering will produce very close to a neutral. I usually use 2 cups of carbon and the spirits from 1-2 24L washes will exhaust it.


Chuck

[Almanac]

Jedmau5 PM sent.

AM

[Jedmau5]

Thanks for the input everyone, I have already consumed my first 2 batches . I will definitely think about getting a better filter like.

Also, are you boiling and soaking the carbon to activate it?

I ran the carbon under a hot tap for about a minute before using. Would soaking for a longer period of time be a better option?

I have another fermentation going and will try the double distilling method when it is ready and will compare the results Problem is I don't have the time to keep using the double distilling method with the air still. I'd rather buy a bottle of spirit to be honest for the amount of time and effort. I'm guessing I'll be needing to think about upgrading my still

On side note, my third batch (One I left to air for 2 days and lost 100ml! lol) should be ready for consumption tonight and will report the results

[Almanac]

Quote: "Problem is I don't have the time to keep using the double distilling method with the air still. I'd rather buy a bottle of spirit to be honest for the amount of time and effort."

Starting out we all want to get something in a glass, in a hurry. If you could do three 25lt washes, double distill each in turn and simply buy your drinking spirits until you get those all finished. By the time you have the third finished you'll have about 20 litres or 28 bottles of very clean spirit at 40%ABV and you can start from there to enjoy you're own spirits and if you make one new wash a month you'll never run out of spirits again.

Three things the Airstill teaches us are, basic principles of distilling, patience and attention to detail. Bigger stills can seriously punish a user who doesn't learn these traits and respect the product we make.

AM

[chill]

In addition to Aidan's wise words, a small investment in a digital timer with a countdown function will result in the stripping runs taking very little of your time.

As Aidan said, it is MUCH easier to be patient when you have more than you can possibly drink (and survive). This much I have learned. I still run about two washes a week through my Airstill, but I am building up a reserve for aging.

Chuck

[Jedmau5]

My second wash reading 990 on the hydrometer at the mo, will start a clearing going tomorrow if reading the same and will try Mozr's double distilling method

[Jedmau5]

Had 3L of wash left and performed a ad-hoc double distil and the results are much, much better . Collected just over 1L of strip, watered it down to 4L! and ran a spirit run. Dumped the first 50ml of foreshots and 100ml of heads, collected around 200ml of hearts and 400ml of tails that smelt and tasted ok.

So only got 600ml after filtering but im amazed with the results, it no longer tastes like rum and is a nice clean smelling and tasting spirit, mucho happy

I did find that I could make better distinctions in smell of the cuts on the second run.