StillSmart

Hi all, i have recently bought a still smart and just wondering if you could answer me a few questions, my 1st distallation will be used using Triple Distilled Turbo Yeast, its my understanding this if taboo amongst distillers ? but for my first batch im sure its good enough, anyway after this id like to make my wash/mash based on the alcohol i want rather than flavouring neutral alcohol.
The main drinks i am looking to make and looking for information on what yeast to use and wash/mash.
1. Vodka
2. Jack Daniel type whiskey/ Tennese Bourbon
and i am also looking to make Pernod, have got the flavouring for ouzo but just wondering if anybody else has any ideas, thanks in advance.

Addressing vodka, try Birdwatchers tomato paste wash, Wineos plain ol sugar wash, or the all bran wash (in the recipe section). Each of these use bread yeast. You can find all the ingredients for TPW and all bran at your local grocer or chemist. For Wineos, you'll need DAP, for example, from your local home brew shop.

These three are known for clean fermentations and distillations, especially where the wash is limited to 10 to 12%. Consequently, there is no need for turbo carbon. This results in savings.

Hi,

I've not used Triple Distilled Turbo Yeast but it has a reputation for producing off flavours due to the amount of sugar used and the speed of the fermentation. Less yield will give better quality.

For my tastes, you can't make Vodka from an AirStill without carbon filtering the result. Unfiltered it has a distinct sweetish taste and seems more like a white rum to me.

For Bourbon, you can soak Jack Daniels smoking chips (do a search on JD) in the output from your still for a result better than an essence that I have tried. To get better than that, you need to be doing all grain or partial grain mashes/washes and then age on toasted and charred oak. A bit of effort to be sure, but the result is well worth it.


Chuck

A good commercial yeast/nutrient pack is Vodka Star. No need for carbon in the wash, relatively clean final spirit, after double distilling.

As Chill said, carbon filtering is required for Airstill final spirits before attempting to add any flavouring. I also found it best to filter Airstill spirits at standard spirit strength of 40%ABV.

I make a very acceptable JD/Bourbon type spirit using the JD BBQ Smoking chips and Vodka Star.

All Grain or Partial Grain and Toasted American White Oak is definitely the Holy Grail for home distillers looking to make Bourbon or Sour Mash.

As an aside, my wife will not drink my best effort at Vodka from the Airstill, using Vodka Star, unless it's triple distilled and Carbon Filtered through an Essencia filter system. She says it has a sweet aftertaste.

In contrast, Vodka, made from Vodka Star wash, double distilled in my big Potstill, no filtering - she loves it!

The ladies can be sooo demanding

AM

I had to edit my response above. You would definitely need to use carbon filtering in conjunction with an air still. I had concluded my response with a reflux still mindset - sorry about any confusion.

thanks for your repsonses, i will be filtering after fermentaion, i have a ubend type setup filled with carbon and can triple filter in an afternoon.

Are you saying if you dont use turbo yeast and you use bread/beer/wine yeast you wont need to filter ?

I will be triple filtering everything i make before adding the flavour.

But i want to use actual ingredients really as apose to sugar water yeast and flavouring.

I am going to attempt a honey/bourbon whiskey type drink, i have searched through countless pages on various forums but it doesnt seem like anybody can get a rich honey flavour to stay in the drink, il experiment and if i succed will post method up for you all to try.

Im also looking at different infusion methods, it seems to me depending on what it is you can just leave it in bottle for a week and strain alcohol off or put in freezer and do the same ?

and one more question is does anybody have a good pernod recipe, have got a bottle of ouzo flavouring but wondering if there is anything better out there, thanks

The need to filter depends on your personal tastes, the cuts you make, and the end result that you want. Aidan filters everything from an AirStill. Personally, I only filter when making a neutral that will become gin or part of a maceration. That is mostly to remove the sweetish taste which is very prominent to me and clean up any other flavours. For rum, bourbon etc made form molasses or grains, I don't filter as I prefer to keep as much taste as possible. I am, however, careful with my cuts for those and leave flavour behind in discarded heads and tails and I don't fancy the headache.

For honey/bourbon whiskey, I thought that the honey was added after distillation, no before. If any equipment will let the honey taste through the distillation process, the AirStill is it!

I do a lot of infusions/macerations. I either just strain them through a coffee filter or cotton wool, or redistill them depending on whether I want a higher ABV and a clear result or not. Redistilling will change the flavour making it weaker.

I don't have a good pernod recipe, though I have tried a few times. Some recommend Star Anise, other the small Anise seeds. And small amounts of clove, cinnamon, etc may also be found in some commercial products. Put 1L of our neutral in a jar, add a small handful of whatever Anise you fancy, let it soak for a day or two, and distill. You will probably want to discard the first 1 TBSP or so, lots of odd flavours come over early. Then collect down until it gets about 50% ABV coming out, discard the rest. Do this depending on taste. Dilute what you are keeping down to about 50% ABV (lower and it will louche). Adjust your recipe from there.

Chuck

This might be worth a look:

http://www.guntheranderson.com/liqueurs ... .htm#Anise

chaslam07 wrote:
Are you saying if you dont use turbo yeast and you use bread/beer/wine yeast you wont need to filter ?

If you make vodka from sugar using bread yeast on an air still, you will need to carbon filter after distillation to get a clean neutral spirit result but can avoid the messy turbo carbon in the fermenting wash.

If you make a whisky or a rum from grains/malt extract or molasses, respectively, using bread/ale/specialty rum yeast on an air still, the use of carbon filtration after distillation will strip the flavors of the spirit. Again, you can skip the messy turbo carbon in the fermenting wash.

Whether a neutral spirit like vodka or a flavored spirit like rum, making good cuts is the art of this hobby. Aidanmac put together a good primer on cuts here... http://www.stillsmart.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1326

The "triple distilled" turbo is fine, just follow the instructions. It's just that if you get some vodka star, you would be able to get away with just fermenting "as is", and if it's left for additional time, it drops reasonably clear. The point being that it's cheaper just to be able to use a yeast/nutrient pack, than it is to use the yeast/nutrient, liquid carbon and finings. I get my vodka star from ellie-claire, as she has an ebay shop as well as posting here occasionally. If you get the "big" pack (16 sachets of vodka star is about £40 or so - but postage free so working out about £2.70 a pack).

There's no need to filter the ferment, just whack it in once it's reasonably clear. It's usually safer (read the threads about over boiling of the air/easy/smart/table top still), if you add a capful of distillers conditioner and also put some boiling beads/boil enhancers/ceramic rings/small pieces of sanitised broken glass in the still, as any larger bubbles that are trying to form in the boil (and can lift the lid of the still when they hit the surface of the boil) are broken down into small(er) bubbles - the distillers conditioner is an anti-foaming agent.

Then once you've got your distillate, let it down with RO or distilled water to 40% ABV before carbon filtering, as the carbon filtering apparently works better at that level than if the distillate is at high strength.

If you distill the wash once like a stripping run i.e. run it until the distillate is coming out the still at less than about 10%, then let the whole lot down to below 40% (safety reasons) and redistil, you should get distillate nice and neutral, but between 80 and 85% ABV, which when let back down to 40% and carbon filtered, should be a good, clear, flavourless neutral spirit.

The HD site doesn't have post numbers so it's the 3rd post on the page by andre.silent that I'm referencing, where he talks about moonshining under the Soviet regime in Poland. He was running a continuous still.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... e&start=12

Snippet:

This long story leads to the certain conclusion which was quite suprising for me.
Even the drink contained all impurities which you normally discard during the batch distillation the result was really perfect. I must say that I cannot explain this the other way than probably by the fact the sugar mash didnt give too much byproducts during the fermentation. On the other hand after a purification (in batch) by removing foreshots and tails, the result was not even half as good in taste as the original strip run.

As we all know, a collect everything 1st run from a sugar wash can be disgusting.

My guess is that his continuous still was running at a very low power compared to his batch still and imo that is what made the difference.

My 1st run airstill product seems similar to his continuous still product so I use his term 'bimber' for it. (Polish for moonshine.)

If any of you airstillers are willing to risk 6 quid, this might be of use to wind the power down and get a much better product from your airstill:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Light-Adjusta ... 337902ff56

My airstill was sold as a water still and is 450w (afaik, a regular airstill is 300/320w )and that dimmer is 300w max so I can't try it out. The reason I say risk is that ime the Chinese can be somewhat inventive when labeling max wattage but hey it's only 6 quid.

for the drink you wamnt pernod just add a tea spoon full of cracked fenel seeds to a cup of vodka and leave for a day then strain into a 700cl bottle of vodka .it will have a slight tinge of green but it works a treat.m