A quick Cognac question.

[Balmoral]

Hi all,
I have a sachet of Still Spirits Traditional Cognac for 1.125L which came with my air still kit. It has part \'A\' which is fairly clear, and part \'B\' which is dark, but I have no instructions.
Can anyone tell me how to mix it with the spirit?
Thanks in advance.

[Phantom]

I haven\'t tried that one!
Though if it\'s anything like the \"wine improver\" that\'s available, the clear one will be a measured amount of glycerine and the dark one will be the cognac flavouring.....
If you give the clear pack/part A a bit of a squeeze does it seem to be quite viscous ?? If so, it\'s probably glycerine, just to give the cognac a little body/mouth feel/viscosity/etc etc...
Oh, and if you\'ve got the 1.125 mix left, what was the other half of the packet like ? Only because I\'ve always been more of an armagnac person than cognac (and been spoiled in the past with the opportunity of trying some very expensive armagnac\'s so the \"home brew\" versions haven\'t matched my expectations)....
Cos if you think it\'s any good, I\'ll give it a try......
p.s. Oh and if the part A/clear pack does seem like glycerine, then just measure out the spirit at the required strength (usually 40% ABV) and mix them in to it (I like to use a bit of spirit to \"wash\" the pack out). don\'t forget, some flavourings have to be left for a couple or three days to develop their full flavour (like the Prestige Irish Whisky).....

[Balmoral]

Thanks Phantom,
Part A/clear is the thin stuff, part B/dark is a little thicker. I will give the shop a call about it.
I have just made up some dark navy rum and some bourbon with the same type of sachets that came with the air still kit. They are both pretty awful, so I don\'t have high hopes for the cognac.
Presumably if I don\'t rate any of the flavours, I can chuck them all back in the still mixed together and boil it off again? I don\'t want to waste 3 litres of hooch.

[Phantom]

Part A/clear is the thin stuff, part B/dark is a little thicker. I will give the shop a call about it.
I have just made up some dark navy rum and some bourbon with the same type of sachets that came with the air still kit. They are both pretty awful, so I don\'t have high hopes for the cognac.

Ah, well that\'s got me then. I\'d have guessed that the clear one would have been the glycerine.......
The fact that you don\'t like the flavours shouldn\'t be a problem. Personally, I like the Still Spirits Dark Navy Rum. After a couple of days, it has a taste a bit like "Morgans Spiced" i.e. you can definitely taste the hint of vanilla. Plus I prefer the "Tennessee Sour Mash" bourbon, but that\'s because if I\'m drinking "brands" I\'ll always go for JD over Jim Beam or Wild Turkey (they\'re both Kentucky bourbons, rather than tennessee sour mash.....). You will find that some of the flavours do taste "a bit thin" or weak, when they\'re first mixed up. They can take a couple of days to develop the full flavour. The SS dark navy rum is one that I found is like that, as is the "prestige" brand Irish whiskey.
Brandies are a bit different, I\'ve yet to find one that I enjoy. Mainly because I was spoiled many years ago and had the opportunity to taste some very expensive ones - and hence I prefer armagnac to cognac. Though most of them can be used for cooking/culinary stuff...

Presumably if I don\'t rate any of the flavours, I can chuck them all back in the still mixed together and boil it off again? I don\'t want to waste 3 litres of hooch.

Yes, that\'s one of the good things.
Though I will include this caveat. Beware of over boiling with the still. I\'m currently running some home brew wines I don\'t like the taste of, yesterday, with 2 of the batches, I could hear the bubbles causing the raschig rings I put in the bottom of the still to rattle like hell. I\'d also put a capful of the distillers conditioner in it. The result, no over boils/burps from the still.
The wines are clear etc, so there\'s no obvious reason why it might be doing this, but the same applies with any distillate that you make that comes out cloudy for any reason. Plus always make sure it\'s been let down with water to below 50% (the same applies if you\'re going to "double distil" to up the strength).
p.s. Oh and don\'t just rely on the 6 gramme packet of raschig rings from still spirits - they work out bloody expensive like that, and if you don\'t have a reason to dig around the net to get a decent sized bag (1 litre or nearly a kilo of them cost me about £12), then get some broken glass, as that works as well (and can be sanitised/cleaned etc), just make sure that there\'s a reasonable covering of the bottom of the still - sounds drastic but it\'s a safety thing that\'s not always obvious.....