Cachaca - cane spirit

[Mr Four Square]

Not questioning a thing RJ. Just marvelling that this was already the biggest hearts cut I have collected through the pot still and you were telling me I can get more.

Will follow what you suggest.

As I have mentioned several times the vodka from the feints is superb. The slightest hint of golden syrup. Give it a go !

[RumJohn]

@Mr Four Square: I used to make vodka out of the feints. And then I even stopped doing that. Vodka should be odorless and tasteless. If it's not then by definition it maybe alcohol of some kind but not vodka.

I used to make my vodka and gin from an azeotrope. Too much work, time and danger. I cook over propane.

[Mr Four Square]

I don't know what the definition of Vodka is but I suspect a pot still should be involved .

I run mine through a T500 column so its all but tasteless and odourless apart from the ghost of golden syrup parsed

[RumJohn]

@ Mr Four Square: Good alcohol is ethanol based and can be extracted from practically any source or fermentable sugars. Geography, available ingredients and language were responsible name development. The whole point of the exercise was to extract the ethanol.

Somewhere along the line, people and countries decided to label locally produced product that had certain distinctions. e.g. bourbon has a grain bill that must meet certain criteria. Bourbon must be aged in new oak, whereas rum is often aged in used bourbon barrels.

To meet the legal criteria for vodka, a pot still would not be the choice of equipment. You know though, that pot stills have turned out millions of gallons of ethanol, much of it called vodka.

If you have seen my Cachaca label, you will have noticed that I have on there "Natural Cane Spirit," which is really what it is. Cachaca should be limited to Brazil.

[Mr Four Square]

Added lightly toasted oak in this ratio a week ago to one month old GS cachaca. Woo hoo ! Great subtle sweet aroma already.

As long as I keep making enough vodka to keep me away from this while it ages I'm confident I'll have some beautiful product.

Thanks to RJ and all who helped me get this far with cachaca ( 2 years and counting )

[Mash]

Is that a 5l flip top and a tiny 2g bit of oak?

[Mr Four Square]

It's a 5 litre flip top and a piece of oak 5 times the size of the one in the photo above.
( just weighed it nearly 10gms so 2 per is what I'm using )
You can see that it's coloured up quite a bit in a few days . More than I expected on that amount of oak. Very happy with the result so far particularly taste and smell.

First batch I used about 3 blocks that size thinking that matched what I'd read. It went a golden yellow within an hour and tasted like an oak dresser. You know what an oak dresser tastes like.

[Mr Four Square]

RJ when you say
"On both runs, I discard the first bit, then start collecting until I stop. I don't mess with tails/feints. Not worth it to me. When I make the final cut, it is a wrap.

and

"I leave about 5% ABV in the boiler when done."

Are you saying you collect on the spirit run until there is only 5% left ?

Roughly what sort of ABV do you stop collecting for the spirit cut at ?

For me it's been round 60- 55%

[RumJohn]

@ Mr Four Square: Sorry I was not clear.

On either a strip or spirit run, I stop collecting when the temperature starts to climb at a higher rate than it was throughout the run. That increase tells me I am getting near the end of the run. I don't collect in little jars and I don't keep smelling it. I will burn a teaspoon full and see what remains. I make the final cut on temp and when I am at that point there in nothing of value (to me) left in the boiler.

I quit the spirit run at about 70% ABV. Don't usually check it at that point. Again, I base my decision on temp. And that will leave between 3% and 5% ABV in the boiler. To me it is not worth collecting.

Lets look at this from a different angle. If you're not already doing it, start doing a little maths. The same principles apply when stripping the beer. If we have a 100L spirit run to do and we have a low wine of 30% (having been watered down to that, or what ever you decide. That means that the max we can pull off the run is 30L, if at 100% ABV. But we are collecting, say at 80%, therefore at the end of the run we will have collected 37.5 L. At least in a perfect situation. With a bit of heads, tails, slippage and the like, if I pull off 35-36 L then I am happy.

It takes very little in the way of tails to ruin a run. Either taste is compromised or there will be cloudiness when watered down

[inglishill]

Hey RJ, where abouts are you measuring the temperature?

Pot still or reflux, sorry I had a look back and couldn't find what you were running :-)

[RumJohn]

@Inglishill. I measure temp at the top of the column, below the condenser coil. Not interested in any other locations.

I run a reflux still in pot mode. i.e. short column, no packing, wide open. At least for rum, whiskey and cachaca.

[Benoit]

A few of you seem to be getting good results from this now, has anyone been brave enough for a big order from somewhere like http://www.cateringsupplier.co.uk/shop/ ... u01910.htm ?

How much final spirit would you like to see back from 25kg of syrup RJ?

Benoit

[RumJohn]

@ Benoit: I am in the states at the moment and will be for some time. As such I cant give exact numbers. Extrapolate what you can from the following:

I only have access to 905 ml (I think) cans of Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup. I use 24 cans per 90L total in a 100L fermentation tank. I expect to see a return of about 22 L of Cachaca at 40% ABV.

Assuming the quality of what you have referenced is average or above, I would be looking to get around 25 L or so.

Please keep me posted. Cheers.

[RumJohn]

@ Benoit: Just looked up that catering supplier. I would love to be able to get my hands on that.

I pay about $4.50 per can and buy 120 at a time.

[Mash]

A few of you seem to be getting good results from this now, has anyone been brave enough for a big order from somewhere like http://www.cateringsupplier.co.uk/shop/ ... u01910.htm ?

How much final spirit would you like to see back from 25kg of syrup RJ?

Benoit

Completely of the top of my head... About 26l at 40% give or take.

3 x the price of sugar, but probably 3 x the product.