High wines?

[Mash]

With my recent foray into sputnik gin, I have been reading LOADS of stuff on distilling sites.

I notice some use the term 'high wine'. This seems to suggest the following:

Sugar and water = wash
After ferment = low wine
After strip = high wine
After spirit run = neutral/base/spirit.

Makes logical sense for me but not sure that's right.


.. And while we are in the nomenclature department, what is "rectified spirit" please?

[GrunthosTheFlatulent]

After ferment is a wash. If making whisky then you would start with a cereal mash, fermented in "wash backs", where a back is just a large FV.

After stripping you've got Low Wines.

I have never before come across the term High Wines.

Rectification, I believe, relates only to gin production, where they take a neutral spirit and re-distill it in a pot with botanicals.

[hampk]

A quick bit of googling seems to suggest different people use the term for different things.

I found a reference to whisky-making where high wines is what comes out of the first run, before going through a 'doubler'

I also found an article explaining that high wines are a second distillation of low wines, but usually of lower strength - this I thnk referred to actual distilled wine, rather than spirit making.

I'm used to GtF's definitions myself.

So it seems it depends who you ask!

[Mash]

That was the reason for my question. It seems to be different folks. Different strokes (or in this case words)

When I checked on Google & Wikipedia. I could not find any discernible difference between rectified spirits and what we call a neutral base.

[chill]

I've never heard the term high wines before. At first I though you were fermenting cannabis. The usage I have heard for rectified spirits is "pure" alcohol vs Vodka which sometimes has a residual taste (or is so claimed). It pretty much the same as Vodka, just not trying to sound fancy. I have no idea what ABV it is usually shipped around at.

[Easydrinker]

Sputnik Ganja..
Now there is a thought to relax the mind...

Robert.

[RumJohn]

@ Mash: You probably came closer than anyone.

Mash and wash difference might be geographical, but you put together a simple (e.g. sugar) wash, as opposed to say, an all grain mash.

You then do a "stripping run" and get a "low wine", probably around 50% ABV.

The next step is to take it up to a "high wine" by redistilling.

What ABV you take it to will depend on several factors. Your skill, equipment and what your aiming for. Rum and cachaca I only take up to 80%, so as to maintain the characteristics of the product. For gin and vodka, you would take it as high as you can get it. For vodka and gin, you want a neutral product of as close to 96% ABV as you can get and it should be odorless and tasteless, if done correctly. No need for carbon filtering.

Hope that clarifies rather than confuses. Good question though.

[Mash]

I feel a glossary thread coming on. Maybe a document we add too.

[Easydrinker]

You may have hit a nail on the head there.
I ferment a wash,do a strip,spirit run a couple of those,carbon filter for a neutral,Bob's your uncle and Sally's your aunt.
It does seem that some here are struggling to find a way to a finished product.
I don't see why, but don't mind trying to help.

Robert.

[Mash]

For me this was always about what we call stuff.
A glossary of the terms we all commonly use on the forum. We all know computer-ese I think we sometimes struggle with destilling-ese.
Could make it easier for new members. Both reading and posting.

[Phantom]

-----snip-----destilling-ese.
-----/snip-----

Hum ? yes.............and maybe a quick guide in the glossary about how to use "spell check"

distil, distilling, distillate, distillation, distillery, etc etc

Of course, I appreciate modifying some words for what we suspect is linguistic clarity when speaking distillish, but we have to get the base word spelled correctly for any glossary/dictionary of distillation etc.........

I'll get me coat

[Phantom]

Levity apart, part of the issue will be the differences in the English we speak. Hell it's bad enough in the UK with all the various strength of regional accents etc, but when considering those of us from outside the UK, the language can take on completely different usage of words or terms, with subtle difference in what is being referred/alluded to.......

Hence is may seem logical that if the first run changes a batch from wort, wash, whatever to low wines - a second run on the low wines could seem appropriate to title "high wines".

Yet it's not regularly used so maybe it could be confusing.

Equally, if you put your mash/wash/wort/yaddah yaddah into a reflux still, is the likely result "really" considered low wines ?

There's too many ambiguous terms in the home brew world as it is IMO (yeast nutrient, yeast energiser, etc)............

[hampk]

+1 Phantom - as long as we all know what we mean at each step along the process, does it matter?

[Mash]

Distilling. Lol.

"as long as we all know what we mean"
Absolutely agree.

[RumJohn]

@ Phantom: On the contrary - the terms low and high wines are used regularly in the industry.