Anyone tried flavouring neutral strip?

[Anavrin]

Hi Guys

Just wondered if anyone ever tried to flavour low wines, too see if any carries over to the finished product, it strikes me that neutral often lacks any character when compared to a high end vodka like Chase Vodka for example.

Chase is made from potatoes and distilled the hell out of three times though a 20 plate column, but still retains some flavour of the original ingredients.

So I thinking to make some more interesting neutral, how could you flavour low wines made from a sugar head wash, maybe flavour the wash itself or even the low wines just before the spirit run!

Any suggestions? In ingredients / volumes needed

[Myles]

One of the fruit brandy methods involves stripping low wines and then putting them back onto the fermented fruit pulp (that was retained) for another soak before doing the spirit run.

I am sure you could do the same with any sugar wash although you might get better flavour with just flavouring the final product.

Most of the reputedly "better" vodkas are made from a grain (or starch source) as opposed to sugar. A few of them are also grape based.

There is not much flavour to start with in pure white sugar, but some of the cereal/sugar blends are supposed to make a decent vodka.

[Mash]

Chase is made from potatoes and distilled the hell out of three times though a 20 plate column, but still retains some flavour of the original ingredients.

Do you know that to be a fact.

My first thought was 'there wouldn't be anything left'. My assumption would be that like most other spirit the flavour compounds come later.

That said 3 times through a 20 plate would give them a high degree of accuracy. But for a business that would be very wasteful and expensive. Which brings me to the same conclusion. Flavour later.

Where is it bottled?

[hampk]

https://chasedistillery.co.uk/field-to-bottle/

Step 3

"We put the low alcohol wine from the fermentation stage into our bespoke copper batch pot and wait patiently as it’s distilled four times here and twice more in our rectification column. The column is the tallest of its kind in the world, at 70ft it rises through the roof of the barn.

At this point, the spirit has reached the dizzying heights of 96% ABV and is well on its way to becoming Chase Vodka."

70ft is a *lot* of plates..

Cheers

Hampk

[Mash]

Good find - but does that tell us there is no later step adding flavour.

I know a man who designs vodka bottling lines - might have a word.

[Myles]

Talk about a hole in the roof!!!

Edit - You can not distil to 96%.

[Anavrin]

It’s been a while since I read up on Chase Vodka, so when I said 3 x 20 plates, I was generalising that it’s a lot, and making the point that even at 95.6% (AKA 96%) flavour from the original wash comes through.

So I want to know how can you dope a sugar wash with a flavour, that will add just a subtle edge to make the finished product more interesting.

[Myles]

You can do this of course, but it is just one of several options. To try and put it in context.

1. Some fruit brandies want more flavour than they would get by doing a strip then spirit run. So you strip half the wash and then mix the low wines with the other half wash (add flavour to the low wines) then do a spirit run. It works.

2. Or you can go down the gin route and make a product then flavour it and re-distill.

3. Or you can infuse your vodka with a slight flavour like Zubrowka.

They all work. As far as flavouring low wines:

On rum you can add fermented wash to low wines, some folks add backset to low wines, keeping a late hearts cut to add to low wines for the next spirit run in used for cognac. The traditional double thumper rig for rum is actually adding flavour back in, they just put the flavour component in the two thumpers.

All the methods mentioned above are basically doing what you asked - adding flavour to carry through to the product.

[Myles]

Sorry, when it comes to doping a sugar wash:

Do a part sugar / part flavour fermentation - UJSSM?
Or blend a sugar wash with a flavour wash before distilling. Or ferment and then add new flavour for a soak before distilling.

Blending different fermentations before distilling, is basically how some spirits are made.

[Glyn]

Until this weekend I've only ever flavoured a "strip".

All of our friends have been amazed at what we have produced and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Just been doing "spirit runs" on 15 lt of 93% "strip" hoping to improve the flavour even more?

Great forum, learning plenty.

Thanks.