Recycling

[Almanac]

In recent times I've rad members posting about using essences to flavour spirits and when it didn't turn out drinkable they said they tossed it down the drain

I hope I misunderstood them...the thought of wasting all that hard-come-by ethanol

I recently opened a 6 month old batch of my Bourbon style Whisky and discovered I had put in far too much charred American White Oak with the result that the Whisky was way too smokey for my taste.

I thought of blending it down but the smokey taste was just too strong so into the still it went with the next stripping run...



...with the ethanol all recovered it will be going back into the keg with a fraction of the charred oak this time

AM

[Drewzy]

now that I understand that process of distilling, I've realized that you can literally distill anything! if I have a bad batch of beer that I made and I really can't stomach to drink it (which never happens ) I can just distill it...an old batch of my first attempt at mead which isn't that great...distill it!

before reading all your posts and research on the net, I would have never thought in my life that you could distill anything...just never occurred to me. guess you might see me as a little bit of a fool for not seeing this but it's the truth.


Cheers!

Drewzy

[YHB]

Yes you can distil most things including beer, that is what whisky is.

However there are different types of beer with different ingredients.

If your beer has Hops in it then a word of caution.

I have not tried it but many people advise not to distil beer with hops. Allegedly the distilled hops are unpleasant, very pungent and sticky, making your still difficult to clean.

There are of course exceptions with a few craft distilleries that are now selling spirits from hopped beer.

[Drewzy]

thanks for the heads up YHB. I never thought of the hops being an issue.

[Normski]

I have run hoppd beer through my still a few times, and not had any problems with sticky residue being left behind. I clean the still after.
I do only fill to about 2/3's, just in case of a boil ovr. This has not happened (yet).
And add a nob of butter. I also fill the boiler the day before and trash it with a mash paddle to de gas it.
Norm

[YHB]

Normski,

Thanks for the update - It look like I may have made a false alarm.

So to answer the question. - What did it taste like?

[Drewzy]

i'm going to try doing a grain mash in the near future and ferment it out. I want to read up a little more though on the subject. I make all grain beers and I have a huge 50lb bag of 2-row grain sitting around doing nothing. haven't been able to find the half day it takes me to do an all grain.

i'll report back my findings.


Cheers!

Drewzy

[Icefever]

I have a huge 50lb bag of 2-row grain sitting around doing nothing. haven't been able to find the half day it takes me to do an all grain.
Cheers!
Drewzy

Same with me, I must have 25lbs of Maris Otter out in the brew house waiting to be used. As soon as we get back from OZ I can see a barley wash started.

[Drewzy]

the awesome, maybe i'll try that type of wash with my grains when I get around to it.

this hobby is great, so much to learn and a huge variety of ways to make spirits.


Cheers!

Drewzy

[Phantom]

Well see while I make mostly neutrals with my T500, I keep my airstill because its basically a pot still.

That way I can just run any wines, meads or cider that don't come up to spec. That all goes in so I recover the alcohol but I try to do that in a way that its just the hearts and a little tails for flavour like a whiskey or brandy.

The result goes into a carboy with a load of heavy toasted french oak to make a sort of half arsed mixed fruit brandy. Ha! given its wines meads and cider, last time I tasted it, it had a very whiskey like character to it.......

The only bit that goes down the drain is the non-alcohol element.......

[Drewzy]

my beer and wine are usually good these days, but I do have some mead I made over a year ago...its not much but maybe i'll throw it in as it's coming around to tasting something ok but still not my first drink of choice. the only reason it's still around is because it doesn't taste great.


Cheers!

Drewzy

[Phantom]

my beer and wine are usually good these days, but I do have some mead I made over a year ago...its not much but maybe i'll throw it in as it's coming around to tasting something ok but still not my first drink of choice. the only reason it's still around is because it doesn't taste great.


Cheers!

Drewzy

Meads are a little different. If you make 'em dry, then they can indeed take a long time to mellow. Yet, you can back sweeten with honey, then clear the resulting haze, then up the acid levels.

Of the commercial ones I've tried, the best by far was Moniack Mead. They used to boast it was pure heather honey, but I suspect that's expensive, so they see to have removed that from their blurb.

The bottle I tried measured about 1.036, but wasn't cloyingly sweet like the others that have tested at about that mark, whereas when I hit it with my pH meter, it was showing as 2.6pH which would normally be a cause for concern, but this is a "finished" mead. And damn it wasn't bad at all.

It too would likely taste poor without the sweetness and acid.........

[John51]

I poured a bottle down the sink when on holiday. I'd taken loads of booze for the family and was really looking forward to the 'brandy' I'd left for 3 months.

It smelt more like brandy on the day I mixed it, you wouldn't even use it for mouthwash. Easier to lose it than bother carrying it home.

One fault I'm not sure can be recycled is when the wash has too many fusils. The first airstill run from a heatwave wash a couple of summers ago gave me the tell tale signs the next morning so I poured the rest of the wash down the bog.

[Drewzy]

meads are expensive to make for me cause honey is super expensive where I live. I found a place that sells honey on a bee farm and it's a little cheaper...I'm just not that interested into meads...maybe because the one I made was so dry and tasted kind of bad. it has gotten better over the year though. needless to say meads aren't my point of interest anyways.

maybe I will try and back sweeten and see how it gets.

I have a hard time throwing anything out.


Cheers!

Drewzy

[John51]

I don't know much about mead but I remember reading that mead HAS to be fermented in glass. Because of the long long fermentation time, air can get through plastic fermenters and spoil the mead.

No idea if it's true or not, just something I read.