Better tasting vodka

[swine]

Hello again.
I have been brewing with my air/pot still for quite a time, I use a triple still mix 6k sugar and turbo klar. The stuff when ready is beautifil and clear but always has an after taste with it, I mask this with some apple concentrate.
A bought Vodka tastes very different. Any tips to rectify this?
Best Regards, Bernard.

[billmcc]

Double distilling helps read Mozr's guide
Cheers


viewtopic.php?f=3&t=765

[Capt-Cudellez]

What bill said - there isn't a vodka on the market that is single distilled as far as I know - most are distilled several times, then filtered.

The reason your sugar wash wont taste like commercial vodka is because apart from a NYC based distillery I've read about most will be using grain as a base, the left over "taste" will be a hint of that base grain.

Using just grain (no added sugar) to make your wash from on a small scale is very unrewarding - using a tiny still it would be even more so. You might want to boil up some grain and use that water as a base for your sugar wash as a bit of a cheat\half way compromise.
I had thought about doing that, but I've been distracted by potato vodka - which I've had good results with - but that's not a recipe for pot stilling, as the wash has a very strong flavour that even a column cant neutralise all of the flavour.

[Jimmy]

All the above is good advice. That's the reason why you can buy vodka essences, I've never tried them myself because I've never felt the need to add back any flavour to my neutral. In theory they add a flavour characteristic to neutral spirit to mimic commercial vodkas.

However, think what you're talking about is not being neutral enough, in which case you do need to double distill and carbon filter (with a decent filter, not the tiny standard one). You can get there, many have been in the same boat don't worry!