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What would the effect be if i used a beer ferment and then still this.
Would the result be close to a scotch whiskey?
Would have to use a pot still tho
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STANGUS, i BREWED BEER AND THEN DISTILLED IT AND IT IS A REPRESENTATIVE TYPE OF SCOTCH. IT NEEDS A LITTLE AGEING TO BE DRINKABLE THOUGH. ITS A YEAR OLD NOW AND STILL VERY ROUGH, BUT HAS POTENTIAL, MYBE IN TEN TO FIFTEEN YEARS I'LL HAVE THE NERVE TO DRINK IT!!!!! JIMBULL
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[Jimbull, Did you hop your beer before distilling? I think some of the bittering may come through. I typically brew a beer without the hops and it makes a good distallate.
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kewl... so just unhopped beer
does the strength of the beer alter final out strength?
i gonna try it anyway..
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Yes. You can't get out more than you put in.
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WW, Yes the beer was hopped before distilling. It was a five gallon batch that a friend gave me, I believe it was an english ale, anyway the can with the malt was extended already it was so old, so I figured what the hell. It actually had a good taste when done brewing and wa svery VERY dark. I'm not so sure about the distillant how its going to be....still a little rough...JB
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Jimbull, I could be wrong about this ,like so many other things  , but I think whisky needs to be ages in wood casks e.g. old sherry, bourbon or what have you casks, in order to properly mellow and 'age'. Especially if the beer was already old. I think there are certain flavors that will mellow fairly quickly in a newly distilled 'fresh' beer, but dont expect much will change once the spirit is distilled and setting in glass or other neutral container. Regards
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Piobaire, You are quite right about ageing in oak kegs...I however don't have one to use for two quarts of my stuff. I do however and did put oak chips into it, hoping that that will give it something...just what who knows! But yes you are right.....Jimbull
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Ah! Sounds good. For the record, I am trying my first batch of the Prestige Ambrosia with the Oak Chips and I'm eager to see how it turns out. The package had what appeared to be oak chips in the mix. The directions only called for an hour soaking before straining, and then letting it rest for a week. I will give it a taste tomorrow. I've been a fan of the regular Amrosia mix for some time. I tend to like the stronger Islay scotches, but the Ambrosia is not bad. Wish I had a bottle of the 'regular' to give a side-by-side comparison. ,It must have evaporated over the holidays... ;, ,
Regards
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Piobaire, let me know how it goes. I am getting ready to make my first batch of distilled spirts and I have a scotch that I am going to make. I am always interested in how people are using the Prestige esseces and which ones they prefer over others. I will probably try the Ambrosia in the near future. I only have a couple more things to do to my column and then its off to the races.
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FB, Did you make your still or did you buy it ready made and is it a valved reflux or water controlled? The reason I asked is, I made mine and it is valved, works great, but, BUT, I did have something that happened to me the first few times I ran it. It was cold and every time I opened the door, the cold air hit the column and the temp went down and took a while to get it back up to speed. So, as the plans called for in the first place, I insulated the column up to the tee, to the condensation coils and the problems ceased. Just wanted to share this with you so if you have problems with keeping the temp right you'll know what is going on. The insulation I used was the rubber like material that is foil back on one side and self sticking, Got it at Lowes and it works great....good luck, Jimbull
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I have tried the Ambrosia Prestige essence with Oak chips and it was execellent! better than Dewars any day.
The more I use my valved reflux still, ,sounds like the one you have Jimbull, the more lessons I learn. My main problem is temp control - like you had. I have not insulated the tower yet, but my main problem is flame control. I have devised a valve made from hardware parts and a # 70 drill bit for a jet and am doing better, but not good yet.
The next problem was the copper packing. I put just a little too much in the tower up to the reflux return and after one batch it started to 'chug'. It would even blow the loose cap from the cooling tower. I stopped it, cleaned the copper, repacked it looser and it seemed to work ok after that.
Now the question: Even though I used only sugar, water and Turbo 48 yeast, I had some 'heads'. I collected them seperately, seperated each 1/4 pint thereafter until I was satisfied with the smell, then I noticed on the last 1 1/2 pint that I could smell the fusel oils. Out of 5 gallons of 16 % mash I could get only a little over 1 liter of good stuff. The question: If I filter the entire crop through the recommended rock carbon, will it get rid of the 'tails' smell and taste?
Thanks, Clove.
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Clove, I no longer seperate the heads and tails due to the carbon filter I am using, gets it all out. After doing this a year or so now, I find with just only the sugar wash, the tails is the only thing you really need to worry about. Once the temp starts going up and can't be controlled, I stop distilling and call it a day. Yes you get only about 1.75 liters or so, but its good stuff!!! If you do it this way you will have to clean your carbon more often, but it is well worth the effort. Also, I stopped using copper in the column because of the smell I was getting from it and the color of the mesh when I was done., black and bad smelling. I went to the cermics and no problem at all, better smell and no nastys. So it seems anyway..with a sugar wash, the only nastys that I have been able to detect is the tails, the iso's and the butyals, so, in my humble opinion, stop at 85'C, filter, cut, mix essences and enjoy!!!! works for me....Jimbull
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I run a valved still head also and yes, insulating the column is a good idea; makes it more consistant, cheap and easy to do and one less thing to worry about. I use a 20 gallon electric water heater where I swapped the element so I'm running around 850W. I set the reflux till I'm collecting around 92-95%. So far I've also been running sugar washes but toss the first 20-50ml as foreshots, tho as noted here and there, there is prolly undetectable methanol from a sugar wash. I collect in quart mason jars ,how cliche! ;, , collect to somewhere around 82-87C depending how tired I am of running and a usally toss the first and last quart into a jug to be redistilled. For my batch size I am prolly being to generous on the heads, and somewhere over 80C is where I cut to tails. This seems to work for me and doesnt have me fret too much where to make the cuts ,which I dont think is critical at such high purity,. I'd like to run a trad whisky sometime where I am cutting for taste, but I am a ways off from tyring that.
freebrew - I like the Ambrosia essence, will give the oak chipped variety a try tomorrow. I've been pretty happy with the different Prestige essenses I've tried. So far, not thrilled with any of the bouron essences - black label was fine, but nothing great and the regular offering a little less. The dark and spiced rums have been good as a few of the flavored vodkas. Lately been keeping some of the sapphire gin about tho normally I'm not a big gin fan.
Regards
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