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Subtle flavors and aromas in Vodka
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I"ve been distilling neutral spirits for quite a while now and so far I"ve been aiming for a clean, pure and neutral ,flavorless, outcome. Distilling to 95%+ cutting and filtering. As enjoyable as the product turns out, I find it lacks a little bit of the "culinary sophistication" ,pardon the term  ,the top shelf vodkas tend to have. Does anyone out there have any experience with tweaking/attaining characteristics for vodka? I assume making the vodka from grain should add some subtle desired impurities unlike making it from sugar, but considering how subtle these changes are, the task seems a bit daunting to jump into blind. I remember having a very subtle vanilla aroma to my first sugar runs, but I can"t seem to reproduce that these days. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! -Alex
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I really have good results using the ice cap essence from brewhaus
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Alex:
'Culinary sophistication' I like that!!! Like you, I would like more out of my vodka than I'm getting with a regular sugar wash. To me the essences just don't tweak my beak. They are close, but just don't cut it. That's not just vodka essence, that's all the essences I have tried. I'm just looking for something more ... Hmmm.. Oh! I know what it is, something with more culinary sophistication!
For my next batch I am going to try making vodka with wheat instead of sugar. I have two cans of liquid wheat malt extract and 3 lbs of dried wheat malt extract. That ought to be enough to get me started. I learned from making scotch that an infusion mash wasn't worth the effort so I'm going with extracts for this one. I will let you know how it turns out.
Hey, I figure the only way to see if something works is to make a batch and find out. It will either work or not. If not what have I lost? There is so little real solid information out there regarding this stuff that for me experimentation is the best learning tool.
If you come up with another tried and true recipe idea let me know.
Cheers!
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Alex,
I have had a favorable result using Dextrose ,Corn Sugar, that is available from Brewhaus.
It is a little more expensive, and you have to use approx. 20lbs to a typical package of Turbo Yeast to create a 25 liter mash...
but it does have a more grain type taste than just using cane sugar.
ncbrew
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Thanks for the info guys!
Good to see I"m not the only one lost on the maze of trying to "flavor" a flavorless spirit!
I tend to stay away from essences, they are too much of a commitment for me, I want to be able to tweak all the knobs in the final factor in a more hands on way.
I ran across some recipes that use simple sugars for the main ethyl production but drop in some heavy breads to add a bit of flavor variation. I think I might give that a go as well.
What do you guys think of distillation method? I"m a bit worried that regardless of the mash makeup, distilling at 90%+ will remove any potential for flavor?
Yet I don"t want to end up with a boot to the face when I drink something that has a tone of fusel oils in it.
Many commercial grain based Vodkas are tipple-quad pot stilled ,should give around a 75-85% pre cut product,, though I"m not the biggest fan of off the shelf Vodkas.
Any thoughts?
Ahh, life can be so difficult...
-Alex
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Agreed! I'm tired of Blah!
After 30 some odd runs of the 'pure stuff' and with over 40 some odd essences, I have put most of the rest to age, on oak or other. Some of them have been almost, like the prestige scotch on wood chips ,I think this one was the best so far,, and my friends liked the cocao rum, and some of the vodkas were alright, and some of my macerations were- interesting?
But nothing had that very dangerous tast 'make your toungue slap your brains out', but now I'm close.
I in staggers started 5 seperate 25L batches of UJSM corn and sugar thin wash and useing whiskey yeast with AG. Pot stilled the first run, fast and hard, all of which I added back to the second run which was the first actual sour mash run with minimized reflux ,though still more than the directions call for,, and made deep cuts, so I can add them back to the third run which is reputed to be even better.
Three hours old, and am now tasteing, its like a slightly sweet vodka, with taste and smell of freshly cooked sweet corn on the cob. Very smooth, and almost like a vodka with hlycerine, and filtering and ageing, but a delicious taste.
I like it better than any of my vodka's and its only the second run.
The last ,fifth batch, I only had 5#'s sugar, so I added 2 and a half pounds dark brown sugar. I will strip this tommorow, and backset with 7 pounds of brown sugar and a jar of mollasses. I've a feeling this might make a unique and flavorful rum. I'll let you know the results after the 2nd or 3rd run.
Ahh, life can be so much fun!
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I have had great results with corn sugar as well. In particular I soaked some hooch made from corn sugar in heavy toasted wood chips and made some awsome bourbon. When I toured Four Roses Distillery in Kentucky, they let me taste their White Dog ,that's the raw uncut distillant, and the flavor was very close to what I got from the corn sugar. I distilled it at 89% and ran it through a z-carbon filter. I did the same thing with my rum and scotch and ended up with very flavorful results without the harshness.
I've looked into making UJSM but haven't tried it yet. Everyone who tries it says it's the bomb. So it must be good.
I tell you what, it's good to read about others experiences.
Cheers!
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The top shelf boys use the cheapest mash they can find and then overfilter with pellet and powder, then cut and then add the finish or glycerin to a proporttion to pruduce wide thick legs that run back slow on the inside of the martini glass, when cold.
Our state has mandatory reporting of all ingredients, so I can just ask the guy at the liquor store and he can look it up on the sheet.
This reminds me of the ohmygoditburns.com website. One could also get the grey kangaroo.
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 Rank: Newbie Groups: Registered
Joined: 9/4/2008(UTC)
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how much glycerin do you use?
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