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Where, exactly, does the taste/flavor/aroma of hooch come from?
 Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 6/4/2012(UTC)
Posts: 83
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"OK, I'm trying to understand the REAL difference of pot stilling vs. reflux stilling and I believe it all comes down to the taste/flavoring/aroma of the resulting hooch. Now if the flavoring etc. comes from the heads and tails smearing into the hearts ""smearing"" into the heats, whats the difference between proper blending of the reflux output and proper cuts of pot still output? In other words, why is it that the same results you get from pot stilling can't be obtained from reflux stilling and then blending the output to obtain the3 desired ""taste"" etc. ??
To me, reflux stilling is a helluva lot easier t5hat pot stilling as far as obtaining clean, palatable hooch is concerned an d most of my stilling is indeed reflux stilling.
What am I missing???"
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 Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered, Moderator
Joined: 4/14/2010(UTC)
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"Put very simply...what a reflux tower does is ----redistill-- the vapor many times as it travels up and down the tower and back into the boiler which leaves the flavor behind. A gooseneck or pot still tower as its refered to sometimes will not do the refinement that a reflux tower will because the vapor is pushed out the first pass through and is condensed back into a liquid which in turn carries the flavor component with it. Lots of Scotch makers like the gooseneck style tower for that reason.
With that thought in mind thats why lots of folks say to run your hooch through your gooseneck or pot still several times --with each pass it leaves a little more behind each time.
In the old days when you would see ---X X X--- on a likker jug that ment it was distilled 3 times and it was cleaner than the other guys."
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Rank: Senior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/12/2012(UTC)
Posts: 804
Was thanked: 5 time(s) in 5 post(s)
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"Hi Fritz, Quote:why is it that the same results you get from pot stilling can't be obtained from reflux stilling and then blending the output to obtain the3 desired ""taste"" etc. ??
To me, reflux stilling is a helluva lot easier t5hat pot stilling as far as obtaining clean, palatable hooch is concerned an d most of my stilling is indeed reflux stilling.
What am I missing??? You're not missing anything. In fact, Smiley basically describes what you're talking about. He describes the ""middle run"" (vs. pure ""hearts"") as containing some heads and some tails ... and adding a small amount of feints to subsequent spirit runs to enhance flavor ... with more emphasis placed on the early tails that provide the pleasant flavors ... and yes, all done with a reflux rig. In any case, I agree that reflux runs are much easier. You may also want to read that as: I'm just not skilled enough to get great results with a pot still, but I can get very good results with a reflux rig. So Smiley's techniques may be of interest to you. odin started a thread over at MD on the very subject that you may enjoy: http://forum.moderndisti...=2859&p=32090#p31868I used to get hung up on the ""Identity Standards."" You know, like what's the exact process, and ingredients, and abv that you must use to call something a ""whiskey"" or a ""bourbon,"" etc. etc. I don't care about that stuff anymore ... it's all just a bunch rules to keep the commercial guys honest ... and to put up artificial barriers to entry to protect the big guns. As hobbyists, we can do whatever we want ... and do it the way we want to ... we get to do clever things without regard to rules, costs, and/or profits ... the home distiller's advantage. So if the shoe fits .... :) Regards, --JB"
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 6/4/2012(UTC)
Posts: 83
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A big Amen to that. Name don't mean nothing, taste does. My last run I saved a quart that's as close to the middle of the hearts as I'll ever get. It has very little smell at all. In fact, you have to use your imagination to smell anything. I've got some apricot essence ordered for it. Gonna play around with different flavorings while my whiskey ages in the cabinet.
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Where, exactly, does the taste/flavor/aroma of hooch come from?
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