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I used a sugar wash and Turbo Pure 48 for the raw materials, and a packed-column reflux unit with a single bleed valve for product and small feedback tube to return excess back to the column.
After the boil got going I backed off the heat and got 71C for about 30 min, with about 100mL at that temp which I discarded ,very potent aroma,.
The unit ran at about 72.4C for a long time--I put the thing out its misery after a total run of 10 hours, when it ended at 74C ,I'm at about 6200 ft altitude,. I was able to get about 2.2L at about 90% or so.
Overall not a bad first time out--although I think I could have used more condenser cooling ,my water tank, which is a refrigerator chest, was unable to keep the water cold for the duration of the run and I switched to garden hose for the last 4 hours,.
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Bongo Boy, how many liters of wash did you start with? How did it taste when you were all done? Did you have to run the product through a charcoal filter to make it taste good?
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25L of wash. First 100mL was tested on my spouse ,odor test only, of course, and we both agreed it was 'fingernail polish remover'. Not quite as nice as toluene, not as bad as isopropyl.
Final product was crystal clear ,gee...I should friggin hope so, and close to odorless--it's hard to separate odor from the vapor cauterizing your nose innards.
After dilution it tastes good, but I think I may have dorked up my dilution calculations--it seems a bit 'weak'*. It's in charcoal filtration right now, just for good measure. After it gets a final filter ,paper filtration isn't even going to get close to removing the charcoal,, I'll measure the proof and boost it back up to 80-85 if needed.
*As for tasting 'weak', I don't have a well-developed palate--some of the extremely clean commercial vodkas, such as Turi ,and even Skyy, to a lesser degree, seem 'watered' to me--I assume because they are so taste-free. If that's the case here, I'll be very happy indeed: flavorless is a great starting point.
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I was just wondering what you mean by the ' paper filt isn't going to remove ' comment , you did of coarse wash the charcoal before you used it . A little hint that was handed to me was to use a tissue instead of a coffee filter , sposed to catch more of the finer particles and remove any oils that are left . Are you filtering at full proof or diluted ? As for tasting weak......I drink mine straight,at 45 % , on ice and the only way I know that I've been drinking it is when I get up and have trouble working my feet
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No, I actually forgot about washing the charcoal first. I have a microfine suspension now that I'll have to deal with using one of them there 0.2 micron filters or something. Plus, I don't thing you can gravity feed anythng thru those filters, so I'll have to cobble something up to force it thru under pressure. Product is already diluted.
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Bongo Boy - I strain through a funnel with 3-4 cotton balls stuffed in the neck. One pass usually does it and it is cheap.
The cotton comes out black, but the liquid is crystal clear.
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Never thought of that--I'll try it. I actually just finished filtering; I had forgotten about an unused under-sink filter I had. It's one of those where a cannister unscrews to allow insertion of a variety of filters, and I had a nice new one on hand. Gravity feed worked great, then blowing into the inlet side of the filter emptied all but the last 1/3 of it's contents.
In a 1 gallon crystal glass pitcher, looking through the product it retained a very, very slight yellow color--I'd say about the same color as Luksosowa vodka or maybe Ketel One.
I took a final reading and I lucked-out: 80 proof dead nuts ,at 70F so okay, I'm a shade under,.
After an hour in the freezer it's Mighty Fine.
Now--having said all that, I think that because I got 90% ABV roughly, there IS something to be said for what's used as a sugar source. My point is, that your yields are a bit on the low side like mine, then the wash is going to have more influence on flavor than some here have suggested.
Plus, since the Turbo yeast ferment did not get me at all excited in terms of bouquet ,as does a nice ferment of an all-grain wort,, then I'd lean toward the view of those guys claiming you can do better.
Here's the deal though--sugar wash ferments with Turbos are fermenting dextrose, in effect. I believe the dextrose content in an all-grain mash is going to be very low indeed relative to maltose. SO the question is, do Turbos do well in fermenting maltose, or would you maybe go to a Wyeast product for fermenting?
It would make your final product expensive as hell compared to table sugar, but I know I'd feel a lot better about it. Has anyone here done it all grain? Show yourselves!
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I have done several all grain batches and used Turobo yeast to ferment it. My first effort was 2 row barley, Mutton & Fison as I remember, I bought a 40 pound sack several years ago that I used for all grain beer making and stored it 5 gal food grade pails that were sealed fairly well. I used 11 pounds of cracked barley malt and 6 gal of soft water with the PH adjusted to 5.8? Use CaCo3 and or Citric acid to tweak the PH till you get 5.8. I used the sigle infusion mash technique with a strike temperature of the water at 165 degrees F. I use a 10 gal Gott cooler for a mashing vessel because it holds the temperature nicely until startch conversion is complete. I left mine over night in the mashing vessel, it cooled to near room temperature after about 14 hrs at which time I pitched the turbo-yeast. It finished fermentation in 3 to 4 days. I Strained the grain and wash through a kitchen colender and transfered it directly to the reflux still. Collected 200 ml of heads and set them aside, smelled just like lacquer thiner. The mid run yielded 1.3 litters of 96 proof product. There is a very distict smell of bad stuff at the end of the run. With my set up I can always tell when the end of the run is on because without any changes in heat input or cooling water flow the temp will drop from 78-79 degrees C to about 73-74 and the product flow stops. If I raise the temp by increasing heat input or reducing condesate flow then the foul smelling stuff comes on at about 82 degrees.
The product is absolutely clear so I did'nt bother to filter it, I just diluted it with distilled water to about 90 proof and enjoy it like you would any good single malt scotch. I tried diluting a batch with bottled spring water, it made the final diluted product cloudy, must be the minerals in the spring water.
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I'd never heard of pitching the yeast directly into the un-lautered mash until I went to the Gert Strand site the other day, and here you mention doing that. Is that fairly normal practice then, in the distilling industry, and if so is there any reason they do it this way?
Using Mutton & Fison, eh? Pretty damn fine stuff. Thanks for the numbers, too. You just saved me from buying WAY too much malt. I also have to add gypsum to any realistic pale ale here, since our water is nearly mineral-free. Perfect Pilsen water though, but I'm not a lager guy.
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The only way I've made it is all grain. Of course I use apple cider and honey instead of grain and sugar due to its availability ,the backyard,. As for filtering I usually buy one of those water pitcher filters like Brita or Pur, works great. Recently, I purchased an oak barrel to age my stuff in; just filled it 4 days ago but curiosity got to me and I sampled some. WOW! Better than anything I've ever bought at the store. Maybe I'll give it a few months.
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I can't answer if the whiskey distiling industry pitches directly to un-lautered mash. I did it because of the sucess I had with a corn mash 8 pounds flaked maze 2 pounds barley malt. In this recipe the malt provides the enzyme for starch to sugar conversion. I also pitched the yeast directly in the un-lautered corn mash.
I used the mutton & fison because I had it on hand. I am sure it as well as other domestic barley malts are still available in US at the home beer brew supply places.
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I want to build a still, have you any drawings I could work from?
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GaryHopkinson, Go to this web site. Great reflux still plans. Build the Valved Reflux still. http://www.moonshine-still.com Jimmy
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TONY AUCKLAND ALSO HAS GREAT DIRECTIONS AT WWW.HOMEDISTILLER.ORG GOOD LUCK AND LET US KNOW HOW IT GOES
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