Making Vodka / Neutral

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FullySilenced
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Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by FullySilenced »

I am trying to make the best product I can. I have stripped 38 gallons of wash and have 8 gallons of strip sitting at 50 abv.

I have read about people cutting the stripped product back to 30% and adding baking soda to the strip before running it... The theory being the baking soda holds or absorbs some of the off flavors or tails and holds it... in the residual water that is left behind... THIS IS FOR THE SPIRIT RUN ONLY...

Have any of you pro distillers or distillers who think you are a pro... read about or tried this with your vodka or neutrals?

Look forward to your thoughts on this...

Happy Stillin,

FS
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by shadylane »

I'm definitly not a Pro.
I haven't tried baking soda in the low-wines to redistill in a column.
But have in a pot still, the flavor of soda came through and multiple distillations wouldn't remove it.
The best vodka I've made was grain based and triple potstilled.
The heads and tails were run through a CM for a neutral.
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by Kegg_jam »

I'm not a pro either but I've had good results treating my feints jar with baking soda and running it through a ccvm column.
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by carbohydratesn »

You can convert the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) into sodium carbonate (washing soda) by baking it in an oven for a while - instructions are pretty easy to find. This makes it more basic and more reactive, might get a little more chemistry bang for your buck :)
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by T-Pee »

carbohydratesn wrote:You can convert the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) into sodium carbonate (washing soda) by baking it in an oven for a while...
Spread evenly in a pan, bake in oven at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour.

tp
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by still_stirrin »

T-Pee wrote:
carbohydratesn wrote:You can convert the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) into sodium carbonate (washing soda) by baking it in an oven for a while...
Spread evenly in a pan, bake in oven at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour.

tp
Or 275F for two hours.
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by 700G »

I've been making a lot of super clean vodka, which is mostly what I make. The way I run mine is to strip at azeotrope, combine and cut to around 30% with RO/DI water for spirit runs, make cuts and combine all saved hearts and run again (cut to 30% or so again with RO/DI water). It seems you can always get a couple jars of stuff to throw away from each end of the run. After all runs are complete I cut to 50% and carbon filter, then I cut to 40% and run it through the ultrasonic machine 3 times and bottle it. The result is the cleanest stuff I've ever drank.
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by Brutal »

700G wrote:I've been making a lot of super clean vodka, which is mostly what I make. The way I run mine is to strip at azeotrope, combine and cut to around 30% with RO/DI water for spirit runs, make cuts and combine all saved hearts and run again (cut to 30% or so again with RO/DI water). It seems you can always get a couple jars of stuff to throw away from each end of the run. After all runs are complete I cut to 50% and carbon filter, then I cut to 40% and run it through the ultrasonic machine 3 times and bottle it. The result is the cleanest stuff I've ever drank.
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by Hound Dog »

No pro here either but I do like neutrals and vodka. If you want neutral the baking soda works well. I like it for feints runs. It doesn't absorb anything like the smells in your fridge :) , it converts some chemicals and does some magic scientific mumbo jumbo to clean it up. I am sure Maritimer or Edwin or someone can actually explain it.

If you want vodka with a little flavor then skip it. I am drinking a batch of All Bran that I made with Cheerios right now and it is damn tasty. Take off a at about 94% and cut to 50% for drinking. Mini Wheats makes a good mild flavor too.

Have you read the Baking Soda thread? http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =15&t=5753
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by coastershiner »

700g, thank your for sharing your method. I have been doin something very similar and have had great results.
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by carbohydratesn »

The result of doing this is very cool looking. I put some sodium carbonate into some heads and tails and low wines from my first two generations of UJSSM, shook it up, and waited - some dense clear orbs of liquid formed on the bottom of the jugs. Turning the jugs upside down, they stuck to the glass a bit and slowly rained down. It's quite pretty.

Made a great vodka, too :thumbup: :thumbup:
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by res »

700G wrote:I've been making a lot of super clean vodka, which is mostly what I make. The way I run mine is to strip at azeotrope, combine and cut to around 30% with RO/DI water for spirit runs, make cuts and combine all saved hearts and run again (cut to 30% or so again with RO/DI water). It seems you can always get a couple jars of stuff to throw away from each end of the run. After all runs are complete I cut to 50% and carbon filter, then I cut to 40% and run it through the ultrasonic machine 3 times and bottle it. The result is the cleanest stuff I've ever drank.
Hey 700G what's the ultrasonic machine?
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Re: Making Vodka / Neutral

Post by 700G »

res wrote:
700G wrote:I've been making a lot of super clean vodka, which is mostly what I make. The way I run mine is to strip at azeotrope, combine and cut to around 30% with RO/DI water for spirit runs, make cuts and combine all saved hearts and run again (cut to 30% or so again with RO/DI water). It seems you can always get a couple jars of stuff to throw away from each end of the run. After all runs are complete I cut to 50% and carbon filter, then I cut to 40% and run it through the ultrasonic machine 3 times and bottle it. The result is the cleanest stuff I've ever drank.
Hey 700G what's the ultrasonic machine?
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... ultrasonic
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