Can I distil a failed beer?

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The Baker
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Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by The Baker »

Hi,
I know beer can sometimes be distilled, especially if it doesn't smell strongly of hops (and I believe sometimes if it does).

My son brought me ten or twelve litres of a home brew beer that was a failure to see if it is worth distilling.
I think it may have been one of the beer 'kits' you get from the home brew shop, based on Liquid Malt Extract.
The odd thing to me (I don't drink beer...) was the very strong smell of molasses.
And I didn't smell hops...
Maybe if I mix it with some stripped sugar wash and distil it through my pot still?
Or leave it until my thumper is operational and then put the molasses-smelling beer in the thumper;
maybe even with a bit of actual molasses in with it?
with stripped sugar wash in the boiler?

Might retrieve something from the 'fifty bucks down the drain' as my son said, and end up with something sort of rummy?

Geoff
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Chauncey
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by Chauncey »

If it isnt hopped then it should be fine. I like the idea of charging the thump with it, but id do it with either rum low wines or rum wash in the primary boiler, so it contributes to that flavorwise rather than a relatively flavorless sugar wash. If any beer flavor carried over it would be like a distilled pirates grog
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still_stirrin
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by still_stirrin »

Or, you could put the beer into a fermenter with some water, a couple of kg of sugar, and pitch more yeast into it. Chances are, if it still smells “sweet” because of the non-fermentable sugars in the LME, then you could try to ferment it drier. If you have gluco-amylase enzymes, put a little of that into the ferment too hopefully to help reduce the non-fermentables better.

What was i regarding the homebrew kit that made it a “failure” anyway? Why did he give it to you in the first place?

As for whether it can be salvaged “from the drain”, I have distilled many gallons of expired beers that were destined for the drain and then put the product on toasted oak to make a very consumable whiskey. It can be done just fine.
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Chauncey
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by Chauncey »

SS have you distilled hopped beers? Just wondering if they funk the still up as much as people say...
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still_stirrin
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by still_stirrin »

Chauncey wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 5:15 am SS have you distilled hopped beers? Just wondering if they funk the still up as much as people say...
Most of the beer salvage I’ve done is from Bud, Bud Lite, Miller & Miller Lite, and Coors & Coors Lite, all of which are not overly hopped with flavor or finish hops. So, residal hop flavors in the distillate are minimal. And the potstill head was easily washed out after the run.

I did run 10 gallons of an IPA through the stripper and it did carry a lot of the hop oils over. It took quite a bit of charred oak to tame the excessive hoppyness. But again, it ended up quite consumable and much better than being dumped down the drain.
ss
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Deplorable
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by Deplorable »

The local distillary here in town partners with a micro brewery to make a "hopped whiskey". They're just stillin a PNW IPA, and oaking it. I dont care much for it, but it seems to sell to the younger crowd of hipsters and lumberjack posers.
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Bryan1
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by Bryan1 »

I used to make my own beer using the supermarket bought kits and never got it right, I was working at a plant where a heap of SS was being thrown out so every Friday after lunch I would close the workshop and I made a 5 litre boiler, 2 " pot still and a 30 litre boiler for stripping. This was my pathway into distilling and a few years later I found the distilling forums. Everything I learnt was from free online books and it was great that on reading I started doing it the right way, Since my journey into making my own beer has gone off the menu and although I was never a spirit drinker with making my own stuff I am converted :lol: :lol: :lol: Now the beer I buy has crown seals so I can bottle apple cider which doesn't last 6 weeks after it's made.

Cheers Bryan
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by mannye »

I don't know about the hop thing, but I got into distilling to salvage meads and ciders that had gone bad or that I just didn't like.

My first honey shine was a hit... no it wasn't it was garbage! But the SECOND run (where I actually did some reading) was really good!
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bluefish_dist
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Re: Can I distil a failed beer?

Post by bluefish_dist »

Chauncey wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 5:15 am SS have you distilled hopped beers? Just wondering if they funk the still up as much as people say...
Yes, done it several times. Makes a mess of the still, but it can be cleaned.
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