Potato Vodka

Information about fruit/vegetable type washes.

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luck_o_the_irish
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Potato Vodka

Post by luck_o_the_irish »

Sorry guys, This might sound like a lame subject, and maybe there already is an answere here (but I can't find it).. years ago, I made a "vodka" using a cooler and potatoes and floated a piece of bread with yeast on it.. I think I added some fruit too... anyway.. I can't remember how to make it... We have a potato farm next door,, and a girlfriend and I would like to make some booze... We don't have any fancy-schmancy gadgets. Can you please guide us in the right direction? Thanks! Carrie
pothead
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Post by pothead »

You can't make vodka without a stil. Preferably a reflux still.
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luck_o_the_irish
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Post by luck_o_the_irish »

thanks.. hm... i wonder what it was that i made... a friend that did some time said it tasted like the stuff they made while he was in...
hm... all i had was a large cooler in my basement...
well we have all of these potatoes,,, and she likes her vodka and tonic... we just want something that is easy to make and tastes good... :lol:
any ideas would be appreciated!
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Post by pothead »

Well, that sounds like prison hooch.
That is nothing more than a crude wine.

This site is more geared toward fermenting something, and then distilling it.
Distilling is relatively easy. I made one of my earlier ones out of a pressure cooker, a small hot-plate, a 5 gallon bucket and some copper tubing. It is ALOT easier than you may think.

Do some reading at http://homedistiller.org onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow about it .It is great learning material, and the BEST place to get a start.
"Be nice to America, or we'll bring democracy to your country."
"The best things in life aren't things."


"Imagination is more important than Knowledge"-Albert Einstein
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Husker
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Post by Husker »

pothead
Well, that sounds like prison hooch.
That is nothing more than a crude wine.

This site is more geared toward fermenting something, and then distilling it.
Distilling is relatively easy. I made one of my earlier ones out of a pressure cooker, a small hot-plate, a 5 gallon bucket and some copper tubing. It is ALOT easier than you may think.

Do some reading at http://homedistiller.org onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow about it .It is great learning material, and the BEST place to get a start.
The problem is the original poster listed 'vodka'. Thus, a simple coiled pot still like you describe is not going to make a decent neutral vodka. That is not to say that you can not make a very tasty drink out of fermented potato mash, but it will not be a 'flavorless' neutral vodka. It is very hard to do without a proper column reflux still to get a pure spirit.

But yes, making a jailhouse wine is not what we are about here.

H.
luck_o_the_irish
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Post by luck_o_the_irish »

hm... okay.. thanks pothead! I read some of your earlier posts, and you rock!
I'm trying to make a "jailhouse drink",,, just something that tastes good with relatively little money.. we are 2 ladies (34 and 50), that are just looking for a recipe for something that we can take to the "redneck yacht club" on the weekends.
luck_o_the_irish
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Post by luck_o_the_irish »

oops.. sorry, i meant NOT trying to make a jailhouse drink...
i didn't like it when i made it, so i sent him home with all 23 bottles..
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Post by pothead »

Even if it is vodka...pure,clean and flavorless that you want...I still sugest starting out with a potstill to get used to some of the prctices, then if you want a super pure flavorless vodka, upgrade to a reflux still.

But, either way...do some reading at the mother-site to decide what it is that you want to do.

I prefer using a potstill because I like brandies, and other flavored drinks.
But I have run a reflux from time to time to get some 180+proof vodka.
"Be nice to America, or we'll bring democracy to your country."
"The best things in life aren't things."


"Imagination is more important than Knowledge"-Albert Einstein
Aidas
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Post by Aidas »

Hey Irish,

If you want something that's tasty, but doesn't require distilling, make Lithuanian bread "beer". The name of the drink is "gira" (short "i", as in "bin").

Here's a recipe:

10 liters clean water
1 kg. sugar
handfull of raisins
1 sliced lemon (peel and all)
bread yeast
toasted rye bread
gauze

1. Dissolve the sugar into the water (easiest done by heating several liters and dissolving the sugar into the hot water).
2. take the toasted rye bread and wrap it into the gauze (this is done so that it doesn't mush into the drink and make filtering necessary) -- wrap the gauze into a nice little package with seweing thread (so it doesn't open or fall apart).
3. Put the bread package into the sugar water (at body temp or less).
4. throw in the raisins and sliced lemon.
5. put in the bread yeast
6. Let it ferment for 3-5 days (dependind on temp).
7. Drink

What you'll get is a nice, bubbly, slightly sweet drink with about 4-5% alcohol. VERY refreshing, and it gives you a nice buzz. It's not for serious drinking, as the remaining sugar will probably give you a bit of a hangover.

Best,

Aidas
Bujapat
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Post by Bujapat »

I'm not fully agree when I hear about pure neutral vodka...

I've a russian friend who brings me sometimes some traditionnal vodkas... And it's everything but neutral! Made from grain or potatoes, double or triple distilled. Not industrial flavourless products.

Flavour is light, spirit is transparent, but flavor is quite different from a Smirnoff or Absoluut! I'd say much better!
I'm french speaking!

Boiler : 50 L (13 gal) beer keg, gas heated.
Reflux : 104 cm (41 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter withh SS scrubbers packing.
Potstill : 40 cm (15 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter without packing.
Watershed
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Post by Watershed »

You can get both good vodka and neutral spirit out of a pot still, to make neutral spirit entails huge losses in the cuts though, but it's not stopped me from doing it.
Aidas
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Post by Aidas »

Buja,

I always thought (and to my knowledge, both US and EU law provide that vodka is made with NEUTRAL spirits) is neutral spirit based. Obviously, Russian vodka is not subject to those laws (and, God knows, Russia is a lawless country anyway...), but traditionally, vodka is dilluted neutral spirit.

Traditional russian "samagon" (which, for posterity's sake, did not originate in Russia, but rather in Lithuania and/or Poland), which the russians call homemade "vodka" is not vodka at all, but rather raw whiskey.

Aidas
Watershed
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Post by Watershed »

There's no EU definition as yet - they're arguing about it at the moment. The Old Eastern block countries favour defining it as only produced from grain or potatoes, others favour 'any agricultural source'.

The bit they have agreed on is that it's:

"distilled and/or rectified so that the organoleptic characteristics of the raw materials used and by-products formed in fermentation are selectively reduced" Which implies it doesn't have to be neutral.

There's a news bit on it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5333756.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

The best line from the whole article:
"efforts to use chickens were unsuccessful"
Rocky_Creek
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Post by Rocky_Creek »

Unaged tripple distilled thin UJSM is better than any store bought vodka I ever had.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, and them's pretty good odds.
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