Wines for distilling

[BoisBlancBoy]

Hey guys. I have acquired some wine from God knows where. Well I don't have tons of room at my place and don't feel like storing it anymore so I figured I would distill it down into some brandy. Problem is I know ZERO about wine and don't want to waste something if it is worth hanging onto.

Here is what I have:
1 gal of Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Chardonnay 2012
1/2 gal of " " Cabernet Sauvignon 2011
1/2 gal of Barefoot Moscato
1/5th of Sutter Home Chardonnay 2012

What do you think?

[NZChris]

I'd be tempted to leave the Cab Sav out and double distil the rest Cognac style.

[Jimbo]

Run it. A little of the oak flavor from the cab will come over too, but thats not neccessarily a bad thing. Especially since youll likely (should) age it on oak anyway. That barefoot moscato is some cheap swill, fair chance its full of sulfites to arrest fermentation and leave it sweet. That might wreak havoc on your distillate. Maybe.

[BoisBlancBoy]

Thanks guys. I'll probably give it it try tomorrow. Would you run this slower than you typically would than with a whiskey run? Small stream or drops per second?

[NZChris]

If any smell really sulfurous, I hope you have plenty of copper in the still. I have heard an airstone can remove SO2 fairly quickly, but I've never tried it.

I'd do pot still, discard foreshot, run until whole collection below 30% ABV, then run again slow, either into small jars to blend later, or get lazy and run to barrel strength.

[BoisBlancBoy]

Chris just curious as why do a double distill on something as clean as wine is? I'm sure there is a benefit just want to understand why.

[NZChris]

That method I described is pretty close to Cognac method. It gets the final to barrel strength without leaving a lot of flavor in the backset. The idea being to capture flavor, not so much to 'clean'. You might find one small jar that you want to remove if you go to the trouble, and it won't be the last jar unless you shut down too early.

If you don't like the wine, or don't like brandy and are only after cheap 'clean' alcohol, don't use this method.

[BoisBlancBoy]

I don't like wine never have and have tried many kinds, but I do like brandy. With that said what would you suggest as to the method I should try?

[T-Pee]

K.I.S.S

Throw it all into the boiler and distill like you would any other flavored drinks you've been making that you like.
Oak as appropriate to your palate.

That was easy, huh?

tp

[NZChris]

As you like brandy, I would suggest you squeeze as much flavor out of it as you can using the Cognac style of stilling, unless you don't have a suitable pot, then hone your skills in oaking and aging. That said, it ain't a large quantity, so is it worth the effort?

I'm not running down small runs. I do some tiny runs in a tiny still for fun and learnin'.

[BoisBlancBoy]

Right on guys. Over thinking a small issue once again!

[BoisBlancBoy]

Doing the run today. So far it's smells wonderful! Too bad the charge isn't larger! But I'll take what I can get. Just getting into the tails now, they taste good but also with some crappy flavors. Hard to distinguish.

[Fidget]

Let the tails jars breath for a couple of days with coffee filter to keep dust off...u may find the bad flavours depart