Attempting Tito's dupe

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Big River
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Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by Big River »

I have my corn conversion and mashing down pat. Double distilled is the only way to go. But, my daughter likes Titos.

I've read on this forum the concept of a tanker truck of NGS pulling up the Titos factory then the bottles are run. That concept seems right cuz six distillations in small pot still seems an exaggeration from their label.

My question, I don't like vodka and I do seem to get a slight corn smell from the bottle. Should I try a corn mash, double distilled then once through reflux or go the sugar wash then reflux route?

Looking for recommendations to attain a tito profile. Thanks in advance for your comments.

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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by Deplorable »

I made a pretty good corn based vodka liked by Tito's lovers in my friends circle using the feints from all my whiskey runs. I just diluted them and ran them through the CCVM. Id say strip your beer in the pot still and run it through a reflux rig to high purity.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by LWTCS »

I'd bet money there's some charcoal filtering involved in actual Acher Daniels,,,,er, I mean Tito's.

Not that charcoal filtering is a less than craft practice. Just saying filtration may be needed to match best. Bet there is an addition of the maximum allowable sugar for mouth feel too.
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NZChris
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by NZChris »

If you have some neutral, try blending it with double distilled white dog corn likker to get the intensity of flavor that she likes. I sometimes reflux my grain feints to make a lightly flavored vodka that would be suitable for that trick.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by bluefish_dist »

Do a simple corn flake whiskey and run it a few times in a pot still or a column single run with 4-5 plates. Should be close to Tito’s. They are just a huge bottler, the actual product comes from moline right so I have been told by a few truckers. I have heard they are the biggest bottler of vodka in the USA.
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Big River
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by Big River »

Thanks guys for all the great advice
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by NZChris »

Big River wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:38 pm I've read on this forum the concept of a tanker truck of NGS pulling up the Titos factory then the bottles are run.
That might be the clue right there. They may be doing what I suggested, double pot stilling the corn likker to get the flavor, then blending it with NGS to get their desired flavor intensity.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by LWTCS »

NZChris wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:47 pm
Big River wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:38 pm I've read on this forum the concept of a tanker truck of NGS pulling up the Titos factory then the bottles are run.
That might be the clue right there. They may be doing what I suggested, double pot stilling the corn likker to get the flavor, then blending it with NGS to get their desired flavor intensity.

Notwithstanding a little beer keg looking still contraption , I've only every seen a bottling line in any of the earlier marketing videos.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by Chauncey »

Yeah despite its popularity I reckon its just diluted ngs ran thru a pot still. Probably made from corn by MGP. Imo it's garbage but most vodka is the same. Let's be honest most everything of any type available commercially is b grade at best.

I sold 7 bottles between 2am and now (9am) I'm probably not done anyway. In the last 5 bars I've worked its by far the most popular vodka.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

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Chauncey wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:10 am Yeah despite its popularity I reckon its just diluted ngs ran thru a pot still. Probably made from corn by MGP. Imo it's garbage but most vodka is the same. Let's be honest most everything of any type available commercially is b grade at best.

I sold 7 bottles between 2am and now (9am) I'm probably not done anyway. In the last 5 bars I've worked its by far the most popular vodka.

I personally don't think its terrible. Though I really wouldn't spend money on it when there are other choices that are better at the same price point.

Actually the dude kinda became a victim of his own success. Once the machine got traction and picked up a head of steam, there was no turning back.

Ain't no 650 gallon pot still can keep up with the demand once they was rolling. Shoot that prolly ain't a thousand bottles of product.

TTB says your can put it in a still, turn the still on, make it "run", turn the still off and collect the kettle charge as finished product. Make a basic heads cut and yer done. Ok wait, let me rephrase that. They don't say it quite like that. But basically they'll allow for it.

It's the latest dirty little secret that now more and more smaller operators have adapted.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by LWTCS »

Here is a funny little design that we joke around with and affectionately call a faker maker.
Basically a continuously fed reboiler that sends vapor into a "column". Well it might be "column" shaped but it behaves far more like a basic thumper that has an auto pump down.

They just push NGS through the system, get it hot, and let a measure of vapor Vent off the top. That venting represents the "bad stuff" being rendered out of the larger volume. Then the "column" bottoms is drained off as finished product.

You can see by the size of the connections that it's just a little squirt of a system. And has a pretty fast publicized processing speed.
Any body ever made a ligit azeo at 2 gpm knows that little faker maker ain't cleaning many alcohol molecules.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by Big River »

So how do they legitimize "six times distilled"? Six plates from bulk distiller? There is some fine print somewhere.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by NZChris »

LWTCS wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:01 am Here is a funny little design that we joke around with and affectionately call a faker maker.
That sounds like an industrial version of what many here do by airing their jars.

I've always maintained that the easiest way to clean up a greedily cut NGS, is to drive off the nail varnish rather than redistilling the whole batch.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by LWTCS »

NZChris wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:58 pm
LWTCS wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:01 am Here is a funny little design that we joke around with and affectionately call a faker maker.
That sounds like an industrial version of what many here do by airing their jars.

I've always maintained that the easiest way to clean up a greedily cut NGS, is to drive off the nail varnish rather than redistilling the whole batch.

Ya know Chris that pretty much is it.
I really would like to see the COAs of a before and after.

TTB don't care. Put it in the still, excute some iteration of running the still and ya get to say "distilled & bottled by" xyz.
They prolly let ya put a back story on the packaging bout yor ole grand pap's age old recipe.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by bluefish_dist »

Tito’s was sued for the hand made or something like that on the label. They won as there is no definition and they were able to argue to a judge what they did met the definition of the label.

Imho it’s not a horrible bottom shelf vodka. It’s a decent mixed and is priced well. I assumed they did some processing to render it better than just ngs that’s rebottled like a small mountain town distiller who bottles ngs by the tote. That was so bad my official taster said to me after tasting it, we would not sell that.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by greggn »

bluefish_dist wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:41 pm Tito’s was sued for the hand made or something like that on the label. They won as there is no definition and they were able to argue to a judge what they did met the definition of the label.

Technically, they settled ... but, yeah, they won because no damaging info came out.

https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/ ... u-to-think
The suit was eventually settled for an undisclosed sum, ultimately revealing no further information about Tito’s secretive production processes.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by ThomasBrewer »

Make sure you add a little glycerine. They swear they don't add it, but it's unmistakable after their rise to fame in 2015-ish.
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by LWTCS »

Big River wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 12:31 pm So how do they legitimize "six times distilled"? Six plates from bulk distiller? There is some fine print somewhere.
Not sure where the rules were at at the time they called him onto the carpet? But now you have to run through the system 6 times,,,literally. Doesn't matter how many plates
(theoretical or actual).
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

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ThomasBrewer wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 5:44 pm Make sure you add a little glycerine. They swear they don't add it, but it's unmistakable after their rise to fame in 2015-ish.
I think the max allowable sugar in the finished spirit is 1%?
I could be wrong?
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

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bluefish_dist wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:41 pm Tito’s was sued for the hand made or something like that on the label. They won as there is no definition and they were able to argue to a judge what they did met the definition of the label.

Imho it’s not a horrible bottom shelf vodka. It’s a decent mixed and is priced well. I assumed they did some processing to render it better than just ngs that’s rebottled like a small mountain town distiller who bottles ngs by the tote. That was so bad my official taster said to me after tasting it, we would not sell that.
You mean High West? That whole program is a joke. Their booze tastes like they’ve just thrown a bunch of heads and tails into a bottle then they turn around and sell it for $80 a pop. I’d like to meet their “master blender”. Fools
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Re: Attempting Tito's dupe

Post by bluefish_dist »

Stonecutter wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:15 pm
bluefish_dist wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:41 pm Tito’s was sued for the hand made or something like that on the label. They won as there is no definition and they were able to argue to a judge what they did met the definition of the label.

Imho it’s not a horrible bottom shelf vodka. It’s a decent mixed and is priced well. I assumed they did some processing to render it better than just ngs that’s rebottled like a small mountain town distiller who bottles ngs by the tote. That was so bad my official taster said to me after tasting it, we would not sell that.
You mean High West? That whole program is a joke. Their booze tastes like they’ve just thrown a bunch of heads and tails into a bottle then they turn around and sell it for $80 a pop. I’d like to meet their “master blender”. Fools
Not high west. Starts with a B.

In regards to glycerin and sugar, small amounts are allowed without calling it out on the label. I think sugar is 2g/L if I remember correctly. Not sure on glycerin. We did not add anything to our vodka other than distilled water. We did add sugar to our rum and would tell people that we did. You could see it in the color of the spirit as we used caramelized sugar.
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