IPA, Hops and their tones when distilled

[Redrider1212]

Greetings everyone. I am New to the forum but I have used this place as a reference for a while. I have only done a few runs alone When I was younger and usually it was out of "necessity". Mostly in the army in various shitholes were hootch was either hard to get or impossible to get. I home brew all grain beers where I live because everything here is either rat piss or it's too expensive. When a batch does go wrong (not toxic wrong), I prefer to distill it and I have had some reasonable successes. I have seen a few people get tarred and feathered for not doing their research. So if someone would just like to point me in the right direction and tell me to read up, that too would be greatly appreciated.

My question is, will the hop flavors and alpha acids from a very hoppy beer come through in my cuts and if so does anyone have some experience they could share? Anything would be helpful. For reference; I use 20 liter batches in a 35 liter electric pot still controlled with a rain bird. All of my batches are all grain with an ABV of 8-11 percent.

[still_stirrin]

My question is, will the hop flavors and alpha acids from a very hoppy beer come through in my cuts and if so does anyone have some experience they could share? Anything would be helpful.

OK, got your “hot tar” raincoat on? jk.

I have salvaged microbrews that were headed for the drain by running in my still. I usually strip them first, often with some feints from previous batches. And I have successfuly recovered the alcohol. After a spirit run and putting it on charred oak for some time, it has produced a nice whiskey.

I suggest first stripping in a potstill so you don’t coat your fine neutral reflux head with hop oil resins. But in the potstill, you can run it quick and when you follow it with a spirit run, it’ll clean up nicely.

Don’t fret...it’s better than dumping it down the drain, which is an option if you don’t like it off still.
ss

[Redrider1212]

SS,

Thanks for the guidance. I will be putting it to practice soon. And also thanks for holding off on the tar...

[bluefish_dist]

First off, Hops make a mess of the still. It makes a brown algea looking substance which can clog plates. Strip and finish sounds like a much better solution.

The hop flavor can carry through to the whiskey. I have tried two whiskeys that were hopped and you could taste the hops in both.

[Redrider1212]

Hop mess, good advice. will filter it through a grain bag before I strip it. Hopefully it limits the elbow grease factor in cleaning. After the last run if there's some hop aroma in the cuts, I will try to isolate them and maybe try to cobble together a bottle of hopped whiskey... I'll be stripping the batch in a few hours. I have appropriately managed my expectations, worst case isn't that bad.

[bluefish_dist]

I think the hop gunk gets created in the still, so it won't be filtered out. I am guessing, but I think it's a combination of heat and the hop oils. Just know you will have it and plan on cleaning when you are done.

[still_stirrin]

I think the hop gunk gets created in the still, so it won't be filtered out.

I guess it somewhat depends on your logistics....you’re in Colorado, another high hop state, like Washington and Oregon. The “scrap” beers there are usually over-hopped to begin with (GIGO). Other (lager) states won’t have as much “hop gunk” to wade through as you do.

I’ve stripped local brewpub produced IPA’s acceptably. And I stripped a “wee heavy” very satisfactorily. I’ve stripped a keg of 3 year old (garage weathered) Anheuser-Busch beer and it yielded almost no flavor...even more neutral than a sugar wash...what does that tell you about a “sex in a canoe” beer?

I don’t worry about the beers in the boiler, as they’ve all run acceptably. And I always strip with my potstill (never a reflux column). Then, I do a spirit run (also through the potstill). Often times I will recycle old feints into the boiler when I do the spirit run as well and it’s produced a product good enough to put on wood.

Now, if I had a steady stream of IPA overruns, then I’d probably want to water them down with something to reduce the concentration of “hop gunk” in the still. But, my recovery process only gives me a little beer from time to time to salvage, not like it’s a regular production stream.

As I said, “YMMV”.
ss

[bluefish_dist]

I ran it in a reflux still, so very different than a pot still. It also gunked up my electric heaters. I won't do it again, but being commercial I can't just run old beer easily.
My experience was from a batch that was supposed to be unhopped and the brewer did not pass that info on to the assistant brewer and he added hops before I could get the wort. I later ran the same mash bill without hops and it ran much better.

[Redrider1212]

Well, the first run is done. I live in Norway and things are bit behind the times here so brewers are still on a hop binge. But this was my own batch, a barley wine (IPA) with super high grav. Yeast and it clocked in at 22%. The yeast gave out before it could dry the brew. (It was racked twice, so it had good clarity before going into the still but it was made with about 120 grams of hops... If I didn't distill it I would have had a short ceremony and buried it in the back yard next to the cat.

The Budweiser run sounded like a successful experiment. There is almost no malt that would be imparted on the brew and I have heard that they use a good amount of rice And or rice hulls.

I have only heard of one commercial distillery that has marketed a distilled IPA. I think it was a racer 5 IPA. I suppose it's worth a google.

There are a few brewers around my place that just toss their beers when they don't turn out, so I do have a steady supply of all grain ales if I am a bit crafty.

The run went well last night. But there was a film created in the still. A greyish brown residue...., presumably by the hops. I don't think it would qualify as gunk but it will have to be cleaned out and a cleaning run may be in my future. hopefully I can do a spirit run this weekend. If all goes well, after a few experiments it may be worth building a pot still just for
Stripping runs of this sort.

[Nabatean]

I have lots of hops in the garden.
In autumn, I will collect and ferment the bells and try to isolate the bitters.
Should be base note for an angostura like bitter.

[Redrider1212]

Are you planning on boiling them in a bit of wash first, or are you just after the aroma?