Distilling with residual sugars?

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BaconWizard
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Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by BaconWizard »

Quick question: (context is rum wash, but could be anything)

Say I had a lot of unfermented sugars left in my wash, but enough alcohol to be worth stripping and I chose to go ahead and strip.

What, other than a risk of burning, are the likely effects? Does it do anything to the flavour of the final distilate?

Come to think of it, how about if for some reason, you add sugar into the low wines. Any difference in the product?
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by The Baker »

I would put a modest amount of it in another wash!
And again...

The sugars would ferment and the residual alcohol would distil later.

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NZChris
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by NZChris »

There is a possibility that it could burn onto an element if you do everything wrong, but you didn't say how you are heating it.

There is a good chance that there aren't any residual sugars and that you are fooled into thinking there are by using your hydrometer incorrectly, but you didn't say how you know.
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 01&t=85199

Adding sugar should make little flavor difference as it isn't volatile.
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by Toxxyc »

Yeah the sugars burning would be my biggest concern. After distillation I'd save the backset, water it down a bit and add yeast again to ferment the rest of the sugars (if there are any, NZChris makes a good point).
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by EricTheRed »

I've done a AG/Destrose ferment that only went down to 1.010 - still smelled nice, so i threw the lot back into a fermenter, added the same amount of fresh water, 5KG's of dectrose, nutrients, lemon juice and CC - OG was then 1.06 - 10 days later it was .990
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If the backset smells and tastes fine, go for it! I actually used that backset 3 more times until the smell/taste was meh.
for reference - i use either a 5L alembic on a Snappychef induction for small batches or a 30L SS on gas for large batches - never had any burning issues (Maybe i'm lucky :) )
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ShineonCrazyDiamond
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

I've run many ferments, whiskey even, that ended between 1.02 and 1.03. Never burned sugar on my 5500 ulwd element. Whiskey had a sweeter finish with a different mouth feel.
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still_stirrin
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by still_stirrin »

BaconWizard wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:45 pm… how about if for some reason, you add sugar into the low wines. Any difference in the product?

What, other than a risk of burning, are the likely effects? Does it do anything to the flavour of the final distilate?
BaconWizard, everything goes better with bacon, right? Have you tried bacon-flavored bourbon yet? I suppose you will sooner or later.

But let’s contemplate your question; what if you add sugar to low wines, or possibly, add a simple syrup to a “one & done” run like a panty dropper or the like. How does it taste? Well, it will be sweet and syrupy! What would happen if this “panty dropper” was rerun? Well, the sweet, sticky “brandy, or the like” may stick to the boiler or heat element (if electric).

As an anecdote, I have done just that before; made a panty dropper with fruit macerated neutral that turned out OK, except it was cloudy. I wanted it to be more “delicate” and clear, so I reran the spirit in my ginstill, a stock pot boiler heated by a hotplate (reference my signature). The panty dropper was approximately 70 to 80 proof going into the boiler, so no additional diluting was needed.

Well, the rerun turned out just fine although there was some sticky goo stuck to the boiler bottom when I was done with the run. If it was an internal element, this could have been hard to clean adequately. The resulting spirit had the fruit flavor and aroma, however it was much less significant than the panty dropper was. And it wasn’t “syrupy” either. It was clear. The product did have a sweetness as well, so some of that came over as well.

So, while I wouldn’t “recommend” adding sugar to low wines before a spirit run, it certainly won’t be “the end of the world”. Rerunning any spirit is always a possibility if your equipment will tolerate it. I would not have rerun this panty dropper in my big boiler because it has 2 internal elements and would be difficult to clean. But, my stock pot boiler was easy to open and scrub.

As a side note, I have rerun a liquor cabinet full of various spirits before simply to strip as much of the alcohol out as I could. I’ve stripped brandy, vermouth, vodka, and wine with success.

OK?

Now, what’s your best “bacon recipe”?
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BaconWizard
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by BaconWizard »

still_stirrin wrote: Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:18 am Now, what’s your best “bacon recipe”?
Thanks for the reply, and that answers my question fully, cheers...

Yes, I've tried the bourbon but I would rather have had some good bacon and some good bourbon seperately tbh..

As for my best recipe, it rather depends where you are at. In the US bacon is typically sweet and smoked and from the belly, here in the UK it may not be smoked, usually not sweet although it can be and more often from the loin rather than belly (although belly or "streaky" is about 1/3 the total sales)

Let me know your preferences and I'll drop something into the food section of the forum :)
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by higgins »

Benton's Bacon
This is some of the smokiest bacon I've ever had. And the best.
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BaconWizard
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by BaconWizard »

Kareltje wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:06 am Could not resist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Bacon
I think I need to become a high-priest of said church!
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Kareltje
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by Kareltje »

BaconWizard wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 11:54 am
Kareltje wrote: Fri Nov 26, 2021 7:06 am Could not resist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Church_of_Bacon
I think I need to become a high-priest of said church!
Pray for me when you are accepted ;)
I stumbled upon it when searching for a recipe for bacon gin or bacon wodka. That worked surprisingly well (no grease remaining), but tasted not good.
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Re: Distilling with residual sugars?

Post by NormandieStill »

Dragging this dangerously further off-topic, a good few years back on YouTube I stumbled across a guy making a bacon extreme roast. He layered rashers of bacon in alternating directions, glueing them with BBQ sauce. The resulting "joint" was then further wrapped in bacon (with more BBQ sauce) and the whole thing was hot-smoked on the BBQ.

It felt a bit like the 7-bird roast. It's kinda cool to know that somewhere, someone once thought of it, but there's really no good reason for it to actually exist.
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