All Grain Distilling: How Fermentation is Different from AG Beer Brewing

[serafina]

Hi HD folks,

I'm making the transition from all grain brewing to all grain distilling and I haven't found a discussion about the differences in a single place. So I figured I'd start this thread with a list of what I've learned so far and put it out to all of you folks for feedback and additions. Here's what I have:

1. Distillers don't boil to sanitize the wort since it will be made shelf-stable via distillation

2. Distillers often (but not always) ferment on the grain

3. Distillers often do not ferment as long as brewers. Many brewers keep their beer on the yeast even after it has mostly flocculated so that the remaining yeast can clean up the fusel alcohols, diacetyl and acetylaldehyde and to improve clarity. Distillers can easily cut out these compounds as tails and heads, respectively, and don't mind a little cloudiness since it'll stay behind in the backset.

4. Distillers may add backset, which brewers don't have.

5. Both distillers and brewers may do open fermentation, but distillers are more likely to since brewers are more concerned with sanitation

6. Beer brewing practices are predicated on the assumption that barley malt will be the dominant or only type of grain. Different grains require different mashing temperatures, rests, enzyme additions, etc. As a result, recipes for distillation have different mashing procedures, whereas beer recipes tend to be fairly consistent. Also, distillers are more likely to ferment a large proportion of unmalted grain, whereas brewers tend to use only small amounts of unmalted grains.

7. Distillers don't use hops unless they're trying to be edgy.

8. Distillers often shoot for a fairly consistent ABV, whereas brewers alter their target ABV depending on the style of beer they're making. As a result, the ratio of grain to water is fairly consistent for distillers.

9. Distillers are more concerned with complete sugar conversion, since anything unconverted is waste. As a result distillers' mashes may have longer duration.

10. Brewers are more concerned with choosing yeasts that are consistent with the style of beer they are making, whereas home distillers don't have the ability to buy yeasts that are indicated for specific styles (I have yet to find "bourbon yeast," "Russian wheat vodka yeast," or "Irish whiskey yeast"). As a result, home distillers are more likely to consider price and ease of use when choosing a yeast strain.

Anything to add?

[Twisted Brick]

Hi HD folks,

I'm making the transition from all grain brewing to all grain distilling and I haven't found a discussion about the differences in a single place. So I figured I'd start this thread with a list of what I've learned so far and put it out to all of you folks for feedback and additions. Here's what I have:

1. Distillers don't boil to sanitize the wort since it will be made shelf-stable via distillation

They also do not mash out in order to protect enzymes that continue to convert during the ferment.

2. Distillers often (but not always) ferment on the grain

And unlike brewers who carefully grind to create a viable grain bed for lautering, distillers grind their grains finer in order to reduce conversion times and increase conversion rates.

3. Distillers often do not ferment as long as brewers. Many brewers keep their beer on the yeast even after it has mostly flocculated so that the remaining yeast can clean up the fusel alcohols, diacetyl and acetylaldehyde and to improve clarity. Distillers can easily cut out these compounds as tails and heads, respectively, and don't mind a little cloudiness since it'll stay behind in the backset.

4. Distillers may add backset, which brewers don't have.

5. Both distillers and brewers may do open fermentation, but distillers are more likely to since brewers are more concerned with sanitation

6. Beer brewing practices are predicated on the assumption that barley malt will be the dominant or only type of grain. Different grains require different mashing temperatures, rests, enzyme additions, etc. As a result, recipes for distillation have different mashing procedures, whereas beer recipes tend to be fairly consistent. Also, distillers are more likely to ferment a large proportion of unmalted grain, whereas brewers tend to use only small amounts of unmalted grains.

Distillers enjoy the luxury of using enzymes for conversion which enables a variety of approaches to conducting a mash. Since tannins supposedly do not distill over, this allows for a less stringent mash protocol which brewers must adhere to.

Additionally, distillers of sugar washes rely on sugar as the main source of alcohol and add any combination of a smaller amount of raw grains for flavor directly to the ferment.

7. Distillers don't use hops unless they're trying to be edgy.

8. Distillers often shoot for a fairly consistent ABV, whereas brewers alter their target ABV depending on the style of beer they're making. As a result, the ratio of grain to water is fairly consistent for distillers.

When the objective is a fine spirit (rather than crude drunkahol) the distiller’s target ABV is set (limited) within an optimum environment for each yeast to operate in without stress. Thus, the grain/water ratio is tailored to each individual grain’s PPG to achieve this.

9. Distillers are more concerned with complete sugar conversion, since anything unconverted is waste. As a result distillers' mashes may have longer duration.

10. Brewers are more concerned with choosing yeasts that are consistent with the style of beer they are making, whereas home distillers don't have the ability to buy yeasts that are indicated for specific styles (I have yet to find "bourbon yeast," "Russian wheat vodka yeast," or "Irish whiskey yeast"). As a result, home distillers are more likely to consider price and ease of use when choosing a yeast strain.

Anything to add?

Great job, serafina on your comparison of brewing and distilling fermentations (and mashes). I wish I'd had this when I first started out.

[Single Malt Yinzer]

This is a really good write up, thanks for doing it. For people new to distilling it's a great intro to why our mashing/brewing is different from the beer guys. There will always be exceptions but they will be be for advanced or specific stylistic purposes.

On a side note, I wish we had better yeast choices so we had Bourbon/Corn/Rye/Single Malt style yeasts.

[DetroitDIY]

Regarding specialty yeasts, there are some out there... certainly more to come once home distillation becomes legal in more locations .

Here are a few of the manufacturers I dug up. I'm sure there are others, but they're not at my fingertips. Often you can buy a 500 g brick, and sometimes you can find smaller sachets, given a bit of searching on line.

Lallemand / DistilaMax Yeasts:
https://www.lallemandbds.com/wp-content ... 072214.pdf
Fermentis / SafSpirit Yeasts:
https://fermentis.com/en/fermentation-s ... ts/#safteq
White Labs Yeasts:
https://www.whitelabs.com/yeast-bank?sh ... ng&tid=197
Wyeast Yeasts
https://wyeastlab.com/spirits/overview

[diktater]

ferm pro also has some specialized yeasts that are reasonably priced as well

[shadylane]

Distillers ferment at a higher temp than brewers
Distillers are more likely to add sugar