Still Learning

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:57 am

An accidental revelation yesterday resparked my interest and made me bang my head in frustration at my obtuseness.

I was complaining on here a couplea weeks ago that an overfilled boiler, an underdone wash and a big hurry had caused my Mighty Gonzo to have it's first puke. Ujsm with malted barley discolouring about 7 litres of firstrun low wines. Dirty green/grey colour it was too.

No matter says everyone, just tip it in your spirit run and it'll clean up.

So in it went with another 20 litres or so of the same (cept clean) stuff, Gonzo fired, and purring at 3.5 litres an hour, 1.5 litres of heads off and time to start tasting for the cut....

MMMmmmm Mighty fine says the punkin as he dips in the parrot beak...

By the time the cut came up i was tasting the strongest corn flavoured spirit i have made so far...the light globe blinks on above the head, the hand slaps the forehead and i roll my eyes as i ask the heavens..

" Why haven't i been listening to what Wineos been trying to say?"

Sorry guys, but i've seen it up in lights here a dozen times without it sinking in. Took an accidental mistake to bring it to my attention, but the quality of the second run spirits with some wash added to them is FAR superior to plain low wines.

I'llBeFreezingSomeWashOrBacksetFromNowOnPunkin

CoopsOz · Post by **CoopsOz** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:29 pm

Aw shit....now I'm gonna have to get off my arse and try it now.

big worm · Post by **big worm** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:26 pm

punkin i'm just about to colne "gonzo" it will be his evil twin

if you were making him again would you have done anything diff. in the construction? i want a striping machine and from what i've read hes a gooden. any imput? i got 2" pipe and 2 45's and the such

Post by **HookLine** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 5:02 pm

So how much wash do ya reckon wuz in the second run? A couple of litres?

Old Goat · Post by **Old Goat** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:00 pm

As far as being stupid is concerned, I think I take the cake.

I was saying that my 3rd run of UJ was not as good as the first and was going back to straight whiskey. Well I went back to the recipe and found I was saving the lees, not the backwash. So here I go again on second attempt at UJSM. I was thinking it was like sourdough bread and letting the dough ripen. Dumb Ass me

Cheers

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:24 pm

big worm wrote:punkin i'm just about to colne "gonzo" it will be his evil twin if you were making him again would you have done anything diff. in the construction? i want a striping machine and from what i've read hes a gooden. any imput? i got 2" pipe and 2 45's and the such

No mate, i like it just as it is. I've never tried anything else though except my first model, which is just inch copper reduced to 3/4 at the worm.

If a mate asked me to build him one, i'd do it the same (but i have access to the 4", 2" and fittings keep in mind)

Dunno how much was in the low wines, Hook, but it was enough to discolour 1/4 of the total volume, so i'd say maybe 1/2 litre?

I'm thinking it didn't give me a whole lot more product on the strip.

I'm also thinking i'll save a litre or two of wash to tip in my next spirit run and see.

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:50 pm

Ricky · Post by **Ricky** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:45 am

punkin,take that keg and put it in a 33gal drum that is cut off to the same height as the keg. this will make a nice double boiler with about an inch to spare along the edges. take a half gallon of the grain from the mash and add to the boiler. then do your run. check out that flavor my friend.

Post by **Tater** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:13 am

For flavor some time ya ought to try a single run with proper cuts.Even if total run only equals out as low as 80 proof.Set them pot stills up until theres just enough flow to be more then drops from worm.Toss fore shots and heads but long as taste holds keep tails down to 80 /70 proof.Hell if ya don't like it can double run it then only thing ya lose is some time

Post by **Dnderhead** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:29 am

I have to agree with tater on this one keep % down ,80% or below
and you will much more flavor .above 80 you start to loose flavor
quickly

violentblue · Post by **violentblue** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:12 am

got me thinking, thats for sure

Post by **Dnderhead** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:29 am

Some of my brandy's i run off at 60% much more flavor ,whisky
about 70-80% i try and hit % i want to age at i know others have different
ideas but I do not like to run higher then water down and loose flavor

Post by **Tater** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:37 am

Dnderhead wrote:Some of my brandy's i run off at 60% much more flavor ,whisky
about 70-80% i try and hit % i want to age at i know others have different
ideas but I do not like to run higher then water down and loose flavor

We seem to think alike on some things dnderhead.I totally agree with ya on this post.

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:40 am

I do most of mine with single run like Tater said.I double distilled my oat whiskey,but added backset with the spirit run to add more flavor to it.I dont have a double boiler setup or I would be distilling on the grain to get the max amount of flavor out of a run.

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 10:54 am

Ricky wrote:punkin,take that keg and put it in a 33gal drum that is cut off to the same height as the keg. this will make a nice double boiler with about an inch to spare along the edges. take a half gallon of the grain from the mash and add to the boiler. then do your run. check out that flavor my friend.

Thanks Ricky, i'll start keeping an eye out for a barrell the right size.

Tater, i will try it, just seems to me that for some reasons there seemed to be more flavour in this spirit run than in my usual strips. I don't run that much faster with my stripping runs than i do with my 2nd runs. But i'll slow it down and try.
The reason i was doing two runs was to make my cuts easier...i guess i may have enough experience to pick the changes now on a single run, one way to find out i guess.

Anyway, ended up with 20 litres, got another 16 litre of the same stuff (without the fortunate error) so will be able to fill my new 25l barrell when it gets here next week and set it aside for as long as possible.