Devils Beard II? See poll.
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Blueraven
- Swill Maker
- Posts: 213
- Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:17 am
- Location: Occupied North
Devils Beard II? See poll.
OK sports fans see the poll question..Some old timers gotta know this one..
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Guest
I am not an old timer, but if I am correct , A devils beard has to do with burning your distilate on a spoon or plate to test the abv/purity. It is the amount of yellow/orange flame that burns over top of the white/blue flame(looks like an upside-down beard). It determines how pure your product is. the more "beard" the less pure it is. Pure alcohol will burn almost invisible or with a slight blueish tint.
And I think noone answered this because this is something that everyone here already knows.
"And if you don't know....now you know."
And I think noone answered this because this is something that everyone here already knows.
"And if you don't know....now you know."
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Guest
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Blueraven
- Swill Maker
- Posts: 213
- Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:17 am
- Location: Occupied North
ok..so whats your profile name pleaae.
Well im feeling good, so ill go ahead and be genereous.
You pretty much hit it on the head. And no most of the folk here do not know what it is..
You can look at the flame as your taking product say each glass. As your getting close to the tailings, more water less alcohol right? .. start measuring how long it takes the flame of 5 drops to die off. Maybe YOU can tell by the flame alone.
Anyway, i thght it was a neat way to tell and its been used for a real long time by many moonshiners.
Hope everyone enjoyed the info..
Well im feeling good, so ill go ahead and be genereous.
You pretty much hit it on the head. And no most of the folk here do not know what it is..
You can look at the flame as your taking product say each glass. As your getting close to the tailings, more water less alcohol right? .. start measuring how long it takes the flame of 5 drops to die off. Maybe YOU can tell by the flame alone.
Anyway, i thght it was a neat way to tell and its been used for a real long time by many moonshiners.
Hope everyone enjoyed the info..
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Guest
I know this......
Most of the people that have been in this forum for a LONG time have read homedistiller time and time again....and have much of it memorized. Anyone that has actually read the site (and not just said that they have read it) knows what this is. I know I can sound like a smart - a$$....but I don't mean to. I am glad that you enjoy knowing about this tradition. I know I have personally been practicing some of the traditional methods of testing my spirit since I started. Fourway replied to a post that I started quite some time ago(i think it was in the old forum), And I follow it to a "T" every time I run anything. Using your senses...smell, taste, touch, sight, etc....are an excellent way to learn about the product and cuts. If you read homedistiller.org you will find it...I emailed it to Tony, and he added it to the site. I can't find it now....but if there was A way I could find it from the old forums...I would post it here, I think it is very helpfull for newbies and old timers.
Most of the people that have been in this forum for a LONG time have read homedistiller time and time again....and have much of it memorized. Anyone that has actually read the site (and not just said that they have read it) knows what this is. I know I can sound like a smart - a$$....but I don't mean to. I am glad that you enjoy knowing about this tradition. I know I have personally been practicing some of the traditional methods of testing my spirit since I started. Fourway replied to a post that I started quite some time ago(i think it was in the old forum), And I follow it to a "T" every time I run anything. Using your senses...smell, taste, touch, sight, etc....are an excellent way to learn about the product and cuts. If you read homedistiller.org you will find it...I emailed it to Tony, and he added it to the site. I can't find it now....but if there was A way I could find it from the old forums...I would post it here, I think it is very helpfull for newbies and old timers.
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pothead here
I found it....well, a copy of it,anyway
Anyway, this was given to me when i first started this hobby...
"just go by what's coming out.
you smell it.
you put it in a spoon and burn it.
you drip it on a plate and burn it.
you taste it.
you rub it on your hands and smell it.
you rub it on your hands and feel it.
you put it in a little vial or bottle and shake it and look at the bubbles."
"as long as it lights easily in a spoon it's over 100 proof.
When it won't light in a spoon but will light on a plate it's under 100 proof but over 75 or so.
If it burns clear and blue and steady with a flame you can't see in sunlight it's very pure.
If it burns with a yellow "beard" it's got some fusils and impurities... the bigger the beard the more off it is."
"See how much liquid is left in the spoon after the burning stops."
"Taste your output, compare it to the taste of the liquid left in the spoon after burning.
Tasting isn't very accurate for strength (and it gets less and less accurate the more you do it) but it is the most accurate test of how your stuff actually tastes (imagine that)."
"Catch some of the output and rub it between and all over your hands.
Move your hands from arms length toward your face, see how close you have to get to smell it.
Feel how fast it evaporates.
Feel when you rub it between your hands whether it feels oily or slippery (like soap) or scrunchy. "
"Learn to recognise how those feelings correspond to smell and taste and to how it burns."
"Put an half an ounce to an ounce of your output in a small glass bottle or vial with a tight fitting cap and give it a vigorous shake.
Look at the bubbles that form briefly along the edge of the liquid in a string like beads. (READING THE BEAD)
bigger more uniform bubbles happen at higher proof and it will stop "beading" alltogether as you start to drop below 100 proof. "
"Do all these things at regular intervals every time you run.
Pay attention to how these sensory tests corrispond to one another at different points in the run."
"Don't expect to understand exactly what you are seeing and smelling and tasting and feeling the first several times you do it.
Remember that you are training your senses as much as you are learning an intellectual set of tests... the senses learn through consistancy and repitition."
"Just keep doing it, consider it an integral part of your process even if at first you can't tell what good it's doing."
"It will all come together. There are people who can nail proof within two or three points by rubbing the liquor between their hands. The only thing they've got that you don't is experience... and if you don't do the tests whether you "get" them or not you'll never gain the experience. "
Once you senses are trained to tell proof, purity, etc... then this dilution calculator might help.
http://homedistiller.org/calcs/dilute" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
"just go by what's coming out.
you smell it.
you put it in a spoon and burn it.
you drip it on a plate and burn it.
you taste it.
you rub it on your hands and smell it.
you rub it on your hands and feel it.
you put it in a little vial or bottle and shake it and look at the bubbles."
"as long as it lights easily in a spoon it's over 100 proof.
When it won't light in a spoon but will light on a plate it's under 100 proof but over 75 or so.
If it burns clear and blue and steady with a flame you can't see in sunlight it's very pure.
If it burns with a yellow "beard" it's got some fusils and impurities... the bigger the beard the more off it is."
"See how much liquid is left in the spoon after the burning stops."
"Taste your output, compare it to the taste of the liquid left in the spoon after burning.
Tasting isn't very accurate for strength (and it gets less and less accurate the more you do it) but it is the most accurate test of how your stuff actually tastes (imagine that)."
"Catch some of the output and rub it between and all over your hands.
Move your hands from arms length toward your face, see how close you have to get to smell it.
Feel how fast it evaporates.
Feel when you rub it between your hands whether it feels oily or slippery (like soap) or scrunchy. "
"Learn to recognise how those feelings correspond to smell and taste and to how it burns."
"Put an half an ounce to an ounce of your output in a small glass bottle or vial with a tight fitting cap and give it a vigorous shake.
Look at the bubbles that form briefly along the edge of the liquid in a string like beads. (READING THE BEAD)
bigger more uniform bubbles happen at higher proof and it will stop "beading" alltogether as you start to drop below 100 proof. "
"Do all these things at regular intervals every time you run.
Pay attention to how these sensory tests corrispond to one another at different points in the run."
"Don't expect to understand exactly what you are seeing and smelling and tasting and feeling the first several times you do it.
Remember that you are training your senses as much as you are learning an intellectual set of tests... the senses learn through consistancy and repitition."
"Just keep doing it, consider it an integral part of your process even if at first you can't tell what good it's doing."
"It will all come together. There are people who can nail proof within two or three points by rubbing the liquor between their hands. The only thing they've got that you don't is experience... and if you don't do the tests whether you "get" them or not you'll never gain the experience. "
Once you senses are trained to tell proof, purity, etc... then this dilution calculator might help.
http://homedistiller.org/calcs/dilute" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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pothead
- Rumrunner
- Posts: 537
- Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2004 8:46 am
- Location: at my freakin' computer
Blueraven wrote:thats neat info pothead here.
glad you posted it. I had seen some of it ard somewhere, maybe it was the "org".
timing the flamed duration is a new one it seems.
We are communicating..
I'm glad you liked reading it...and it is very helpful in understanding your products. I know that when I taste what is left in the spoon after I burn some of my grape brandy, if it doesn't taste like a mild grape juice.....then I know something wasn't quite right with my fermentation.
I was just suprized to read that more people here have never heard of the devils beard, And I hope that the info i posted above helps people the same way it helps me. actually doing ALL of the stuff above really helps....now I will start timing the flame as well.
"Be nice to America, or we'll bring democracy to your country."
"The best things in life aren't things."
"Imagination is more important than Knowledge"-Albert Einstein
"The best things in life aren't things."
"Imagination is more important than Knowledge"-Albert Einstein
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excaliber
- Novice
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 5:17 pm
Thanks, was useful. Never heard of it either, but I'm new 
Just tried it with some of my triple-distilled apple brandy. Lit in a spoon no problem, but had a decent sized yellow "beard" about halfway through the burn. Sucker burnt for ages though! I'm amazed at how long it burnt, I figured it would go out rather quickly. As a sidenote, its taught me to be super careful. Id hate to see a liter of this stuff, alight, flowing over carpet or something.
Anyhow, guess that means my product is over 100 proof. Yay! Really wish I had an hydrometer.
Just tried it with some of my triple-distilled apple brandy. Lit in a spoon no problem, but had a decent sized yellow "beard" about halfway through the burn. Sucker burnt for ages though! I'm amazed at how long it burnt, I figured it would go out rather quickly. As a sidenote, its taught me to be super careful. Id hate to see a liter of this stuff, alight, flowing over carpet or something.
Anyhow, guess that means my product is over 100 proof. Yay! Really wish I had an hydrometer.
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Guest
excaliber wrote:Thanks, was useful. Never heard of it either, but I'm new
Just tried it with some of my triple-distilled apple brandy. Lit in a spoon no problem, but had a decent sized yellow "beard" about halfway through the burn. Sucker burnt for ages though! I'm amazed at how long it burnt, I figured it would go out rather quickly. As a sidenote, its taught me to be super careful. Id hate to see a liter of this stuff, alight, flowing over carpet or something.
Anyhow, guess that means my product is over 100 proof. Yay! Really wish I had an hydrometer.
I would guess that you got the beard after it burned for a bit because the higher proof burned off. It is pretty normal for pot-stilled spirits to have a bit of a beard after a bit of burning in a spoon.
Did you try tasting what was left in the spoon after the flame went out (if it taste like apple juice then you did good...if it taste like cardboard or something else, then you probably collected a little too far into the tails) and then compare it to the taste of the spirit?
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excaliber
- Novice
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Mon May 16, 2005 5:17 pm
I tasted what was left, but there wasn't very much. It actually tasted surprisingly like my original apple cider before distilling, although more bitter. Probably went a tad far into the tails. Then again, the cider was kind of bitter before distilling anyhow.Anonymous wrote:Did you try tasting what was left in the spoon after the flame went out (if it taste like apple juice then you did good...if it taste like cardboard or something else, then you probably collected a little too far into the tails) and then compare it to the taste of the spirit?
The taste of the spirit was impossible to tell. I took a small sip and it was like being hit in the face by a 2x4 with nails on the end. My eyes teared up, throat burned like fire and I was salivating intensely for a good 3 minutes. Mind you, I've never had a straight shot of anything over 80 proof, so this was quite a shock.
The smell test (swirl in cup, empty, leave overnight, smell cup in morning) turned up no nasty aromas at all.
Quick question. Why does burning in a spoon and burning on a plate make a difference? How is the plate more easily flammable?
