Testing for taste and odour

[Rod]

When it is said that ethanol is odourless and tasteless , what does this mean

ie is it like water , with a kick

I have some double distilled spirit , made from sugar and temperature , tolerant yeast , that I diluted to about 40% and then added bicarbonate too after the first run .

I am using a super reflux still and the second run came over at 90% , with the thermometer showing 80°C

I realize the temperature depends on where the bulb is situated , mine is pretty close to the outlet before it goes into the condenser.

The 90% spirit tastes hot with some minor taste , but some small odour

When I dilute it 50/50 with tap water , say 45% ,the odour is very close to neutral and the taste is very , very close to water.

The goal is to have odourless and tasteless , but is this really possible .

I used to work in the food industry so I can lay claim to having a fairly well trained palate , and my ability to smell is very good .

It would help if I had another distiller to give an opinion , but that is not possible

I feel my spirit is good enough to add essence to , but as somebody on this forum comments , you get used to own stuff and cannot pick up small differences ,

I make beer and guests comment that it does not taste like homebrew when asked to give an honest opinion without hurting my feelings.

I do not know anyone who drinks straight vodka , which probably "tastes" anyway

after all this rambling ,

what is odourless and tasteless when talking about home distilled ethanol

[pintoshine]

I had the same problem when I first got a column still. Just what is good vodka supposed to taste like? Well let me tell you it is hard to qualify. Like you I have a very well trained pallet from attending quite a lot of tastings for whiskey and vodka. Let me recommend a standard for you.
Skyy vodka is a standard flavorless vodka. < 1ml impurities per liter.
I had some reagent grade once that was <1 ppm but it was awful.

To me ethanol and water has a citrus like quality. Therefore it mixes well with most citrus. You can detect the subtle differences much better when you water it down with a good quality spring water. Two parts water to one part vodka at 40% will show up any off flavors immediately. Some cheap vodkas are undrinkable mixed with water. They just plain stink. American brand sells a 1.75 L in a plastic bottle that I would have to charcoal filter to even be able to drink.

[HookLine]

The commercial brand I use for comparison is Finlandia. It is not the very top of the range, but it not far from it (ie it is not real expensive). I don't have too much trouble making a vodka that is as clean as Finlandia, and I am pretty sure that most other home distillers with a few runs under their belt don't either.

[PUGIDOGS]

I dilute mind down like pint O says. It really makes the off tastes stand out. I am not much of a vodka drinker myself but when I get a bunch of extra heads and tails saved up, I run em. Last batch came out with a little off taste. I think it was from a slightly dirty column. Brought this over to a friends party and had nothing but rave reviews. They all requested more. I guess sometimes we can be a little over critical of our product....Pugi

[wineo]

Ive been on the same quest,and if yours tastes almost like water,with most of the taste at the end,your getting close.I dont think you can get a truly flavorless,oderless product without going to extremes to get there.The best way that I know to come close is to run the cleanest wash you can,enough times that you can build up a bunch of low wines,doing stripping runs,throwing out the first 200mls on every run,and not collecting too far into the tails on the stripping runs.Once you have enough,do a spirit run,run slow and make hard cuts so you keep nothing but hearts.If everything was clean to begin with,and you make good cuts,it should be real clean at this point.If you want even cleaner,water the hearts down to 40% and distill again making hard cuts.I have drank some that was made this way,and was potstilled 4 times,while making cuts on 3 of the runs,and its the cleanest Ive ever had.You just have to start out with alot,and be willing to throw quite a bit out to get there.