Distilling sour wine

[Dutch John]

Someone gave me 25 liters of not so good red wine. Could strip it with my valved reflux column and go for only the alcohol. But what if I would take out all scrubbers and distill with no reflux? Is it possible to get something tasty out of it?

Regards,
DJ

[rad14701]

Give it a whirl... Worst case scenario, it'll taste like sour brandy and you'll just have to run it through again with packing to get neutral spirits... It'll give you practice and experience at the very least...

[Dutch John]

OK, rad14701, I will tell you in 24 hours what the result is.

[Lagerman64]

Blending is key to all endevours especially when it comes to "off" products, that's what sets the pro's from from the the joe's. I think charred oak can help improve beverages, especially those needing blending. What it boils down to is taste, if you can blend the available flavors into a drinakable product, you're hired. It's not something everyone can do, if you have the talent, go for it and don't look back.

[Fester]

What it boils down to is taste, if you can blend the available flavors into a drinakable product, you're hired.

Can I hire you part-time, LM64? I admit I need more experience in that department. I know I cut out too much. Difficult for me to know where the flavor and the greed lines are. Just too blurry. Experience has taught me to be conservative with the cuts. And crap that I could not drink was delicious after a few months of oak ageing. I have more to learn than I know.
About 3 months ago I took about 12 gallons of “experiments” (a gallon or two each of different recipes and different proofs and different ages – from 3 months to about a year or so) and tasted each bottle. If it tasted OK it went into a 6 gallon carboy. If not, it went into the boiler. At the end I had a 6 gallon carboy full of bourbon/rum/something that was simply amazing. whodathunkit.

Fester

[Dutch John]

I can tell you it is more fun to distill sour wine, than stripping a turbo fermented sugar wash... No stinky smell in the house, but a nice sweet flavour. Distinct difference in foreshots, heads and middle run. The middle run (70% AV) tastes like sweet cognac that needs aging. The flavour is not very strong, probably because it was not wine, but rosé that I distilled. I cut up the heads and tails in several portions and want to have them age separately. Perhaps add the parts near to the middle run later for more flavour, if these improve in taste?

I'll study the flavouring and aging section. Some toasted oak will do no harm, I guess. Vanilla fits to the flavour. I'll split up the batch in 3/4 liter parts and experiment with different flavouring. Is it better to have it age first like it is now? And flavour later? Or is aging and flavouring a process that must be combined? I ask this, because I want to add the near foreshots and tails (if the taste improves) to the middle run.

Regards,
DJ

[Fester]

I cut up the heads and tails in several portions and want to have them age separately.

omg, Dutch John, never even thought about that. crap, now I need a lot more bottles. crap, crap, crap!

Fester

[KenZakreski]

Did you clean the still before and after the use of wine?

Just wondering about previous distillations altering the flavours?

roaster

[cuginosgrizzo]

Ken do you realize that this post is 8 years old, and the latest post by the OP dates back to Aug 2008?