Distilling Tintypist

[RangeRover]

I'm new to distilling but have a fairly strange range of interests.

I'm a wine and cider maker and want to distill the "tailings" from my wine-making tanks. Right now I have a seven gallon carboy filled with the bottom of the tank glunk from a Mendocino County pinot noir I made that was just killer. I'm guessing the alcohol was 17 to 18%. A late season warm spell shot the sugar through the roof. As I fermented the wine the concentrated berries kept pushing the sugar higher as they dissolved in the must, so I don't know what the brix turned out to be. The wine, while still young, is really nice. In the future, I could also make grappa from the pressed grape skins after fermentation, and use this as a source from fellow winemakers who usually discard this as waste.

I'm also a photographer who specializes in the wet plate collodion process. This process needs a lot of pure spirit for its photo chemistry. Most folks use 190 proof Everclear, but I can't purchase this in California, and its expensive even if I could.

Also, I love cognac. I would be interested in trying to make a really good cognac from grapes sourced here in Northern California.

I'm not really, really interested in building a still, but could be talked into it if that was the only way to go. I would rather spend the time doing photography. The question is, what still could meet all of these requirements. Or am I talking about having to use three different stills?

Any thoughts, comments, recommendations? I am totally open. While I don't have an unlimited budget, I'm serious about learning this, and would be willing to put some resources into it.

The distilling Tintypist.

[blind drunk]

tank glunk

Is that like yeasty sludge?

[ArkyJ]

Welcome to the Forum...
Far as I remember, can't make cognac from California grapes.
Can't even be made from Arkansas grapes, but seems the French
cognac grape came from Arkansas. Guess, kinda depends where you live.

If your going to make grappa or for that matter brandy, most deffinately going to
need a still. If you don't want to make one, perhaps you might wish to purchase one
from some source. Then again, taking pictures is more fun and in the end a hobby of
greater satisfaction.
ArkyJ

[RangeRover]

tank glunk

Is that like yeasty sludge?

Yes, tank glunk=yeasty sludge.

[RangeRover]

Welcome to the Forum...
Far as I remember, can't make cognac from California grapes.
Can't even be made from Arkansas grapes, but seems the French
cognac grape came from Arkansas. Guess, kinda depends where you live.

If your going to make grappa or for that matter brandy, most deffinately going to
need a still. If you don't want to make one, perhaps you might wish to purchase one
from some source. Then again, taking pictures is more fun and in the end a hobby of
greater satisfaction.
ArkyJ

My question is which still to purchase? I would like to make brand, grappa, etc. but also a pure spirit for photography. (Something close to Everclear). Is their any hardware out there that could do both?


Somet

[blind drunk]

You're gonna need two still heads - a pot still for the brandy and some sort of reflux for the true pure spirit needed for your photography. And depending on how you're gonna make grappa, you'll need a boiler with a suspended steam basket to hold the grape pomace and some device to generate the steam needed to run it. Or you can fill your suspended steam basket with the pomace and put some wine in the boiler and use the steam/alcohol generated inside the boiler to pull the goodness from the pomace. I guess you could also make a "second" wine using the pomace and then run it through your pot head like you would a brandy.

Not sure what you could do with 7 gallons of the finest pinot tank glunk

[RangeRover]

Welcome to the Forum...
Far as I remember, can't make cognac from California grapes.
Can't even be made from Arkansas grapes, but seems the French
cognac grape came from Arkansas. Guess, kinda depends where you live.

If your going to make grappa or for that matter brandy, most deffinately going to
need a still. If you don't want to make one, perhaps you might wish to purchase one
from some source. Then again, taking pictures is more fun and in the end a hobby of
greater satisfaction.
ArkyJ

I find it hard to believe that you can't make cognac from California grapes.
But, I guess your right, you can't make coganc anywhere except in Cognac, France.
However their are several distilleries making... "alambic brandy" in California, from
California grapes that's as good as anything from the major labels from France. Just
don't call if cognac.http://homedistiller.org/forum/posting. ... &p=6910797#
I agree, taking pictures is more fun.

--RR

[RangeRover]

You're gonna need two still heads - a pot still for the brandy and some sort of reflux for the true pure spirit needed for your photography. And depending on how you're gonna make grappa, you'll need a boiler with a suspended steam basket to hold the grape pomace and some device to generate the steam needed to run it. Or you can fill your suspended steam basket with the pomace and put some wine in the boiler and use the steam/alcohol generated inside the boiler to pull the goodness from the pomace. I guess you could also make a "second" wine using the pomace and then run it through your pot head like you would a brandy.

Not sure what you could do with 7 gallons of the finest pinot tank glunk

Would a Essential Extractor PSII - Column work for my purpose? They advertise being able to convert from pot still to reflux design.

As for the tank glunk. I wouldn't think that stuff is any thicker than a corn mash. Couldn't I just throw it in the pot and boil it? Just as long as it doesn't boil down dry.

As for grappa, is the problem with the pomace that it will stick to the bottom of the boiler? If you just added water to the pressed cake of grape skins, and broke it up, wouldn't that boil just fine? Is that what you mean by a second wine? Or do you mean to add sugar and re-ferment. What do they do in Italy when making grappa? Do they suspend it as you discribe? I like your suspension idea, sounds like a really interesting. Kind of like steaming vegetables!

[blind drunk]

As for the tank glunk. I wouldn't think that stuff is any thicker than a corn mash. Couldn't I just throw it in the pot and boil it? Just as long as it doesn't boil down dry.

I just don't know what good you're gonna get from boiling yeast sludge.

If you just added water to the pressed cake of grape skins, and broke it up, wouldn't that boil just fine?

There's a youtube video filmed in the hills of Tuscany where they're seen using straw to keep the pomace from scorching.

Or do you mean to add sugar and re-ferment.

That's what I meant. Probably not the best way to do it. I did it once and it was OK.

How pure do you need your spirit for the photography? That will determine what reflux head you going to need.

[RangeRover]

As for the tank glunk. I wouldn't think that stuff is any thicker than a corn mash. Couldn't I just throw it in the pot and boil it? Just as long as it doesn't boil down dry.

I just don't know what good you're gonna get from boiling yeast sludge.

If you just added water to the pressed cake of grape skins, and broke it up, wouldn't that boil just fine?

There's a youtube video filmed in the hills of Tuscany where they're seen using straw to keep the pomace from scorching.

Or do you mean to add sugar and re-ferment.

That's what I meant. Probably not the best way to do it. I did it once and it was OK.

How pure do you need your spirit for the photography? That will determine what reflux head you going to need.

I haven't gotten an alcohol reading from the pinot noir wine, but I think it may be near 18%. I would assume the tank glunk also contains 18% alcohol. What I would get out of the tank glunk may be a gallon or so of brandy. No? Believe it or not, the tank glunk doesn't taste bad. This wine had a really clean fermentation. It's yeasty for sure, but you could stand to drink a glass of it even if it looks pretty nasty.

And needless to say, as I make more wine, I'll always have more glunk. I also know quite a few of other home wine makers who mostly just discard this stuff. If I asked around I could get quite a bit of it I should think. Not to mention the local commercial wineries. They discard untold thousands of gallons of alcohol every year.

The photo process calls for 190 proof Everclear. I don't know that it has to be that level of purity to work, but I would assume the purer the better. It is used to dissolve various salts and to thin the collodion. I haven't heard anyone say that 151 proof Everclear works, so I assume that is too dilute.

What two still heads would you choose if you were trying to do what I'm describing?

I will look for that YouTube.

[blind drunk]

The photo process calls for 190 proof Everclear. I don't know that it has to be that level of purity to work, but I would assume the purer the better. It is used to dissolve various salts and to thin the collodion. I haven't heard anyone say that 151 proof Everclear works, so I assume that is too dilute.

I don't know if the still you're interested in purchasing with produce such a pure neutral. You may need one of the other reflux heads, like a Vapor Management or a Liquid Management. Not my expertise, I must admit. Although I've read that the Essential Extractor PSII will not produce the level of purity you require. I also read that some use their reflux stills, detuned, as pot stills, so that might be your best route. Hopefully the experts will chime in soon! Good luck.

I'd love to know how the yeast sludge works out. Is there a layer of wine on top of the sludge, or is it just the gunk? Can you snap and post a pic?