Craft beer whiskey

[mendodistilling]

I'm interested in hearing what you guys have cooking with craft beers you've made into whiskeys or anything else you have come up with. What barrels have worked for aging? What have you found from using/not using hops?


I've got a few beers I really love and want to try and make some larger batches and do some runs and let them sit. I'd love to hear your feedback. On the tap for me at the moment are: Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout, Dog Fishhead IPA 60 Minute, Xingu Dark Lager, and many more rotate through. I'd love to get some 5-10 gallon barrels started to see how the flavor gets mellower and tastier in oak.

[Dnderhead]

yuk ..hops bad..

[mendodistilling]

Can you go into what the issue with hops is? I've tasted something lately that really impressed me, it was and IPA with hops and all and it was aged for almost 2 years and it was very delicious and smooth, not a hint of anything unpleasant whatsoever and I'm very interested in working with really good beer and looking for pointers... any suggestions?

[blind drunk]

No suggestions except go for it. By how you describe it, it has some great potential. The member, Odin, has made some positive comments on beer schnapps.

[mendodistilling]

Anyone seen any links for threads about this I can look into? I'm seeing Corsair and Charbay to think of a few that seem to have some exceptional whiskeys out of their pot stills. Corsair made some exceptional marks in seemingly all categories for ADI's competition this year. They had a stout whiskey I think that made me really get my mind going on what could transfer from everything I love about sweets, asian food, and so many other bobby flay recipes I make, lol... I'm going to be a raging alcoholic or have lots of new friends when these trials get underway, haha.

Anyone who has some good links of anything relavent, post it here for me if you wouldn't mind for reference when I get the mashes underway. Thanks! Anyone else with any info chime in, I'd love to hear your input! Newbie on the loose looking for info!

[astronomical]

I'm going to be a raging alcoholic or have lots of new friends when these trials get underway, haha.
!

only if you have a giant all grain system and a lot/large of fermenters.... just sayin...

heres a thread for you... it may seem cheap now, but, wait til ya get your hands dirty

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 7&start=15

[Samohon]

Seems to be a rush of beer (hop) based whiskeys coming to the fore.

I never discount product on other peoples tastes. If thats you thing then keep us in the loop.

ATM, I'm with Dnderhead... Yuk.. Seems that the distillation process does something to the taste/smell of the hop when vaporised.
Maybe each type of hop is different, but I never experimented, I only use them for my beers...

[heartcut]

Maybe making unhopped beer, distilling, then dry hopping the spirits would be a way to go. Think I'll save the hops for beer.

[mendodistilling]

Is the yuk for the white dog off the still or barrel aged? I was gonna get one of these cute little 5 gallon barrels and make some trial runs. I was just kidding about the ragin alcoholic bc of so many trials possible, not the quantity. Like going into a brew pub and crawling out after 5-6 beers, lol... line up 6-8 whiskeys after a full few days of brewing and racking. Ive got a 15 gallon system called a sabco brew magic to make 10 gallons, usually get about 8 gallons per run and have the itch to get a 7bbl so i can get 5 gallons of distilate per run. Ive got a license application in right now so this is more of a fun project that i can see if i wanna get more serious but enjoy it now w/o worry of problems knocking at my door.

Back to the idea at hand. If you could lower pH of the beer and make it with the same recipe w/o hops i wonder what it would taste like.... hmmmm.... maybe ill have to make a few mason jar trials.

Its too bad you cant buy oak barrels in pint size, although i guess you can buy chips/shavings.

[heartcut]

Unhopped distilled barley malt beer is pretty much Scotch. I've made some really nice hootch with that method. Good luck, think you'll be happy with the results.

[blind drunk]

Is the yuk for the white dog off the still or barrel aged?

The yuk is for the white dog, I'm pretty sure. I like this idea 'cause of the barrel aging. That changes everything! You mentioned that you tried it and thought it was good.

[Odin]

Beer brandy is fine. With hops. My experience is that you might want to distill a slightly higher abv beer to get the best results. In a 5% beer the hops can overwhelm taste. In a 8% beer you are probably fine. Or take a less hoppy beer.

Odin.

[Durace11]

I think we've gone over this before but if you read the Corsair description they make a whiskey type wash and the hops go in a gin basket during the distillation process. That's what I've read in the past.

[Dnderhead]

iv tried this using leftover beer.it was a mix. the bitterness came over more than anything else.covering up all other taste.
if you like things thats bitter it whould be fine.if you after the grain/beer flavor then no.

[mendodistilling]

So a balanced beer recipe is crucial? Stonger ale flavor, stronger hops will fly. I was sort of curious about trying to make a mellowed whiskey with a pilsner, a kolsch, an oatmeal stout and an ipa and see how they change over time, it would be quite interesting to do this using oak chips. I've got a strong suspicion from seeing the peary and the final eau de vie product that a pilsner will make a nice young whiskey with smooth qualities. I'll have to look into corsairs projects, they always seem to be up to something news. They are living the life i want to, lol... playing in the lab!

[astronomical]

boiling hops = more IBUs.... simple as that... I like the dryhopping/maserating idea much better... I don't think you'll get much besides bitterness if the hops are in the actual boil/wash

[whiskeyD]

This is Darek, the owner of Corsair. You are correct. We have made hopped whiskeys several ways and to us the best flavor is to treat hops like the botanicals you put in gin and run it through a carter head. We have a carter head style gin still that we use for our Rasputin hopped whiskey. The carter head brings over more of the floral characteristics so it works very well with aroma hops. We have tried dry hopping, using a hopback, late hops addition during hearts distillation, and of course just hopping the beer normally before distillation. Using the gin basket has been our favorite method. We were going for more aroma hops character and less bitterness. Of course it all comes down to what kind of flavor you are after.

I think we've gone over this before but if you read the Corsair description they make a whiskey type wash and the hops go in a gin basket during the distillation process. That's what I've read in the past.

[rgarry]

That makes sense. Dry hopping of beer is used mostly for aroma. Treating it like gin, seems right. Probably best with some of the c hops.

[MandolinBS13]

Sounds like a waste of good beer to me. I love IPA but I don't see any need to distill it.

[whiskeyD]

If you like hoppy beers, you will probably love hopped whiskey. We get a lot of beer guys in our distillery on tours who 'just aren't that into whiskey.' I know, what is wrong with these people. When they try one of our hopped whiskeys, they really dig it. And hey, I understand. I was a beer geek and home brewer for a very, very long time before I became a distiller. But now every time I try a beer, I wonder what it would taste like distilled.

To a distiller, beer is simply whiskey that hasn't reached its true potential.

Sounds like a waste of good beer to me. I love IPA but I don't see any need to distill it.

[Prairiepiss]

I know this is off topic. But could you expand on this a little more?

Ive got a license application in right now so this is more of a fun project that i can see if i wanna get more serious but enjoy it now w/o worry of problems knocking at my door.

What part of the world are you in? And what kind of license application is it?

[mendodistilling]

DSP, Ive got some base products we are trying to make into more profitable products. Not going into anymore detail yet until its finalized. I've got a location and working with the county which has taken way too long but its moving in the right direction.