What does distilled six times mean?

[Tomb]

Sorry, but this has been bugging me and I could not find an answer with search......

Seeing a lot of commercial vodka saying distilled five or even six times. Does this mean run through the same still six times or just they calculate it to be equivalent to six runs through a pot still?

I cannot imagine running product through a column five or six times.

Tom

[Windy City]

Generally when a company claims 6,10,20 etc distillations they are counting each plate in a column. I believe Titos vodka is pot stilled therefore they would run it through the pot still, dilute and rerun 6 times in that order.

[jb-texshine]

Titos is pretty damn good too

[Saltbush Bill]

Generally when a company claims 6,10,20 etc distillations they are counting each plate in a column.

Lets hope this is true, if it isn't the people who claim this either need to get better stills, learn to make better cuts, or learn to make better washes /mashes.

[still_stirrin]

Whaaaaat.....no carbon filtering????

[Bushman]

Generally when a company claims 6,10,20 etc distillations they are counting each plate in a column. I believe Titos vodka is pot stilled therefore they would run it through the pot still, dilute and rerun 6 times in that order.

Windy, I think you are probably right about the plates. There is a distillery somewhere near Michigan (can't remember the name) that claims 18 times distilled vodka. With those man hours I just don't see a profit if they were to actually do 18 distillations. Also labelling is really regulated here in the States so I am surprised they are allowed to put it on the labels.

[gemcutter]

Generally when a company claims 6,10,20 etc distillations they are counting each plate in a column. I believe Titos vodka is pot stilled therefore they would run it through the pot still, dilute and rerun 6 times in that order.

Windy, I think you are probably right about the plates. There is a distillery somewhere near Michigan (can't remember the name) that claims 18 times distilled vodka. With those man hours I just don't see a profit if they were to actually do 18 distillations. Also labelling is really regulated here in the States so I am surprised they are allowed to put it on the labels.

we need labling laws applied to politicians too....you can keep your plan

[Jimbo]

TTB has no accommodation in its regulations for X times distilled requirements. So distillers can pull anything out of their ass that they please.

[pfshine]

Titos cheated and used gns and ran it through a pot still once they got it. All so they could say made by hand in a pot still. Pretty much bs if you ask me.

[Tomb]

Hmmm, so your saying it could mean how many cups of coffee the distiller had during the run?

Could a 5 or 6 plate still produce decent vodka?
Maybe 6 batches blended together?

[Jimbo]

Hmmm, so your saying it could mean how many cups of coffee the distiller had during the run?

Yup.

Could a 5 or 6 plate still produce decent vodka?
Maybe 6 batches blended together?

Not sure what you mean by 6 batches blended together, but a 6 plate still could make a nice vodka if your starting mash was done carefully and cleanly (good recipe, clean yeast, low slow ferment bla bla)

[Brutal]

I've had a jug or three of Tito's. Tasted medicinal and smelled of heads. I could even smell/taste it mixed in drinks. I honestly did not like it.

[S-Cackalacky]

Hmmm, so your saying it could mean how many cups of coffee the distiller had during the run?

Yup.

Could a 5 or 6 plate still produce decent vodka?
Maybe 6 batches blended together?

Not sure what you mean by 6 batches blended together, but a 6 plate still could make a nice vodka if your starting mash was done carefully and cleanly (good recipe, clean yeast, low slow ferment bla bla)

I think what he means is that each batch was one distillation and if you blend together 6 separately distilled batches into one, you had to distill 6 times to get the one blended batch. Technically it took 6 distillations to get the one blended batch. I can see how some devious sob might reason that out.

[still_stirrin]

...Technically, it took 6 distillations to get the one blended batch. I can see how some devious sob might reason that out.

And then...run it through a carbon filter...just to make sure!

[raketemensch]

Then drink it, piss it, and run it again. You can count each digestive organ as another distillation.

[shadylane]

There ain't much left if you pot-still, dilute and do it 6 times.
But it is pretty clean tasting.

[Jimbo]

There ain't much left if you pot-still, dilute and do it 6 times.
But it is pretty clean tasting.

My current vodka is potstilled 5x over, and then 2 plate fluted again, so I guess 8? I tell you what, redistilling a spirit 5 times is a ROYAL pain in the balls. Never again on a potstill, but I plan to make a batch of wheat vodka with 2 passes through the 2 plate for a 6x distilled plus 2 for the cups of coffee makes 8X.

[aquavita]

I've had a jug or three of Tito's. Tasted medicinal and smelled of heads. I could even smell/taste it mixed in drinks. I honestly did not like it.

I agree Brutal. After all of the whoopla, had me a few martini's made from Titos - ouch the headache. I am a big Texas fan, but the stuff just does not work for me. YMMV.

By the way - good to be back y'all. Took a summer Hiatus - time to get back to work in the still room.

[Windy City]

6 batches run through a 6 plate still 6 times then all blended together 6 x 6 x 6 = 216
A not so scrupulous marketer could make the claim of 216 distillations in every bottle

[rager]

Titos cheated and used gns and ran it through a pot still once they got it. All so they could say made by hand in a pot still. Pretty much bs if you ask me.

not calling bullshit , but do you have a link or anything to back that up ? im no fan of titos anymore, i would like to educate people of the use of GNS in products like titos and not be talking out my ass

Hmmm, so your saying it could mean how many cups of coffee the distiller had during the run?

Yup.

Could a 5 or 6 plate still produce decent vodka?
Maybe 6 batches blended together?

Not sure what you mean by 6 batches blended together, but a 6 plate still could make a nice vodka if your starting mash was done carefully and cleanly (good recipe, clean yeast, low slow ferment bla bla)

I think what he means is that each batch was one distillation and if you blend together 6 separately distilled batches into one, you had to distill 6 times to get the one blended batch. Technically it took 6 distillations to get the one blended batch. I can see how some devious sob might reason that out.

i can see that reasoning

I've had a jug or three of Tito's. Tasted medicinal and smelled of heads. I could even smell/taste it mixed in drinks. I honestly did not like it.

yep, no more titos for me

6 batches run through a 6 plate still 6 times then all blended together 6 x 6 x 6 = 216
A not so scrupulous marketer could make the claim of 216 distillations in every bottle

i actually had this exact convo with randy on the way home from jedfest. we got to talking about titos and being distilled 6 times. he brought up a product that claimed 17 times distilled on their label. he said that a single run on a 17 plate still could market it as 17 distilled.



all i know is that it shouldnt take more than 2-3 times through make a good product for yourself

[gemcutter]

6 times distilled means you closest comppetition has five tives on their label

[thecroweater]

5 plates and a packed reflux module will give you an excellent vodka , with some poetic licence i guess you could call that 6 distillations. 5 thump boxes might be another explanation

[S-Cackalacky]

This discussion puts me in a quandary. I have a gallon of URRV (cut and blended) that was stripped with thumper attached and then a spirit run with the thumper attached. Which, in my reckoning, means that it was a 3X distillation. Now, I'm going to take half of that URRV, macerate it for gin, put the macerated spirits in the thumper and plain water in the pot still boiler. After the run, will the resulting product be 3.5 distillations? Can you actually have a half distillation?

[Kegg_jam]

Seems to me any time the product changes states from a liquid to vapor should count as something. With a packed column falling into a somewhat gray theoretical realm.

[Brutal]

@SC, I would interpret that as 4.0 distillations. But that's just from what I've read. When people refer to a thumper run as 1.5x distillations, I don't fully agree. I think they are looking at it as in getting a higher %, but there's no denying that the mash was vaporized once, then condensed and vaporized again. Whiiiich is what's happening in a plated column.. If it hasn't been illustrated here well enough already I'll say it again: The number doesn't mean shit.

I would personally call it "good likker."

Note: feeling sick this morning, so if this post doesn't make good sense please excuse me.

[S-Cackalacky]

Brutal, I've been on the wrong side of the thumper argument as well. The consensus around here seems to be that it's 1.5 distillations with the thumper attached. I was being a little facetious about the 1/2 distillation. I guess if you're using the still boiler for steam injection, you've changed the application of the thumper and it is then the primary distillation device. So, I would contend, in that case, it would be a full distillation. In my example, my gin would then be 4X distilled.

That said, I agree - doesn't really matter how many times it goes through the still as long as you're satisfied with the flavor (or lack of flavor). I would think that after a certain number of distillations, it becomes redundant.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

[pfshine]

http://m.statesman.com/news/business/la ... ade/nhWgM/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow


http://www.bevlaw.com/bevlog/vodka/tito-responds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Bushman]

http://m.statesman.com/news/business/la ... ade/nhWgM/


http://www.bevlaw.com/bevlog/vodka/tito-responds" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Yep, I knew I had read about it in the past and was going to make a comment. Glad you found the articles. Tito's had a big following and at first we could not get it in Washington so I bought a bottle out of state and had the same disappointment as mentioned above.

[Jimbo]

I know some vodka connoisseur is gonna bash me for this, but this whole vodka thing, handmade or not, expensive boutique or not horseshit boggles my mind. Its all neutral spirit. I bet the folks here make a vodka every bit as good as Belvedere or Grey Goose or any of em, and probably with sugar base. Ive tasted many. I like Potatoe vodka, seems to have something to wrap the tongue around that makes it more unique than rubbing alcohol. But by and large, damned if a $13 half gallon of Sams brand tastes any different than a $26 bottle of Goose at 400% higher cost. In a blind vodka tasting at a distilling class Windy and I took together, the class by and large preferred the plastic bottle, bottom shelf Wolfschmidt vodka over many high tier brands.

I know the point with Titos is his lack of integrity, passing off some factory GNS out of Indiana for "Hand Crafted" spirit. For that, the guy is an unscrupulous deceitful opportunistic asshole. But the populace wants to spend a lot of money for what amounts to little more than fuel alcohol that costs pennies to produce. Who's the idiot?

[raketemensch]

I know some vodka connoisseur is gonna bash me for this, but this whole vodka thing, handmade or not, expensive boutique or not horseshit boggles my mind. Its all neutral spirit. I bet the folks here make a vodka every bit as good as Belvedere or Grey Goose or any of em, and probably with sugar base. Ive tasted many. I like Potatoe vodka, seems to have something to wrap the tongue around that makes it more unique than rubbing alcohol. But by and large, damned if a $13 half gallon of Sams brand tastes any different than a $26 bottle of Goose at 400% higher cost. In a blind vodka tasting at a distilling class Windy and I took together, the class by and large preferred the plastic bottle, bottom shelf Wolfschmidt vodka over many high tier brands.

It still amazes me to sit down at a bar and see 30, 40, sometimes closer to 100 bottles of vodka. There'll be 15 flavors of Stoli, 15 flavors of Goose, etc.

Now that hot whiskey is a thing, I'm starting to see more whiskeys, and I'm wondering if we're headed in that same direction. There are blackberry whiskeys, cherry whiskeys, etc. starting to appear. I'd be all for it if it was better quality, but so far it seems to be the same as the vodka.