Can I re-distill junk liquor

[D-Weasel]

I have quite a bit of liquor I will never drink. A couple half bottles of tequila, a bottle of cherry pucker, a bottle of triple sec, a few bottles of wine, white and red. And a bottle of rum, which I'll probably drink during this experiment. Can I mix them all together and re-distill them? Will it strip some of the bad flavor out of the fruity stuff and make it more neutral? Is it worth the hassle? So far I've only run 2 runs through my cheap little still to clean it and figured if this didn't work I could count it as another cleaning/ test run. What's the opinion of the experts here?

Thanks

[NZChris]

Yes, you can, but I doubt you will want to drink it.

[still_stirrin]

If...you dilute the wash to 30 %ABV...and run it through a reflux still. Otherwise, you'll likely get some carryover of the base spirit flavors. But mixing tequila with candied vodkas and wine might create a very unique product...whether or not you'd like it is a crapshoot.
ss

[Kareltje]

I would drink the half bottles of tequila alongside with the bottle of rum, I think.
But every drink that contains alcohol (ethylalcohol, that is!) can be worth distilling. Just make sure you make the right cuts: remove the heads and tails.

[seamusm53]

If you are willing to distill to the point of a neutral spirit (vodka) then yes you can pour it all together. But it will probably take multiple distillations using a pot still to rid the product of the hodgepodge of flavors. You could also do it successfully with an adequate reflux still. But either way you'd waste a lot of liquor sifting the wheat from the chaff.

[D-Weasel]

I'll just drink the decent stuff and mix the junk I guess. thanks

[bentstick]

Sac runs for when ya build another Still?

[Skipper1953]

Set yourself the goal of learning how to clean it up. Wasamata with practice runs?

[Flintstone]

Run it and see what you get. I ran a hodge podge of feints (rum, peach brandy, rye&corn ujssm) and after a few months in oak, it's pretty good.

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[Truckinbutch]

Take a chance . Columbus did and people are still talking about him .

[FullySilenced]

JEEZUS Truckinbutch... Columbus was a ruthless mother f....r ... killed hundreds of thousands of natives after finding the wrong continent ... not the guy I learn about in school... I would find a different reference if I were you

happy stillin,

FS

[StillLearning1]

JEEZUS Truckinbutch... Columbus was a ruthless mother f....r ... killed hundreds of thousands of natives after finding the wrong continent ... not the guy I learn about in school... I would find a different reference if I were you

happy stillin,

FS

Maybe Columbus was a stiller and thats why he was lost?

[Truckinbutch]

Y'all ever take the time to study any of history's standouts ? They all standing on a stack of bodies .
We ought to make this discussion a separate thread instead of jacking this one .

[frost021]

I'd say go for it I have a few bottles that I plan on doing the same thing with,some of the best stuff I've tryed was a mix of undrinkable stuff put into a finished wash when my father was showing me a few things ...That being said he would Cringe even thinking of even Talking about our Hobbys . and I know some still pieces are still not to be found

[NZChris]

I'll just drink the decent stuff and mix the junk I guess. thanks

That's pretty close to the best idea. Filter the not so bad stuff through your liver and only distil products that have compatible flavours together.

The combined wines might make a great brandy. If you open a bottle and can smell sulphur it's probably better to drink it rather than distil it through a cheap SS still, but copper in the boiler and vapour path will help.

[MDH]

Distill everything but the wine. Commercial wine is full of sulfites. This will irreversibly harm the quality of the product.

[WetDog]

Distill everything but the wine. Commercial wine is full of sulfites. This will irreversibly harm the quality of the product.

I live in a wine region and regularly get the ends of the vats that are left over from bottling from my wine maker friends as well as bottled wine that has gone off. I distill 25 liters at a time in my Alembic still and have to date always ended up with a good product which is effectively Grappa. I can therefore not quite agree with your comment.


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[still_stirrin]

....Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hey WetDog, you're new here so I want to help you. Here, read this: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=65167

[thecroweater]

if you have a copper still wine will not be an issue otherwise you will need to introduce an adequate amount of copper to the vapour path

[willee]

If you have a re-flux still you can re-distill it as mann times as you wish buy remember this ... you never get 100% recovery from the wash.
You will lose a little every time you run it.

[rad14701]

If you have a re-flux still you can re-distill it as mann times as you wish buy remember this ... you never get 100% recovery from the wash.
You will lose a little every time you run it.

Correct... You will lose what is left behind in the boiler, depending on how far down you run... Even if you ran down to 0% in a parrots beak there will still be a small amount of alcohol left in the backset...

That being said, you should never need to run anything through a reflux column more than twice... The further you dilute below 40% the cleaner the resulting spirits but the more alcohol you leave behind... It's a balancing act...

[aircarbonarc]

Would be interesting to see what charcoal filtering would do to pre stilling, might really get a great batch of neutral so silent you won't know what hit you and your hangovers would never come.

[der wo]

I don't think, charcoal will help against hangovers. Many commercial vodkas and rums are charcoal filtered, but your hangover will be terrible. Perhaps it's in the foreshots what causes hangovers, perhaps it's simply the ethanol, perhaps the ethanol in combination with other things you consume, sugar for example.
Charcoal filtering between the stripping and spirit run reduces tails, so you get either more yield ore less taste. But charcoal filtering a wash is not effective. The pores get plugged.

[thecroweater]

Charcoal won't fix a hangover lessin ya fixing to eat it instead of boozing Good cuts are a great help as is moderation, and making sure you're not dehydrated. Always found a great preventative was to end the night with a Vegemite toast (super high hit of vitamin B) and a fair drink of water.

[jb-texshine]

Charcoal won't fix a hangover lessin ya fixing to eat it instead of boozing Good cuts are a great help as is moderation, and making sure you're not dehydrated. Always found a great preventative was to end the night with a Vegemite toast (super high hit of vitamin B) and a fair drink of water.

Gatorade or similar sports drink after drinking & before bed helps also.

[aircarbonarc]

Always found a great preventative was to end the night with a Vegemite toast (super high hit of vitamin B) and a fair drink of water.

I just haven't developed a taste for Vegemite or Marmite. My grandma used to push it on us along with liver paste. My buddy in Mexico used to charcoal filter this nasty cheapo cane sugar spirit through a Brita before he made jello shots.. seemed to still cause loss of tacos.

[willee]

A Geritol tablet is highly recommended with a tall glass of water sometime before bedtime.
Cure the hangover before it hits you.
There is no cure for plain bad booze!

[thecroweater]

Always found a great preventative was to end the night with a Vegemite toast (super high hit of vitamin B) and a fair drink of water.

I just haven't developed a taste for Vegemite or Marmite. My grandma used to push it on us along with liver paste. My buddy in Mexico used to charcoal filter this nasty cheapo cane sugar spirit through a Brita before he made jello shots.. seemed to still cause loss of tacos.

Always listen to Grandma, them older folks just know stuff

[lowpull]

I did just that thing. cheap ass brandy, tequilla , plastic bottle whisky and some Elderflower liquor (18 percent) I ran it on a reflux for vodka and it still had some nasty taste from the elderflower. I dont know what was in there but only thing I can think of is that it has a compound that has the same boiling point as alcohol.