Vodka cut with what water?

[cayars]

I wasn't sure where to post this but decided on the Flavoring and Aging section since I want to know what water to "Flavor" my Vodka with.

I had made a 5 grain Bourbon with 60% corn, 10% rye, 10% malted wheat, 10% malted barley, 10% oat. I kept the grains then added a half batch using 90% corn, 10% oat (using emzymes) then punched this up with water and sugar to a 10% wash I was going to use for a neutral.

I distilled this on a pot still with thumper 3 times. First as a fast strip run I could run fast without a lot of worry of slight puke or some corn grist making it's way through the still as I ran it dirty down to 15%. Everything but the forshots was rerun. Second run was another cleanup run ran faster but not as slow as a typical spirit run. I ran this down to 15%. I used all backset for another mash. I "nuked" the first 1/3 of the run in the microwave to 165 F to "blow off" the heads.

I then reran this a third time very slow (drip, drip, drip). I kept everything down to when it started getting cloudy (tails). I did keep running the tails to save as feints for another run.

Next I took each quart jar and nuked it to 150ish F, let it cool down, put on lid and stuck it in the freezer. Did this for every jar. Then I ran each jar through charcoal. I repeated the nuke, freezer, charcoal filter 3 times.

So I distilled 3 times or 6 times if you count the thumper like column guys count plates. Then nuked to blow off heads, and cold filtered 3 times.

I'm using this for marinates I'm preparing for the holidays.

Now where it gets interesting and getting to my question. I took some store purchased spring water and proofed it down to 40% to make a vodka from my "neutral spirits" just to see how well it would turn out. I added 5 drops of glycerin to the 3/4 quart jar. I whipped up a dirty vodka martini which is my favorite way to drink vodka.

I had chilled my glass and the vodka I made. It went down so easy I thought I goofed the proof so I rechecked it. I thought maybe I proofed it down to 40 vs 80 or something because it was just too smooth. It was 80 proof, 50% ABV at room temp.

It was too smooth. Now normally this wouldn't be a problem.
But it was too smooth for a martini if that makes any sense. It actually lacked what store bought spirits have taste wise and the martini while refreshing didn't have that "Gray Goose" taste I'm accustomed to.

So now my question after the big lead up. Since 60% of what we drink in the finished vodka is water and only 40% is alcohol what do you guys use to cut it with? Have any of you guys found any particular bottled water to be better than other? Would a bottle of Fiji, or perhaps some type of mineral water add that missing component most people are used to in their vodka?

Has anyone found any "magic" water that works best for dilution when they make a vodka like spirit?

[HDNB]

Use RO. it's clean and has a nice mouthfeel.

[6 Row Joe]

Use RO. it's clean and has a nice mouthfeel.

Yes, exactly. What do you think? 80 proof? I cut my vodka with tonic! LOL

[bluefish_dist]

I always use distilled water. I found less flavor in the water was better.

[cayars]

I've got RO/DI (can pull the water either way) as well as distilled water available but that's going to give me more "nothing/neutral" taste which is what I have right now.

That's the "problem". What I have tastes like cold water (since it was a chilled drink) with no taste at all in the martini I made. It's missing something that's found in commercial vodkas. Maybe I shouldn't have cold filtered it 3 times as it's to clean now and lost some of the grain taste.

It's actually perfect for mixed drinks as it's completely clean tasting but for a martini it's just missing something IMHO.

I realize this sound strange but it's just to "flat" for the martini. That's why I was asking if anyone uses any "special" water like Fiji or some mineral water or similar. Something that adds a bit of body/texture back since it's 60% of the finished product.

[still_stirrin]

I approach tempering with a different perspective. I use RO water because I like the “taste”, which it doesn’t have. In fact, I drink it “on the rocks”. I would never dilute my alcohol with something that I wouldn’t drink by itself.

I’ve tried glycerine before and it’s a waste of money. Fiji mineral water....yuk! The RO water is perfect...no other additives needed except an ice cube or two.

It’s funny you ask about adding flavor to a “vodka”, because most newbies try to eliminate any flavors, appropriate or not. Some even resort to “strangling” their spirits with activated charcoal...which for me is a bandaid for proorly produced products.

Focus on the recipe, ingredients, fermentation, and distillation processes and toolset and you should make it through the mess of “repairing” a screwup!
ss

[NZChris]

It sounds like you have stripped out too much of what gives vodka the character you like. No type of water can fix that.

[kimbodious]

I remember reading about a guy who usually drank Absolut vodka who ended up blending a small amount of heads in his neutral to give it the same slight burn he was used to.

[cayars]

Update and a DOH moment.

Found out why my dirty vodka martini tasted flat or missing something! Seems like someone in the household watered down my extra dry vermouth. I'm not blaming anyone but will interrogate my son later. My vermouth tasted more like water then vermouth. I'm really surprised I didn't pick this up earlier, but guess I was so concerned with the vodka I didn't think about the store purchased vermouth.

Figured it out last night and after a new vermouth bottle purchase this morning, I'm drinking a spectacular dirty martini as I type this. This is the best martini I've had in a long time. Don't judge me, it's 5 o'clock somewhere and it's my day off.

My quest for "exotic" or mineral water is over. The "vodka" was just fine the way it was in all it's "lack luster/neutral" glory. Super smooth with no bite at all IMHO.

[Bushman]

Glad you solved the problem, I am on a well in the mountains and have always considered myself fortunate.

[fizzix]

Good news, brother!
There for a while I thought your only salvation was going to be water from
a Mongolian albino trout farm or something ungodly exotic like that.

[bluefish_dist]

Don’t use DI water. It is NOT for drinking and may make you sick. If you want flavor, work on fermentation and distillation. I did a single pass carbon filter on our vodka as it seemed to smooth out any rough edges without removing much flavor. It was 3’ of 2” pipe with a coffee filter or 3 on the bottom. 8-32 coconut carbon.

[cayars]

DI water won't make you sick as it's basically close to pure water and not really much different then distilled water that you currently use. DI and Distilled water are very similar although the means to the end are different. They are both basically mineral and compound free. Unless we are in a lab, Deionized and Distilled water can mostly be used interchangeable as they are both "pure" water (depending on source).

For anyone who cares about the differences:
Deionized (DI) water is water that has been treated to remove all ions – typically, that means all of the dissolved mineral salts. Distilled water has been boiled so that it evaporates and then re-condensed, leaving most impurities behind.

Organic materials and inorganic minerals are the most common impurities found in water. The organics can typically be removed via filtering methods, including physical filters, carbon filters, and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. After this pre-treatment, the water can be sent through a DI system, which contains two types of resin: cation and anion. These two resins attract positive and negative ions, respectively, replacing them with H+ and OH-. H+ combined with OH- becomes H2O – water. The combination of filters and DI resins can remove nearly all contaminants.

Everyone here has a basic understanding of distillation. Filtered water (best) is heated until it has evaporated, turning into steam. This steam is collected in a sterile container, where it condenses and becomes water again. Because water has a lower boiling point than most contaminants (including minerals), they are left behind when the water turns into steam. The resulting water is, therefore, very pure. In addition, some water is double or triple distilled, with the condensed water being boiled and condensed a second or third time.

When it comes to distilled water vs. deionized water, both are very pure. In each case, however, the purity of the water before it goes through the water treatment makes a difference. The deionization process, for example, only removes ions – charged non-organic particles – from the water. The water should be filtered first to remove organic material, and additional filtering with a reverse osmosis (RO) system will remove a significant number of additional contaminants first. This leaves only a small amount of ionized minerals for the DI system to remove.

Water distillation, on the other hand, can remove more impurities than just ions. This process removes nearly all minerals, many chemicals, and most bacteria. That doesn't mean that it removes everything, however, especially if the water contains volatile organics and certain other contaminants. These impurities will evaporate and stay in the distilled water. As with deionized water, pre-treatment filtering is an important step.

Which way to process your water or just stop with basic carbon filtering or RO water is all dependent on the source water and what you want/need to do with the resulting water. But drinking pure water (Deionized or Distilled) won't hurt you but won't exactly help replace minerals either after a workout or when you've been out sweating in the sun working.

For most people with decent starting water using either DI or distilled water will be very similar and "pure" and pretty interchangeable in use. The preference of which to use really depends on the equipment you already have at hand and what your starting water is like.

[NZChris]

De-mineralised water is ok in small amounts, as in proofing your likker, but if you make a habit of using it for your daily drinking and cooking, you might be in for a nasty surprise.

[tubbsy]

Unless the food you eat is barren of all minerals, drinking either DI or distilled water will cause no problems what so ever.

[cayars]

Yea, I was watching a show with a panels of doctors on it with all kinds of questions being asked on all kinds of topics.
One of the questions asked was if DI or Distilled water was bad for you.

The first answer back was something like "Let me rephrase your question. Is PURE water bad for you?" He then went on to answer that it's one of the best things you can possibly drink daily but then another doctor commented about mineral waters when working out or sweating a lot, etc.

Another doctor commented that most people don't care for this type of water as it has no taste and people need to get accustomed to drinking it.