Distilling box wine

[blm]

I was told that distilling box wine was something easy that I could try for running the still the first time is there any harm in drinking the alcohol that comes from distilling box wine? I did distill some water yesterday so any oils should be washed off.

[Corsaire]

It's wise to toss out the first alcohol run you do. Some stuff dissolves better in hot ethanol than water so it'll clean up some more. It's part of the recommended cleaning here.

Sure you can use cheap box wine but I'd recommend a sugar wash. It's cheaper and you'll want to ferment anyway so you may as well try it out on something you'll discard anyway.

[NZChris]

You should also be doing a vinegar run before you do the sacrificial alcohol run.

[Odin]

Box wines may contain excessive amounts of sulfates that might translate over into your brandy due to the concentrating that takes place during distillation.

Odin.

[8Ball]

You are getting some really good advice so far. Suggest you do some more reading to be safe. Good luck.

[The Baker]

A few years ago I was given a super-market trolley load of box wines.

Out of date, damaged labels/ boxes...

And the amount of sediment in the wine was amazing. Probably bentonite.
So maybe add water, but let the wine stand and pour/ rack it off the sediment.

Geoff

[Odin]

And add some hydrogen peroxide (3%) to degas it and get rid of the potential sulfur contamination.

Regards, Odin.

[Corsaire]

Would sacrificial copper be of use as well to reduce sulphur compounds?

[cayars]

After doing a proper cleaning runs with vinegar followed by a sacrificial fermented sugar wash.

You can get sulfite test strips or a Wine Test SO2 Sulfite Indicator https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wine-Test-SO2- ... SwVeZdWzcW pretty cheap to use for testing to know what range of sulfites are in the wine.

Sulphites are volitile and semi-easy to remove.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fo ... e12287272/
https://itsfinetowine.com/how-to-remove ... from-wine/

Here's a quick read of how to remove or lower sulfites in commercial wines using household hydrogen peroxide as Odin suggested.
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/wine-sulf ... ve-anyway/

Here's a calculator that will help you figure out how much hydrogen peroxide to use.
https://www.winebusiness.com/tools/?go= ... alc&cid=22

If you aerates the wine well before adding it to the boiler you can remove a good portion of the sulphites. Hydrogen peroxide can remove the rest or lower it to the point it won't hurt anything.

[navan4]

After doing a proper cleaning runs with vinegar followed by a sacrificial fermented sugar wash.

You can get sulfite test strips or a Wine Test SO2 Sulfite Indicator https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wine-Test-SO2- ... SwVeZdWzcW pretty cheap to use for testing to know what range of sulfites are in the wine.

Sulphites are volitile and semi-easy to remove.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/fo ... e12287272/
https://itsfinetowine.com/how-to-remove ... from-wine/

Here's a quick read of how to remove or lower sulfites in commercial wines using household hydrogen peroxide as Odin suggested.
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/wine-sulf ... ve-anyway/

Here's a calculator that will help you figure out how much hydrogen peroxide to use.
https://www.winebusiness.com/tools/?go= ... alc&cid=22

If you aerates the wine well before adding it to the boiler you can remove a good portion of the sulphites. Hydrogen peroxide can remove the rest or lower it to the point it won't hurt anything.

Thanks for the links!

[cayars]

Your welcome for the links.
With that said, I've not done brandy from commercial wine so listen to those who have done it.