Sugar Wash Sat for a Month....wow!

[mannye]

So I made a sugar wash using wine yeast that I use for mead. Babied the ferment as it I were making "neutral wines" something I use to add volume to a mead if I need to age it and I want to get rid of headspace. So the result was a surprisingly tasty and drinkable "sugar wine" with all the characteristics of D71 yeast. Nice!

But this was for stripping, so I threw it into the pot still and did a stripping run. I'm still a noob, so I probably went lower and slower than most of you, took about three hours to get all of it and I let it go until it was about 20% resulting in a gallon of about 50% product.

I figured I would do a spirit run the next day and get some good strong spirit to cut to 150 proof and make apple pie shine using the Clawhammer recipe. But that was back in October and today I finally got around to doing that stripping run.

But when I opened up the jar to pour it in the still, I REALLY liked the aroma so I took a sip... and that was that. It's good! I poured a shot of that and a shot of Skyy Vodka into two glasses and asked my wife to taste and give me her opinion and she likes the sugar wash a lot more too. I didn't tell her what was what.

Does aging even for as little as two months in a glass jar really improve sugar shine? Or did I just not notice it was good at the time?

[RC Al]

Every spirit will change over time as it homogenises with the other components present including the water it is mixed down with

Please for you own sake not drink strip that hasnt had cuts done anymore, even with you running it slow, there was only one distillation done that mainly removed water and not the rest of the nasty stuff

[fzbwfk9r]

A low/slow stripping run is just like running a pot still for normal whisky, Right?

so, the ONLY question for mannye:

Did you remove the Foreshots first, then continue with the stripping run?

if so, you have all you need.

perhaps you may want to test for "Heads" ache after a few shots before feeding the wife some more.

[tombombadil]

If you can drink beer and wine without removing foreshots then you can drink distilled beer and wine without removing foreshots.

If you like it then drink it but personally I prefer my stuff double distilled.

[8Ball]

My father in law drinks as if he has no taste buds. He really doesn't care as long as it is hooch. Gulp and done literally. So I’ve given him some corked bottles from the jars that didn’t make my cuts, lots of heads and tails and a little hearts. When I go and visit, we wind up in the barn at the end of the day. Let me tell you, a couple years of sitting around in glass has made that stuff I gave him very drinkable.

[jonnys_spirit]

Extended time bulk aging almost always makes wines better and if the source material is "better" so is the refined product. Pretty much my observations. Not sure if/how this principle affects sugar washes but it appears to be across the board in varying degrees including after distillation and blending of fractions..

Cheers!
-jonny

[Demy]

As hobby distillers I honestly do not see the reason to produce a "bad" product and therefore I hope that time will improve it ..... I prefer to start with a good product, great cuts and time will do the rest.

[Phathead]

just sharing a story and this is good thread for it. friend got into this 7 or 8 yrs ago. he made a netrual and gave me a quart about 85 to 90 proof. I deer hunted on a land owner cpl states north of me and took it up in Oct for now hunt. sipped some and left it in his shop fridge. he might take a nip here or there but for most part was untouched for a yr. went back nxt yr really don't remeber much special about it. yr 3 it was wonderful and by yr 5 it was the stuff that would get u in trouble. no mouth or throat burn just a warming in your belly. finished yr 6.

[jonnys_spirit]

A quart lasted through 6yrs - Wow you deserve a medal! Woulda been empty first yr on a camping trip with my buddy...

Cheers,
jonny

[Phathead]

A quart lasted through 6yrs - Wow you deserve a medal! Woulda been empty first yr on a camping trip with my buddy...

Cheers,
jonny

i would only be there for 4 days of bow then back for gun for 4 days. I was deer hunting so daylight was spent in the woods and evenings I would spend cpl hours with land owner in the shop then supper and bed. one thing after few nips of it sleep came quick.

[mannye]

A low/slow stripping run is just like running a pot still for normal whisky, Right?

so, the ONLY question for mannye:

Did you remove the Foreshots first, then continue with the stripping run?

if so, you have all you need.

perhaps you may want to test for "Heads" ache after a few shots before feeding the wife some more.

TOOK ME LONG ENOUGH TO RESPOND...

And the answer is yes. I take the first 50-100ml of every single run no matter if it's a stripping run or a spirit run and I always build the heat up slowly to get as many of those foreshots out as possible. Even if "there can't be any more bad stuff" I'm a hobbyist, so I don't care if I don't get maximum yield. I cut deep into hearts and just tell myself I'll have more to fold into the next run. As I get more runs under my belt, I'm keeping more but with a pot still there is only so much I can do.

The dephlegmator (I always feel like the Alien in Bugs Bunny when I say that) is coming soon and after I learn how to make high proof neutral, it will be followed by a gin basket and eventually, a proper reflux column.

[Smog]

If you can drink beer and wine without removing foreshots then you can drink distilled beer and wine without removing foreshots.

Sorry it was an older post.