Sharing my newbie experience

[Franck S]

Hi folks,

I’d like to a recent experience, though it’s nothing groundbreaking.

When I first started distilling, I wanted to make a neutral alcohol. I tried using turbo yeast. The yield was high, but the quality of the product wasn’t great.
After that, I experimented with proven sugar wash recipes, like the tomato paste wash. I used baker's yeast initially, then switched to champagne yeast (EC-1118). I clarified the wash by cold crashing to make it as clear as possible. Also use bentonite.

In my more recent attempts, I introduced barley malt to contribute around 25% of the sugar (gravity points). This was done either through a mini-mash (like a mini beer brew) or by reusing liquid malt extract made from spent beer grains (rinsing the grains of a high-gravity beer, boiling the liquid to concentrate it, and storing it in the freezer).

The quality improved, but I still wasn’t fully satisfied with the results.

Recently, while organizing, I came across a stash of expired beers in my stock—most were at least 2-3 years old after expiration date. Many were still drinkable but had lost their flavor, essentially turning into sweet, alcoholic juice, while others were oxidized. Most were strong beers, like Belgian triples, with a few lighter ones (5-6% ABV). They were lightly hopped (no IPAs) and mostly blondes.

Instead of pouring them down the drain, I decided to distill them. I loaded about 8-10 liters into the 25 liters boiler, degassed them as much as possible, and did a quick stripping run. There was a bit of puking at the very start, but after that, no issues.
Then, I did a spirit run using a reflux column (CM).

The result? This is probably my favorite distillate so far. It’s much cleaner. For example, a good portion of the tails was even pleasant, which is definitely not the case with a sugar wash. Some of the aromas reminded me of those found in whisky (disclaimer: I a fan of whisky).

Conclusion: I’m going to stop making sugar washes and stick to grain washes (barley malt and/or wheat malt) because the improvement in quality is very significant.

Before becoming a home distiller, I was (and still am) a home brewer. I have all the equipment needed to easily make a mash, even though it involves a fair amount of cleaning and work.

Cheers!

[Sporacle]

Well done, with care and patience plenty of people have made a really good product with UJSSM and Shadys.
I agree grain gets a great flavour and is more forgiving in relation to ferment and cuts, once you dial those systems in give the aforementioned recipes a try and see how they taste