Home Distiller

Thanks for the input, i will try that receipe!

Best regards

CM

SG down to 1.020. Expect to run her this weekend. Wine tastes great as is, by the way!

Odin.

What is your expected FG?

Not sure. Since I didn't use pecto-enzymes, I expect some sugars to remain unfermentable. And the wash not to clear up as nicely as it could with them enzymes. Hoping to get close to 1.005? Anyhow, I will take another reading tomorrow!

Odin.

SG reads 1.008. Allmost there, I think. I still hear & see some activity going on inside the fermenters. Hope I can run it this weekend!

Odin.

Heh heh, a bit impatient? Seems like it's going the right way with the fermentation. Hope it's ready for the weekend. Tomorrow I'm picking all the cherry-plums here and start a cherry-plum wine for later fermentation.

Impatient is my middle name!

No, I won't run it this weekend. I just took out the raisins, floating on top (like 95% or more) to start up my raisin based vodka. The SG of the wine is 1.005, but it is still sizzling along quite strong. And since wisdom has it that "most of the best tastes develop while the last 0.1% of abv is made", I will try not to be impatient.

Difficult.

But I feel this recipe is worth it, Denmark!

Ah, the vodka took off like the proverbial rocket.

I will leave the raisin wine alone until Monday for sure. Then I will check it again. Will this wine get so dry SG (FG?) will be under 1.000? Would be interesting ...

Odin.

I made a portion of mead 2 months ago where I used blueberris. I let them sit there for over a month, and when i took them out, they were still sizzling, like your raisin wine. I also had about 95% of the fruit floating ontop of the brew, very easily scooped out. I havent uset fresh friut so much, since i'm mostly a beer maker (and wash of cause). But it seems like theres a lot of living yeast activity there. Too bad I tossed mine. The brew sits just arround 1.000 at the movement. I havent quite decided if I want to run it, or leave it as it is. Either way, when the plum wine is finished, I'll run it for sure!
Looking forward to hear more about the "raisin run".

DP

Hello Odin, what about your raisin vodka?

Hi CM,

I will be running the grappa the day after tomorrow, together with a client. The grappa vodka is still nicely bubbling along!

Odin.

Can't wait to hear the result!

Okay, here we go. Fermentation was done a few days ago. 0.998-ish. Took the raisins out (so easy compared to dealing with spent grains), transfered the wine to new buckets, added ice packs and let it clear.

Some things worth mentioning:
- Yeast bed is really small and tightly packed to the bottom
- Wine is pretty clear by itsself

I ended up with about 35 liters at 9%.

This is the program settings I dialed in on my rig (50 liter automated LM, 2 inch diameter, 120 centimeters of SS SPP):
- Discard Fores at 78.5 degrees C
- Heads stabilization time 40 minutes
- Heads collection set at 20 minutes, opening 10
- Hearts stabilization time 20 minuten
- Potstill program from there on
- Fores & Heads removal program before that
- Non-carbon filtering program
- End temperature to finish run: 95 degrees

So what I did, is I combine a pure azeotropic piece of programming with a potstill program. The pure part is used to drain Fores at 96% and to compact Heads as much as possible at 96% as well (for a bigger hearts cut and more fruity taste transfer from congeners from heads to hearts). Then the actual potstill programming takes over. That gives around 2 re-distillations and will probably bring the 9% wash to a 52 to 55% hearts.

First part is done: 10 mls of Fores were discarded. Column is stabilizing for Heads and currently measures 77.8 degrees C at stabilization point. Temp at the bottom of the column is 81.4 degrees C. Heads are being bled off as we speak. At around 1 drop per second, which means there is very little heads available.

More info to follow!

Odin.

Just finished the run. I think my wash was not 9%, but probably a bit less. More like 7 to 7.5%. Next time I will take an SG before I start fermenting AND I will add pecto-enzymes.

Overall? The run went great. Fores & Heads (10 and 100 mls) were increadibly small. And I could collect hearts easily until I had 96.5 degrees C at take-off point. It wasn't that tails were arriving from that moment all, not at all, but it was just that ... it was getting watery. I collected 0.5 liters of tails and that's it.

4 liters of 60% Raisin Brandy and 0.6 liters of feints. I will keep the feints and add them to a next run, that will take place in about a month time. That run will not be in potstill mode, but at 96% all the time. Pure Whiskey approach, only on a brandy.

Taste? This is no real grappa. Not a Cognac brandy either. It tastes like raisins. Very pleasent! Even without any ageing. But these 4 liters I will age. On some JD wood that's seen JD as well as some of my whiskey before.

Any learning points (apart from what I stated above)? Yes. Next fermentation will be with even more raisins.

Nice!

Odin.

Congrats on a sweet run. I hope it develops nicely. How long will you let it sit on wood?

DP

About a month!

Odin.

Sorry about pestering you about your grappa, Odin. But im very curious. I haven't had time to experiment myself, so im very excited to hear if the result has been "fruitfull".

Very much so! An easy recipe that tastes great. If you like raisins, because that's the taste you get. I aged mine at 60% on some JD wood for a short time. Then diluted it to 45% drinking strength. Tastes wonderful!

Odin.

Sweet, thanks buddy. Then i know what to make next time. Congrats on another succesfull recipe.