Through the distillation process I’ve only gotten occasional faint whiffs of peat so far and wondering if this is normal and if so, when does the peat come back? I completed one “light” batch and started a second heavier batch a few days back. FYI, I do smell the peat in my ferment.
My first batch was roughly 40% peated grains, and those were a “light peat”. The other 60% was a Barvarian wheat LME. Double pot stilled and cut like my normal whiskey. Smelled like a new whiskey, and I did not detect peat in it. Into the barrel it went. I thought maybe I simply did not use enough peat, so I decided a second heavier batch was in order.
My current batch has a grain bill that is all barley, using 50% Simpsons “heavy peat”, 46% 2-row, and 4% Victory malt. I’ve only stripped part of this batch so far, but again I’m not finding any peat smell in my low wines. I am hoping the spirit run will expose the peat of this second batch.
With regard to my runs and cuts, I have read that a lot of the peat smell resides in the deep tails. I ran my strips until I was collecting well below 10%. I did not detect peat there (maybe hiding under my tails smell) but am hopeful it will come out in the spirit run.
Otis
[Note - working with all barley is a wonderful thing. Its been over a year since I have done an AG with no Corn or Rye, and I forgot how easy it is working with just wheat and barley. The grains practically separate themselves from the liquid.
]