Airing & Flavouring Spirits [Essences]

[Intoxicated]

Hey guys

I finally distilled my first batch of spirits! I flavoured the one with a bottle of Absinthe essence, which turned out pretty good. It's not a real absinthe by far, but it came out very nicely. I then tried a Samuel Willards Scotch Whiskey, and it was literally undrinkable, absolute filth!

My brother & I were drinking it, and my brother thought there was nothing wrong with the Alcohol itself.. But I feel there is something odd tasting about it. In another thread someone told me to air out my grog for a day or so, if I remember correctly, how should I do this? Dilute to the right % and leave the cap of the bottle off? How will this affect the taste of the alcohol itself?

I'm certain that the scotch essence isn't the part that makes it undrinkable, I think it's the 'harshness' (for lack of a better word) that makes it feral to drink.

I tried doing a search on the site, but I didn't know exactly what to search for. I tried looking at the parent site, and I couldn't find it..

Cheers guys

Intoxicated

[olddog]

Did you use Turbo? did you make proper cuts, both of these can cause the harshness you are getting.


OD

[blanikdog]

I've not used essence, but I agree that it probably isn't that. OD's questions are getting close to your problem and I've found that oaking seems to settle things down, but it won't remedy turbo or bad cuts.

[Intoxicated]

I did use a turbo. I am trying a simple wash for my next batch.

If the taste is from the Turbo, I can't believe people buy it. If it is the Turbo's fault, what can I do to make the distillate more easy?

[olddog]

Ther are lots of recipe's in the tried and true section, All bran, Birdwatchers, UJSSM, etc, none of them need any more than bakers yeast.


OD

[Intoxicated]

Ther are lots of recipe's in the tried and true section, All bran, Birdwatchers, UJSSM, etc, none of them need any more than bakers yeast.


OD

Yeah, I was thinking of doing the All Bran one. Also might do an experiment of my own.

Also, I did make the proper cuts. Infact, I was very cautious and probably threw away too much in hindsight. It came out 95% pure.

[Braz]

Try the All-Bran. You won't regret it.

Airing, here's what I do: After discarding foreshots, collect in 200ml increments. I use 1pint caning jars and fill them half full. Cover each jar with a coffee filter and number the jar. Let stand 24 hours at full strength then start making your cuts.

Cuts (with a reflux still): To start I calculate the first 20% of the total and set those jars aside as heads. Then I take the last 20% and set those aside as tails. The middle 60% should be good hearts. Then I start sampling for taste and smell. (Be sure to dilute your sample sips 50/50 or you'll be snockered in no time.) I find I can usually push fairly deep into the tails jars because I generally shut down the run as soon as I see a temperature spike near the end. Most of my tails never get out of the boiler.

[rad14701]

As mentioned, try the All Bran... Trying to use essence to cover bad turbo swill is like putting lipstick on a pig... Neither is gonna turn out pretty...

[Braz]

As mentioned, try the All Bran... Trying to use essence to cover bad turbo swill is like putting lipstick on a pig... Neither is gonna turn out pretty...

And it is likely to annoy the pig.