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Is this needed? After it's been through the still and aired for 24 hours then diluted, how long until it's at a good drinking age? Do I wait a couple weeks to let whatever is left in there settle down or is it as good as it's going to get?

I'm going to be flavoring with fruits and such so I know that will take from 3 days to a few weeks but I'm wondering if there is another standard amount of time I should wait.

If it's a good clean neutral, just go for it. Be warned - I tried a raspberry maceration once with a really "heady" likker and it tasted like a "really heady raspberry something." The fruit wasn't able to do my lying. It had a nice color, but not drinkable.

Good luck,

bd

What can you do with neutral? Ive tried essences which i dont like to much, abit to sweet.
Ive also done the wood chip thing which can be pretty decent and i also tried a few fruits which wasnt too bad either. But if possible i want to make a more complex type whiskey or even a nice gin...

blind drunk wrote:If it's a good clean neutral, just go for it. Be warned - I tried a raspberry maceration once with a really "heady" likker and it tasted like a "really heady raspberry something." The fruit wasn't able to do my lying. It had a nice color, but not drinkable.

Good luck,

bd

I did something the same and found that leaving the lid off for a fair while got rid of some of the bad stuff.
Mine was apricot so I used 'apricot nectar' to build the flavour (which was a bit light anyway) then added GOOD neutral to adjust the alcohol, and it ended up quite reasonable.

Ageing begins in the brew and clearing, then the stillin, then the cuts.

After all that the product will improve as time goes by. Improving a disaster will get you a better disaster. Improving a good product will get a better product.

kronikbud wrote:What can you do with neutral? Ive tried essences which i dont like to much, abit to sweet.
Ive also done the wood chip thing which can be pretty decent and i also tried a few fruits which wasnt too bad either. But if possible i want to make a more complex type whiskey or even a nice gin...

If you want bourbon you should have a pot still especially if the essences are too sweet for you. Otherwise you can make Kahlua, Ameretto, Aquivit, Gin, and many other drinks without the use of essences.

kronikbud wrote:What can you do with neutral? Ive tried essences which i dont like to much, abit to sweet.
Ive also done the wood chip thing which can be pretty decent and i also tried a few fruits which wasnt too bad either. But if possible i want to make a more complex type whiskey or even a nice gin...

Kronik.
When making a neutral you are making Vodka. Chips dont work well on vodka. Find some vodka mixed drinks that you like. Enjoy that you can make better vodka then you can buy.

Try UJSSM for the whiskey you are looking for, or add a gin basket to your still

Yunus wrote:Is this needed? After it's been through the still and aired for 24 hours then diluted, how long until it's at a good drinking age? Do I wait a couple weeks to let whatever is left in there settle down or is it as good as it's going to get?

I'm going to be flavoring with fruits and such so I know that will take from 3 days to a few weeks but I'm wondering if there is another standard amount of time I should wait.

Yunus.
Because it can be difficult to make an accurate heads cut when doing neutral. I let my neutral air for up to a week or more before bottling. Then use a cork to close the bottle. That is about all the aging you can do. It also takes a few days for the water and alcohol flavors to blend after dilution.

^^^ That's the big ticket. For a while, I used to keep my neutral at ~95% until I was going to drink it. I'd then dilute it, and drink away. I found that it would be very astringent whenever I did this. It would have much more of that rubbing alcohol flavor. Now mind you that I have a well tuned VM column and take my time making good cuts (~20hours/run!). I found that if I diluted it and then let it air out for a day or two, it all of a sudden became some of the best vodka I've ever tasted.

As far as making something complex. One of my favorite things to do with neutral is make Thai Terror (it's in the Tried and True Recipes). I've not found a single guy who doesn't love it, nor a single girl who does. Fruit macerations are also pretty great, they just take a lot of time and work.

If you're looking for Bourbon, learn from my mistakes. I spent years and many many hours and dollars trying to make a bourbon with a lot of the shortcut methods that pop up on this forum. They all suck (in my humble bourbon head opinion). I told myself a while back that I wasn't going to make another bourbon batch until I could do it proper.

Cheers

Hey thanks mate, I havent come acroos that thai terror but im on my way to the tried and true for a look now!

Its been a while since my last version of the Thai Terror!

But its a great recipe! Make it your own... It's a winner!

This is one thing i have never done . From my limited knowledge it seems pointless
Does any one know if there is some chemical reaction that happens ?

mann_ox wrote:This is one thing i have never done . From my limited knowledge it seems pointless
Does any one know if there is some chemical reaction that happens ?

I don't know what the chemistry is, but my neutral seems to benefit from a couple weeks of aging. I put in gallon jars with a good bit of head room and every couple of days, or when I think of it, I give it a good shake and then leave the cap off for an hour or so to get some new air in the jug. It doesn't change the taste any but does mellow out any "bite" or "sharpness" that might be there. Give it a try and see if you notice any benefit.

A member posted a video from a major Grappa maker and it mentioned that its Grappa, an unaged clear beverage, sits in stainless tanks for one year before being bottled.

Yunus wrote:
I'm going to be flavoring with fruits and such so I know that will take from 3 days to a few weeks but I'm wondering if there is another standard amount of time I should wait.

Airing for two or three days seems to help. As for flavoring there are a lot of infusion recipes if you do a google search. As for the fruits I have put my liquor in a large vessel and taken the fruits (in my case rasberries) and put them in a wrapped cheese cloth to soak in the neutral for about 3 weeks. I find the flavor much more appealing than boiling the berries straining them and then adding to the neutral.

I like to use bananas in neutral. Grind them up, macerate for a couple of months and it run through filter paper to get the solids out.

The sugar goes quite well and I've found even people who don't like shine can get into this one.

One thing you might try is getting an aquarium aerator at your local pet supply store. Stick the end in the spirit and let it bubble away for a few weeks. The oxygenation should smooth the bite out a bit. Just be sure that you remove any fake rock or whatever attached to the end of the hose. Just put a stainless clamp or something on it to hold it down.

bubbling air through a spirit goes against everything I have ever learned about beer making, wine making and almost every food process...

I think that you need to look at some other part of your process if you need to use an aquarium pump to smooth out your likker.

junkyard dawg wrote:bubbling air through a spirit goes against everything I have ever learned about beer making, wine making and almost every food process...

I think that you need to look at some other part of your process if you need to use an aquarium pump to smooth out your likker.

What's the difference in using a air pump and airing it out in an open container? It just provides more air contact with more of the spirit. And airing out the distilled alcohol is a common practice around here. Is it not? And comparing distilled alcohol to beer or wine in this case is in my opinion not a good comparison. Beer and wine that haven't been distilled to a high ABV are still susceptible to infections among other things. Where a distilled alcohol is not.

Leaving spirits open to 'air' them out does get a lot of discussion. I personally think its a bunch of hype and silliness. ymmv...

Oxidation is considered to be a bad thing in beer and wine and food. So why is it good to do that to spirits? I don't get the logic here.

But, in any case... if you have to bubble air through your likker for a couple of weeks to smooth it out...
Thats just wacky...

I transfer my likker from vessel to vessel by using stainless pots and pouring from a height a few times.





i figger it helps smooth a bit.

yeah Larry, I've done that too. I do believe there is a change, haven't decided if its for the better or not... Its so hard to do comparisons when every batch is different. I think its a pretty slight change in any case... Just letting it set in the closet works the same in my experience.

I think the point I was going after...

Folk sometimes seem intent on fooling around with the spirit once its been conjured... I never could tell that anything I did in the way of trying to accelerate aging did any good. But letting it sit in the dark for a while... That always worked.

junkyard dawg wrote:Leaving spirits open to 'air' them out does get a lot of discussion. I personally think its a bunch of hype and silliness. ymmv....

I think the logic for this is that barrel aging allows some evaporation so that is part of the aging process that won't happen in glass or SS unless you leave it open.

Also a few years back a member with the handle The Chemist posted that he had been doing some testing for a commercial client. He said that he was bound by a non disclosure agreement but that he could say that aerating is a good idea. I'm guessing that he had seen test results, that he couldn't share, that proved aerating (not just airing out) did something.

Edit to add: I found the thread and after reading it again The Chemist posts that disstress aging doesn't make a difference but that there is something happening but can't say what it is.

Here's the post: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4548

I remember those threads...

hlgtjr0 wrote:One thing you might try is getting an aquarium aerator at your local pet supply store. Stick the end in the spirit and let it bubble away for a few weeks. The oxygenation should smooth the bite out a bit. Just be sure that you remove any fake rock or whatever attached to the end of the hose. Just put a stainless clamp or something on it to hold it down.

leaving a plastic hose in your product for weeks (or any time at all) is contrary to the practices and procedures of the plastic police. cob

You could always buy a small-diameter stainless pipe that will fit on to the aquarium tube. I use one in brewing.

you could always not bubble air in yer likker...

I believe that the amount of oxygen required by reactions in the aging process is miniscule compared to what any bubbler is going to do.

course you could always claim yer hootch is oxygen fortified and therefore better for you than plain moonshine...