Home Distiller

So thinking I'm going to try a hopped whiskey. Love my IPAs and want to give it a whirl. But the horror stories about hops in the still has me off of that route. I lack beer brewing experience anyway.

So my plan is to soak hops in warm distilled water, then use this to proof the whiskey. Any thoughts on this approach? And suggestions for what kind of hops to use? I was thinking Cascade since it's in my beloved Sierra Nevada. Want to try a few different varieties, ideally with different flavor profiles. I'm hoping some better-educated hop heads might offer suggestions or tips on a temp to shoot for.

I'm by no means experienced and kind of shooting blind but, what about soaking the hops then using that as the water in your ferment/mash?

Find us a first or even second hand horror story, this total myth belongs in the same shoe box as Jake leg and going blind

Build a small still for trials, then report back. I'd love to her the results.

Nothing lost nothing gained....try a lightly hopped mash then work from there?

I brew very extensively and I am also interested in this. I was going to try an all barley base malt mash and then lauter and boil the wort for like 10 minutes where I was planning on adding hops. After that I was going to run the wort (wash) through my heat exchanger and pitch yeast. Cascade is a really good hop but I was going to try something with more alpha acids as it packs more of a punch bitterness-wise. Something like simco, northern Brewer. Cascade is a favorite hop and you'll probably have good results with that. I'll update as I do runs.

eodstads wrote:I brew very extensively and I am also interested in this. I was going to try an all barley base malt mash and then lauter and boil the wort for like 10 minutes where I was planning on adding hops. After that I was going to run the wort (wash) through my heat exchanger and pitch yeast. Cascade is a really good hop but I was going to try something with more alpha acids as it packs more of a punch bitterness-wise. Something like simco, northern Brewer. Cascade is a favorite hop and you'll probably have good results with that. I'll update as I do runs.

you listed some of my favorite hops, don't forget citra. nice set-up btw!

Jesus eodstads..... beer, fishing, nicely organised tools....are you single lol?

pythonshine wrote:Jesus eodstads..... beer, fishing, nicely organised tools....are you single lol?

haha. Nope! On female #2. This one is not defective and let's me do what I want! I'm doing a single base malt mash with hops this weekend and then running it when fermentation is complete. I will update here with results. I have typically been doing 2 runs and then combining the distillate for a second run so it'll be a little bit. Maybe 2 weeks until I have something to report.

A sound plan, looking forward to your result!

From brewing beer many years ago, my understanding was that you can get the bitterness from hops with a long rolling boil, you can get flavor from hops from a shorter boil, maybe 5-10 minutes, and more aroma simply by steeping in very hot water.
Not sure what would be extracted in a maceration with alcohol, an Amarillo PD, perhaps?

MichiganCornhusker wrote:From brewing beer many years ago, my understanding was that you can get the bitterness from hops with a long rolling boil, you can get flavor from hops from a shorter boil, maybe 5-10 minutes, and more aroma simply by steeping in very hot water.
Not sure what would be extracted in a maceration with alcohol, an Amarillo PD, perhaps?

Truth. I'm not trying to boil off all of the hop oils that give it the flavor. The bitterness isn't necessarily what I'm going for. I find when I'm brewing that a 30 min hops stands post boil is a sweet spot for getting a lot of the fruity/citrusy flavors that are desirable. I'm just curious if this will translate directly into a spirit as citrusy/fruity.
Only one to find out!

Why not make a hop essense/extract and then add that back to your product to taste? Overwhelm yourself with it.

Remember, hops is related to cannabis so it has an analgesic effect in concentrations. Plus, humulene can be extracted through reflux of the cones. Make you some "hop oil"...
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I wouldn't add it after , you'll likely extract compounds you wouldn't get in beer and definitely end up with compounds that would not come through distillation

Don't know if they qualify as horror stories but in this thread, people make some negative comments.

Well now I'm torn. I think maybe I'll try both routes. I've got some Deathwish that I mashed with chocolate rye that turned out really nicely. I think I might do a trial on a little with the method I outlined in the first post. It'll be a fairly low-cost, low-labor experiment.

From there, I might try the more ambitious undertaking of mashing with the hops. I've been looking around the Northern Brewer site, reading descriptions. Think I'll do Cascade for sure, then check out some of the other suggestions. At a few bucks per ounce, I can afford to try several. I just have to decide whether to order online, or make the trip up (it's like 40 minutes from me - I do my barley runs there, but don't get a chance very often).

Thanks all for the feedback. Would love for this thread to be a place where we can all share our various results with this.

Yes Bagasso I have read that, two things, why run a strong flavoured wash through a reflux still and think you won't have to clean it. I have but I knew it would need soaking, I ran a molasses wash through which is a shit ton heavier than beer and had to soak the column in citric acid (meh I knew I'd have to) . I'm not sure how much more oils and esters rum wash has compared to beer but it would be 100s, its not a bad thing, beer schnapps is not to everyone's taste but neither is rum, whiskey or anything else
I've only ever ran home brew through a pot still and had great results, wish KIWIKEG would chime in as a few years back he did experiments on commercial beer (Speights in think).and came to the same conclusion as I did that almost everything about distilling beer on the various forums is horse shit

That's why I said that they might not be horror stories but, how many things here really are?

Dump or blend back together and run again seem to be silver bullets most of the time.

To the OP: Like crow said, just be aware that extra cleaning might be involved and that you might not like what you make. Of course that is true of anything.

I have never distilled with hops but last night I made a hop tea with about 0.5 oz of Mt Hood pellets. Steeped in ~85ºC water for approx. 20 minutes, no added heat. Watered down to 2L and it was quite bitter, despite no boiling. I would try every way I could think of to see if any of it makes something I like.

firewater69 wrote:

eodstads wrote:I brew very extensively and I am also interested in this. I was going to try an all barley base malt mash and then lauter and boil the wort for like 10 minutes where I was planning on adding hops. After that I was going to run the wort (wash) through my heat exchanger and pitch yeast. Cascade is a really good hop but I was going to try something with more alpha acids as it packs more of a punch bitterness-wise. Something like simco, northern Brewer. Cascade is a favorite hop and you'll probably have good results with that. I'll update as I do runs.

you listed some of my favorite hops, don't forget citra. nice set-up btw!

Not a big IPA fan but Simcoe is some kinda good!
The Mikeller Simcoe is one of my favorite beers and the inspiration for my Grapefruit Saison.

If you're looking for aroma, a cheap fast test may be to but a few ounces of vodka in a jar and just add a few hop pellets and let it sit for a day or two. If you like it you can adjust the ratio for bigger batches. I'm not sure how the hop oils will react with alcohol and you may end up with a hop tincture.

That was my first attempt, with some oaked Deathwish. Didn't get me where I want to be.