I have been buying locally distilled sugarcane alcohol known as aguardiente from a nearby distillery in Peru, they grow sugarcane,press and distill on the same property but the operation is pretty ghetto, his alcohol comes out around 72% then he adds water to reduce it to 40% and stores it in plastic barrels.
I find the product quite harsh and strong in aroma, I dont think he even filters the alcohol and the water he adds certainly isnt filtered.
I have attached a photo of his distiller, it is stainless mounted on a clay oven an he heats it with firewood or dried sugarcane fibres.
I purchased approx 40 litres the other week and decided on distilling about 18litres of it in my 50litre stainless distiller "with 2 condensors"
To see if i could make a cleaner and smoother drink,
This is my first time distilling alcohol, I am happy with the results, the alcohol came out at 88% although i was expecting a little higher, The 2 condensors were quite dirty so they must have filtered something out. The new drink is so much nicer, its alot smoother and smells alot less.
I have considered doing the whole process myself as i can buy freshly pressed sugarcane juice but i would need a large container for the fermentation and my distiller is only 50litre it probably wouldnt be practical.
I have a few questions
Number 1, Is it necesary to throw out the foreshots from a previously distilled drink? I did so just incase.
Number 2, Is it ok to stop the distillation and continue another day?
Number 3, How does it work with the forehots,heads,hearts and tails when you are redistilling?
Thanks allot guys.
