Orujo 2022

[Ftero]

This season has been especially enjoyable for me, as it is the first year that I've been able to distill Orujo (simplified Grappa) here in Spain. I sold my little 30 liter still to a guy before leaving the States last year, thinking that I could buy a larger still once settled here.
I didn't find a suitable still to buy within my budget, but luckily was loaned an old, 100 liter Alquitar still to use this season. The poor thing is full of holes and I had to fashion a couple of branches to hold the thing up while full of water so it wouldn't collapse on itself. Every distillation is preceded by the application of lots of Rye paste to seal the holes in the still.

I'd almost always distilled with the perforated copper plate on the bottom of the pot to protect the pomace from burning. A few years ago I tried using hay instead, just to experiment with, as I was told that many here in Spain distill that way. This year I used freshly cut grape vine stalks to line the bottom of the pot. Theory states that this should not be used as more methanol is extracted this way. It's what I had at hand, so it's what I used.

There in the States, all I ever distilled were Pinot Noir pomace. I could never get my hands on other varieties. I always suspected that the bitterness that I noticed in all the Orujo that I ever made was just a product of the bitterness that I personally think is part of that grape variety. This year I've been given Tempranillo, Mencia and another, unknown, white grape variety (that tastes like concord grapes) to distill.
None of the Orujo that I have made this year has had the bitterness of the stuff made in the States. I even did a run with Mencia pomace mixed with shredded and pressed Apples that we used to make hard cider and 15 liters of Mencia wine to charge the pot. The people here like the Orujo @ 52% ABV.

The other day I bought a 38 year old, 90 liter still from an old-timer who was giving up distilling. I'll be cleaning it up and getting it ready to use on the last couple of runs of the season this weekend. Photos to follow.

Interestingly, the old-timer modified the still so that the pomace was suspended ABOVE the charge water in the pot. That way, none of the boiling water touched the pomace and only the steam generated by it's boiling made it's way up through the pomace and out through the coil. He swore by this method, stating that it got the best Orujo he ever had. I am going to give his method a try.

The attached picture is of the Alquitar still that I used this season. Rustic eh?

[NZChris]

That looks like a nice still to me. You are lucky to have so much variety of pomace available, I'm jealous.

[Dancing4dan]

Not sure about the tree branches but that still is pretty cool. Would make a great restoration project.

[The Baker]

I don't solder, but;
The solder in this is probably (almost certainly) lead based so would need to be replaced.

Best.

Geoff

[Ftero]

I too am leery about using the alquitar still further after seeing some of the repair work done to it and seeing some of the residue inside after distilling. I'm happy to have had the opportunity to use it though.

I've been spending the last couple of days scouring the insides of my "new" still with citric acid and lemons/salt. I ran out of the acid and couldn't clean the coil yet. I need to bring my propane burner here and adjust the height of the coil support to match it.
A buddy found a couple of 205 liter steel barrels yesterday. I'll go pick them up and make a wind breaker for the burner/pot this weekend.