Experiment: 4 different distilling methods with same wash

[higgins]

I started out in this hobby almost 3 years ago with an interest in Bourbon, Scotch, Rum ... flavored products. My first batch (I was an AG brewer for 25 years) was an AG bourbon, which turned out pretty good even though my mashing efficiency was only 45%. I've made 21 batches since (my mashing efficiency has since improved to around 75-80%), with all the whiskeys being AG. That would be 11 bourbons (mix of hi rye, low rye, wheated), 4 single malts, 1 malt whiskey (64% malt, 24% corn, 12% wheat), and 1 Irish whiskey (50/50 malted/unmalted barley). All were made with a strip/spirit run protocol on a home built 2" pot still using much of the same equipment I used to brew AG beer for years. I've also made 2 rums and 2 brandies, and a couple of batches of Shady's sugar shine for neutral for Gin.

I've been pretty happy with my results so far, but being a hands on kind of guy I recently decided to build a 4", 3 sieve plate flute. I ran my latest bourbon batch using this for the spirit run (2.0 dist). This batch (same size as previous bourbon batches) produced more final product than if I used the pot still, and the quality seemed to be pretty good. It took about the same amount of effort as using a pot still. But by producing higher ABV requiring more dilution, the end product MAY not be quite as flavorful as a pot stilled product, but a direct comparison would be needed to be sure.

So that got me to thinking ... there are several ways to use a flute:

• 1.0 distillation using fermented wash.
• 1.x distillation using a mix of wash and low wines.
• 2.0 distillation using low wines

And of course you can use a pot still.

So which method produces the best product? Ask a dozen people and you'll get a dozen different answers. And what the hell is 'the best product' anyway? FOR ME it is the best tasting product I can produce with a reasonable investment in time and effort. I would happily sacrifice some quantity to get a better product (like keeping the cuts narrow). I would also sacrifice some time to get a better product (like keeping a lower takeoff rate to improve separation instead of a high takeoff rate to reduce time commitment). I MAY also sacrifice a 'little bit' of quality to either make significantly more product, or spend significantly less time doing so.

So I set out to find out which method produces the best product FOR ME. Time for an experiment

Mash bill: 64% corn, 24% wheat, 12% malted barley. 3 mashes produced about 51 gallons of fermented wash at 9% ABV. Stripping 34 gallons produced 14 gallons low wines at 25% ABV.

• Run 1: 12 gallons wash thru flute with 2 plates
• Run 2: 5 gallons wash, 2.8 gallons low wines thru flute with 2 plates
• Run 3: 5 gallons low wines thru flute with 2 plates
• Run 4: 6.2 gallons low wines thru pot still.

Each run should produce a gallon or more of product at 62% ABV. The same group of 5 people will be doing the cuts on each one, and after all 4 runs are complete we will blind taste and evaluate the end result of each. Once we've ranked the 4 from best to worst we'll reveal what method was used for each, and I will use that info to decide which method to use going forward.

Each of these will go into a 4 qt Badmo barrel, med toast, char 3, and we will do periodic blind taste tests to see how they are affected by time in a barrel.

Run 1 has been done, 5 gallons of fermented wash was reserved, and the rest has been stripped.
Runs 2, 3, & 4 will happen within the next few weeks.