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I’ve read about the creamy mouthfeel that oats give to a spirit. I’m curious if doing a sugarhead on the spent grain from an all oat mash would result in a similar mouthfeel.

There’s a malt house near me that sells malted oats, and I’m quite tempted to try making a single malt out of them. Which led me to wondering about the sugarhead. Would a neutral from them have that creamy mouthfeel? Or a pot distilled “whiskey”? I’ve read some comments about oats having a subtle flavor, which makes me wonder if there’s anything left to be gotten out of a sugarhead, or if it would just taste like a sugar wash.

Sugarheads have a surprising amount of flavour. Nothing like the original AG but was way more than a straight sugar wash.

I once used a batch of sugarheads for making neutral because I urgently needed neutral for another project. Refluxed the low wines to 95% and the result was far from neutral. Made a nice drop of gin but the whisky flavour definitely carried over.

NormandieStill wrote: ↑Tue Sep 12, 2023 4:12 pm Sugarheads have a surprising amount of flavour. Nothing like the original AG but was way more than a straight sugar wash.

Agree. I'd SWAG it ~80-85% of the A/G. Especially if you toss the feints in from the A/G.

Doing sugarheads is part of my standard procedure now. Helps keep your paws off the A/G while it ages.

You can also mash in a bit more oats or whatever to minimize the sugar.

Cheers,
J