strawberry shine

[ratdog01]

Hi
Just done a strawberry shine
15 kg straws
5 kg sugar
bit lemon juice
30 ltrs water
bread yeast
all went well fermented off in two weeks showed done on hyd way past the green line

have done stripping run got a bit of a taste to it (wife think metalic ) i think aniseed not much straw flavor
was pot stilled with 3" colum ss (all parts are ss) ran at around 80 c

i am i expecting to much form a simple mash ?

[NZChris]

Sugar makes neutral alcohol, so dilutes flavors.

I’m confused as to how you stripped it. 80C??

[Saltbush Bill]

You also need copper in a stainless steel still, that alone could be causing the off taste that your wife talks of.
If you want strawberry flavour you'd be better off looking up the forums , Strawberry Panty Dropper recipe, or using a similar method.
I'm also confused by the 80c thing.

[Salt Must Flow]

Temp doesn't really mean anything while dong a stripping run. Most people judge when to stop their stripping run based on the % ABV of their total collected low wines. If you opt to strip deeper then your % ABV will be lower than if you stopped earlier.

As said previously, the addition of sugar will dilute overall flavor, but will boost the potential alcohol of the fermentation. More fruit and no sugar would increase flavor. People often run into this when fermenting canned peaches for instance. The included corn syrup inside the can dilutes flavor, but increases the potential alcohol of the ferment. 100% peaches (no added sugar or corn syrup) will increase flavor, but requires much more fruit.

[jonnys_spirit]

I’d consider putting dehydrated strawberries, fresh or a combo into the vapor path during your hearts cut of the spirit run to enhance the strawberry if you’re looking for a geist style brandy. Also let it rest after your final cuts for a good bit. Maybe also macerate some in the low wines before spirit run and run it with fruit in the boiler if you can without scorching.

Agree that the sugar diluted the flavor so you’ll need to consider using other methods to un-dilute it.

I think strawberry will be fairly subtle anyway.

Cheers!
-jonny

[NZChris]

I don’t dehydrate before loading the basket, I just halve them. I’ve also run with them in the pot.

[ratdog01]

thanks
its a new still to me so just playing with it to get to know it
80c temp was at the top of the column was using the new power controler at that temp got nice flow from condenser
i was thinking it was the bread yeast cus not used with fruit before but good point more strawberrys less sugar tend to put sugar in to give more alcohol
when i workout how to load photo will put pic of my new still
thanks
rd01

[ratdog01]

put it all back in ran it again with some copper in the slight glass
not to bad now with a little strawberry at the end
let it stand for a time see how it finnishes

thanks
rd01

[Demy]

I think bread yeast is fine for cereals but for fruit I only use wine or beer yeast. For a greater fruit flavor I would think about macerating the strawberries post-distillation. You can try a method I posted here on the juice filtration forum (YouTube video).
viewtopic.php?t=87026

[Tim Julius]

Does this include alcohol after 2 weeks of fermentation??

[vrfalcone]

Strawberry is a difficult flavor to duplicate in fermentation. my advice would be to get a flavoring from Amoretti and add the essential flavoring oil after you have distilled.
you can easily titrate the amount by taking a small amount of the distillate and adding drops of flavoring, estimating that about 20 drops is equal to a milliliter, this will give an idea on how much to add...adding drops to taste.
the strawberry wine you produced sounds delicious however most of that flavor is removed and evaporated during high krausen in fermentation
i have fermented strawberries in beer for a strawberry ale but always need to add some kind of fruit puree or essence after fermentation to lock in flavor. amoretti sells quality products in easy to use applications.
cheers!

[A BIT DIFFERENT]

Good day rat

My 10 cents worth. One of the reasons I started distilling was because In 2020 I was invited to a strawberry farm to pick excess overripe strawberries for free (it was covid and they could not move their product). Originally my wife wanted to make strawberry jelly, but because we found the odd worm in the mushy fruit she decided against the jelly. The fruit was very ripe and soft and pulpy and we had to clean out quite a few worms. I managed to salvage 9.5kgs of strawberries. I knew absolutely nothing about distilling and reverted to the internet and YouTube. I found a recipe that told me to add soaked pulped raisins and sugar to take the wash to 1.055/60. It fermented down to 1.000 after about three weeks. My mixing and cuts were not the greatest, and it was a bit harsh on the palate, but what I did manage to achieve was a very good strawberry aroma, and after the initial bite the strawberry aftertaste one is left with is fantastic. My wife who does not touch alcohol would comment about how when I opened a bottle it smelled like strawberry cotton candy. I have done a few more since then and have managed to get a smoother better drinkable product. Strawberries are hellish expensive here in the stores and possibly totally unsuitable because they are picked when firm and just starting to ripen? I still go back to the farm and buy their overripe soft fruit when they have available and I think it is that that brings the fragrance over into the final product. it certainly doesn't smell like strawberries and cream air freshener or strawberry ice cream, but there is a definite fruity note and you can and will definitely pick up the strawberry hint.