Aaah, so nice to finally see a moonshiner that is competent at fermentation. Comming from beer brewery area, I was astonished by ammount of guessing and bs said by moonshiners. This one fine craftman is to be listened to. Kudos!
Why use apples, when your aim is to remove all traces and flavours of the apples, a basic sugar wash with diammonium phosphate as an extra yeast nutrient would suffice if your aiming for a highly concentrated flavourless ethanol.
Did anyone notice the little bugs that were landing on the yellow funnel at around 11:40, they all seemed to be flying a little out of control for some reason? LOL
Your Pectinase, it cleaves the pectins and creates Methanol. It is how they clarify apple juice, there is more methanol in clear apple juice than what you would typically find in a yeast/apple juice ferment that was then distilled. Interesting information you have mate.
Why go through all that trouble just to strip all the flavor out? You could have done that with just sugar and turbo yeast to improve yield and strip the flavor.
Your apples weren't ripe. If you wait until the seeds are dark brown, the apples will be ripe. The flavor will be better, and the natural sugars will have had time to develop. Thank you for the videos! Does the vodka taste like apples?
Lavlander E1118 is also a good yeast to use. I did a fermentation last fall of a cyber (pressed cider and honey), and my OG was 1.118, and the F.G. was 1.002.
So no flavours come through? I made some whiskey from rye grain and there was a lot of left over flavour although my still was very primitive in design.
@Kurt Lamprecht There are 2 basic types of still - pot still and reflux still. Reflux stills strip everything out of the alcohol, leaving a very clean, neutral product. Pot stills work at lower efficiency which can sometimes be useful. They don't strip everything out of the alcohol that passes over, and can sometimes retain a bit of the flavor profile of the mash.
I would think your apple mash would have been better in pot still mode to carry the flavor and it would have made a nice apple brandy...to strip all the flavor for vodka?...just sayin'. ...and with 6 plates in reflux seems to me you should be able to achieve at least 92% (I believe 95% with that setup) which is totally comparable to 'professional' vodkas. Something is amiss with your logic 'bro
Brizzleberry Eaves I get what your saying, but the forshots are your acetate and other rubbish. Once removed then your heads come in, so you can make three clear cuts, heads, hearts, and tails... If you light the forshots, they burn RED, and the good alcohols burns blue with a white tinge.. I suppose it's each to there own.. thanks for your reply...
steveesti I always understood it that way too, and still see it that way, I have just spoken to a few different distillers for larger companies that make professionally/commercially, and they just call the first cut the Heads. They don’t do a specific forshots cut and let it all fall in the heads and then add it all to the next batch. I wasn’t sure why that was. 🤷🏻♂️anyway, that’s what I was thinking this guy was saying as well.
steveesti for sure man. I’m Also learning right now, and I still don’t know everything. Haha but I’m trying to learn. Ha ha I hope you enjoy the fun of making alcohol! 👍🏻👌🏻😎
First of all, properly distilled spirits do NOT need any filtering and certainly not through a plastic thing. Speaking of plastic..that funnel you use..throw it to hell (including the fly on it). Using plastic stuff to collect high ABV spirits is just a BIG NO GO ! Use glass, copper, or stainless steel. Questionable synthetic crap like your funnel can and will leach into your product.
Kalle Klæp for Vodka to be vodka, it has to be filtered. Technically speaking it’s supposed to be filtered through charcoal though, not a Brita filter.
You're not correct. Real Vodka doesn't need any filtration at all, no charcoal,no Brita. How do you think the Russians made it 100 or 200 years ago? In order to get a good product, one has to be a good distiller, know how to make the cuts and how to distill properly. However, before even thinking of firing up the still, a good and proven recipe for the fermentation is a must. So is absolute sanitary work with the raw materials and the fermentation vessel.
BS to homemade isnt as good as store made . . its better if you know your stuff, mind you i am having homemade as i watch this vid so maybe i am biased a tad
