BeverageCommander
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Yeast plays an important role but from my experience it is not as pronounced as it is in brewing. In brewing you can easily taste the difference between an american ale yeast and a british ale yeast- and you can easily tell the difference between a higher fermentation temp and a lower one.
With distilling I have noticed that the distilling process removes most of the yeast flavor. I still don’t use turbo yeast as I have had really bad results with it. I use bread yeast for my rum as that works great. I use US05 brewers yeast for my single malts, and I have been mixing it up with my corn mash.
If you pitch a good amount of healthy yeast, don’t ferment too hot, ferment all the way out- you will get good results. Find a yeast or two that work well for you, or just keep experimenting.the recipe that I have calls for washing and taking pits out and putting in a barrel with the right amount of sugar water and do not disturb for several weeks.
Are they adding yeast? It sounds like they might be using natural yeast that is already on the fruit. This can work well, or not so well- just depending on what yeast strain is on the fruit. You might want to start the first batch with a wine yeast just to make sure you get a good fermentation on your first couple batches. Once you have the process dialed in you might want to try playing with the natural yeast fermentation.
After that fermentation is done would the first step be to put all that mash in the claw hammer still?
After fermentation is finished I would use an auto-siphon to transfer the wine from the fermenter into clean bucket. If you have a lot of solids in the mash you might have to strain the wash with some cheesecloth or mesh bag.
once you have only liquid you can dump that into the still.
I make a lot of Brandy-which is pretty similar to schnpps from my understanding- I think schnapps might be proofed lower than brandy for bottling.
In my view the primary difference between schnapps and brandy is in how it is aged. Both are produced by distilling a fruit wine of one sort or another, but brandies are aged in oak barrels which imparts the amber color and the oak lavors while schnapps are kept white. I use a clawhammer still which makes excellent brandy.This ismy standard brandy recipe for any fruit
My basic fruit recipe is one part fruit juice or puree to two parts good water, 2- 2.5 lbs lbs cane sugar per gallon of mash, and Lalvin K1-V1116 wine yeast.
I obliterate my fruit in my 1000 watt blender. With apples, you need to add water or good apple cider about a third of the way up the pitcher to loosen up the apples. Strain out the pulp and throw it in a pot, cover with about a third of the water you need and bring it to a boil and cut the heat after a minute. This will extract the remainder of the juice. Put the sugar in the fermenter and strain this into it, stirring in all the sugar until completely dissolved. Dump in the rest of the water, let it cool to 80°, then pitch your yeast.
Do not add yeast nutrient. It speeds up the fermentation. The longer the fermentation, the better the flavor development. It should go 14 days and give you 18% ABV. Age it in un-charred white oak chips for two months, then blend it with the wine you reserved. Or to make Snapps don’t use the oak and drink it clear.With any copper still or any still for that matter (which is direct fired)- you are not going to want to put the fruit directly into the still- you just want distill the wine. You are pretty much making a wine , then distill the wine. If you add anything besides the wine it will scorch on the copper which tastes terrible and is a real pain to clean.
The process for distilling moonshine, brandy, whiskey, fuel, schnapps, gin, vodka is the same. Obviously if making gin you will need a gin basket, vodka needs to be ran a few times- but the process is the same. Make a mash- distill it- age it (or don’t)
Did the ever finish fermenting? Did you run them?
Q) First, the product seems to be a little cloudy. The heads are particularly cloudy. Is this common? All the way thru the collection there appears to be a haze in the product.
A) This is not normal- it can be caused by a few things-
1) A still “puking” into the collection vessel can cause this- when this happens, liquid in the boiler foams up into the column and then drips down through the condenser and drip arm.
2)You want to use just the right amount of heat- If you add too much heat, liquid will boil up into the column and puke into the collection vessel, causing distillate to turn cloudy. If too little heat is added, runs will take much longer than they should.
3)Don’t transfer yeast and other sediment into the still-Q) Second, the product has a definate alcohol smell to it as it should (lol), however it is very harsh the the nose. This is true for all the collection jars down to 30 proof.
A) Most sugar shine recipes have this harshness- I only use sugar to make fuel or to slightly boost a fruit mash for brandy. You might want to look into making all grain mashes once you have the process down.Q) I started with about 3 gallons of filtered mash and started the run. The collections were made in small jars about 200mls each the first being 250ml’s which measured at 100 proof and burned pure blue. I will most likely be Discarding this. Each subsequent 200ml collection reduced 10 proof. I stopped the run after 9 jars the last measuring 20 proof. This brings me to the last question. What proof should I be striving for in a finished product?
A) This is a great way to learn how to make cuts. The first part of the run will be foreshots, then heads, then hearts, then tails. The heads is what we are after- this is the sweet spot of the run. Checkout this guide on making cuts: http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/12206385-making-moonshine-the-dummies-guideWhat was your exact recipe? Do you know your starting and ending gravity of the wash?
Just keep the bread yeast above 62 and you will be good. I always ferment my bread yeast around 68.
Fermentation temp is important- too hot or too cold and you will kill your yeast.
What kind of mash and what type of yeast are you using?I ferment in my basement which is a pretty steady 68 degrees which works well. If you ferment too hot you can pickup a lot of off flavors and if you ferment too low fermentation can take long time or get “stuck” and not finish fermenting.
Let us know what mash and yeast you are using.
These answers are all from my personal experience, I’m sure others have different onions
—Question) I don’t understand that you why remove after cooling grain solids from the liquid. Why can I don’t leave grain solid in the liquid? I have seen “Moonshiners” in Discovery Channel and Tim Smith had leave they grain solids in the liquid?! Or I have it wrong seen it, I don’t know?!
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Answer: I always remove the solid grains from the liquid because I use a direct fired copper still (either over propane, electric, fire) the solids will burn to the still– it is very difficult to remove burned grains from a copper still and the taste is terrible!
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Question: I think the grains should be in the fermeting barrel in the fermenting process to, or this is a big mistake? And what is if I add rye to it? In witch part of process I should add rye to it to make mash and moonshine more tastier?
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Answer: It is fine to ferment on the grains- a lot of distilleries do it that way, some don’t. I come from a brewing background and I always mash my moonshine mash the same way I brew- I ferment off the grains and I get plenty of flavor. It is a personal preference, many people recommend to ferment on the grains. I honestly have not noticed a difference and I’ve done it both ways. With my setup I find it easier to ferment off the grains.
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Question: How can I found the best yeast for moonshine? I have read that bread yeast is the best. In Hungary bread yeast is a mushed cube and don’t look like your powered bread yeast. For pálinka I use wine yeast and is very good to make it, but is good for moonshine to. I don’t know. So, how can I find the beast yeast what that makes my moonshine good flavor?! What smell and taste should I feel?
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Answer: I use a lot of brewers yeast, wine yeast, bread yeast. I find different yeasts work great for different product. I think bread yeast works best with Rum, I’ve found that wine yeast works best for my brandy, I find that English/American ale yeast works best for a single malt. There is not one perfect yeast- I recommend using what you have available locally- wine yeast is a great yeast and I don’t think you will be disappointed with it.
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Question: And what is if I add rye to it? In witch part of process I should add rye to it to make mash and moonshine more tastier?
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Answer: Add the rye to the mash- I always mash between 148-150 f for 60 minutes.. You want to add the rye when you start mashing as you will pull out flavor and sugars.Rusty101-
The reason folks recommend not running anything over 40% is for safety. If you have an issue with your boiler (leak,etc..) and it is filled with 40% low wines you now have flammable liquid all over…..If the low wines are under 40% or under you just has a bunch of wash to mop as under 40% is not flammable.If you run the brandy again you might lose some of that great flavor- I’d personally just proof it down with some good distilled water.
When I do a stripping run I always collect everything- I run hot and fast and collect down to 10%.
This can be caused by a few things:
First: Do you know what the starting ABV of the wash was?
Second: Where exactly is the temp probe you are using located? In my setup my boiler temp will read close to 200 before I start producing- but at the same time my column temperature will be closer to 180.
Also elevation plays a factor as well- what elevation are you at?
What kind of yeast are you using?
What kind of yeast are you using?
If using bread yeast I use two packets of dry yeast.
If using brewing yeast I follow the directions on the packet (usually 1-2 packets depending on the gravity of the wash)Johnny,
As long as you ditched the fore-shots you should be good to go. The only issues with running a high temp is pulling more water out of the still.Check this article: http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/12206385-making-moonshine-the-dummies-guide
Are you planning on doing stripping runs or only spirit runs?
Stripping Run
A stripping run is the best way to remove water from within the wash.
Simply fill the still with wash and run the still hot and fast. Collect everything into one large collection container.
Once there are multiple stripping runs saved, they can be added to a still and run as a spirit run.
Think of the stripping run as nothing more than an alcohol concentration step: you can get a larger, more refined spirit if you do a
stripping run.Stripping is usually achieved via the use of a pot still, but can be done with a de-tuned reflux still.
Running a pot still as quickly as possible will extract as much alcohol from your wash as possible.
The distillate collected is called low wines.
The low wines of several stripping runs are then collected and a spirit run is done.Spirit Run
Spirit runs are used to distill low wines produced from a stripping run or from a single run in a pot still. A spirit run is used to separate the heads, hearts and tails for the final spirit, called the spirit run. A spirit run takes a lot more time than a stripping run.Foreshots
Foreshots are the first vapors to boil off during distillation. They should not be ingested as they contain methanol and other volatile alcohols. Always discard the foreshots — they make up around 5% or less of the product collected during a run. Throw out the first 30 ml on a 1 gallon run, the first 150 ml on a 5 gallon run, or the first 300 ml on a 10 gallon run.Heads
Heads come off of the still directly after the foreshots. Simply put, they taste and smell bad. Heads smell like paint thinner or solvent. They are not worth drinking and are said to be the main culprit in hangovers.Hearts
Hearts come off the still after the heads. The hearts are the sweet spot during the run: This is the good stuff. The easiest way to tell when you’ve reached the hearts is simple: The harshness of the heads is replaced with a mellow, sweet-tasting flavor. Once that harshness of the heads fades away, you know you are in the hearts. The heart cut is very important and this is where the skill of the distiller comes into play, because they must recognize the end of the heads, and the beginning of the tails.Tails
Tails come off the still following the hearts. The tails start once all of the lower boiling point alcohols have evaporated. The tails contain a lot of fusel oil and other alcohols that are not desirable in a finished product. The tails are mostly water, proteins, and carbohydrates and do not taste very good. The tails start once the rich full flavors from the hearts taper off and start tasting thin. The tails make up between 20-30% of the run.I am assuming you are asking how long you can let the fermented wash sit before running it?
I always strain my grains from the liquid- so I have the liquid separated from the grains. After fermentation I always try and run my wash within a few weeks. I always make sure the airlock has plenty of water in it and the wash is stored in a cool dark location.
If you have a mash that is fermenting on the grains in a closed fermenter with an airlock I would say you are fine to let it sit a week or two. If you have an open fermenter I would use it soon after fermentation is finished.
