Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Earlier this evening I dropped by a mates place to pick up some car parts & he also is a HUGE fan of doing home brew spirits. He uses a Pure Distilling Reflux still with a 25L boiler. Anyways halfway through having a beer after buying these car parts he says have a try of this Irish Whisky (essence based) he whisked up a few weeks back. He pours out around 30-40 ml in a glass & goes "it's pretty smooth". I was rather hesitant at 1st due to some bad tasting essence spirit some yrs ago but gave it a go, so not to offend my mate. And WOW!! There was NO strong spirit/ metho smell - just the usual Irish Whiskey smell & it was so smooth to drink you would not know it was straight 40% home made stuff!! I asked what does he do & he says after getting the usual 90-92% from a sugar wash, he waters down to 40% before oaking using charred oak chips/splinters that look like it's been through a chipper for 3-4 weeks. He added the Irish Whiskey essence about a month ago after the oaking had finished.

So my Q to the old hands here on the forum - WTF made this drop so smooooth?? There was no bite, no shiver down the spine from drinking 40% abv spirits what so ever. Is the smooth taste from the way a reflux still works? Can this also be achieved from a pot? Surely oaking for just 3-4 weeks doesn't make spirit so smooth - or does it? If I can get my current batch of Cornflakes Whiskey I did through my pot 2 weeks back anywhere near as smooth as this, I'd be over the moon...

Sounds like good cuts

Reflux stills help to compress fractions although with good cuts and multiple runs a pot can achieve a smooth result.

have a look at making cuts

viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2859

Ask him how exactly he makes it if its that good.
Exactly what wood, quantities etc.

Angels take their fair share.
And good cuts :think:

thanks for the replies guys.

Sent a text to my mate earlier asking what exactly did he do with that Irish Whiskey batch & just like I said when I wrote up this last night - he waters down the sugar wash spirit from 90-92% down to 40%. Then oaks using charred oak chips for 3-4 weeks & after he filtered the chips out added the Irish Whiskey essence as per instructions.

What ever the magic step is to get it soooooo smooth - it's certainly something I now wanna aim for when doing my batches.

Might be the charred chip, lots of people rave about it cleaning things up if you leave it for a while

Is he making cuts?

I have been doing t500 essence thing for probably three years plus a mate started doing it and I drank with him till he got it pretty good then I started doing my ownI, I still think that great quality spirits is able to be achieved we settled on some set essences that gave a great finish and with a mixture of oaking and Charing which I do like good smooth stuf is achievable having tried TPW, mcrum :obscene-drinkingchug: and BWKO I am excited at the possibility of even better outcomes in the future but by no means has the turbo500 and essences been a fail you can make some great drink

Would you like to name the essence you use

These were some essencia was a great brand as was willards
I believe also the spirits unlimited ( makes up to 5 litres) was great I also used it to blend with others to refine my flavour
And I also believe that oaking did round out the taste

Thanks interesting

Is it possible to get a clearer shot so I can read the bottles
Thanks

Well it's interesting, I used Alcotec 48 (fully expecting it to be crap) in an Air Stll, filtered it, sat it on oak chips for 3 weeks - added Still Spirits Irish Whiskey essence , and bam, the best I have made so far - I have tried it out on several people and they all thought it was fantastic and smooth as - I thought I had just lucked out but maybe not - my next batch will be with a MacBoka so I think I am entitled to expect it to be even better.

BTW on the same run I put a bottle away as vodka - having ultimately run out of the good stuff I added Irish Whiskey essence to it and whilst ok, nowhere near as good as the oaked and aged version - so it has to have something to do with it.

I should also admit that it was pretty much pure hearts - but so what? It should be right?

Airing is good start, makes a much smoother drop :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Aussiedownunder01 wrote:Is it possible to get a clearer shot so I can read the bottles
Thanks

:handgestures-thumbupleft: Left to right
Essencia Tennessee bourbon
spirits unlimited premium bourbon
Gallaghers Irish style Whisky
Sam willards premium bourbon
Sam willards Kentucky style bourbon
Edwards scrub turkey
These were run normally,turbo 48 no cuts just fores we filtered and bottled with essence for quick some using essencia bourbon chunks

I now use only the tried and proven recipes so just starting down that road to perfect them
But by no means was the other stuff rubbish just others are better :dance:

All I have to input on this thread is that everyone has their own perception on what good liquor is and don't always believe a review from someone who you have just given free booze to ;-)

Sam. wrote:All I have to input on this thread is that everyone has their own perception on what good liquor is and don't always believe a review from someone who you have just given free booze to ;-)

And that's fair enough providing you accept it applies to ALL sources of the booze in question. One man's meat and all that...

I don't think there is anything wrong (and I don't mean to imply you are necessarily saying there is something wrong) in reporting that they have serendipitously stumbled over a nugget where one wouldn't have expected to find it. If it is (inadvertently) fallacious it will soon be found out.

Personally, when I have people try my meagre efforts I only provide them with enough to taste, partly so the effect you mention doesn't happen, but mostly to distance myself from the possibility of suspicion when said tasters wake up the next morning with vision defects totally of their own doing...

(EDIT: yes yes, I admit the real reason is that I have not yet made enough of the good stuff to meet my own needs never mind theirs as well)

Besides the absolute ball it is to make your own and whether you are HBS or full on grain since I started drinking the stuff I made, when given the chance to drink the mainstream stuff,I find a huge leaning to preferring my own stuff and that is what matters being happy with yours and picking as many brains as you can to keep improving on what you are doing and not a better place to do that than this great forum :teasing-blah:

Bundaboy wrote:Well it's interesting, I used Alcotec 48 (fully expecting it to be crap) in an Air Stll, filtered it, sat it on oak chips for 3 weeks - added Still Spirits Irish Whiskey essence , and bam, the best I have made so far

i quite like that essence. i add a bit to 6 month oaked DWWG and its pretty tasty. just for something different.

Andy wrote:i quite like that essence. i add a bit to 6 month oaked DWWG and its pretty tasty. just for something different.

It's certainly the best I have tried so far out of half a dozen (whiskies) or so, but the epiphany for me has been the "ageing" on oak - even for a couple of weeks it's like magic.

I am surprised that it's benefit isn't exalted more, but I suppose that those "in the know" take it for granted.

6 months must be equivalent to a commercial 12 year old surely? (assuming the usual area to volume ratio advantage).