Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Wondering what causes soap taste. The uj/corn whiskey i put in my barrel has developed a soap taste. No one else that has tried it has picked it. But I can.. and it bugs me first time I have noticed it in any of my spirit..

Did you have a lot of rye in the recipe? I've heard that can give a soapy taste in large quantities..

Otherwise, I'm out of ideas..

Hi Bluc, what's your abv and how much spirit are we talking?

Have you heard of saponification?

It's a chemical reaction with naturally occuring fats and oils. Triglycerides. It's basically how soap is made

In relation to your whiskey, fats and oils will be in suspension at a high abv. Perhaps in the proofing stage these have been released causing saponification. This will leave a soapy taste to your spirit.

Citrus oils in gin are a classic example of this process. Your gin can look cloudy and taste soapy with too many of these oils floating around. In relation to gin, this problem can often be solved by raising the abv level of the spirit. This will keep those oils in suspension.

Not sure how you can raise the abv of your uj, but if you can, it might save your batch :think:

Just my guess :smile:

If you cannot raise the %ABV what about cold filtering?
Isn't that how you get rid of proteins in whiskey?

No rye minipac.interesting posts fellas. Will see what I can do..

I think you're on the right track woodsy.

The problem with esters is that they are not terribly stable. In acidic or basic conditions they decompose to give an alcohol (methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol etc) and a carboxylic acid. The longer chain carboxylic acids when converted to a salt are what makes up soaps. And it's not unfeasible that if they are insoluble in the whiskey then they can precipitate out with the salt ions, giving it a soapy taste.

Salt ions (sodium or potassium) could be present from lower quality diluting water or maybe even from the oak especially if it's been charred.

I did a bit of reading and it looks like pH decreases with aging. Carboxylic acids are more soluble at higher pH than lower. I don't know if pH is part of the solution. It may contribute to the cause though. I also found an article from the 60s that found quite a few longer chains esters in whiskey.

Removing the salt ions may help. I wonder if increasing the abv might help precipitate the salt ions.

It's an interesting one.

This article.

db1979 wrote:I think you're on the right track woodsy.


Salt ions (sodium or potassium) could be present from lower quality diluting water or maybe even from the oak especially if it's been charred.

This might be the byproduct of over-doing the bicarbonate of soda bluc :think:

I don't think so, bicarb shouldn't end up in the product from the wash.

ThePaterPiper wrote:

db1979 wrote:I think you're on the right track woodsy.


Salt ions (sodium or potassium) could be present from lower quality diluting water or maybe even from the oak especially if it's been charred.

This might be the byproduct of over-doing the bicarbonate of soda bluc :think:

Calcium carbonate? Yea that thought crossed my mind..

What if the salts denatured the esters in the ferment? Just kicking the tin around trying to find a reason.

db1979 wrote:I don't think so, bicarb shouldn't end up in the product from the wash.

Indeed.

I think knowing the abv will be key :smile:

Woodsy71 wrote:

db1979 wrote:I don't think so, bicarb shouldn't end up in the product from the wash.

Indeed.

I think knowing the abv will be key :smile:

Current? Is 65%

I recall soapy-ness coming up before, their solution was to ditch the booze so not sure how helpful that is.

It was in a discussion about how many gens or rum to do or something like that.
Was a few yrs ago.

Yea been doing reading and the reakon if wort is on the grain to long it literally makes soap.. Mine was on grain bed whole winter. 3months..It is npt so bad I wouldnt drink it but annoying and hope flavour does not go into barrel.
I just had a nip of glen grant it was like perfume tails and a hint of pineapple :puke-huge: I dont feel so bad...

ThePaterPiper wrote:What if the salts denatured the esters in the ferment? Just kicking the tin around trying to find a reason.

The still will sort that out. The alcohols made from the esters will either be in hearts (ethanol), heads (methanol) or tails (propanol and all larger alcohols) and the carboxylic acids are likely to stay in the boiler or in the tails if they are small enough (like ethanoic acid or propanoic acid). Any carboxylic acid capable of giving a soap flavour will definitely be left in the boiler.

Is the soap taste present at both 65% and 40%? And is it stronger/lighter at the different percentages?

Lighter at 40% as apposed to 65%..

I'd be tempted to take it all out of the barrel. Put it in some glass and air it for a day or two.

Not sure what exactly is going on, but at least this will save your barrel from any further contamination and give your product a chance to rid itself of the bad ju ju :think:

I have nothing else to put in barrel I will have in couple weeks though..