Still working through Vodka options

[Wellsy]

Yet another newbie question for the knowledgeable ones amounts us.
I am still looking at vodka options and wheat mash with triple distillation through my pot still is where I am heading. My question is will doing a full 100% wheat mash with angel yeast be a bit of a waste as a similar result could be obtained with a wheat sugar mash. Given I am not looking for an overpowering wheat flavour just a nice hint of it will an all grain be actually going against what I am trying to achieve. Or does all grain also add a complexity to the flavour that sugar can’t match. Just looking for thoughts here guys as there is no point in over complicating things :)
Thanks

[RuddyCrazy]

G'day Wellsy,
Triple distilling a wheat ferment no matter which one you choose is going to take a heap of wheat for just making a vodka.

Ive decided to strip TPW to get enough low wines to do a run in my bubbler and off a 60 litre ferment I got 11 litres @ 55%, got another 60 litre ferment going and thinking of a third just to get enough low wines for a 40% 45 litre spirit run. Now I am thinking of doing a triple distill by using the output from the spirit run just top have a top shelf base to use for maceration's etc.

I setup a 4" pot still for the stripping and its going to be a long process for me and just think if it is to take my a long time how long is it going to take to do yours. Personally I's just do a TPW wash as it will be way cheaper and by triple distilling it in a pot should remove all flavour.

Cheers Bryan

[Wellsy]

Thanks Bryan
Most of my spirit runs are 40 litres @ 40% and take around 13 hours to run.
I have 50 kgs of wheat but can easily add sugar to boost the alcohol content.
Was going to do this ferment in a 200 litre fermenter as I won’t be doing any generations as I am not looking to add flavour.
I think I would prefer a hint of wheat not tomato as with a pot still I think there will always be a hint of flavour.

[Professor Green]

Before you go down the wheat route Wellsy, have you given WBAB wash a go? It's my go-to for vodka and produces excellent results.

[tubbsy]

Before you go down the wheat route Wellsy, have you given WBAB wash a go? It's my go-to for vodka and produces excellent results.

:text-+1: It's a very versatile wash. I use it for vodka, neutral and put some on oak for a few months, all with great results.

[Wellsy]

Thanks Prof and Tubbsy
WBAB sounds so much easier will give that a whirl and see how I go.

[WhiskeySour]

Yep, wbab is such a simple way to make vodka/neutral, you can't go past it really. My most recent batch I just used straight weatbix. Turned out great, just a hint of wheat although I refluxed it to about 90-92%. Keen to hear how your triple pot distilled version goes Wellsy

[Wellsy]

Thanks for all your help guys.

Just waiting for my 200 litre wbab to cool so I can pitch my yeast. In for a penny in for a pound hey :)

The only variation I went with was raw sugar not white. Lets see what it does for the flavour profile.

Pitching 500 Grams of yeast which i believe will be enough.

[RuddyCrazy]

Wellsy whats the starting gravity as that can give you an idea of the wash ABV percentage once the ferment is done so one can estimate the yield of each strip run

[chipboy]

My question is, when is the party?

Oh and let us know how it turns out to please? As i finished my only bottle of commercial Vodka last night in a cocktail, need more!

[Amberale]

I’ve added about 500grams of cracked barley to my last couple of FFV washes (I do an upsized 47 litre with 9kgs of sugar).
I have no idea if it will brew out or make any difference but I’ve got half a ton of the stuff so what the hell.

[RuddyCrazy]

first sorry to go off topic

Amberale if you have that much barley :teasing-tease: start malting mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: and get onto the AG craze and you will never go back to breakfast serials again :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

[Wellsy]

Hey Bryan
Starting gravity is1.06, so I am pretty happy with that and am expecting the yeast to have a nice lazy time chewing up all that sugar lol.
It is fizzing already with a lovely cap on it.

[RuddyCrazy]

Hey Bryan
Starting gravity is1.06, so I am pretty happy with that and am expecting the yeast to have a nice lazy time chewing up all that sugar lol.
It is fizzing already with a lovely cap on it.

Hi Wellsy,
Mate if that ferment finishes on 994 then it will be a 8.5% wash so with a 50 litre wash you should expect around 5.5 litres of low wines going down to 20%. Now with doing 4 strips it should give you enough for a good spirit run at 40% with 45 litres which should get you around 18-19 litres to do the third run. Now watering this down to 40 or 35% will get enough to do another 35-40 litre run so mate I reckon you hit the mark if my maths is right :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers Bryan

Now how about the maths guru's check my figures just to see how far off the mark I really am :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

[Wellsy]

I didn’t do any maths, I just guessed that my BWKO took me 4 strip runs to get a spirit run so figured 200 should almost get me there :)

So much easier than all this mathematical theory lol.

Thanks for doing all the work for me mate.

[Amberale]

first sorry to go off topic

Amberale if you have that much barley :teasing-tease: start malting mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: and get onto the AG craze and you will never go back to breakfast serials again :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Nah mate.
I’m not a fan of whisky or bourbon.
I only drink gin and Irish and the SS Jameson knock off cordial is as good as the real thing when added to very good neutral.
I couldn’t be stuffed with a wb&b wash again.
I buy 30kg bags of Lekke’s wheat bran and stick with ffvw.
I’m only trying the barley for mouth feel and because the steers are already fat as fuck this year and don’t need the boost.

Sorry Wellsy, back on topic.

[Wellsy]

Just thought I would give an update during stripping runs

I wanted a relaxed yeast in the hope of a relaxed sipping vodka so here is my interpretation of the WBAB recipe, which was done with the German supermarket knockoffs.

1 & 1/2 box wheat biscuits approx 1.8 kilos
1 & 1/2 box just bran approx 785 grams
3 table spoons of Epsom salts
2 table spoons Citric Acid
32 kilos raw sugar
500 grams bakers yeast

Tipped everything into my 240 lie barrel with 40 litres of hot water ( except the yeast ) and blitzed it with a paint stirrer, grabbed the garden hose and filled up to the 200 litre mark and stirred it all up again. Waited for the temp to get around 28 and hydrated the yeast and tipped it in. Starting SG was 1.06 and it finished in 5.5 days at .990

[Wellsy]

Ended up with approx 180 litres of usable wash and is stripping out at approx 9 litres per 40 litres of wash. No idea on abv cos it is too bloody hot to faff around in the shed. I would guess it will average about 35 abv but that is a blind guess as I have never fermented at this volume before nor have I ever done this wash before. Will update later if anybody is interested thanks again to all those who helped guide me to this path, it is much appreciated as it is such a simple cheap recipe

[Wellsy]

OK Guys I ended up with 40 Litres @ 38% before todays spirit run which gave me 21 Litres @ 72%.
I will make the cuts tomorrow after the jars air overnight. then it will be run it through the still for a third time to get the final product.
This was the first wash I have done where I believe I could taste the heads/hearts transition off the still, tomorrow I guess I will confirm if I was imaging that point or not

[WhiskeySour]

Shit Wellsy, you had a good day to through a 21L spirit run, must have been up at the crack of dawn :handgestures-thumbupleft: