Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey all! Wondering has anyone cracked anything close to wild turkey American honey yet?love the original swmbo gives me hell for drinking it straight out of bottle like cordial( hits like freight train I know DANGEROUS I know) tried many experiments , essence version taste like cough syrup any leads to something close running out of things to try!(brands honey , %bourbon)etc etc can get close to wild turkey but cant seem to crack the honey!!

you could try something like this but use BWKO instead of vodka

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012 ... ecipe.html

Thanks ed that's pretty much what I been doin tried many different things with many different honeys (eg cfw,bwko,scrub turkey,neut and various bourbons ) can't seem to get that same honey smooth refined taste without sickly additional flavours I'm pretty sure there must be a trick to it just not sure what!!

Even tried Mead and bourbon thinking that would give me the honey with the sweetness fermented out but still no joy

I have at time noticed quite a rich honey flavour in my rum and whiskey I thought it was coming from the oak but I have been doing some googling since you posted this and it appears that "Phenylethyl acetate" may be the cause it is an ester produced during fermentation. Maybe you can promote its production via yeast or fermenting conditions. Bit of easy reading on esters here https://www.gastrograph.com/blogs/gastronexus/ester-production-in-fermentation.html
It may be tricky doing this you would have to taste often and pull it off oak at the right time but may be do able?

Cheers bluc will have look at that Tom running out of paths to follow so any leads greatly appreciated at mo :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Try adding a few kg of honey on your UJ, BKWO spirit run, then blend some honey with the final oaked product. I did this a while back for a mate. Got a big thumbs up. Didn't think much of it myself, not my thing. From memory I added 3 kg honey to 25L of strip, gave it a good stir with paint stirrer every day for 4 days, then a nice slow spirit run, aged on heavy toast AO for 6 months, then added 300gm to 4L of spirit, good shake everyday for a week, let it sit for another month. Filtered it through coffee filter and bottled. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I like it but not too much cause its too sweet to exceed recommended daily consumption limits with it.
Three possibilities if the honey is too sweet for ya is use less (probably tried that), use a little lemon juice to reduce the sweetness or something else that's acidic and food safe (may change flavour profile slightly however) or try to ferment the honey out a bit to reduce the sweetness.
I can taste something else in the American honey though. Maybe glycerin for the mouthfeel.
Cloning something commercial is very hard. You should try and settle on something close that you like instead instead of an exact replica.

Another possibility is to find honey (maybe talk to bee keepers that doesn't have a lot of inherent sweetness. Maybe talk to beekeepers about some?

Thanks guys def gunna continue experiments been thinking bout adding honey before spirit run just reluctant to make 5ltr of something Shit (I know can rerun but who has spare time for that!!) Adding honey to spirit seems to add additional unwanted flavours. Currently in negotiations with a mate that has a hobby hive to try get some fresh unprocessed honey to see how that goes. Thanks for your thoughts and ideas :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I haven't found a honey that's not sweet yet, not sure you ever will. It's nectar from flowers, it's designed to be sweet to attract the bees/pollinators.

Get a real nice honey like Blue gum or yellow box. Don't buy the generic honey from the super market it doesn't have the best flavour profiles. You may have to pay a bit more for it though. If you want less honey flavour go for a lucurne as it has very little flavour, it's more like sugar syrup. Playing with honey can be an expencive exercise as it's not cheap. I have easy access to it but don't really like it in booze so I generally ferment my non saleable honey for neutrals ( I bet a heap of jaws just hit the ground :scared-eek: ) I have a 200ltr wash going now that was some honey that got water in it and was uneatable and even started fermenting itself. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I have heard of blokes smearing honey on the roof of their boiler or putting some watered down into a thumper as a way of getting flavour through. Never tryed it but could be worth a shot. I wouldn't put straight honey into a thumper as it may well cause back pressure.

Thanks woodduck it's not the sweetness that bothers me as much as the other flavours that seem to come with it wild turkey seems to bring the honey flavour with out the others even the other commercials like JD still seem to have off flavours. Pretty keen to try the thumper idea I do remember reading about that some time ago . May Havta talk to Allen and sue about putting something together for me if I can get it past the minister of finance :romance-kisscheek:

I would definitely go for a premium honey if you want it for flavour. In Tazy I would be looking for leather wood honey. If your close by go see Lindsey Bourke at Australian honey products, he'll be able to sort you out. He makes mead there as well. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Will def call in there when I get a chance. Have a couple farm gate suppliers close by for leather wood honey aswell got be quick though they sell out pretty soon after the honey available signs come out :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Taz wrote:Will def call in there when I get a chance. Have a couple farm gate suppliers close by for leather wood honey aswell got be quick though they sell out pretty soon after the honey available signs come out :handgestures-thumbupleft:

We use buckwheat honey in our Honey Moonshine. I must of tried 7 different varieties before settling on the buckwheat and all the others were a distant second.

American Honey is artificially flavoured so who knows what they put in it.

woodduck wrote:I haven't found a honey that's not sweet yet, not sure you ever will. It's nectar from flowers, it's designed to be sweet to attract the bees/pollinators.

Get a real nice honey like Blue gum or yellow box. Don't buy the generic honey from the super market it doesn't have the best flavour profiles. You may have to pay a bit more for it though. If you want less honey flavour go for a lucurne as it has very little flavour, it's more like sugar syrup. Playing with honey can be an expencive exercise as it's not cheap. I have easy access to it but don't really like it in booze so I generally ferment my non saleable honey for neutrals ( I bet a heap of jaws just hit the ground :scared-eek: ) I have a 200ltr wash going now that was some honey that got water in it and was uneatable and even started fermenting itself. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I have heard of blokes smearing honey on the roof of their boiler or putting some watered down into a thumper as a way of getting flavour through. Never tryed it but could be worth a shot. I wouldn't put straight honey into a thumper as it may well cause back pressure.

All honey is indeed sweet. Its pretty much just liquid sugar after all. Some honeys 'taste' sweeter than others and its the taste he's looking for. Compare a meadow or clover honey with say a redwood or manuka and the meadow/clover honey will 'taste' sweeter. Don't asks me how it works, something to do with the flavours, but compare them side by side and there is a definite difference.
Sounds like buckwheats a good candidate according to whiskyaugogo. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks whisky that explains why I can't get anywhere close. VERY keen to try your honey moonshine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Taz wrote:Thanks whisky that explains why I can't get anywhere close. VERY keen to try your honey moonshine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

And may explain my idea of a honey ester rather than honey which as you said will have other flavours as well..

Keen to try ur theory to bluc be good for just a little hint of honey I imagine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Could you do a small batch of honey and some clean neutral for a honey 'essence' through a small pot still? Be able to get the flavour but reduce the sugar amount?
I'm not keen on making the stuff but just throwing it out there.

Edit: Maybe try something like the below? Gotta be something similar in Oz.
http://www.lorannoils.com/honey-flavor-1-oz-0650-0500