Distilling wine

A forum for mashing & fermenting fruits and vegetables

Distilling wine

Postby bluc » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:32 pm

Wondering if any of you fellas distill wine on a regular basis.
I dont like wine but wanna try making some into brandy to see what its like.
Any recomendations on a wine to try? Should it be red or white, oak aged unaged? Etc :-B
Last edited by bluc on Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
bluc
Site Donor
 
Posts: 8967
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:47 pm
Location: sunshine coast
equipment: 2" pot with 2" shotty 400mm long 5x 1/2" on a t500 boiler.
50l keg boiler 4" still mount 4" sight glass 1" drain..
4 plate 4" bubbler, 600mm packed section

Re: Distilling wine

Postby db1979 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:17 pm

My previous school I did fruit wine with my senior chem class and it was entered into the ekka fruit wine comp. Parents had to come and collect the wine afterwards but some didn't bother. I took it home and ran it through my little 2" bubbler and after aging on medium toasted oak chips (it's all I had) I thought it made a nice brandy. Can't remember how long I aged it, probably 3 months or so. Can't remember what fruit wines there were either, lots of different types, just chucked em all in.

Give it a crack and see what you get :handgestures-thumbupleft:
db1979
 
Posts: 1760
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:47 pm
Location: South of the big smoke in banana bender land.
equipment: Eve - 4" x 4 plate solid state bubbler (sieve plates), 330 mm packed section on a keg boiler with 2 x 2000 W elements.
Currently having a makeover: 2" x 4 plate solid state bubbler (1" bubble caps, no sight glasses...maybe not for much longer!) on a bain-marie boiler.

Re: Distilling wine

Postby Sam. » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:58 pm

Wine takes a while to "turn" for the brandy characteristics.

Or make nuetrel out of it.
Sam.
Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 10405
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:19 pm
Location: South Oz Straya
equipment: Original FSD 5 plate 4 inch modular bubbler SSG with hand crafted plates and parrot by Mac.
18 Gal boiler.
2 x 2400W elements and power controller.
.

Re: Distilling wine

Postby bluc » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:08 pm

Sam I was reading a thread earlier doc said he likes to oxidise the wine first for better flavour. This what you mean by turn? Or time on oak :-B

Db yea I really have to get organised to try this get something fermenting. I have a bunch of lady finger bananas on the tree they might be first.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
bluc
Site Donor
 
Posts: 8967
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:47 pm
Location: sunshine coast
equipment: 2" pot with 2" shotty 400mm long 5x 1/2" on a t500 boiler.
50l keg boiler 4" still mount 4" sight glass 1" drain..
4 plate 4" bubbler, 600mm packed section

Re: Distilling wine

Postby db1979 » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:08 pm

If by turn you mean oxidise then that's pretty much what happened to the fruit wine I used. It was sitting around after a wine and cheese tasting night the school put on and the bottles were about to be thrown out after a fair time (a few weeks) after being opened.
db1979
 
Posts: 1760
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:47 pm
Location: South of the big smoke in banana bender land.
equipment: Eve - 4" x 4 plate solid state bubbler (sieve plates), 330 mm packed section on a keg boiler with 2 x 2000 W elements.
Currently having a makeover: 2" x 4 plate solid state bubbler (1" bubble caps, no sight glasses...maybe not for much longer!) on a bain-marie boiler.

Re: Distilling wine

Postby Sam. » Thu Feb 22, 2018 8:27 am

I was meaning it takes a fair amount of time on oak before it becomes any good. Wine fresh off the still is the worst thing I have smelt out of a still. Once you have smelt foreshots of wine you can understand why drinking wine gives you such a cracking hangover :-B
Sam.
Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 10405
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:19 pm
Location: South Oz Straya
equipment: Original FSD 5 plate 4 inch modular bubbler SSG with hand crafted plates and parrot by Mac.
18 Gal boiler.
2 x 2400W elements and power controller.
.

Re: Distilling wine

Postby The Stig » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:37 am

My son put some old port through an air still just to see how it went, oaked for a couple of months and it was nice but very sweet
The Stig
Site Nerd
 
Posts: 18192
Images: 9
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:37 am
equipment: Only the Best will Do.
Mac4 SSG Bubbles of Joy

Re: Distilling wine

Postby wynnum1 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:55 am

Anyone tried cask wine some have 13% alcohol and seem to have more standard drinks $3 per L but thats still expensive. .
wynnum1
 
Posts: 1494
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:18 pm

Re: Distilling wine

Postby bluc » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:48 pm

The Stig wrote:My son put some old port through an air still just to see how it went, oaked for a couple of months and it was nice but very sweet

Yea have been considering port for quite a while stig.

Also been considering cask white for a start wynum..
Last edited by bluc on Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
bluc
Site Donor
 
Posts: 8967
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:47 pm
Location: sunshine coast
equipment: 2" pot with 2" shotty 400mm long 5x 1/2" on a t500 boiler.
50l keg boiler 4" still mount 4" sight glass 1" drain..
4 plate 4" bubbler, 600mm packed section

Re: Distilling wine

Postby Aussiedownunder01 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:53 pm

Had a bloke the other day telling me to get grape juice straight from the winerys and distill it to make the best neutral [never herd of it ]
Aussiedownunder01
 
Posts: 1133
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:25 am
Location: So close to melbourne airport you can hear the plains
equipment: 100 litre boiler with a 4 in 5 plate bubbler on top with a 500 packed section standing by if needed

Re: Distilling wine

Postby mattyb » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:14 pm

Ive done a bit now as neutral as I was given 250 litres. Cant tell the difference to any of my other neutrals. It is 14% too so a nice score
mattyb
 
Posts: 159
Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2016 8:10 pm
Location: WA
equipment: 4" Glasser

Re: Distilling wine

Postby woodduck » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:05 pm

I did a brandy a couple years ago and well I'm not a brandy drinker so didn't really know what to make of it. I didn't like it but that doesn't mean much. I turn wine into neutral all the time and works fine. Free booze really if it's given to you :handgestures-thumbupleft:
woodduck
Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 3497
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 5:54 pm
Location: Good old country SA
equipment: 4 plate 6" copper bubbler, 6 plate 4" glass bubbler with 500mm packed section three way thumper sitting on a 50 ltr keg boiler with 6000watts, 2" pot still and a 2" boka.

Re: Distilling wine

Postby YarraRanges » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:41 pm

I've done about 5000 litres of various wines through my continuous stripper.
The one important thing to learn is a crap wine makes a crap brandy. Period.
It doesn't matter if what was a good wine is corked or oxidised, it still makes a great brandy.
If when you do your spirit run you smell a piercing smell that hurts your nostrils then you haven't had enough copper to strip out the sulphides. You must rinse your product condenser in something alkaline to get what I think ends up as sulphuric acid out. My shotgun condenser had the vapour tubes eaten away by this. I had to make a new one.
I do a spirit run at about about 85%ABV and then dilute to 65% and then in 2 litre flagons use 2 French oak medium char dominoes in each.
After about 4 months you have a brandy that you couldn't buy an equivalent for less than $200 per bottle.
YarraRanges
 
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:57 am
equipment: 14 plate bubbler

Re: Distilling wine

Postby YarraRanges » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:53 pm

BTW, some wine spirits are so good that I don't make brandy from them. just dilute them down to 35% and enjoy them with a block or two of ice.
Another thing to do with them on a hot day is to make a Pisco sour, the national drink of Peru.

30ml of wine spirit per person
30ml of lemon juice per person
Crushed ice
One egg white
Put into a cocktail shaker and shake.
Pour into flat style champagne glasses and put about 5 drops of bitters onto the frothy eggwhite.
Heaven. :angelic-cyan:
YarraRanges
 
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:57 am
equipment: 14 plate bubbler

Re: Distilling wine

Postby bluc » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:57 pm

Interesting....
bluc
Site Donor
 
Posts: 8967
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:47 pm
Location: sunshine coast
equipment: 2" pot with 2" shotty 400mm long 5x 1/2" on a t500 boiler.
50l keg boiler 4" still mount 4" sight glass 1" drain..
4 plate 4" bubbler, 600mm packed section

Re: Distilling wine

Postby Sam. » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:41 pm

YarraRanges wrote:You must rinse your product condenser in something alkaline to get what I think ends up as sulphuric acid out. My shotgun condenser had the vapour tubes eaten away by this. I had to make a new one.


I would say the caustic is what ate your copper away, i would be cleaning it with acid not caustic.
Sam.
Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 10405
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:19 pm
Location: South Oz Straya
equipment: Original FSD 5 plate 4 inch modular bubbler SSG with hand crafted plates and parrot by Mac.
18 Gal boiler.
2 x 2400W elements and power controller.
.

Re: Distilling wine

Postby bluc » Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:58 pm

So are people doing sugarhead fruit mashs? Is there a rule of thumb for amount of fruit to total volume in the fermrnter?
bluc
Site Donor
 
Posts: 8967
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:47 pm
Location: sunshine coast
equipment: 2" pot with 2" shotty 400mm long 5x 1/2" on a t500 boiler.
50l keg boiler 4" still mount 4" sight glass 1" drain..
4 plate 4" bubbler, 600mm packed section

Re: Distilling wine

Postby YarraRanges » Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:22 am

Sam. wrote:
YarraRanges wrote:You must rinse your product condenser in something alkaline to get what I think ends up as sulphuric acid out. My shotgun condenser had the vapour tubes eaten away by this. I had to make a new one.


I would say the caustic is what ate your copper away, i would be cleaning it with acid not caustic.


I didn't do any rinsing with caustic at all as I was under the opinion that the product would be clean. After the condenser failed I assumed it would be acidic and most likely sulphuric as there was so much in the way of sulphides and the backset is always acidic and great for cleaning copper.
I'll rinse the failed part of the condenser in rainwater and test with some litmus paper.
BTW, we use the foreshots for killing flies and moths by flaming them. It's great fun. The foreshots from the wine have a green flame and the foreshots from a sugar wash have a blue flame.
YarraRanges
 
Posts: 79
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:57 am
equipment: 14 plate bubbler

Re: Distilling wine

Postby Wobblyboot » Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:35 pm

bluc wrote:So are people doing sugarhead fruit mashs? Is there a rule of thumb for amount of fruit to total volume in the fermrnter?

Crows plumb brandy would be it :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Wobblyboot
 
Posts: 669
Images: 0
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 4:41 pm
Location: Melb
equipment: 4" glass bubbler

Re: Distilling wine

Postby The Stig » Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:52 pm

bluc wrote:Yea have been considering port for quite a while stig.

You should call in for a taste
The Stig
Site Nerd
 
Posts: 18192
Images: 9
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:37 am
equipment: Only the Best will Do.
Mac4 SSG Bubbles of Joy

Next

Return to Fruit & Vegies



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests

x