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Gin and Vodka Base made with AG Wheat
I put together an AG all-wheat mash last week and it is about done, just clearing a bit now.25 lbs/11.3 kg soft white wheat10.5 lbs/4.8 kg hard white wheat10.5 lbs/4.8 kg hard red wheat23 gallons/87 L 106F/40C water100g Angel Yellow Label yeastIt settled at 90F/32C, and I wrapped in a quilt with STC1000 controlling a chicken brooder heater (max 95F/35C). I mixed it well 3 times a day for the first 3 days, and it seemed to be done after 4 days. A finger dip/taste gave me a slightly tart sensation, no sweetness, and not a lot of flavor. But also no hint of sugar bite. Sidetrack: most brewers use .08 gal as the space occupied by a pound of grain, so my grain volume ‘calculated’ to 3.7 gallons/14 L (46 lbs * .08 lb/gal). Added to 23 gallons water (total 26.7 gal/101 L) it nearly crawled out of a 30 gal/113.5 L HDPE barrel the next day, lifting the top about 3″, so 3.3 gal/12.5 L of headspace was not near enough. Now that the cap has sunk it looks like about 27 gallons, same batch size as my SSS washes. NOTE TO SELF: Reduce batch size by 10%!!!ANOTHER NOTE TO SELF: Using Angel YL and grain is almost as easy as an SSS wash.#1 goal is a great AG gin base. It would be really nice if it made a really good Vodka as well.Are these goals compatible? Can a good vodka with a slight bit of grainy wheat flavor make a good gin base too?If not I’ll use my CCVM to make a neutral wheat gin base.But if it could make good vodka as well, I have a couple of ways I could run it, and I’m looking for opinions.I normally strip sugar washes down to about 35% for neutrals, so will be running low wines.I can achieve 95% ABV with my 2″/51mm x 42″/1066 mm CCVM … would this be TOO neutral?Can I de-tune it a bit to carry more flavor? Faster takeoff rate? Less overall height? I have 4 spools: 6″/15cm SS, 8″/20cm copper; 12″/30cm copper; 24″/61cm SSI can get about 83-84% ABV with my 4″/102mm CM flute with 2 sieve plates, or about 88-89% ABV with 3 sieve plates.I could configure a hybrid of the two (partial 2″ packed column above flute, either CM or VM mode) to try to get something like 92-93%.Please help me to decide how to run it.HigginsFlute buildSteamer build4 methods experimentAging proof experimentNext batch: Malt Whiskey (60 barley/30 corn/10 wheat)
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3 Replies
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I do a lot of AG wheat vodkas and much prefer soft white to hard red due to its lower levels of protein. It still pushes into the blow-off tube but it doesn’t overflow the water bucket and end up on the floor like the reds.Plus it makes a silkier vodka. I don’t (yet) make/drink gin but I would use soft white exclusively for that and save the hard red for a bourbon.________________I drank fifty pounds of feed-store corn’till my clothes were ratty and torn
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I mostly do sugar washes with my VM and I want it to be as pure as I can make it. I once had quite a bit of UJSSM lying around. I never drank it so I tossed it all into the boiler and did a spirit run with my VM. I couldn’t smell or taste any hint of corn and it tasted just like any other sugar wash I’ve ever made. I’m sure all grain may be different, but I hope you get my point. Sure you could ‘detune’ your reflux column, but maybe it would be best to do a test first. You could do a normal spirit run, remove foreshots, remove heads, once you’re into hearts, collect a good bit, dilute, smell and taste it. If you like it then just keep on operating that way. If you don’t like it (or want to try something different), you can pour the hearts back down through your reflux condenser. Now you can detune the column, do a test that way, smell/taste and see if you like it. If not, just pour it back down through the reflux condenser. You will NOT lose any product by doing this testing.You can detune the column by either removing packed spools or by removing packing from some of the spools. Either way essentially gives you the same results. I prefer to keep the height so I can collect on a table or counter top.4″ VM Build
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You can include as much flavor as you want by how you run the still and choose your cuts. For Jenever, I use narrow cut hearts from a pot still. For gin spirit with less grain flavor, I reflux the feints from the pot still spirit run.
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