Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

honey Vodka

72K views 93 replies 35 participants last post by  Nabber86 
#1 ·
Has anyone tried to Distill Vodka with honey? i did Some and tastes realy good
 
#31 ·
The objectionable part of distilling that used to get people caught was the pig manure smell of the spent mash rotting. If one is sensible about the size of equipment and disposal of the waste. I don't think short of your big mouth, many will know or care if you are distilling. There are so many laws on the books now that we are all jailable anyway for something! The least free among us resent folks lacking chains.
 
#37 ·
Do you have a refracting or pot still? What is your recipe for your fermentation? I think I am going to build a refracting still that can also be used as a pot still so I can make some water of life from peaty barley malt like my ancesters. I need another hobby for the winter. Oh BTW if you can pass a drug test and are semi competent and or breathing, don't worry about people looking for pecadilloes on the net. Just go to Williston North Dakota. Work and live like a dog and make 60 K to double that if you have any ambition. If you have computer skills or a CDL make more. A huge oil boom going on if the anti fracking fanatics don't get it shut down.
 
#42 · (Edited)
The recipe prior to fermentation take 45kg multiflower honey add 90liter water. you should use old black useless pollen frames or fermentation bacteries too, but if you use pollen frames it will taste better. for quick fermentation you need to put fermetation tanks in the warm place. after fementation it will loose sweetness and will be ready to distill. it will be very hard to explain my stuff better from the web site.
 
#44 ·
"Vodka" usually refers to neutral spirit (as in having no flavor - other than pure alcohol). It is distilled using a high effciency reflux column and any honey flavor in the mash would be stripped out.

If you distill mead with a pot still, the flavor compounds make it through and you would get Honey Brandy.

Of course, the terminology may be different in Georgia.
 
#46 ·
Think of the following list of what is conventionally considered as "vodka":
  • Chopin
  • Luksusowa
  • Absolute
  • Grey Goose
  • Russian Standard
  • Sky
  • Ketal One
  • Stolichnaya
  • Smirnoff
  • Popov
All of these meet the definition of vodka (clear neutral spirit distilled with a column, several are further refined with micro-filtration to remove any trace of cogener that may have carried over).

I supposed you could have "flavored" vodka, but that is not really vodka. You could also use a pot still, but that really isnt vodka either.

But why worry about semantics? If I came in here and said that cyser was made with raspberries and honey, or that braggot was made with honey and apples, would you not correct me?
 
#54 ·
I ran 40 gal ferment with 48 lbs honey, distillers yeast and double run got me 1.25 gal 120 proof. Not a good return. http://www.artisan-distiller.net
At just over a pound of honey per gallon, you didnt start with that much alcohol to recover in the wash to begin with.

Also, 1.25 gal at 120 proof equates to 0.75 gallons of pure EtOH (200 proof). 0.75 gallons / 40 gallons = less than 2 percent by weight in the wash. Either your measuring is off, or that pot still works pretty good.
 
#56 ·
A 1.25 gallon yield at 60% (120 P) is 0.75 gallons of pure alcohol (200 P). Dividing that by a 40 gallon initial batch volume means that the starting alcohol content was somewhere around 2 percent. Something is wrong there. You should have gotten an OG of somewhere around 1.045. If the mead fermented completely out it should have ended up somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 percent alcohol. You lost 4 percent alcohol (1.6 gallons at 200 P) somewhere along the way.

Either the mead was at 2 percent and the still did a really good job of recovery. Or the mead was at 6 percent and the still did a really crappy job. Or you measured something wrong. What type of scale and hydrometers are you using? Did you measure the honey by weight or by volume?

Something else that is odd – How the heck did you run 40 gallons through a small “Artisan” still?

I notice that you are also new here. You arent a trolling ATF agent are you?
 
#57 ·
I seldom measure except once in a while I use hydrometer to check if ferment is finished..
run enough to know how still works.. 10 gal at a time..
Honey was slightly fermented and crystalized.
I am to the right of Atilla the Hun.
I do not hate much but Gvt is close to being there..
Thanks for the help.
 
#58 ·
Let the yeast do the work for you and start with the strongest mash/mead/wash that you can possible charge the still with. You want something like 15 to 20 percent percent alcohol going in. It takes just as long to run a 10-gallon batch at 5 percent as it does to run a 10-gallon batch at 20 percent, but you get 4 times the end product.

Also, get yourself a good proof hydrometer.
 
#59 ·
Let the yeast do the work for you and start with the strongest mash/mead/wash that you can possible charge the still with. You want something like 15 to 20 percent percent alcohol going in. It takes just as long to run a 10-gallon batch at 5 percent as it does to run a 10-gallon batch at 20 percent, but you get 4 times the end product.

Also, get yourself a good proof hydrometer.
I second the hydrometer part... however, I have to disagree with fermenting at that high of ABV. Home distilling is about quality, not quantity. Although a newbie at bees I have distilled for a while. For the cleanest product with the least off flavors you do not want to stress your yeast. I would keep it at 14% or less. Also, a firm knowledge of cuts and experience making them goes a long ways. With a little time and experience you can be putting store bought spirits to shame.
 
#60 ·
I second the hydrometer part... however, I have to disagree with fermenting at that high of ABV. Home distilling is about quality, not quantity. Although a newbie at bees I have distilled for a while. For the cleanest product with the least off flavors you do not want to stress your yeast. I would keep it at 14% or less. Also, a firm knowledge of cuts and experience making them goes a long ways. With a little time and experience you can be putting store bought spirits to shame.
True, but it depends on the apparatus that is being used. With a long enough column, packing rings, and super-fine reflux control, SWIM can produce Russian Standard out of mash made from rotten barley and old gym socks. :D
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top