Bourbon Trail

[Yano]

There's Wild Turkey, and Wild Turkey 101. The 101 is distinctly different, and much better, IMO.

Sorry to hear that you grew up with alcohol being abused. My father was quick to anger without alcohol, and I can only imagine our fate if he'd been a problem drinker.

There are a few good cookers around here , not too many of the locals have money for fancy store bought liquor. My bro in law is a home brewer , won the contest at the county fair so many times they asked him to stop competing and be a judge. I pull off a decent batch now and then myself , the mrs likes her cranberry brandy at Christmas time and such. Good for trading or presents.

 

[tommyguns2]

There are a few good cookers around here , not too many of the locals have money for fancy store bought liquor. My bro in law is a home brewer , won the contest at the county fair so many times they asked him to stop competing and be a judge. I pull off a decent batch now and then myself , the mrs likes her cranberry brandy at Christmas time and such. Good for trading or presents.

I've considered getting into home distilling as a hobby. I don't think it's too complicated to do, but I suspect that what I'd end up producing would taste more like lighter fluid than a smooth bourbon ending with a kentucky hug. LOL

 

[Yano]

I've considered getting into home distilling as a hobby. I don't think it's too complicated to do, but I suspect that what I'd end up producing would taste more like lighter fluid than a smooth bourbon ending with a kentucky hug. LOL

just gota learn your run and what to bleed off and what to keep really. when your cooking down liquor you don't want to keep it all , the first 10% or so called the foreshot is all methanol and bad juju , that ya throw away. that will change in smell and appearance when you hit the head , that you want to dump as well , thats more bad juju , acetone and shit like that are in there and again the look of the liquor will change and the smell when you hit the heart of the run , thats the stuff you want to keep ... and then you get to the tails that will be watery and washed down lookin , taste is gone , kick ,, that ya can toss as well some guys will add it to the next batch , not me i take it to the stump n dump it.

all liquor is clear when its fresh , its the barrels they age it in that color it and add more notes n flavors. that makes a huge difference between American and EU and Canadian drinks , here in the states by law they can only use a barrel once for aging , Canada and EU they use em til the wheels fall off and then rebuild em ... it adds deeper notes and textures to the final product.

 

[Wallyd]

just gota learn your run and what to bleed off and what to keep really. when your cooking down liquor you don't want to keep it all , the first 10% or so called the foreshot is all methanol and bad juju , that ya throw away. that will change in smell and appearance when you hit the head , that you want to dump as well , thats more bad juju , acetone and shit like that are in there and again the look of the liquor will change and the smell when you hit the heart of the run , thats the stuff you want to keep ... and then you get to the tails that will be watery and washed down lookin , taste is gone , kick ,, that ya can toss as well some guys will add it to the next batch , not me i take it to the stump n dump it.

all liquor is clear when its fresh , its the barrels they age it in that color it and add more notes n flavors. that makes a huge difference between American and EU and Canadian drinks , here in the states by law they can only use a barrel once for aging , Canada and EU they use em til the wheels fall off and then rebuild em ... it adds deeper notes and textures to the final product.

View attachment 15147

Curious, how much of the “good stuff” are you able to get out of this set up?

 

[tommyguns2]

Curious, how much of the “good stuff” are you able to get out of this set up?

If the total amount of distallate is a liter, for example, I think the heads and tails make up about 30%. But like Yano said, you can throw that back into the next distallation run, because the "head" is never 100% of the nasty stuff, nor is the "tail" 100% diluted. There is still some of the "hearts" in there. It's just the preference of the brewer whether to keep it for the next run or throw it all out.

I need to get a good water set-up before really get started. Water in and water out is needed for your condenser. For most whiskey and brandy set-ups, you can use a relatively simple pot still (like the keg set up in Yano's pic). Pot stills give you a good amount of the flavor, but often times you'll need to run it through the still a couple of times to get your final product's ABV (alcohol by volume) up above 40%. Use of a thumper in a pot still arrangement can improve the final purity in a one-pass system, but a thumper creates a "closed system" which requires more care to watch your pressure throughout the system. No one wants any of that kind of excitement! LOL

I think thumpers are also used sometimes to infuse additional flavors, especially for brandys.

 

[Yano]

If the total amount of distallate is a liter, for example, I think the heads and tails make up about 30%. But like Yano said, you can throw that back into the next distallation run, because the "head" is never 100% of the nasty stuff, nor is the "tail" 100% diluted. There is still some of the "hearts" in there. It's just the preference of the brewer whether to keep it for the next run or throw it all out.

I need to get a good water set-up before really get started. Water in and water out is needed for your condenser. For most whiskey and brandy set-ups, you can use a relatively simple pot still (like the keg set up in Yano's pic). Pot stills give you a good amount of the flavor, but often times you'll need to run it through the still a couple of times to get your final product's ABV (alcohol by volume) up above 40%. Use of a thumper in a pot still arrangement can improve the final purity in a one-pass system, but a thumper creates a "closed system" which requires more care to watch your pressure throughout the system. No one wants any of that kind of excitement! LOL

I think thumpers are also used sometimes to infuse additional flavors, especially for brandys.

right on !! you got it .. from 5 gallons youll cook down and end up with 3 /3.5 or so , thumper will bring up your flavor and the kick its got on the first run but like you said now you got a bomb to deal with and baby sit. Too much pressure , she gets too hot .. next thing ya know your pissing out a fire with the garden hose and the ol lady is cussing ya out , no bueno

Brandy is a pain in the ass cus its a double process even triple or quadruple depending on just how fancy you want to get , first ya gota make wine, then distill that , then if you want to be fancy , run it again.

So for brandy you'd want to run your wine through a column or pot still the first run , then for the second use a closed set up and a thumper , mmmm mmm good. If you want to get even fancier than that, brandy can be polished that sounds complicated but its just running it through a neutral carbon filter.

Other liquor is tricky like tequila cus you cant let it get above or below certain temps during the cooking

 

[Yano]

Curious, how much of the “good stuff” are you able to get out of this set up?

out of 5 gallons goin in ,, i can get 3 to 3 and a half back

 

[Yano]

 

[Friggemall]

Got into KY thurs afternoon. Hit up:
Jim Beam (im a Basil Hayden fan)
Heaven Hill

Yesterday went to:
Makers Mark
Limestone Branch (did a tasting there, got to thieve on a barrel)

Today headed to:
Buffalo Trace (looking forward!!!!)
Castle & Key (have rez for a tasting)
And any others lol

Loved doing the Bourbon Trail on my Harley...except the part about having to be careful and not overdue it, lol.
Did you get your name on a keg at Makers Mark? I just got to pick my 9 bottles up 2 years ago this past Easter weekend. If you join the Ambassadors, they send out Christmas gifts each year, nothing major just little cutsie things. You can sign up online I believe if you didn't while you were there.

Hope you can hit up Woodford reserve while you are there. It's beautiful place. That's the one I had to wait a bit before getting back on the bike. I think I had 10 shots in about 15 minutes, lol. My ex fiance didn't want hers and she kept giving them to me too. (I think she forgot we were on a bike & she couldn't drive. lol.

Have a great time!!

 

[Friggemall]

I rarely have a sip these days , used to be too good at it. Family events , celebrations that's it for me.

I was at that party

 

[BovaJP]

On Saturday, we did end up going to Woodford Reserve. Those fuckers jack up prices of bottles at the distillery, they cost more there than at the liquor store. Our friends were pissed LOL. Jim Beam did the same though.

After Woodford, we ended up a little bourbon bar....was cool as hell and the bartendar knew his shit! He said his personal stock was 217 bottles. Damn.
In this little bar, we ended up meeting the owners of Justified and Sierra Lionne (sp?)....they are derby horses. Said Justifieds stud fees were $200k each....they stud him out several times a day.....7 days a week.....you do the math, they make bank man. Shit...

Owner was an Irish man, i think Dennis and i think he is at Coolmore farms. Didn't talk much about horses, but his girl did LOL.
That was cool as hell.....

 

[Friggemall]

On Saturday, we did end up going to Woodford Reserve. Those fuckers jack up prices of bottles at the distillery, they cost more there than at the liquor store. Our friends were pissed LOL. Jim Beam did the same though.

After Woodford, we ended up a little bourbon bar....was cool as hell and the bartendar knew his shit! He said his personal stock was 217 bottles. Damn.
In this little bar, we ended up meeting the owners of Justified and Sierra Lionne (sp?)....they are derby horses. Said Justifieds stud fees were $200k each....they stud him out several times a day.....7 days a week.....you do the math, they make bank man. Shit...

Owner was an Irish man, i think Dennis and i think he is at Coolmore farms. Didn't talk much about horses, but his girl did LOL.
That was cool as hell.....

Yes, that is true, they do jack up the prices. That is the downside.
I used to train & show horses and it wasn't uncommon with artificial insemination for breeders to stud them out...artificial inseminate, 100 times/mares. Some go way more than that, but it just waters down the stock, IMO.
Another reason they retire them so fast once they make the big time, stud fees are far bigger than any winnings they can accumulate.