If you want to bottle, sell, and market your spirits, you should make sure to read all the preparations you need to consider about your consumer product. Each state has its own legislation about at-home distillation. Some states like Missouri allow citizens over age 21 to distill alcohol at home without any permits or licenses at all, and other states like Florida do not even allow citizens to own distilling equipment unless they have obtained the proper state permit.
Federal law takes precedence and overrides any state law that does not agree with it. For example, Missouri citizens still need to obtain a federal permit in order to distill spirits, but they do not need to obtain additional permits from the state.
On the other hand, a Florida citizen who wants to own a still for decoration but not to distill any alcohol does not need to obtain a federal permit, but would need to obtain the proper license from the state of Florida.
You can also use USA. Once you are sure that you have the proper license at the federal level, and you confirm that you are in compliance with your state laws about at-home distilling, you want to also check with your county and city statutes.
Unfortunately, when you're working from home, it's an inexact science. Again, a home brewing kit might be able to help you keep things consistent and a little more precise. You probably shouldn't ferment for more than a week, and you can certainly taste test your product along the way as much as you'd like. Katz even recommends heading to your local distillery to figure out how your mash should taste before you start the distilling process.
You need to strain your mash into some type of still. This is where shit can get extremely dangerous. In Katz's words, you need to be "damn sure" there are no leaks in your still: once alcoholic vapor is produced, the whole operation becomes extremely combustible -- which can result in explosions.
Luckily, some companies actually do sell small-scale stills for this very purpose, which are probably safer than something you make at home based on a YouTube tutorial.
Once your mash is securely in a still, it's kind of out of your hands for a while. You need to make sure your mash is at a piping hot 80 degrees Celsius if you buy a still, it should have a built-in thermometer , as that's the temperature where alcohol evaporates. At that level of heat, the alcohol inside the mash will be converted to vapor, and turned into a "refined distillate" with the help of a condenser, which should have cold water running constantly around it.
The vapor that rises inside the still, is basically converted back to liquid which pours into a new container. That's your liquor! It's really just basic science.
If you don't get it, you should have paid more attention in chem lab. The first milliliters or so from a 5-gallon batch should probably be tossed. Not only is it potentially dangerous to drink in some cases it can be comparable to pure methanol , it also might not be that great, taste-wise.
One, you're flushing the still of its previous run -- whatever was distilled before is through the system, and you're on a clean, new run. And that can also impart off notes and off flavors and aromas. There are some good base flavors but still a lot of room to improve. Starting with other options can impact your final product, and depending on what you are going for that could be good or bad.
These whiskies are a great blank canvas for you to really see the impact in terms of the flavors that your aging process brings to the table. First, be very careful about your barrel size. Thankfully, there are a number of places online where you can buy barrels that are only a liter or two in size — which, frankly, should be about perfect for this purpose.
Besides cost savings, another impact that smaller barrels have on the whiskey is that it takes far less time for the whiskey to age. As we discussed, the aging process is all about getting the whiskey and the oak barrel to interact. The only real reason why distilleries choose the bigger barrels is because the material cost of the barrel is reduced if you store more whiskey in it, since there are fewer barrels required to store the same volume of whiskey.
Another consideration for the barrel is the location in which you store it. Whiskey requires changes in temperature to really get the most out of the aging process, which is why whiskey warehouses are typically not climate controlled.
The temperature shifts are a feature, not a bug. So, when placing your barrel down for aging, consider whether there will be sufficient enough temperature shifts to get the most out of the process. Putting it in a dark corner of the whiskey shelf in your house will have less of an impact on the whiskey than storing it in your backyard shed, for example. Another caveat here is to also be careful of the smells that are around your whiskey barrel.
Storing in your garage is not advisable, for example, because the oils and compounds in your car and the smell of gasoline can be detrimental to the final product. The same thing can be said of the backyard shed if there is a gas powered lawnmower in it.
Not everyone has enough space, whiskey, or time, for a barrel aging process. One process becoming more popular is bottle aging. In this process, instead of putting your whiskey in a barrel, you put the barrel in your whiskey. The first benefit is that this is a very compact process. The second big benefit is that the process is quick.
We here at 31W have reviewed a couple of commercially available options, and you can check out those reviews here:. Distilling your whiskey. Whiskey is traditionally distilled using a pot still, however modern reflux stills and flute towers can also be used to make high quality whiskey at home.
As with any type of distillation, on the first run you will want to throw away the first 50 milliliters for every 20 liters of mash in your still.
For example, if you are using a liter still, you will discard the first milliliters. After that it is your choice of how to blend the heads, hearts, and tails cuts to your liking. Aging your whiskey. Once you have decided on the cuts of whiskey that you would like to keep, you can either drink it unaged like a traditional moonshine, or age it. Aging will drastically improve the flavor and smoothness of your whiskey.
Proofing your home made whiskey. Proofing is the process of adding water to your whiskey to reach the desired alcohol by volume level for drinking. Make sure to cur your whiskey with clean spring water with no iron present. Alcohol content is measured using a spirit hydrometer and graduated cylinder. Sit back and enjoy a glass of your whiskey neat, on the rocks, or mixed in your favorite cocktail, and have the satisfaction of knowing that you made it all by yourself.
Once you get the hang of distilling to make whiskey at home, you may want to experiment with different grain ratios to create a whiskey that is truly one of a kind.
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