Whisky washes and ideas

[groenspookasem]

i'd usually add both heads and tail to the next run (but keep the mash/wash similar, so whisky heads and tails into a whiskey run) the idea is that each distillation is cleaner than the first, so adding the h&t into a strip means a "2nd" run for it.

my 2c, do run your stripping run through a carbon filter after dilution, a lot of horrible shite is removed.

[Langchop]

Thanks for that.

Pushed my still to it's capacity limit so wouldn't have had space to add old tails anyway.

I actually bought some activated carbon but since learned that the aquarium AC is nasty shyte that your can't use for alcohol. So I might just need to make safe cuts and/or triple distill to keep it cleaner.

Still had a hell of a time maintaining a steady temp increase with continuous fluctuations of temp at the top of the column despite pretty steady temps at the pot.

Edit: oh, and this happened:
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I believe it will be as awful as theory predicts, but I would just like to know what a whiskey beer tastes like

[Toxxyc]

OK so I've got a few white spirits here at home. One is a bastard "bourbon" wash with a bit of sour corn that went into the ferment, and it was then mixed with an all-grain wash so it's not technically "bourbon", the corn content is too low.

I also have an all-grain one here that's gone through two slooooow spirit runs, pure single malt, and all that.

I have no idea what to do with these two jars. It is 3l per jar, and if I remember correctly they're clocking in at around 75% ABV each. I want to do a whisky with the one, but my patience is a problem and I don't know how it'll turn out. I want a SWEET whisky (maybe with the corn batch), but I'm not sure how to treat my oak to get a sweet finish. I got a pretty sweet finish on a previous whisky I made, but it also turned out REALLY harsh. As in, I don't want to drink the rest, harsh. I'm thinking of adding that to the aging spirit just to do something with it. Or include it in my next spirit run. I dunno.

Anyway, how do I make my oak impart a "sweet" flavour, and less "oak"?

[Langchop]

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150 deg seems to be the sweet spot for sweet. Not sure why this table indicates 3 hours. I did all mine at 3 hours but I since found that 1 hour seems to be the average recommended toasting time.

Maybe increasing the char or including more charred pieces will help with the harshness.

I had a sugarwash tails/ whisky tails redistill put through aquarium activated carbon (yes, a crime), then 195deg / 3h toasted oak, half charred, and it was pretty damn good and smooth after just 2 weeks, much to my surprise.

I would kind of expect the vanilla range would also give a sweet perception?

[Toxxyc]

Yes I would love the sweet vanilla range. I toasted mine in the oven to hit that spot (even using a probe thermometer because the oven temps are horrible), but I got STRONG oak flavours even after a month on the oak. Still harsh.

I'll run it through aquarium charcoal before I age on it a bit. I did buy a box, might as well use it. Other option is to add the carbon powder I have here (bought for purpose) and then just re-distill both batches together, with some water diluted down to about 30% ABV. Might work best. Then I have triple distilled new age spirit that was put on proper carbon.

I can then do the oaking to taste. It's just so much work. Maybe I should cheat and add the Irish Whisky syrup I have lying around here. That being said I need to make a rum again. Soon. Sommer this weekend.