Continuing with our mission to demystify the SmartStill/EasyStill range, here is a guide to the various parts of the machine showing their location and what each part does. Yes I know, it’s a boring theory lesson rather than a tale of booze and glamour but the more you learn, the better you will understand what is happening!
I was drinking a bottle of tasty Vimto the other day, when the thought suddenly struck me that Vimto syrup would be an excellent basis for a fruity wash - it’s high in sugar, contains lots of interesting fruit flavourings, even some barley malt and spices.
I did some research online, but I couldn’t find anyone else who had done anything similar. This set off warning bells in my mind, surely someone else had thought along the same lines? I did find one post where someone mentioned that a friend had made delicious wine from Vimto (and Ribena!) but with no further details. Being a bit silly with this kind of thing, I decided it should be my mission to make Vimto brandy!
In the interest of helping others, I now present my guide to completely failing to make apple brandy. The keen-eyed amongst you will quickly spot the folly of this method, but perhaps it will serve to educate those who are as stupid as myself and prevent more innocent fruit giving their lives for nothing. Luckily, I only did this on a small scale as a test!
If you’ve done your research about distilling at home, I’m sure you’ve come across the many different types of spirit essences that are available to flavour your drinks. Generally speaking they are added to plain vodka, sometimes with sugar or cream additives, to make approximations of various different drinks.
The daddy of distillation websites, Tony Ackland’s Home Distillation of Alcohol pages are a goldmine of useful information. There’s theory, still designs, wash preparation, distilling, flavouring, aging… pretty much anything you can want is here. The downside is that there is so much information that it’s sometimes hard to find an answer quickly. Also, much of the material is submitted by others and their views can differ dramatically - sometimes you have to just go with your own instinct and hope for the best.
Overall then, it’s an excellent site and it should be essential reading for anyone who is even considering distilling at home. I would urge everyone to read through as much as they can before getting involved, so that they understand the theory and the different options available.
Here is a website that I stumbled upon which contains some great detailed information about making Amaretto, Almond Liqueur, several other fruit liqueurs and uniquely also includes recipes for pies and pastries you can make using your left-over macerated fruit! Well worth checking out, doesn’t have as many liqueurs as some sites but the detailed instructions are superb.
Here is a glossary of terms relating to fermentation, distillation and associated subjects. I will keep adding terms as often as I can to keep it up to date.
A.B.V. - Alcohol By Volume, a measure of the quantity of alcohol in a given volume of liquid. This is different to the proof of a spirit, which is calculated as double the A.B.V. amount.
Beer - A general term given to fermented malt beverages, also another term for some types of wash.
Denaturing - The process of adding a substance to ethyl alcohol to make it unfit for human consumption. This allows retailers to sell the product without incurring the usual taxes, and is extremely difficult to reverse without a lot of expensive equipment - your home still is no good here!
Distillate - That portion of a liquid which is removed as a vapour and condensed during a distillation process.
Distillation - The process of separating the components of a mixture by differences in boiling point.
Ethanol - The alcohol product of fermentation that is used in alcohol beverages and for industrial purposes, i.e. the ‘good’ alcohol for our purposes!
Fermentation - The process by which yeast turns sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Heads - The initial run of distillate at the start of the distillation process.
Mash - A mixture consisting of crushed grains and water that can be fermented to produce alcohol.
Proof - Measure of alcohol strength, used in the U.S.A. - proof is twice the A.B.V. so 50% ABV is 100% proof.
Rectification - Re-distillation of a previously distilled liquid, so technically when you double or triple distill you are actually rectifying.
Still - A device used for distillation, often of alcohol.
Tails - The last parts collected during a distillation, generally weaker and containing undesirable congeners and fusel oils.
Wash - The liquid produced by fermentation, which can then be distilled.
A common problem for the home distiller is foaming over, where the heated wash foams and bubbles up. In the case of the SmartStill, this leads to the top popping off which disrupts the distillation. Obviously, we need to stop this happening!
When we first started making our own spirits, it was done partly from a desire to save money on alcohol but also for the fun of finding out how it worked, experimenting with different methods, etc. Something that didn’t cross my mind until a little too late was the fact that as we were no longer buying alcohol all the time, we wouldn’t have a source of usable glass bottles. As I’m sure many of you will be aware, the urge to give a bottle to visiting friends is all too great, and before you know it you can’t find one when you need it yourself.
How do other people cope with this? I’ve considered using wine bottles and a corker, sticking with plastic ‘PET’ bottles, buying old bottles from flea markets, charity shops, etc - I’m just curious to see how others have handled this issue. Leave a comment, it’d be great to hear your views!
Here is a simple recipe for a lime flavoured vodka, which I originally intended to use as the basis for a limoncello (or should that be lime-oncello?) - as it happened, we decided to drink it ‘as is’ and it turned out to be excellent. It has a fairly strong, sharp lime taste due to the use of the lime rind, which I would imagine you can round out slightly by adding some of the lime juice as well, or using less rind. Superb mixed with Coke, I will definitely be trying this one again and probably doing several variations to find the best balance.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Grate the limes carefully, trying to ensure you get the green rind and as little of the white pith underneath as possible - this does flavour the drink, but makes it taste bitter. Simply add the grated lime peel to the vodka, and seal in a clean plastic bottle. Shake vigorously, and leave for at least two weeks, shaking again every few days. The peel will lose its colouration, and the vodka will turn a pleasant light green colour. All you need to do now is filter out the peel, which in this case can be done using a single filtration through a coffee filter and funnel. Bottle and enjoy!
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