[Artemisia] Alcohol Judging

[Brian Johnson]

Sigh... as much as I wish I could distill my own spirits, and as my lady is so good at point out (me being the Kentucky Lord), there is a difference between brewing and distilling.  Distillation involves heating your alcohol, once it is done with the yeasting process, and getting EVERYTHING that isn't alcohol out of the mix.  Water becomes a gas at about 220 degrees give or take based upon elevation.  Alcohol, on the otherhand, becomes a gas at about 180.  So, all the still really does is heat your concoction to 180 degrees, the alcohol becomes a gas that rises into a copper coil where it is cooled back into a liquid and captured in another container.  There are some steps in between, mind you, but, for intents and purposes, that is the way its done.
   
  The real danger comes from unclean brewing/sanitation proceedings and the "quick flavoring" that comes from making bath tub gins and the like.  The distillation process actually sanitizes most of the equipment but still, if done wrong, could have some drastic consequences.  Really, though, most of the blindness and death was caused by boot leggers, back in the Prohibition, trying to make an extra buck by using additives that were toxic or putting the alcohol into containers that the brew would then leach chemicals out of the container and make a caustic substance.  If the History channel is to be believed, the "May cause blindness and/or death" is, in effect, an urban myth propogated by the government to keep people from distilling their own whiskey.  The government makes quite a bit of money off the sale of spirits so its best not to try to come between Uncle Sugar and his money.
   
  Some interesting tidbits I have heard about:
  1. If you purchase a large scale WATER distillation tank, you may be visited by the ATF on a surprisingly frequent basis.  They will check for the existance of ANY alcohol in or around the distillation tank to ensure that you are not making your own booze
  2. No matter what flavor or alcohol you make, once you distill it, it looses all flavor.  There may be a HINT of the original flavor but that just means that you got the mix a little too hot and some of what you were brewing got through.  The flavoring in most alcohols, today, are add ins or come directly from the barrels that they are brewed in.  That is why the barrels are made from specific woods, the reason that the barrels are scorched prior to filling, etc.  So, that "smoky" flavor you taste in your whiskey is ACTUALLY the wood was scorched prior to filling.  Also, as I'm sure you have had happen or tasted in your own works, with some items, the longer you let it sit, the more mellow and flavorful it becomes.  The same can be said of the aging process.  That is why a 15 year old, single-malt tastes so much better than a 5 year old.
  3. Brandy is wine that has been distilled and aged, again.  Yes, some of the differences in what made the alcohol WILL come through to cause some varience in flavor.  I still want to go out and do a tour of some of the distilleries back home and see how the alcohol tastes before and after the aging/casking process.
   
  I'm sure a lot of you know this already.  I would still LOVE to try distilling but, until the restrictions are dropped, which will never happen, I have to content myself with the History Channel and FoxFire books.
   
  Cheers!
  Brynki

Signy Gydadottir <signyg at mindspring.com> wrote:
  that means with friends and family that it is not distributed for gains 
in any way, that if you wish to brew, that there is a certain amount 
that can be done.>

Again, just to be absolutely clear -
DISTILLING alcohol is HIGHLY illegal, even for personal consumption. 
Which is why, I tell my Kentucky Lord, NO! Absolutement NON! everytime 
he sees the history channel treatises on distilling.

Brewing is not, within personal consumption limits. Which is why I have 
a lovely fuschia colored 6 gallons of raspberry mead in the 
basement...Hmmm..need to bottle that before the move...

I agree with Ryrd, for our Arts and Sciences, it is important to state 
why things are done differently now - health, government, cost of 
materials, skill, etc. It all lends itself to a better understanding of 
the Art or Science on the part of the judge.

YIS
Signy


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