I know you did this on a whim, but it was actually a really cool experiment. And it's cool to find out what happens when you distill a barrel aged spirit:-)
Yeah! I seem to remember that the folks over at the Whiskey Tribe also did something similar. They took a whiskey that was aged more then 10 years and put it through their distiller. It freaked out their lawyers because there is no "legal" precedent for naming it.
@@AM2PMReviews you can calculate it, I'm sure there are tools online to help with it. If you're distilling from mash you'll be throwing out the very first part as that is high in wood alcohol aka poison. You can calculate from your initial volume and percent how much to throw out, then just put it into jars. Taste every now and then to decide when it's time to stop the run
@@AM2PMReviews Coming from a pot still user, after a while you will stop stressing and go off of smell. When it stops smelling like acetone/something you don't want to drink and starts smelling sweet/something you do want to drink, make the cut. Same for tails, only add taste to the equation. Good smell/taste= keep. Bad taste /smell=don't keep. The change can happen fast or slow, so you have to pay attention. People have been doing this for hundreds of years, be cautious but don't overthink it .
A great experiment to try is 2/3rds reduction. Fill an air still with bottom shelf 80 proof bourbon. Save 2/3 of the volume you added to the still. Remove the condenser and boil the remaining liquid in the still until its down to 5-10ml. Let it cool, then dissolved the remaining contents with the white whiskey.
I've been considering trying something like that with EC to see how close it gets to ECBP. Upping the proof of a Buffalo Trace to Stagg Jr. levels may be fun too.
Jesse, I love your show and that's an impressive soup-strainer mate. Can I ask you some questions and perhaps give you an idea for a future video. My best mate owns a wee homebrew shop in Timaru. The name is Spirits Unlimited. Malcolm (owner) and his industrial chemist mate (Pete) were the two guys all you home distillers can thank for making the hobby legal in NZ. They found a loophole in the law and went to the government to legalize home distilling. It's worth a yarn to Malcolm and he has a small book on how they did it and it's amazing that it got through. If not you would have your butt in jail, whiskers and all, for what you and hundreds of us take for granted these days. The second question is a lazy one but I'm looking at doing a honey-infused bourbon so would I put the honey in the mash and ferment it hoping the flavours carry through into the distillate or can I put a couple of spoons of honey in the distiller and get the volatiles off the honey that way. My weapons of choice is a 30 liter Euron still built by Malcolm in the late '90s and my just arrived air-still with temp controls. Well done mate, good show and I'm still laughing at the man trimmer chasing the ram lamb. You made an old farts day better with that masterful addition to your video.
Regarding the Chinese still with no o-ring: You might consider wrapping the edge of the lid with a roll of gas line PTFE tape (thicker than plumbing) and riveting and/or soldering some spring clamps to the body like Bearded did in his thumper video. Bearded uses a really thick PTFE, but you likely only need the gas line tape to fill in the minor imperfection of the sealing surface. Cheers!
I just bought a new factory seal for my little test still like yours. Seals are still very available for them. The little pot stills are awesome for small batches and experimenting. Great video.
Damn this brought back old memories I have only ever had WT one time and that was with my moms cousin Mark (R.I.P.) i was 16 he was like 35 it was the night before Thanksgiving of 97 no 98 maybe anyhow a half a gal. between 2 people we ended up driving his gas powered rc cars at like 3am tell his wife shut us down. I puked for 3 days and missed Thanksgiving hugging the toilet .... ;D best memory I have with my cousin and will never ever forget him or it. Ty for making me smile
The flavor at the beginning distilled heads reminds me of how the different temps and time limit effect the taste of rosin extract of cannabis flower. Pretty cool
Jessie you are why I started distilling last year December. Have an idea for my 1st whiskey but I don't know if it will work, doing sugar washes got boring and want to challenge myself. Just want an honest opinion what other experienced distillers have on a noob's idea. Premium Distillers Base Malt - neutral malt flavor (4kg), Extra Pale Malt - honey sweetness (0.3kg), rye malt - earthy spice flavor (0.2kg - don't want to over do it with this flavor), flaked oats (0.6kg), extra light crystal malt - subtle caramel (0.2kg), amber malt - biscuity flavour (0.5kg)
If I could make a humble suggestion… Have an idea of where you’d like to end up. Bourbon, Rye, Scotch, Irish, Canadian… ect. Then build a mash bill. Yours is a little busy. Oats are always good for mouth feel. Corn for sweetness. Rye for spice. Obviously you can do whatever makes you happy… But it’s a solid idea to know where you want to finish. Especially since the aging process takes a lot of time. Not trying to be critical… seriously. Best wishes. Hopefully you wind up with what you are looking for.😊👍🥃
How's it mate. That will work. All the additions are going to be a purely subjective choice. But I don't see anything that's going to be really out there in that. The Mad Mick has a good point, especially if you want to keep it "tradition". If you just want to experent and see what happens have at it though. Another thing to think about is if you add all of that you may find it hard to gain a understanding of what came from where later on. Once again if you want to just throw a hail mary and see what happens go for it. If your looking to improve over multiple runs and dial it in I would say cut the specialty grains back to 1 perhaps 2 additions so its easier to track it and change it later :)
@@StillIt Good stuff. I’m a firm believer in just having at it if that makes someone happy. And we all know this is a completely personal experience. But with whiskey taking so long to age and come into its own. And with just about EVERYTHING having been tried at some point. I’m a firm believer in knowing what you like and want. It’d be a shame to invest so much time and effort and not enjoy the fruits of your labor. But as you said… and I agree. Do your own thing if it pleases you and enjoy the process. After all… that’s why we all enjoy this hobby so much. Cheers mate.😊👍🥃
@@StillIt thanks. I see what you mean, keep it simple at the beginning may be do 1 or 2 malts / grains to see what flavors come from where. Maybe soak the malts / grain in alcohol (like you did in a previous video), to an idea what flavors do I like or what I want to end up with. All the help from experienced distiller makes the noobs like me feel at home and want to do bolder things and improve their skills
I was waiting for that closeup slowmo shot of it dripping out of that still. You never disappoint when it comes to the small details of an entertaining video Jesse. 🥃
Hey my guy! Killing it in the information department that isn't just repeating facts about distilling, love your stuff! You and Bearded & Bored are my go to! Now, you mentioned doing a gin run in the pot still. Would love to see a far out fruity gin with some exotic fruit! Keep up the good work dude!
I'm taking some 7% water (aka 186 proof) and using a combination of ripe pu-erh teas and Fu Zuan tea with French Velvet oak (each soaked separately and blended). Then cut the proof by ~1/2. I did this about five years and it was amazing. Everyone that sampled it was lost in the complexity and unique style. I didn't keep a recipe, so I am starting from scratch again. Likely couldn't reproduce anyhow, as teas change year to year. I may have needed a touch of simple syrup to balance it. Not sure what other options would improve this concoction.
*a tea person here , a student budget puer guy. Do you have a reddit or blog or social media for, this sounds fascinating. To improve it thou , from a tea prospective . Some older factory recipes used 80:20 ripe to raw to add some kick to there ripes and complexity so this could be a direction , or you could add something a little less fermented like a liu bao ect. You could also specific factory puers as the recipe stays the same even if the season changes the base tea. The region of the ripe puer can also impart a lot of varience in the flavours , some regions like i find bulang really hold up even if you blend it. Tho the fu zuan is super interesting addition.
I live in Kentucky, and I think I could buy that much Wild Turkey for ~$100, so my mouth dropped at $200 haha. I've toured Wild Turkey, its a cool, very commercial distillery.
To put the price in perspective for each economy, work out the approx price/amount of MacDonald's cheeseburgers. Eg, $50 Australian dollars equals approx 12 cheeseburgers, so a bottle of wild Turkey would be approx 11 cheeseburgers worth for me 🤣🤣🤣
I'm just building my first still. Going to make it like your keg still. But, I'm a plumber :).... I'm going to jazz it up a bit. Should be making some nice water and essential oils in no time.
Hey Jesse, long time subscriber and I too are enjoying learning more about home distillation both from you and with you. I really found this video really informative. Thanks mate! Keep doing what your doing my friend
@@StillIt I've found it really useful sometimes to have my other half taste some of my concoctions - she can give honest feedback and I'm sometimes surprised by what she says - because I can be so invested in something tasting nice, I can sometimes talk myself into it tasting better than it does. I have to say too - it's nice to see video where we catch glimpses of Erin and your lovely kids. You got a good life, brother! Keep chasing the craft.
My normal drink is Wild Turkey 101, I agree with your analysis of the taste between the two. I am about to get into distilling and doing my research...love your channel!
I didn't realize that they still made the 81 proof version. I only find the 101 anywhere around Pennsylvania. I generally use 101 and 101 rye when making citrus based whiskey cocktails.
I purchased the "already modified for distilling alcohol" version from a specialty company in Canada. For the purposes of reclaiming *VERY* expensive 94% "medicinal" alcohol from tinctures I make and process into oils, then subsequently discovered that I could turn cheap grocery store cooking wine into *high* ABV ethanol solvent for my tinctures! Wow! I love that little air still! Six or seven $5 one litre bottles turn into about 750ml to 1 litre of really nice 80% (or so) ABV! *HALF* the price of what I get from the (government controlled) liquor store! I also tried sipping a shot glass or two - doesn't taste all that bad. I'm certainly not a sommelier level judge of distillate, but I know what I like. And my "go - to" whisk(e)y is Canadian Centennial Rye (whisk(e)y). Very pleasant. ANYWAY - thank you for the video!!
@@kbjerke Trust me, I´m a lost Kiwi living in Chile and a $5 bottle of wine can be as good as a $30 bottle. You just have to be lucky or know where it came from. Chile is often flooded with an oversupply so it is often used as a drawcard in large supermarket chains. To get a really good quality wine here and mean top class you are looking at 20 dollars.
Here in Appalachia Wild Turkey is very affordable. Get the 101 version; I agree with the lady in the video who said the 80 tastes watery in comparison. If you like Wild Turkey but you're on a tight budget, try Evan Williams. I've blind-tested it with friends and none of them could tell the difference. I strongly suspect it's less expensive strictly because they don't spend much money on advertising. EW is also available in 80 or 100 proof. Go for the 100.
@@StillIt EW 100 is my go-to for just keeping a bottle in the house. It fits all the legal definitions for a straight Kentucky bourbon, so you really can't go wrong. It seems to me the mash bill must be very very similar to what Wild Turkey uses.
Hi Jess, nice one “again” (my wife has a much better nose than I )....... anyway.... Jim beam through an air still... boil down the residue to add back in at the end... 58 prof worked best “apparently “nay bloody amazing...” according to a friend” :-)
You should try stilling different cereal. I did a fruity pebbles batch and put fruity pebbles in my thump and it was really interesting! The only thing is the cereal in the thump turned to mush quick!
Not sure how long vids have been 4k res', but since getting an 83" 4k OLED, I'm really appreciating them, thanks for the extra effort :) Keep up the good work, cheers!
You need to delete the words "at its price point" I've had $200 bottles (in America where bourbon is cheap) that weren't as good as wild Turkey 101 or wild turkey Rye 101.
Another great video, like always sir. I'm a big fan of the channel. I definitely feel like I'll be trying this myself soon and have my buddies do a triangle test with the resulting spirit. Quick question sir; Have you already, or will you by any chance be doing a series on more "less natural" ways of distilling? i.e. bottled amylase and pectic enzymes and other such items.
I have a sour dough starter in the fridge that if let sit for a long time forms an interesting funky liquid on top that you wouldn't want to put a match to!
I'd be interested in seeing an update to the great base malt co-lab if you've got any further info or early stage data, as I haven't seen anything about that recently. I've been meaning to make a contribution or two, but keep getting distracted by more complex grists.
I wonder what the stuff left in the still tastes like now. I know generally you wouldn't taste that but since you used an already whiskey it may be interesting.
Thats what I would call a Parti-gyle mash. Beer brewers do it all the time. Brew a strong beer and after you've collected your first running for Beer A, use the remaining grain/wort to brew a small beer.
im drinking some "wilder" Wild Turkey right now lol she's called Rear Breed ;] awesome video! if you like Turkey, and have never tried WT-RB i highly recommend it! *btw, bottles or RB with the wood burned turkey head on them are better then the newer bottles without the wood burning :]*
I'll second that recommendation. The Wild Turkey Rare Breed barrel-proof offering is genuinely *very* nice, and they don't charge you an arm and a leg for it. Around here you can get it for 35 bucks per 750ml.
@@Vykk_Draygo I agree. I've said before that if you don't like Wild Turkey, maybe you just don't really like bourbon, period. That's pretty much exactly what a standard bourbon is supposed to be.
Have you ever done an episode where you make a large cocktail and then distill that? A long Island iced tea, or a death in the afternoon, or even just mixing a rum with whiskey with tequila and seeing what that would taste like being distilled, or even turning that run into a gin?
My first time commenting and really its more a question than anything. I'm not a whiskey kinda guy but I do love the original Mad Dog 20/20. Anyway I found a vevor knock off on amazon for 3 easy payments of $33.33. I only intend to use it to create a simaler taste using a grape juice wine and then adding koolaid grape flovor. Then back sweeten to fortify. The only reason I am reaching out is I would like your opinion as the only reason I am even thinking of this as an option is I am tired of fighting with the medical community over my cancer and tired of freeze distilling. This I think would be faster.
Talking of gin, I'd love to see you try out something historical like oude genever - I can't legally distil here in the UK (the tax authority has a policy of not granting distillers licences to non-commercial operations), but I'm fascinated by the process, and love watching recreations of historical stuff, so it would be great to enjoy that vicariously
I know you do memm Spirit segment and also generally enjoy making masha's and to see what you get seeing his house Summers coming up I honestly would like to see you make something from a variety of melons it might be fun to see what you get
That is something I always wondered about, and something I'd like to try just for the fun of it. Not really to try to cheat any system, because I know that it's not cost effective, but to improve an already decent drink? Maybe. Cool to see your results. Thanks for doing this.
Since I’m in the process of making Applejack - emailed Bearded my “sugar wash recipe- my first thought was “Why not freeze it?” Since the benefit is that it retains more flavor AND it would be as simple as sticking the bottle in the freezer, that seems to be the way to go. In fact, freeze it then nuke it with some cubes and burn some methanol off.
At some point you should make a silicone o-ring for that little gas fired pot still. if you make a form using some thick tape and the outer edge of the pot, you should be able to pour some food-safe two-part silicone mold mix into the outer edge. Then all you'd have to do is figure out how to clamp the lid on. Still, should work out a bit easier than having to make a flour paste and clean it back off after every run. Edit: Forgot to mention, I'm not actually a huge fan of Wild Turkey 101. I purchased it before because, as you've mentioned, over here in America it is one of the cheaper high-proof whiskeys you can get. It just happens to have a particular rye flavor that I've never been able to develop a taste for. I generally avoid ryes and blends with a mash bill that contain rye for this reason. I don't like rye in bread, and I don't really like it in my booze either. I find it just imparts a distinct cardboard-like flavor that I can't get past.
This was very interesting, but it brings up questions about other whiskeys. It would be super-interesting to see what could be distilled from other whiskey brands, or from distilling other spirits or wines.
I live in the usa and 101 is about 30 dollars. But i love to see if you be able to turn it in Rare breed. Or take a cheap bottom shelf whiskey and turn it into a normal bottle.
Nice work again. Concerning propositions: I once got my hands on a super interesting gin which where the main botanical was pineapple. No idea if you maybe already did something similar but if not, it may be worth a try. I absolutely loved it, both by itself and with a nice tonic.
For a specific style of gin, I'd love to see your take on something extra floral. I tried once to make not so much a gin as just an infusion with lavender, hibiscus, rose, and other things I have written down somewhere and it came out a bit soapy, but maybe with the addition of juniper and citrus it'll work better?
i don't know if You'd read a comment on such an old video, but I've been thinking about making a Suto "fireball mead" then distilling it to bring the abv higher and closer to the 33% fireball usually runs, id love to see you do it from scratch and try to replicate fireball with a mead
Be really interested to see what happened if you did the blend the other direction. Take what's left in the air still and add back to it to get the same result of 101 proof. I may try it myself here at the house and let you know how it goes. I'm in the US so wild turkey is much cheaper than New Zealand.
Break out the gas burner and make some flour paste? OH NO! You dang kids today are so spoiled. In MY day we had to hike way out in the woods with a roll of copper tubing and build everything from scratch and gather firewood and the whole time we were risking ten years in prison for it :p Seriously though, I'm glad more people can have fun with distilling now... but let's not forget our roots. :)
Dude I like you videos and don’t comment much. I DONT have a Mile Hi 11 gallon 3” colum😜😜…But I’m curious about some of the oak aging coming threw in the distillation process. So I was wondering if you have ever ran your still with toasted oak cubes floating around in the still during your run…Does some flavor come threw or not…If so would it be a quick way of possibly making a Bacardi silver rum instead of aging it and then carbon filtering it or just give you a jump on aging or will it just taste like cardboard or something…..
I know you did this on a whim, but it was actually a really cool experiment. And it's cool to find out what happens when you distill a barrel aged spirit:-)
Yeah! I seem to remember that the folks over at the Whiskey Tribe also did something similar.
They took a whiskey that was aged more then 10 years and put it through their distiller.
It freaked out their lawyers because there is no "legal" precedent for naming it.
When distilling really small volumes, I propose you dilute the wash to fill the still. In that way you get more precision in the cuts
I was going to say exactly the same thing. I'd distill a 9-14% charge over a higher ABV any day.
How do you know when to start making cuts? I am sure there are a lot of videos out there.
@@AM2PMReviews you can calculate it, I'm sure there are tools online to help with it. If you're distilling from mash you'll be throwing out the very first part as that is high in wood alcohol aka poison. You can calculate from your initial volume and percent how much to throw out, then just put it into jars. Taste every now and then to decide when it's time to stop the run
@@AM2PMReviews
Coming from a pot still user, after a while you will stop stressing and go off of smell. When it stops smelling like acetone/something you don't want to drink and starts smelling sweet/something you do want to drink, make the cut.
Same for tails, only add taste to the equation. Good smell/taste= keep. Bad taste /smell=don't keep.
The change can happen fast or slow, so you have to pay attention.
People have been doing this for hundreds of years, be cautious but don't overthink it .
Great job Jesse, We all thank you for doing this.
My pleasure!
A great experiment to try is 2/3rds reduction. Fill an air still with bottom shelf 80 proof bourbon. Save 2/3 of the volume you added to the still. Remove the condenser and boil the remaining liquid in the still until its down to 5-10ml. Let it cool, then dissolved the remaining contents with the white whiskey.
Whats the Price that Mini Airstill
I've been considering trying something like that with EC to see how close it gets to ECBP. Upping the proof of a Buffalo Trace to Stagg Jr. levels may be fun too.
Jesse, I love your show and that's an impressive soup-strainer mate. Can I ask you some questions and perhaps give you an idea for a future video. My best mate owns a wee homebrew shop in Timaru. The name is Spirits Unlimited. Malcolm (owner) and his industrial chemist mate (Pete) were the two guys all you home distillers can thank for making the hobby legal in NZ. They found a loophole in the law and went to the government to legalize home distilling. It's worth a yarn to Malcolm and he has a small book on how they did it and it's amazing that it got through. If not you would have your butt in jail, whiskers and all, for what you and hundreds of us take for granted these days. The second question is a lazy one but I'm looking at doing a honey-infused bourbon so would I put the honey in the mash and ferment it hoping the flavours carry through into the distillate or can I put a couple of spoons of honey in the distiller and get the volatiles off the honey that way. My weapons of choice is a 30 liter Euron still built by Malcolm in the late '90s and my just arrived air-still with temp controls. Well done mate, good show and I'm still laughing at the man trimmer chasing the ram lamb. You made an old farts day better with that masterful addition to your video.
Regarding the Chinese still with no o-ring: You might consider wrapping the edge of the lid with a roll of gas line PTFE tape (thicker than plumbing) and riveting and/or soldering some spring clamps to the body like Bearded did in his thumper video. Bearded uses a really thick PTFE, but you likely only need the gas line tape to fill in the minor imperfection of the sealing surface. Cheers!
who is bearded?
@@ullo-ragnartelliskivi4639 ua-cam.com/users/BeardedBored
@@ullo-ragnartelliskivi4639 - ua-cam.com/video/be5Vq5RhW3A/v-deo.html
I just bought a new factory seal for my little test still like yours. Seals are still very available for them. The little pot stills are awesome for small batches and experimenting. Great video.
A silicone baking sheet makes an awesome gasket also…hypothetically speaking
I really enjoy your experiments, you are really hitting your stride with this channel. Truly chasing the craft. Love your work.
Here in the home market it comes in 81 and 101 proof versions. 43.4% sounds unusual, and a very interesting result.
abv in aus/nz is often done for taxation reasons, aiming for a cost bracket
@@michaelallen2661 same here, almost all vodka and cheaper spirits here are 37-39% as the tax goes up a huge amount at 40%
Damn this brought back old memories I have only ever had WT one time and that was with my moms cousin Mark (R.I.P.) i was 16 he was like 35 it was the night before Thanksgiving of 97 no 98 maybe anyhow a half a gal. between 2 people we ended up driving his gas powered rc cars at like 3am tell his wife shut us down. I puked for 3 days and missed Thanksgiving hugging the toilet .... ;D best memory I have with my cousin and will never ever forget him or it. Ty for making me smile
The flavor at the beginning distilled heads reminds me of how the different temps and time limit effect the taste of rosin extract of cannabis flower. Pretty cool
Jessie you are why I started distilling last year December. Have an idea for my 1st whiskey but I don't know if it will work, doing sugar washes got boring and want to challenge myself. Just want an honest opinion what other experienced distillers have on a noob's idea. Premium Distillers Base Malt - neutral malt flavor (4kg), Extra Pale Malt - honey sweetness (0.3kg), rye malt - earthy spice flavor (0.2kg - don't want to over do it with this flavor), flaked oats (0.6kg), extra light crystal malt - subtle caramel (0.2kg), amber malt - biscuity flavour (0.5kg)
If I could make a humble suggestion…
Have an idea of where you’d like to end up.
Bourbon, Rye, Scotch, Irish, Canadian… ect.
Then build a mash bill.
Yours is a little busy.
Oats are always good for mouth feel.
Corn for sweetness.
Rye for spice.
Obviously you can do whatever makes you happy…
But it’s a solid idea to know where you want to finish.
Especially since the aging process takes a lot of time.
Not trying to be critical… seriously.
Best wishes.
Hopefully you wind up with what you are looking for.😊👍🥃
How's it mate. That will work. All the additions are going to be a purely subjective choice. But I don't see anything that's going to be really out there in that.
The Mad Mick has a good point, especially if you want to keep it "tradition". If you just want to experent and see what happens have at it though.
Another thing to think about is if you add all of that you may find it hard to gain a understanding of what came from where later on. Once again if you want to just throw a hail mary and see what happens go for it. If your looking to improve over multiple runs and dial it in I would say cut the specialty grains back to 1 perhaps 2 additions so its easier to track it and change it later :)
@@StillIt
Good stuff.
I’m a firm believer in just having at it if that makes someone happy.
And we all know this is a completely personal experience.
But with whiskey taking so long to age and come into its own.
And with just about EVERYTHING having been tried at some point.
I’m a firm believer in knowing what you like and want.
It’d be a shame to invest so much time and effort and not enjoy the fruits of your labor.
But as you said… and I agree.
Do your own thing if it pleases you and enjoy the process.
After all… that’s why we all enjoy this hobby so much.
Cheers mate.😊👍🥃
@@BillMcGirr thanks for the advise much appreciated
@@StillIt thanks. I see what you mean, keep it simple at the beginning may be do 1 or 2 malts / grains to see what flavors come from where. Maybe soak the malts / grain in alcohol (like you did in a previous video), to an idea what flavors do I like or what I want to end up with. All the help from experienced distiller makes the noobs like me feel at home and want to do bolder things and improve their skills
I was waiting for that closeup slowmo shot of it dripping out of that still. You never disappoint when it comes to the small details of an entertaining video Jesse. 🥃
AHAhaha
Hey my guy! Killing it in the information department that isn't just repeating facts about distilling, love your stuff! You and Bearded & Bored are my go to!
Now, you mentioned doing a gin run in the pot still. Would love to see a far out fruity gin with some exotic fruit! Keep up the good work dude!
I'm taking some 7% water (aka 186 proof) and using a combination of ripe pu-erh teas and Fu Zuan tea with French Velvet oak (each soaked separately and blended). Then cut the proof by ~1/2. I did this about five years and it was amazing. Everyone that sampled it was lost in the complexity and unique style. I didn't keep a recipe, so I am starting from scratch again. Likely couldn't reproduce anyhow, as teas change year to year. I may have needed a touch of simple syrup to balance it. Not sure what other options would improve this concoction.
*a tea person here , a student budget puer guy.
Do you have a reddit or blog or social media for, this sounds fascinating.
To improve it thou , from a tea prospective . Some older factory recipes used 80:20 ripe to raw to add some kick to there ripes and complexity so this could be a direction , or you could add something a little less fermented like a liu bao ect. You could also specific factory puers as the recipe stays the same even if the season changes the base tea.
The region of the ripe puer can also impart a lot of varience in the flavours , some regions like i find bulang really hold up even if you blend it.
Tho the fu zuan is super interesting addition.
I live in Kentucky, and I think I could buy that much Wild Turkey for ~$100, so my mouth dropped at $200 haha. I've toured Wild Turkey, its a cool, very commercial distillery.
Ah very nice! To be fair its NZD.
@@StillIt very good point! I'm the typical American, always forgetting that not the whole world uses USD haha
To put the price in perspective for each economy, work out the approx price/amount of MacDonald's cheeseburgers. Eg, $50 Australian dollars equals approx 12 cheeseburgers, so a bottle of wild Turkey would be approx 11 cheeseburgers worth for me 🤣🤣🤣
Here in Florida A bottle of wild turkey cost right around $20 So maybe $70 total
@@fishmaster400 We have about the same price in Houston.
This was really fun to watch. I wonder what would happen if you "restilled" the 101?
Fun stuff! Alway nice to see “Wifey”. You are a blessed man, wonderful wife and kids. They are the greatest wealth. Take care, Brother Jesse!
I'm just building my first still. Going to make it like your keg still. But, I'm a plumber :).... I'm going to jazz it up a bit. Should be making some nice water and essential oils in no time.
I feel like we're heading right into bigclive territory. but yeah, air stills are great for screwing around
Hey Jesse, long time subscriber and I too are enjoying learning more about home distillation both from you and with you. I really found this video really informative. Thanks mate! Keep doing what your doing my friend
That was badass. Do to again! And keep the Mrs. she is blunt but humble.
thank you, I did that hypothetically with a bunch of my buddies old spirits, an ethanol recycling event
Thank you too Erin :-)
She is awesome :)
@@StillIt I've found it really useful sometimes to have my other half taste some of my concoctions - she can give honest feedback and I'm sometimes surprised by what she says - because I can be so invested in something tasting nice, I can sometimes talk myself into it tasting better than it does. I have to say too - it's nice to see video where we catch glimpses of Erin and your lovely kids. You got a good life, brother! Keep chasing the craft.
You should try going for barrel strength proof. The max in America is 125 proof going into the barrel and would love to see what you come up with!
Glad I found you on here Jesse. Learning a lot and love the content bro. Subbed.
Listen just a couple mods to the air still make a huge difference. I've ran mine too 180 proof.
So what did you do?
Built a control box for it to plug into to control the voltage. By passed the fan though so it still runs at 100%
@@Hi-TechHillbilly your name is so accurate and I’m loving love it. also I had the same idea
Haha thank you sir. Not a complicated thing at all to do. Local hardware store rheostat, some decent copper wire, outlet and a double wall outlet box.
That is the most beautiful pouring I've ever seen.
Absolutely loved this experiment and video. Cheers!
Did you do a review on Doctor Gradus still?
There's two things I want to do since I just plug it in.. how about put something underneath the catch it.....
Lol love this guy
My normal drink is Wild Turkey 101, I agree with your analysis of the taste between the two. I am about to get into distilling and doing my research...love your channel!
I didn't realize that they still made the 81 proof version. I only find the 101 anywhere around Pennsylvania. I generally use 101 and 101 rye when making citrus based whiskey cocktails.
Love Wild Turkey!!! One of my favorite go-to bourbons!
Yeah definitely solid especially for the price.
My all-time fav bourbon so this should be interesting
Enjoyed the journey!
I purchased the "already modified for distilling alcohol" version from a specialty company in Canada. For the purposes of reclaiming *VERY* expensive 94% "medicinal" alcohol from tinctures I make and process into oils, then subsequently discovered that I could turn cheap grocery store cooking wine into *high* ABV ethanol solvent for my tinctures! Wow! I love that little air still! Six or seven $5 one litre bottles turn into about 750ml to 1 litre of really nice 80% (or so) ABV! *HALF* the price of what I get from the (government controlled) liquor store!
I also tried sipping a shot glass or two - doesn't taste all that bad. I'm certainly not a sommelier level judge of distillate, but I know what I like. And my "go - to" whisk(e)y is Canadian Centennial Rye (whisk(e)y). Very pleasant.
ANYWAY - thank you for the video!!
Nice! Man I wish I could get $5 wine haha.
@@StillIt TRUST me - you would *not* want to actually drink that stuff! LOL
@@kbjerke Trust me, I´m a lost Kiwi living in Chile and a $5 bottle of wine can be as good as a $30 bottle. You just have to be lucky or know where it came from. Chile is often flooded with an oversupply so it is often used as a drawcard in large supermarket chains. To get a really good quality wine here and mean top class you are looking at 20 dollars.
@@AllanMain My wife LOVES Chilean wine! Especially the High Altitude. And Argentinian, too.
Here in Appalachia Wild Turkey is very affordable. Get the 101 version; I agree with the lady in the video who said the 80 tastes watery in comparison. If you like Wild Turkey but you're on a tight budget, try Evan Williams. I've blind-tested it with friends and none of them could tell the difference. I strongly suspect it's less expensive strictly because they don't spend much money on advertising. EW is also available in 80 or 100 proof. Go for the 100.
Sweet, I have had EW a few times. But honestly I cant remember my exact thoughts. Il have to hunt it down again.
@@StillIt EW 100 is my go-to for just keeping a bottle in the house. It fits all the legal definitions for a straight Kentucky bourbon, so you really can't go wrong. It seems to me the mash bill must be very very similar to what Wild Turkey uses.
Hi Jess, nice one “again” (my wife has a much better nose than I )....... anyway.... Jim beam through an air still... boil down the residue to add back in at the end... 58 prof worked best “apparently “nay bloody amazing...” according to a friend” :-)
You should try stilling different cereal. I did a fruity pebbles batch and put fruity pebbles in my thump and it was really interesting! The only thing is the cereal in the thump turned to mush quick!
Not sure how long vids have been 4k res', but since getting an 83" 4k OLED, I'm really appreciating them, thanks for the extra effort :)
Keep up the good work, cheers!
WT101 is a solid bourbon at its price point.
Agreed. I mean just beeing that high proof at that price is hens teeth.
You need to delete the words "at its price point" I've had $200 bottles (in America where bourbon is cheap) that weren't as good as wild Turkey 101 or wild turkey Rye 101.
Wild turkey 101 is amazing. I dislike normal turkey tho.
This was so much fun and very cool!
Cheers mate
Wild Turkey in Arizona is like lower shelf stuff. I can’t believe it costs that much by you.
Another great video, like always sir. I'm a big fan of the channel. I definitely feel like I'll be trying this myself soon and have my buddies do a triangle test with the resulting spirit. Quick question sir; Have you already, or will you by any chance be doing a series on more "less natural" ways of distilling? i.e. bottled amylase and pectic enzymes and other such items.
Yup will be covering them for sure at some stage .
I have a sour dough starter in the fridge that if let sit for a long time forms an interesting funky liquid on top that you wouldn't want to put a match to!
I'd be interested in seeing an update to the great base malt co-lab if you've got any further info or early stage data, as I haven't seen anything about that recently. I've been meaning to make a contribution or two, but keep getting distracted by more complex grists.
I wonder what the stuff left in the still tastes like now. I know generally you wouldn't taste that but since you used an already whiskey it may be interesting.
I wonder if the mash that is leftover from grains could be refermented by adding sugar and water and yeast and make a lighter whiskey.
Thats what I would call a Parti-gyle mash.
Beer brewers do it all the time.
Brew a strong beer and after you've collected your first running for Beer A, use the remaining grain/wort to brew a small beer.
Snap this was the first time I've heard you deal with Dr Gradus. I love those guys.
Man that was crazy 😂🤣 😜. 🤠👍. From a cross the pond.
AUSTRALIA
I'm 100% buying the Still It whisky glass... most likely 6 of them.
im drinking some "wilder" Wild Turkey right now lol she's called Rear Breed ;] awesome video! if you like Turkey, and have never tried WT-RB i highly recommend it!
*btw, bottles or RB with the wood burned turkey head on them are better then the newer bottles without the wood burning :]*
I'll second that recommendation. The Wild Turkey Rare Breed barrel-proof offering is genuinely *very* nice, and they don't charge you an arm and a leg for it. Around here you can get it for 35 bucks per 750ml.
@@dogslobbergardens6606 Honestly, Wild Turkey in general has the best bourbon for their price point. The barrel proof series are absolutely amazing.
@@Vykk_Draygo I agree. I've said before that if you don't like Wild Turkey, maybe you just don't really like bourbon, period. That's pretty much exactly what a standard bourbon is supposed to be.
Have you ever done an episode where you make a large cocktail and then distill that? A long Island iced tea, or a death in the afternoon, or even just mixing a rum with whiskey with tequila and seeing what that would taste like being distilled, or even turning that run into a gin?
YES MORE GIN VIDEOS PLEASE!!! (sorry for the capital letters but i really want it lol) Big abrazo from Argentina
My first time commenting and really its more a question than anything. I'm not a whiskey kinda guy but I do love the original Mad Dog 20/20. Anyway I found a vevor knock off on amazon for 3 easy payments of $33.33. I only intend to use it to create a simaler taste using a grape juice wine and then adding koolaid grape flovor. Then back sweeten to fortify. The only reason I am reaching out is I would like your opinion as the only reason I am even thinking of this as an option is I am tired of fighting with the medical community over my cancer and tired of freeze distilling. This I think would be faster.
Fantastic level of “cocking about” dude, loved it :-)
I was starting a Cherry Vanilla mead as well as a Belgian Tripel while watching this. Alcohol all around today!
Talking of gin, I'd love to see you try out something historical like oude genever - I can't legally distil here in the UK (the tax authority has a policy of not granting distillers licences to non-commercial operations), but I'm fascinated by the process, and love watching recreations of historical stuff, so it would be great to enjoy that vicariously
Great idea, enjoy your end result!
Im envious Jesse . Hummm which still am I going to use today ? I wish I had that luxury you lucky dog you lol !
A traditional Japanese gin would be great with cherry blossom leaves and petals with yuzu fruit peels.
I know you do memm Spirit segment and also generally enjoy making masha's and to see what you get seeing his house Summers coming up I honestly would like to see you make something from a variety of melons it might be fun to see what you get
Fun video. Ya, turkey 101 is a solid bourbon. A little cardboardy to be my favorite, but very good. Prefer elaija Craig and makers mark.
Food video. Now you got me wondering if its possible to say use a water distiller to distill your mash instead of having to use the other setup
Very cool, just curious have you tried anything like guiness in that little still? I'm curious how that would go.
That is something I always wondered about, and something I'd like to try just for the fun of it. Not really to try to cheat any system, because I know that it's not cost effective, but to improve an already decent drink? Maybe. Cool to see your results. Thanks for doing this.
@2:02 you turned into Kermit the Frog 🐸 😆
Lol. Fun to deconstruct whiskey. You wouldn’t of tried this years ago that manscape shaver must of helped. Thanks for keeping it real.
As always, love your work man.
But please tell us what volumes you put in and what volumes you got out.
🍻
You should try the swapping or the freeze distilling technique to just take water out
Thank u Jessie great video mate!! U are the best.
In the states it 81 and 101 for WT
Yeah I remember the standard being lower than 86! Nice to know Im not going crazy haha
If you haven't you should try the Wild Turkey 101 rye. Wild turkey taste entirely different to me now that I'm older all whiskey does.
It’s crazy how expensive things are for you. That bottle is super cheap here in California
Since I’m in the process of making Applejack - emailed Bearded my “sugar wash recipe- my first thought was
“Why not freeze it?”
Since the benefit is that it retains more flavor AND it would be as simple as sticking the bottle in the freezer, that seems to be the way to go.
In fact, freeze it then nuke it with some cubes and burn some methanol off.
You can run your air pot off a PWM at about 70% It helps with smearing. Hypothetically of course!
Hypotherically,. . . . .
ua-cam.com/video/nbG7crKWL00/v-deo.html
At some point you should make a silicone o-ring for that little gas fired pot still. if you make a form using some thick tape and the outer edge of the pot, you should be able to pour some food-safe two-part silicone mold mix into the outer edge. Then all you'd have to do is figure out how to clamp the lid on. Still, should work out a bit easier than having to make a flour paste and clean it back off after every run.
Edit: Forgot to mention, I'm not actually a huge fan of Wild Turkey 101. I purchased it before because, as you've mentioned, over here in America it is one of the cheaper high-proof whiskeys you can get. It just happens to have a particular rye flavor that I've never been able to develop a taste for. I generally avoid ryes and blends with a mash bill that contain rye for this reason. I don't like rye in bread, and I don't really like it in my booze either. I find it just imparts a distinct cardboard-like flavor that I can't get past.
This was very interesting, but it brings up questions about other whiskeys. It would be super-interesting to see what could be distilled from other whiskey brands, or from distilling other spirits or wines.
Great episode 👍
A Cryo hopped then dryhopped gin would be cool, I did one that also sat on oak and was beautiful
I live in the usa and 101 is about 30 dollars. But i love to see if you be able to turn it in Rare breed. Or take a cheap bottom shelf whiskey and turn it into a normal bottle.
Nice work again. Concerning propositions: I once got my hands on a super interesting gin which where the main botanical was pineapple. No idea if you maybe already did something similar but if not, it may be worth a try. I absolutely loved it, both by itself and with a nice tonic.
Huh interesting! May need to give that a go.
@@StillIt would love to see it :D
Have you tried collecting the wash vapors and tried to filter out the contaminants (Carmel syrups, methanol, and etc.) in the commercial run
Good stuff. Certainly convenient, but plastic in a still is a no-no, right? Any thoughts?
This is mostly all stainless where it counts.
For a specific style of gin, I'd love to see your take on something extra floral. I tried once to make not so much a gin as just an infusion with lavender, hibiscus, rose, and other things I have written down somewhere and it came out a bit soapy, but maybe with the addition of juniper and citrus it'll work better?
Hmmmmm interesting!
Next time try less lavender, it tends to go soapy when you use too much, I reckon.
This was my grandmother’s favorite whiskey she used to drink a bottle a day until she died at 95 years old
Wrap teflon tape around the lip of the other still.
i don't know if You'd read a comment on such an old video, but I've been thinking about making a Suto "fireball mead" then distilling it to bring the abv higher and closer to the 33% fireball usually runs, id love to see you do it from scratch and try to replicate fireball with a mead
When you distill a finished spirit, are there still foreshots? Is there enough methanol in it to be concerned about?
Hello, would you insert Polish subtitles? You have a lot of fans from Poland, and we like to distil something from time to time. Cheers

Sorry mate I don't know Polish so I can't translate it.
Be really interested to see what happened if you did the blend the other direction. Take what's left in the air still and add back to it to get the same result of 101 proof. I may try it myself here at the house and let you know how it goes. I'm in the US so wild turkey is much cheaper than New Zealand.
Break out the gas burner and make some flour paste? OH NO! You dang kids today are so spoiled. In MY day we had to hike way out in the woods with a roll of copper tubing and build everything from scratch and gather firewood and the whole time we were risking ten years in prison for it :p
Seriously though, I'm glad more people can have fun with distilling now... but let's not forget our roots. :)
😂😂😂
This drink went into “the chronically intoxicated nature of (fictional) turkeys” - which are commonly called *Buzzards.*
Dude I like you videos and don’t comment much. I DONT have a Mile Hi 11 gallon 3” colum😜😜…But I’m curious about some of the oak aging coming threw in the distillation process. So I was wondering if you have ever ran your still with toasted oak cubes floating around in the still during your run…Does some flavor come threw or not…If so would it be a quick way of possibly making a Bacardi silver rum instead of aging it and then carbon filtering it or just give you a jump on aging or will it just taste like cardboard or something…..
You are giving me ideas. 👍
New rain day experiment
That's a pretty interesting experiment and even more interesting results. Do you suppose that's exactly what Wild turkey did with the 101?
101 is my store bought go to!
From America, I thought Wild Turkey only came in 101. But who knew.
I use a pressure cooker for small batches. Have you heard anything from George? Not been online. Concerned.
Interesting stuff brother
the only issue with the air stills is that they're not controllable.....but boy they sure are convienient and easy to use....