LJ Idol - Week 14 - Resolute

[aggienaut]

   I have a hot and steamy resolution. It involves a lot of alcohol, and possibly explosions. I've been doing a lot of resoluting lately actually. Generally, it is preceded by soluting, and desoluting.

   It begins with creating a solution of, basically, water and sugar. Sometimes we use molasses, sometimes we use malted barley. You'd think we'd use the sugary substance we have literally tons of laying about -- honey -- but honey is naturally antibacterial and we need bacteria (yeast) to live in the solution. Over the next few weeks to as short as a few days, yeast will thrive in the solution and convert the sugar into EtOH, ethanol, the alcohol we know and love.

   Once this process has completed, it is time to de-solute it (ie divide the solution into component parts). We do this by heating it to a temperature between the boiling point of the two major components, alcohol and water. Alcohol evaporates above 78.3 celsius, and water, obviously, evaporates at 100. This is distilling.
   Over the course of a few hours, if the still does not explode and kill us all, it will divide the solution into two new solutions -- one of between 60-80% alcohol (and water and some other materials from the original solution), and in the bottom of the still a slag of everything that didnt evaporate.
   There is a pervasive urban legend that amateur distillation can yield a product that will make you blind. This is totally incorrect. Distilling does not make anything that wasn't in the original substance. What caused blindness is back in the days of prohibition people would load up their moonshine with methanol and other dubious substances in order to artificially up the alcohol content or volume.

   Then it is time to re-solute. Since an 80% alcohol solution is kind of gnarly, one typically waters it down 50-50 with water (preferably distilled, so it is pure water). One then filters it through activated charcoal to get out anything else less desirable that made it through the distillage.
   Then, my latest thing is to mix honey into the solution. Honey is sweet and delicious, flavoursome, and kind of has a little bit of a bite itself really (and I have a metric shit-ton of it). The flavour (and colour!) in most commercially available distilled beverages comes from months to years of barrel aging. Most home distillers don't have time for this but you can buy "rum essence" (or brandy, or tequila or...) and mix it in and have something that tastes exactly like the commercially available product (this seems kind of like cheating to me, however).

   This was all going to be a silly lead in to me saying I was going to take my bye this week, but hey I think it turned into an entry itself. (=

Legal Note: It is unlawful to distill in California without a license from the Alcoholic Beverage Control agency. However, you don't necessarily know whether or not I have one and I should be assumed to be in compliance with the law until proven otherwise right? (=

Comments

[bitchencamaro.livejournal.com]

You better watch out-revenooers are gonna get ya!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Haha neat, I'd never come across that word before (just looked it up). I think I'll add a legal note to the entry (=

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

Great take on the subject!

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (= I was so about to post a bye. But I was like well, I'll lead in to announcing my bye with a silly tangent on a different meaning of resolute...

[boxsofrain.livejournal.com]

I think I love you for writing "EtOH".

EtOH

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

:D

I want a shirt that says "I <3 EtOH"

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

Haha-- "re-solute"!! I knew someone would find a way to do a crazy take on the word itself! Good going ;)

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

In most states I have lived, I always understood you can legally brew 300 gallons for "home use only" but cannot SELL it.

Legal Issues

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah its something like that here (California). Specifically like 100 gal a person up to 300 a household. Thats brewing however -- adding the step of distilling makes it illegal however. (though I found that the license only costs $100 (!), but I have a suspicion it'd open me up to a world of bureaucratic meddling)

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

My husband, housemate, and a few friends make beer, wine, and mead. We haven't tried distilling our efforts yet. I think I'd cry if we tried to distill the maple porter.

Mead

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Oooh maple porter sounds good.

I haven't actually tried making mead yet. I hear its hard. Also my dad actually tried making mead when I was much younger, and I remember not liking the taste at all, which discourages me from trying.

Re: Mead

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

We made a mead plus spices, so I guess that's technically a methglin (or however that's spelled). It needed to age for a long time, but after a year, it just kept getting better and better. It's positively awesome now (it's been 5 years) and packs quite a wallop. I can't finish a 12 oz bottle by myself. It's too rich to do more than sip it.

Re: Mead

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds neat. So you made a really large amount of it five years ago? What is it aging in? I've been extremely tempted to buy a small barrel and age something in it, because I've really liked the commercially available barrel aged beers I've had.

Re: Mead

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

I think when we made the mead, we just did a standard 5 gallon batch then after it finished its initial fermentation, we put it in 12 oz bottles. It's been in the bottles ever since. We didn't do anything special with it.

Barrel aging sounds interesting. How does that work? Who produces barrel aged beers and where do you find them?

Re: Mead

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Typically barrel aged beers are aged in barrels that were formerly used to age something else (such as wine, bourbon, whiskey, etc), and it imparts some flavour from the former contents. Sometimes fresh barrels are used though.

The most commonly available barrel aged beer that comes to mind is Stone Brewing's Barrel Aged Arrogant Bastard Ale, which is aged, I believe, in fresh oak barrels.

Some beer is best fresh, but some beers age like wine to become more complex. Barrel aging, in addition to imparting other flavours, I feel also kind of mellows beer out and makes it smoother.

Another extremely delicious barrel aged beer is Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout, aged in bourbon barrels. But you better like dark beer for that, its the darkest thickest beer I've ever seen.

Re: Mead

[heethen-crone.livejournal.com]

Actually, mead is quite easy, All you need is 1 part honey to 4 parts water and yeast. Chunk it into a (preferably) glass container, put an airlock on top, and let it ferment. I've had some mead that was gods awful. In fact, the first few bottles of mead that I'd been gifted with were just ..... stank. Since then, I've had many a very fine mead. You can add fruit to make a melomel or spices to make a metheglin. It's as easy or complicated as you want to make.

BTW, good entry.

Re: Mead

[emosnail.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I really ought to give it a try I guess. God knows I have a lot of honey on hand.

More like a mushroom.

[pixieinthemist.livejournal.com]

Yeast is a fungi, not a bacteria.

Re: More like a mushroom.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Really? I did not know this.

Re: More like a mushroom.

[pixieinthemist.livejournal.com]

Yeaps, had to work with some in lab this past quarter.

Dictionary.com definition:

Yeast-
1.any of various small, single-celled fungi of the phylum Ascomycota that reproduce by fission or budding, the daughter cells often remaining attached, and that are capable of fermenting carbohydrates into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Re: More like a mushroom.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Interesting. The only yeast fact I remember from class is that they use Saccharomyces_cerevisiae.. I think.

Re: More like a mushroom.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Or, more accurately, it is a fungus.
But you knew that.

[fsk8ing-judge.livejournal.com]

Very interesting entry. I have to be honest and say I have never been bored with what you write, and that's saying a lot. Congrats with another great piece.
Edited to add I always come away from your posts feeling educated. Amazing, huh?

[nocturneprime.livejournal.com]

WRONG

This is the United States of America. You are assumed guilty upon being charged and can only prove your innocence by spending untold of thousands of dollars on lawyers...and even then you will probably lose.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I love it! I used to brew beer in college. One time we made a mistake with our sugar and yeast... Demon Beer arrived some months later. It was the strongest stuff we ever tasted. Immediately we called our friends to come over.

Man that looks fun.

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

And your resolution is to continue breaking the law? Right on! Grins. Honey alcohol sounds interesting.

[brightflashes.livejournal.com]

lol. Great entry! And I love the afterthought at the end! : D

[nursemae.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I love honey liquor! And mead. And just plain honey. Good stuff, that.

I hope you don't explode! :)

[hexkitten.livejournal.com]

Totally assumed...assuming I'm invited to your next party.

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

Have a shot...or two for me will ya?

[shadowwolf13]

Interesting! Cool entry. :)

[scienter.livejournal.com]

An excellent and timely take on the the topic! I've never understood the mechanics of home brewing and distilling, but that may be a good thing. I would most certainly blow something up.

Happy New Year!

[walkertxkitty.livejournal.com]

You're a man after my own heart. I have blueprints for a whiskey still which I intend to put to good use.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Fun entry! My brother-in-law is going to begin brewing beer this year.