Finally….I get the water thing figured out thanks to my German brewing books I am using in my M.Sc. studies. Gotta love that German know-how….Here is what you do……. from your water report, take the Alkalinity value, the Calcium value and the Magnesium value. Start by calculating your Effective Hardness which is Calcium (ppm) / 1.4. Next, take Mg / 1.7. Add these 2 figures to get Effective Hardness. Subtract the Effective Hardness from Alkalinity to get Residual Alkalinity (RA). A nicely balanced water will have RA of about 40-50. If your RA is above that, you run the risk of making a distilled spirit where the taste is blaaaah and un-balanced. Let’s take some actual values from a real situation at a craft distillery in the south part of the Okanagan in BC (name withheld for privacy). The local water has Ca of 18 ppm, Mg 34 and Alkalinity 238 ppm. So, 238 minus [(18/1.4) + (34/1.7)] = 205. This water is not exactly the most balanced and could very easily interfere with flavor balance on a distilled product. Plus, the Calcium to way to low for making sure the yeast can function. This distillery (last time I checked) was adding Gypsum to up their Calcium to 100 ppm. At 100 ppm, the new RA becomes 238 – [(100/1.4) + (34/1.7)] = 146. Better, but still not balanced. What this distillery can do (could do?…should do ??) is a novel approach that involves adding a 25 kg bag of Chocolate Malt to every mash. The acidity of the Chocolate Malt grains will be offset by the RA (residual alkalinity) and their distiller will likely notice a significant improvement in distillate flavor and an improvement in taste complexity. And, of course, their distiller will be adding acid to reduce the high pH of his water. There are 2 approaches for this – (1) add actual acid or (2) add a couple pails of the leftover liquid from a distillation run to his next mash. This leftover stillage is highly acidic. This method is what the Kentucky Bourbon makers call the Sour Mash method.

Up until recently, I was offering a standard formula for yeast pitching rate in my Workshops and writings. Amazing how some deeper schooling can raise one’s level of understanding of yeast. During my recent trip to Scotland, I went to 3 distilleries and in all cases noted that they were adding more yeast than I normally would.

Recall there are 4 stages to the fermentation cycle. Lag Phase, Exponential, Stationary and Decline. The Stationary Phase is where the pyruvic acid is metabolized to ethanol. During this phase, the yeast soon realizes that the ethanol is actually toxic and stands to harm the cell walls. So, the yeast reaches out into the grain mash and imports amino acids (FAN=free amino nitrogen). The yeast carves the NH3 molecule off the amino acid and then proceeds to excrete the remaining structural shell (now called an alpha keto acid). These alpha keto acids form the basic structure for the development of higher alcohols and esters. The longer the Stationary Phase drags on for, the more higher alcohols and esters the yeast generates as it shores up its cell walls against the surrounding toxic ethanol. Hence, the longer the Stationary Phase – the more unique the flavor profile of your distillate will be. as I noted earlier, in Scotland, the distillers are adding a considerable amount of yeast (double what I have been suggesting in my teachings and writings). This is because they are aiming for a certain flavor profile and have been aspiring to that same profile for 100+ years in many cases. They know how much higher alcohol they want in their final spirit. So, as a craft distiller, consider ramping up the amount of yeast you add to a ferment. See how the flavor profile of your distillate changes. See how much you shorten up on your fermentation time. You might be surprised…..

I am learning the most fascinating stuff as I get further immersed in my M.Sc. studies. For example, seaweed is comprised largely of plant proteinaceous material. But, seaweed also has a sugar component to it where the sugar is of a di-saccharide made of 2 galactose molecules joined together. There are actually 3 structural variants of this disaccharide present in seaweed and we call them iota-carrageenan, kappa carrageenan and lambda carrageenan. The iota and kappa forms carry a positive ionic charge and are attracted to proteins. Hence, brewers will add seaweed to their brews to assist protein material to settle out in the boil kettle or whirlpool vessel. If you have ever home-brewed beer, you know all this already for you were using Irish Moss from your local brew store to clarify your wort during the post-boil. Lambda carrageenan does little to assist the brewer, but it has been recognized for its foam stabilizing properties. You know this already and have eaten it. Look at a typical ice cream container and the ingredients might include carrageenan. During chilling in the ice cream factory, it helps the ice cream remain as a single phase and not a separated mess. And the connection to distilling you ask? Again, you have had it before. Bailey’s Irish Cream. Note that it does not separate into alcohol and cream phases. It stays as one nicely mixed liquid in the bottle on your shelf. Thanks lambda carrageenan! I just got a pack of this stuff from the good folks at Monashee Distilling in Revelstoke, BC. Thanks Josh!! I am going to play around making some Holiday Cream Liquor from some nice 18% cream and using the copious amounts of Bourbon that I (allegedly!!) might have in my possession from some potential research I reportedly did recently. I will let you all know how it turns out. The maker of this carrageenan is www.ModernistPantry.com. And fyi, if you are ordering some Cream Liquor from Josh at Monashee Distilling, he does not use the lambda carrageenan (that’s why I ended up getting it…). Instead, he mixes his cream and alcohol at extremely high rates of speed and shear using a special mixer. This causes the cream fatty molecules to separate. It takes about 6-7 weeks for the busted up fat molecules to get re-acquainted. Hence, Josh’s Mountain Creamer product will carry a shelf life of 5-6 weeks before the alcohol and cream separate into 2 phases. But, no worries. If it takes you 5 weeks to consume a bottle of Josh’s product, then there is something seriously wrong with you…You will be lucky if a bottle lasts 5 days…By using this hi-shear mixing method, Josh is able to call his product a true organic creation without any added powders or stabilizers.