How To Make Potato Vodka The Easy Way

[@emilyrln]

I've never watched any distilling/brewing content before (just straight-up chemistry lol), and it was so fun to hear all these cryptic terms and try to decipher what they meant! Definitely going to watch some more, though-very interesting!

[@JustAPakistaniGamer]

i don't even drink alcohol, why am i even watching this at 2 in the morning, who knows? who cares? !!! lol

[@glennllewellyn7369]

I stopped drinking 8-12 standards a day 10 weeks ago. Why am I here!?!

[@ehta2413]

Yup. I know. I am only here to see if he' going to draw it through thin veil of silver :D

[@Larry-rs2hc]

Me also

[@perryrush6563]

But did you ENJOY the video?

[@ehta2413]

@@perryrush6563 Yes, but alas no silver :/

[@mumzly1]

You are a legend for adding the conversions to imperial in your measures. Thank you.

[@peterthomas939]

😊😊 27:23

[@DBalcom-i8f]

Ive been doing this for a couple years, now, and this explanation of cuts is more precise and clear than ANYthing I've come across, before. I used to simply throw away a lot, just to be safe, but I feel much more confident in fine tuning, now!

[@myth-termoth1621]

The first stuff out of the still is useful for firepoi work, it gives a lively blue flame. I have not tried cleaning with it.

[@garytong3395]

Jesse, a big thank you for all your energy and enthusiasm. Because of you, Bearded and George I've just distilled my very first Calvados, it's great! Many thanks.

[@mikewilson631]

The big glass bottle is an aspirator. I recommend keeping the bottom bung either wired or held in place with an elastic band, if it is just a ground glass joint. It is not unknown for them to leak or even come completely apart without warning.

[@IronKing66]

I have never had a stronger case of beard envy in my LIFE! Hats off to YOU , sir.

[@philgiglio7922]

When was the last time you trimmed it? I trim mine in spring and again in August

[@IronKing66]

@@philgiglio7922 I keep my beard fairly short these days. I have super long well kept dreads, and glasses, so if I let my beard get super long, my face kind of disappears 😅

[@safetymikeengland]

at 6:00 - seems like some sort of centrifuge might be handy to recover all the liquid and get rid of all the solids. at 11:55 - this is great - I've seen how the old-timers did it with sealing the top on the still - this gadget just snaps on like a pressure-cooker!! awesome.

[@igortumbas2769]

Mate! This is awesome! I'm an aspiring distiller. I was born in Former Yugoslavia. My grandparents had a plum orchard and they, and afterwards my parents, made plum brandy commonly known as "Shlivovica". There was a distiller who would bring around a massive pot still on a horse drawn cart and the next door neighbor would come around to do the tasting and separate the fore shots, heads, hearts and the tails. This sits very firmly imparted in my memory. I'm planning to reignite the family tradition now that we live in Australia. My first go will be distilling a plain vodka just to hone my distilling craft and then move on to making the plum brandy. I don't know how long this will take me. But your videos are are hugely informative and instructive. Keep going my friend!

[@safetymikeengland]

My dad grew up in KY (he was born in 31). .. he was interested in talking about people making whisky. One of the things he was really clear about was, you could throw a bunch of sugar in the batch and increase the outcome, BUT . . . then you would have "Sugar whisky" which is not nearly as good to drink.

[@timchapman6702]

I have to disagree. I have made all grain and I personally think it’s not as good. I like the taste of the ones with sugar added. Just my opinion.

[@amirmahan2252]

Sugar causes the production of ethyl acetate, which causes drowsiness

[@scurge1971]

First time watching your channel and I must say YOU are the Potato Juice King!!!🍸

[@bilz0r]

Hey Boss, Kiwi in Tasmania here. I've been watching your videos and distilling for a couple of years using the pure distilling kit. Love to see you using it/any comparisons. I've also love to see you do a video about putting 2 inch bubble plates into those stills.

[@liamhaven1442]

Love these vids. I’m blind and looking to move from my air still to something more substantial. I use the air still because it’s so foolproof, a blind guy can use it. I’ll be getting a pure distilling copper pot unit soon, as it seems easier to manage than a T500. Would love to listen to some more content using the PD gear.

[@TheChefmike66]

I always really enjoy watching you chase the craft, your passion is obvious and your experience is as well!

[@dbomber69]

I have an idea for a run. What about using popcorn? Ground Popped popcorn? Since it's popped it's already gelatinized. And if you know someone who works at a factory making bagged popcorn you could get it dirt cheap. Maybe even free if you use floor sweepings as long as the factory floor is clean. Distilling will filter out any thing that gets in it. I'm just wondering what flavor it will have. Will the corn taste come through or will it disappear? If it has a nice popcorn taste it would be a good candidate for a caramel corn shine.

[@MattWinkler1]

I actually made a popcorn brew a couple years ago! I attempted by crushing the kernels, butter and all, and popping it would've definitely been easier and more effective lol. The end result tasted a bit like Chardonnay diluted with pond water kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKjYhn1nrqyDp9Esi=6biRIt1FfBq0IkbO

[@Luke-r5s]

I found the t500 a great first time still, and it's really versatile so as you get more experience you can get more fancy and make all sorts of great brews. I'm still using the t500 after more than 30y of brews. I would have loved to have had it when I first started, but the older styles force you to be more careful/accurate, and more hands on. Gotta say that making a brew with ya mates while having a BBQ just bring you all closer.

[@tomhill4003]

Thanks Jesse! Your insight in the craft is truly inspiring.

[@MB120478]

Super glad you're using the Pure Distilling relux condenser. It's a top bit of gear. More videos of Pure Distilling products please

[@Golden_SnowFlake]

A Great usage of your "waste" spirits, is to get an alcohol dual fuel stove, to use for heating mash, assuming you are willing to go through that step with an actual burner. waste not want not.

[@Yourlibrarian]

I love watching people do their hobbies. This is very cool.

[@peteratlanecove7436]

There is an easier way: mix the grain bill dry. Put water (1.5 litre per kg of grain) in a bg enough drinks cooler heated to 75C with a stick heater. Mix the grain with an electric drill and paint/drill mix fixture. It will go to 65C. Leave it to mash (it will cool slowly as its in the cooler). Let it cool overnight. Add water and yeast to ferment.

[@toolazytogivehimselfanickname]

Oh hey? I wanted to be doing something nice on my freetime. So as i was trying out as the video said, i realized i dont have distiller. Now i am stuck with a bowl of paste. Is there any other way to distill at home?

[@758Dino]

Happy to be watching . Here from the Caribbean. St. Lucia

[@TheInfinityzeN]

If you actually do want a little more "texture" and flavor in your vodka, you can try "pot still finishing". You do need a pot still with actual copper rather than just stainless steel. Dilute some of your high abv vodka down to 40~50% abv, add it to your pot still, and run it. The interaction with the copper will boost up the esters and give it a softer more rounded flavor. I would recommend not doing this to your whole batch but only something like 20% and blending it back in, since otherwise it can be overpowering. Optionally you can add a small amount of material to the pot still batch, such as the material the vodka was originally distill from to punch up that flavor or a little bit of botanical to mildly flavor it. As an example, for the wash in this video a handful of baked potato skins and a pinch of rolled oats would give it more potato flavor and mouth feel. If your initial spirit was 95% abv then the results are a vodka. Another option is to take about 1/10th of your wash or low wines and run it through a copper pot still instead of a column still, then blend the final products together. This is going to produce way stronger flavors though and you have to be careful that the final product is not to harsh. That means taking careful cuts off the pot still. Also this is not a true vodka since part of the finished product never got up to 95% abv. For home distillers it does not matter if it is "legally" vodka or not, so you are fine doing it any way you like. For the distilleries that sell their product though, the second option is pretty much not allowed unless they use so little of "only pot still" run that it would be a flavored vodka.

[@kahwigulum]

i make mead and was curious about potato vodka and noticed you having trouble with temperature regulation a great hack i learned from someone else for beer and winemaking is go to the aquarium supply store and buy an aquarium temperature controller. it has two leads that dangle into the tank and measure the average temp and then an seperate outlet for a heating device. you can set a preferred temp which the controller will then cycle power to the heating device when the temp drops, and then shut off when the temp is reached. this means a steady temp rather than temperature spikes. most will also have wifi or bluetooth and send data to your phone so you can monitor while you do something else. it seems something like that would work great for your use in distilling spirits. no more manual checking and rechecking or allowing the temp to drop and ruin the final product

[@JzNMuzak]

Perfect! Once the battery voltage reaches a stable level, you can now attempt to charge it using the regular charger. Connect the charger and monitor the charging progress.

[@colahandyman67]

Another excellent video, the explanation of fores/heads is top notch, I'm a bit disappointed you didn't go further into the running of the Pure Distilling Reflux Still explaining how it works and reflux in general, what the thermometer is telling you and how to use that info, this could be a whole new video.

[@Елло123]

Very great Video 💯 But I have a Question does someone know the Song at 23:50?

[@roberthousedorfii1743]

Can you some more detail on the potato flakes? Here in the us, amazon only has expensive crap with preservatives. The Oats you used also please!

[@EmeraldHill-vo1cs]

Its like DEB.

[@TheGorf]

What is in the mashtun at the 0:35 mark? Is it just hot water? And what is sparge water? Is it something unique?

[@whiskeywookie2758]

You're an evil genius mate! Potato flakes! I'm so trying this next!

[@agw5425]

So if I want to make as strong and pure as possible alcohol for cleaning purposes and do not care about smell or taste at all just purity, what steps are required for that?

[@isidoruleone1753]

Another great video. thank you. At 24.59 you mention "worry about saponification". Can you elaborate on that a bit more? Cheers

[@DeliciousDeBlair]

My brew always uses oats, but I have used raw on some, and toasted on some. I prefer the flavor of a moderate golden toast.

[@lvolvo1810]

well done sir! can't put a finger on any flaws, Well Done!

[@DrAppalling]

Any idea what the points per pound per gallon of potato flakes is? It would be useful to know if you want to try making vodka from potato flakes alone.

[@GrantMcEwing]

How about putting the rolled oats in with some barley for a beta glucan rest at 45C before raising the strike water temp and adding the barley malt...

[@routavarvas]

about those yests. I have read that yest will die when alcohol level reach to certain level, like 18%, does this varies with different yests. also if you have too much sugar yest cannot process all of it before dying, there for larger amount of water helps and that can be fixed in distillation. comment on these would be nice.

[@wmpriest123]

you can still go the potato route quick and easy with this same recipe, if you have one of those cheap "hotpot" standalone pressure cookers (even a small to mid sized one is more than ok) that plug straight into the wall outlet, it is mere minutes and you have soft potatoes with minimal water needed, you can reuse the same pressure cooker only adding the necessary minimum moisture until you have the total amount ultra soft potatoes you need in a separate (bowl, pot, tun, container) store, just remember to add the remaining moisture and pressure cooker dregs to the potatoes before mashing to preserve all of the potato goodness. Pre-peeling isn't needed, if you shock cool them with plain water before the last batch exits the pressure cooker it is easy just to tear off the majority of the skin. Most people just mash it in skin-and-all. From there just follow the rest of this recipe. The pressure cooker is also great too speed up other recipes of other ingredients that require cooking or heat softening if the recipe calls for actively boiling ingredients.

[@Michael_Kerstein]

I'm in Oklahoma USA watching this

[@elberttanner6189]

While discussing this recipe with an acquaintance I have in Russia, He suggested to use the exact same recipe, but with the addition of 1kg of grated Turnips.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

What about adding amylase enzyme to break the grain into sugar that can be fermented into alcohol.

[@HeartPumper]

It's a malt. And he uses 2 x 45min mashing stages. No need for additional amylase.

[@alexanderSydneyOz]

As an Aussie I can confirm that kiwis are MUCH more charming than Aussies. This is highly entertaining!

[@mehranshafiee4495]

Thanks a lot Dear friend..... In your idea what is the best "FILTER" to remove odor and bad smell from our Vodka??? The filter of Refrigerator can be used or you advise the specific version of filter??? 🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@roysonmascarenhas1129]

Use an activated carbon filter from the water purifier, cheap and easy to get rid of any smell. Always worked for my chem project

[@GerinoMorn]

My Polish arse looking at this in horror xD

[@m0Ray79]

Interesting experience. In russia, where I am from, potato vodka was considered one of the "low-end" alcohol for hard drinkers, an "alcohol surrogate".

[@crispincattermole]

I'm from England we have potatoe vodka which is higher end about £35+ a bottle 'Chase English Potato Vodka '

[@bmwalker611]

This was a great video! Thanks for making a video with average joe equipment!

[@baijokull]

I've got the same still, although not from Pure Distilling. It works amazingly well, I get close to 94% and it's very simple to run. My only complaint would be the temperature of the liquid coming off the still is quite high.

[@rldrld7747]

Try a separate water feed into the product condenser if you are running water through the reflux condenser then into the product condenser. You can use mains supply, but I use a water reservoir with a small 12vdc pump that splits into two water feeds with needle valves to control the output. Works great

[@baijokull]

@@rldrld7747 With this still there's only one condenser that all the water flows through. It's one of the things that makes it so simple to run but it also means that you can't really control the offtake temperature.

[@rldrld7747]

@@baijokull Sorry I didn't think about the fact you have a boka setup. I would say the easiest solution would be to make a small worm condenser. You could also try running it a little bit slower by using an Scr ( if you don't already have one) to control the boiler element output. It's great for fine tuning the process.

[@TheIrishdriven]

1.5 lb sugar 3 russet potatoes will make 1 gal alcohol however you must let all potatoes interact with yeast it converts carbs to sugars

[@troyleach5471]

This is awesome, thanks for all you do. I wanted to ask, on most of your 'safety net' vid's, the receipt doesn't need to be modified if you do NOT add the sugar correct?

[@eggwood5]

Short answer - yes. Those safety net recipes crank up the flavour from specialty malts to counteract the sugar. Without sugar your ratios would be out of whack and aged spirits tend to turn nasty if your % of specialty malts is too high. I think Jesse did a vid a while back on "levelling up" from safety nets (can't recall the name).

[@clarencerswann1360]

Jesse, what was your overall thought on that reflux column? I have one of a very similar design from Kegland. It's pretty basic in design, but usually can get

[@malcolmclement]

i bought the pure distil and the difference between this and yours i believe is the pure distil column is wider . I have only been distilling about one year and every batch so far has produced 94 percent abv using pure distil fermentation kit .

[@crowznest438]

Just a guess is that sugar vodka would be fine for continuing on in making kalua. And, I could be wrong. Fermenting is such an interesting process.

[@highandangry4265]

Jesse you should get one of those cheap spinning clothes dryers to strain the mash.... I've got one that i line with a BIAB and get basically all the moisture out of the solids...

[@TheMopangbend]

Can you send a link of what you have please? I use a new mop strainer and compress it but it’s a pain.

[@rickl.1603]

To piggyback off my question which I'm sure will get answered at some point in the video, could any enzyme substitute be used if one did not have malted barley? Does tomato paste work? I know that's typically for yeast nutrients

[@abozarmajidi9375]

Hi, isn't it better to use alpha amylase enzyme?

[@1965cajun]

How you prevent the methanol in the front? What percent you discard in front?

[@Stephen-mw8ze]

Lord, I wish i possessed the skills and equipment to do this. I watch these videos as my guilty pleasure

[@liambyrne591]

Why do you want to this is it to spare money on vodka or is it just a hobby

[@konradKaczmarzyk]

Hey Jesse!! I am not sure if you compared the new easy recipe of potato vodka with the original recipe ( from the first video) ?? can you confirm that ? and if not which one did you prefer? cheers!

[@rocketsroc]

I have equipment to distill on-grain, but from my experience, I've found this tends to add off flavors to the spirits. Clean, filtered fermented mash is, IMO, the best choice to distill. If you are using a heating element to heat your still, there is a very high risk of scorching whenever the mash has particulate matter in it.

[@peterichards4317]

Jesse, what would you suggest to use the big 200L blue drums as a fermentor? I thought maybe cut the top off use some food grade hose around the edge to act as a sealer and maybe use a 12mm sheet of wood to cover the top, chuck a large brick on top to create the seal and drill a hole in the wood for an air lock with a grommet to seal that hole. I’m a beginner and would appreciate any advice you might have? Chur

[@roberthousedorfii1743]

I can give you some small advice. When I make wine, from kits, or sometimes from crushed grape I buy from the dealer, 10 gallon batches, I just put it in a 10 Gal SS pot with the lid, after pitching the yeast. Within 1 hour, you are making so much CO2, that you don't need a seal. Just don't be peeking at it every hour, and you should be fine.

[@rogerblack4603]

For occasional use I've found cling wrap makes an acceptably "lid"(mainly just to keep dust and insects out). Depending on the diameter, you may need a couple of strips. Then use elastic around the rim to secure.

[@Aaron-zu3xn]

Get an electronic stirring machine with heating set it to your evap temp of methanol and the acetone and methanol should all come off. Even without a heating mantle you could use an electric thermometer I think it's 140F

[@ArjayMartin]

Does reverse osmosis or distilled water make a difference?

[@maiaallman4635]

I'm always so relieved when KZbinrs use the metric system!

[@IndieCthulhu]

Same

[@AcrylicGoblin]

I agree, it's much easier to work with in recipes. When I was in elementary school in the late 70s and early 80s, I remember teachers telling us how important it was to learn the metric system because that's what the country would use by the time we were out of high school. Unfortunately, it hasn't really worked out that way.

[@nedevans6322]

I thought the comment was a piss take on jesses kiwi accent

[@jovi_monet]

​@@nedevans6322same lmao

[@Muttsy]

It's pronounced "Mitruc"

[@mindbodymushrooms7971]

Anyone have a good source for angel yeasts in Canada?

[@seandennis8486]

Hi Jesse. I'm a tofu manufacturer and we use anti foam when the soya milk boils over, is this good to stop the puke or would it destroy the taste? Would use keep more of the liquid with less bubbles. Love your videos I can relate to them x

[@ruspj]

curious when drinking something like a beer or wine a certain preportion of the alcahol will be stuff like methanol. when distilling / drinking spirits wouldnt the same proportion of alcahol be methanol? how is drinking a certain few mills of methanol ok when drinking beers/wine, but the same few mills of methanol is concidered so dangerous when drinking spirits? Oh & if you dont want the jar containing a bit of tails cant you just add it into your next batch for another distilation?

[@gregkeeganbushbuildsandhac9306]

Hi Jesse, I'm trying to find out where to get the larger than just 12 gram packets of Amylase in both the Alp[ha and Glocoamylase. I looked on your store but can't find any so wondering where you get your larger containers from? Thanks.

[@rusnikfromtranscarpathia]

Jesse...you are Awesome! Is there an even MORE simple method? Very limited space in an apartment for such mash quantity! Lol. Maybe a recipe for the small counter fermenter? 🤔😅

[@kathrynck]

I imagine potato flour (aka powered mashed potatoes) would work as well as flakes too.

[@davidperdue7506]

My experience with home brewing beer and ale. Adding sugar will jack up the ABV, but almost guarantees a bad hangover.

[@allennapier9393]

Try an emulsion blender... works great

[@glennllewellyn7369]

Great video mate!

[@DanielSmith-dx4wt]

Hey Bud Love the content. Have you skipped the potato and just gone straight potato starch?

[@MrMemusashi]

This might be a totally stupid question. But is it legal to make this for your own consumption in usa?

[@schmidtyschmidty5118]

I've had a lot of luck fermenting on grain and proceeding off. Alcohol sparges more efficiently than sugar, as do flavor compounds dissolved in alcohol versus those that aren't. Amazing results with wine grapes especially! I always describe the "rubber tire" smell as "sorghum molasses but angry as hell" :D Spitting out the headsy stuff and chasing with water helps keep one's pallet aligned. Do you even thump, bro? Those bright white potato flakes call for thumping with dried skins!

[@robertr4193]

I was wondering have you ever used Sugar in the raw or a Turbinado Cane Sugar in any of your brews? Not even sure if you can find it where you are or what the price might be if you can fine it. In coffee and teas at least to me it adds a slight caramel flavor to my drinks. I am not a brewer and truthfully not much of a drinker either but I do find watching your videos interesting.

[@Miata822]

What did you think of that new still head? I don't care for the idea of having a valve in the vapor path. Can we assume that it has some other outlet, some way of preventing pressure from building up?

[@colahandyman67]

Rest assured, no pressure can build up, it is vented at the top, the valve is only in the liquid output path

[@glxbt1987]

Ok….. I did this recipe almost exactly. It fermented crazy hard for about for days. Slowed down and after about a week I’ve gotten almost nothing. It’s still reading 1.040 in my mash. I hit it with another round of yeast and yeast nutrient and got a tiny bit of action. Now that could have just been carbonation. I heated it multiple times during the process. My recipe that I’m trying is as follows 4lbs malted 6 row 2lbs quick oats 2.5lbs potato flakes 4lbs white cane sugar Starting gravity is 1.085 Pitched red star distillers yeast and yeast nutrient Not sure what to do or what I did wrong.

[@dp5548-g1e]

Totally off topic here, but would soaking grains overnight then freezing to cause cell wall damage increase efficiency in a mash?

[@roysonmascarenhas1129]

Can but make no difference, in taste or output but definitely waste of energy and time. Plus chance of more fisile material generation.😊

[@CrimeVid]

Looks like an advert for distilling supplies to me ! all illegal in England, of course, tempting as it might be ! I think freezing techniques might be more amusing, and, more suited to small production.

[@thefrankperspective4247]

If foreshot is mixed with soap powder, would that make napalm?

[@savagesarethebest7251]

For those who don't know it was a Swedish lady who first figured out how to make alkohol from Potatoes, Eva Ekeblad de la Gardie. And for that she was the first woman accepted to the Swedish Science Academy at only age of 24.

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

Hmm... Doubtful.

[@jackwarneckii4406]

gonna call bs

[@moscuadelendaest]

In 1760 a German, David Mollinger, started commercial distillatiin of taters. The Soanish introduced distillation to South America in 17th century and taught the locals to use it on tubers of all sorts. So no. You are wrong.

[@julianpetkov8320]

That's where St. Eva's day comes from. She saved the righteous from boredom.

[@Andrew-wv9ys]

So because the rest of you want to sound informed without actually being informed, I went to the trouble of looking it up. Eva reported on her techniques for making distilled potato spirits as early as 1746. David Mollinger is credited with the first commercial distillery in 1760, which is quite a bit different than publishing a paper on a technique and in no way proves the OP wrong. And while yes, people have been fermenting tubers since ancient times, I think we can cut OP a little slack and assume they are indeed referring to distilled spirits.

[@WrokkerGaming]

Love the channel, just wish I could do this in the UK at all. All of the guidance says it's illegal, full stop, without a license. Kinda sucks, but there ya go. Wines, meads and beers are still on the table though, so at least I can chase THAT craft.

[@JohnSmith-j2j]

It's illegal to distill water?

[@brad9529]

When you distil the alcohol out, how could it possibly carry any flavour from the mash?

[@drpainlesss]

Ho tried it? How is it?

[@johnkieffer889]

Do you bother with an iodine test to check for full conversion?

[@rickl.1603]

What I want to know is what kind of enzyme substitute did people use hundreds of years ago? Thank you for the content and I hope someone can answer this question

[@roysonmascarenhas1129]

Barley malts a lot of alpha amylase naturally

[@ObsequiousV4]

if you wanted to keep the mush in the fermenting container, maybe a culinary pudding sack would let you keep the flavour without having a mess of matter to remove.

[@jeffdolan5382]

Can you substitute DME for the ale malt?

[@TheMopangbend]

Jesse your recipe says top off up to 23 gallons. How big is that mash tun your using in the video , I would like to get one. Also is there a code I can use so they know you sent me ? And get credit for a sale. Thanks

[@shaknit]

Ah the next project should be to make to identical washes one with table surgar and one with corn surgar and make a comparison. IMO

[@natrogers3297]

Hi Jesse, have you considered adding some Sodium Carbonate (Lectric Washing Soda) just before you perform the spirits run to enhance the final spirit's cleanliness?

[@Henry-y8d2s]

At 15:32 the outlet pipe from the tap is bent upwards. It should be bent downwards (As per instructions). If you intend to sell the product....you should know a bit about it. Anyhow... Keep Cackling On

[@the_whiskeyshaman]

Love it brother. This is a good one for sure.

[@wayne-oo]

Have you ever charcoal filtered your vodka ??

[@CarlDalach-px4cj]

Great video! Thanks

[@philgiglio7922]

That looks like a Glencairn nosing glass? Beautiful piece of lead crystal

[@philgross2385]

i dont understand why you would use a copper tower?

[@theweekendwarrior6355]

Potato flakes just instant mashed potatoes?

[@FedericoLucchi]

That looks like a "bokakob" still. Pretty easy to DIY, the plans were posted on the internet by the original inventor.