Kale Wash

grim

Think I should have put kale in the 2 metric ton of quinoa we are mashing.

Like going a few rounds with Tyson working with that stuff.

Smaug

Just a yeast nute is all @Richard.

Additionally, doesnt allow for much "carry over" like some of the other recipes adjuncts can.

Kapea

I'm glad somebody finally found something worthwhile to do with that foul-tasting shit (kale).

What's the difference between a bowling ball and a bunch of kale?
If you absolutely had to you could eat the bowling ball...

Smaug

If you prepare your kale with coconut oil,,,makes it easier to scrape into the trash bin.

googe

been almost 6 years since i did this, i feel old haha

ClubNed

Kale wash is all I’ve done for the past few years now after seeing this recipe. With EC1118 or a Saison yeast. 100 litres per wash. Takes a few weeks, but the results are great. I even grow my own kale now as well lol. Thank you for that recipe 6 years ago googe

Bittsandbobs

Hello all, I see that this thread was started some time ago, and have a few questions. Perhaps practices have evolved over the years.

In the original post, the recipe calls for 90g yeast to produce a 25lt. wash. That seems to me like a lot of yeast. Had anyone had success with less than that amount of yeast?

What is the best way to treat the kale before adding it to the wash? Is this better raw or lightly boiled? What about running this through a juicing machine?

Any help is much appreciated.

Many thanks, Bittsandbobs

DonMateo

@grim how is the quinoa mash going? I made a whiskey and put about 5% quinoa in it and it turned out very nice.

grim

We ended up making a 100% quinoa light whiskey.

Distilled at 180 proof and stored in used cooperage.

DonMateo

Was it good ????

grim

Yeah, but there is no way you can distill a mash with quinoa at lower proofs without that weird quinoa savory flavor (caramelic mushroom) coming through front and center. Maybe if you only did like 5% of the grain bill and distilled closer to 160. Even a tiny bit is highly distinctive.

It was far nicer to distill out high proof - we used that very rarely used classification - light whiskey. Tight cuts were needed to minimize that funky flavor from bleeding through. Keep the caramel, lose the shrooms and savory.

Even still, when you take a sip, you want to use it to deglaze the pan you roasted venison or rabbit in, to make a pan sauce.

We used high quality debittered/washed white quinoa that we got in bulk from an importer/ food packager.

Smaug

I tried to like Derick's. But really never would prefer the quinoa.

Try any cocktails with that quinoa whiskey @grim ?

DonMateo

Darek Bell in the book Alt Whiskeys put in a grain bill at 20% from memory but I tired a lot lighter. It was debittered so it was only at about 5% . For me it had just a hint of quinoa and you got a touch of the shroomy /tobaccoy flavor. Lots of people really like it and so do I. I am going to make some Kiwicha whiskey at the end of the year. Kiwicha is a cousin of Quinoa but its not as bitter and caramelly. Anyway. More adventures in whisky recipe development.

grim

Our Orthodox Jewish customers can not wait for it, since it’s possible for it to be a kosher for Passover whiskey. Another reason we opted to go 100%, and not include other grain.

grim

2-pentylfuran is the offending compound.

At low concentrations it’s beneficial - at higher concentrations, it’s detrimental.

2-pentylfuran is a common Maillard reaction component/flavor that results from cooking with certain fats. Hence the savory-type flavor. It’s also a big part of soybean flavor.

DonMateo

@grim. Your my hero. One day I want to know as much about making whisky as you mate. Oh well back to my tailings pipeline estimates. Yeyy.. See if you can get your hands on Kiwicha. Its the cousin of Quinoa but a lot lighter flavor and no bitterness.

zymurgybob

I'll second @DonMateo; I love to hear about flavor chemistry, and I've got a long way to go to get good at it. I do have a couple of triumphs, though.

FloridaCracker

Still wondering how much of the fart smell carries over into the flavor profile. Can't imagine uncorking the bottle. Wonder if @Smaug will give it the video review? Especially when he describes the "Nose" lol.

FC

Smaug

@FloridaCracker said: Still wondering how much of the fart smell carries over into the flavor profile. Can't imagine uncorking the bottle. Wonder if Smaug will give it the video review? Especially when he describes the "Nose" lol.

Doh!!

kimbodious

@Bittsandbobs said:

In the original post, the recipe calls for 90g yeast to produce a 25lt. wash. That seems to me like a lot of yeast. Had anyone had success with less than that amount of yeast?

What is the best way to treat the kale before adding it to the wash? Is this better raw or lightly boiled? What about running this through a juicing machine?

Just saw this query...

I use 1/3 cup of bakers yeast for this recipe, I think that works out to be about 80g. I strip the blade from the stalks and purée that in a litre or so of water with a stick mixer. I reckon a juicer would work just fine.

GD50

Finally tried this kale recipe and I am impressed with the taste after a strip. Did smell like a cabbage fart at the start of the ferment but that soon passed and no off smells after strip.

Same yield as the TPW I am doing as well. The TPW is a lot quicker though.

DonMateo

Hey I started a TPW ferment on Sunday and its still going strong. 200l wash and 50kg of sugar. Wash temp has been between 23 to 29 degrees. Any ballpark indication on timing for the ferment. I have a couple of more days until I have spare time. I guess the natural answer is when it stops bubbling.

punkin

No, bubbling stopping could be an airleak or a stall. The answer is when it gets to it's final gravity.

GD50

@DonMateo. I had troubles with my TPW being slow after a few days. I remember a post that it did not scale up all that well from a 25 l wash Added Dap and some bakers yeast ( it was EC1118) plus a bit more tomato paste and off it went again. All stripped now so set up for a spirit run tomorrow

That a pretty strong brew. I used 36 kg sugar in 180 l. Again the kale brew had a really nice taste but they all mixed now as only wanted a neutral for various projects. Probably all done in a week.

DonMateo

@gd50 mate. Well i should have thought about my last question. Sometimes takibg care of 3 projects in your mind, with my distillery being one of them. Means my brain gets full. I put in the hydrometer and I got 8% abv after 4 days and still going strong. I am not in a hurry to pull it. Brix was still at 1040 more or less so it has a way to go. Thanks guys.

crozdog

Need to monitor pH with sugar washes, if they drop into the low 3's things stall.

Fiji_Spirits

4-8 days depending on nitrogen content. Tpw always have me grief with the standard recipe. It’s nitrogen starved.

DonMateo

@punkin mate. SG is down to 1010 so it will be ready to run tomorrow. Lets see what kind of yield I get out of it. Thanks again mate.

googe

Don't know if this has been added here, or if welcomed. Thanks to @Smaug for the funny as fak write-up!

Kale Vodka Explained @ ADI

Sam

So after 2 years I have finally got around to trying the Kale wash. A slight balls up by me put in 50kg of sugar for a 200L wash (I was sure I ordered 20kg bags) but I'm using Distilamax HT which works well on high gravity mashes so should be OK.

My issue is why does the gravity keep going the wrong way? It started out at 1.095 and after 48 hours it's 1.110. This is the first time I have done a sugar wash so not sure if this is usual or have I put my yeast in backwards or something?