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Sheeps Whey Vodka

One of our members @Ryno let leak his homepage to me and i couldn't wait to share.

One of our 4" Crystal Dragons, now being upgraded to Procaps is his tool for this great sounding liquer and vodka.

Hartshorn Distillery

I'd love to see some pics of the setup Ryno?

StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

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Comments

  • Cheese vodka? :-S

    Going to reserve judgement until someone tries it and reports back

  • I'm all over this, I can't wait to taste everything they make!

    Thanks @punkin !

  • That's really, really cool.

  • edited June 2015

    Thanks for the promo @punkin, I'm loving the Crystal Dragons, its amazing to watch your plates bubble with a 360 degree view. I'm only using one 50L 8 pro plate 4" crystal dragon but i have given it a flogging. I run it 5 days/week for the last 8mths and has not missed a beat.

    In regards to the vodka, it has taken me 2 years to figure out how to distill whey. I am only one of about 4 people in the world who know how to do it. For fermentation to work the complex sugars in the lactose need a special yeast to break it into Glucose and Galactose. The Glucose ferments into ethanol while the Galactose does not. So as a result the Vodka retains some of the subtle milky sweetness on the nose with a super smooth finish with no burn. This is a Vodka to drink straight in a large glass no ice. The whey you use also plays a major part in whether the ferment will work or not. I hand Spray paint and hand write every bottle. Ill soon be progressing into a Whey Gin maybe next year. The best part about this product is it is turning waste from cheese making into a salable product. I only make about 5 bottles/week and selling out so I'm now scrambling to upgrade my operation to make things more efficient.

    I only released my Vodka about 4 weeks ago so its very new to the market and very boutique. If anyone is heading to Tas you can taste my Vodka at our Cheesery about 40min south of Hobart, or at our Hobart shop at the "Brooke Street Pier". If your in Brisbane I have just been told it is stocked behind the bar at "Makers Bar" in south Brisbane, hopefully more places in the future once I get more stock. I also want to thank all the forum members here for helping me in my early learning. The learning environment on this forum is very positive so thank EWE! Ill try and get online a lot more than I have been to return the help to other members. Im also now a new member of the Australian Distillers Association and Tasmanian Whisky Producers Association. So hope I can help but Im still new to this game with a narrow focus on Vodka and Gin, with a fair knowledge of whisky. Thanks guys!

  • edited June 2015

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  • Great read. Thank you for being part of our community.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • This kinda reminds me of when I was in college (long time ago) and buffalo wings were starting to get popular. Take a part of the chicken that is considered to almost be waste and make something of it. Now chicken wings are anything but a waste item. Hope this guy makes a killing.

  • edited June 2015

    Great stuff @Ryno. I always buy the bookeeper a nice bottle of Vodka for tax time and i know where i'll be getting my bottle for her this year. You can do mail order?

    The shop looks fantastic and it's great to see that you are using something that would have gone to animal feed before.
    That's what it's all about.

    Did you get your training for this in NZ? I remember hearing about the process being used over there back in home distiller times. I remember they were using a proprietary yeast, did you have trouble getting hold of it?

    Great to see all the SD gear there too, even @crozdog 's fermentation records.

    @FloridaCracker said: This kinda reminds me of when I was in college (long time ago) and buffalo wings were starting to get popular. Take a part of the chicken that is considered to almost be waste and make something of it. Now chicken wings are anything but a waste item. Hope this guy makes a killing.

    Tell me about it. Used to get shopping bags full of pork ribs from the butchers as they only sold them for dog bones. My Swedish girlfriend knew better and she'd do them with seasonings and grill them.
    Now they are $20 a kilo.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited June 2015

    Smaug asked for a facebook link yesterday...

    Hartshorn Distiller @ Facebook

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I'm doing this right now as well with our goats milk. I picked up some at Vermont spirits and had to make my own.

  • How do you convert the whey into fermentable sugars?

  • Use the correct yeast.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited June 2015

    Need something that will produce lactase, aspergillus or kluyveromyces.

  • Kluyveromyces marxianus Mud says. I remember years ago there was some discussion on this with some links to an NZ operation.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • The technology been around some time.
    Carbery claim to have created the "Carbery Process" that is licenced to plants in the US and New Zealand (like Fronterra) on an industrial scale.

    I am impressed though that you have persisted and are creating a more artisan product. I always thought it was only any good for using as a component in milk or cream based flavoured liqueurs - not quality drinkable stuff.

  • Anchor NZ (Fonterra's) neutral whey spirit is rated very highly in internationally traded commodity neutral spirits. From my experience, it has better organoleptic properties than most of the molasses or grape spirit neutrals in the region.

  • edited August 2015

    Hartshorn Distillery @ Facebook

    Hartshorn Distillery and our own @Ryno featuring in the news with their Sheeps Whey Vodka.

    Way to go Ryan!! The Crystal Dragon looks great there, hopefully they'll follow up once the new babies are in.

    Hopefully @Ryno has a copy of the video or a link to it on youtube and we can paste it in here.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Love it! I remember when you first started out. Who new a dream could lead to a reality!! Good work mate

  • There's a little hint in the video too for an exciting new development. B-)

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Very exciting.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I saw a great article on the WIN news website that very nicely covered the distillery with some great shots of the still. Congrats to all.

  • edited January 2016

    @Ryno's new stills are in and operational now. A 500l bain-marie stripper with 4 empty tees and the 200l 8" Crystal Dragon 8 plater for his finishing still.

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    He's just ordered the first of the SD Electric Parrots to go into a commercial environment and be placed in line in the Crystal Dragon.

    Beautiful setup that will certainly make things a bit easier than the 5 bottles a week.

    On that note there is a bottle of the Vodka on my bar and i am really enjoying a small glass once now and then, thanks mate it's everything you said it was and more.

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    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I was hoping to get down and visit the distillery today but my plans for the week changed.

    Hope to see you very soon though @Ryno.

    Cheers,

    Mech.

  • Please take some photos and post them up mate. Ryan is a great guy i bet you'll get along really well.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited May 2016

    Congrats on the new video @Ryno , it's a cracker.

    The Vodka Shepard - Tourism Tasmania @ Vimeo

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited May 2016

    @punkin said: Congrats on the new video Ryno , it's a cracker.

    The Vodka Shepard - Tourism Tasmania @ Vimeo

    Really well done @Ryno.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Bad mofo ..Very nice

  • There is actually a lot of info on using whey on the internet... way more than i expected

  • That is a fantastic video.

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