Islay Malt Shortcut

[Canadoz]

I hearda rumor years ago that Glenfiddich bubbled the peat smoke through the whiskey itself.
Dont know if its relavent or not, or true or not.

That is an interesting rumour, I'd have 2 issues with trying that myself, 1 is I can't find any peat km the second is you'd need to bubble it through 65% before ageing, and I'd worry about setting it on fire. Would be easy if I could suss those though.

You actually might try these if you're after peat.
http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_pro ... 61316.aspx

The main ingredient is in fact peat and the secondary ingredients are coconut pith and wood pulp. These might add other tannins or oils, but in the end will probably be extremely similar in chemical composition the the peat itself. I used them for years in my aquariums for soft water fish with good results. Knowing how sensitive fish are to foreign compounds in their water column that says volumes about them. They definitely had the desired effect on my water chemistry. The water hardness dropped and the acidity rose into the specific ranges I was after for the species I was raising.

The pellets are cheaper on ebay actually and I've just ordered some myself to use for peat filtering my water for whiskey making/dilution, and perhaps even smoke treating finished spirits if I can work out some kind of positive pressure smoker/bong arrangement (probably with a cooling coil to avoid any chance of igniting the alcohol) to get the smoke to travel through the whiskey.

Just make sure to peel off the plastic mesh after you re-hydrate the peat if you plan on exposing it to heat. If you have a Gin basket you can use, you might try wrapping the peat in cheesecloth and placing it in the vapor path. I think If it was me I would expand the pellet, then dry it before using it, the water in the peat might act as a barrier to the vapor entering it.
If you have, or would build yourself a smoker, you might even smoke your own barley using the peat as fuel. doesn't take much fuel to make a whole lot of smoke as any meat smoker can tell you.

I still have to get set up with a dedicated pot still for this sort of thing, I'm using a reflux column with the packing removed when I want a lower ABV product, and haven't come up with a Gin Basket arrangement yet. Been eyeing off some of that modular stuff of Macstill's in fact. I think he has a custom made basket available that fits his equipment.

I'm going on too much. Hope the info helps :geek:

Shame you're all the way in Perth, I'd love to collaborate on this one with ya.

[Brendan]

While that is a great idea CanadaOz, I'd be worried about the effect of the other composites aside from peat. If not for health concerns, what kind of flavour the stuff would give when burning...??! :wtf:

[Canadoz]

While that is a great idea CanadaOz, I'd be worried about the effect of the other composites aside from peat. If not for health concerns, what kind of flavour the stuff would give when burning...??! :wtf:

Given its performance in the aquarium water, and the similarities of the coconut pith and wood fibers to the organic materials in peat itself I think you would not see any ill effects. In fact the coconut fibers actually contain phenol, as indicated in this study. http://www.bioline.org.br/pdf?ja09065
And will contribute to the overall phenol content.

As for the wood pulp, well, people use wood to smoke food, I think you'll be just fine ;-)

They're all plant fibers. Peat just tends to be more decomposed than the rest. In the end it's not too terribly different from using wood chips for smoking. Your flavor profile should be just fine.

[Brendan]

Oh well that's good if health concerns are ruled out :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I suppose there's not that much uniqueness to peat smoke, but I'm sure there'd have to be a difference to wood smoke. I would be worried about that in a product which is going to age, but then smoke could just be smoke? :think:

[Canadoz]

Oh well that's good if health concerns are ruled out :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I suppose there's not that much uniqueness to peat smoke, but I'm sure there'd have to be a difference to wood smoke. I would be worried about that in a product which is going to age, but then smoke could just be smoke? :think:

Only one way to find out I think. I would guess that the only real unique quality to the peat smoke would be the phenol. I'm certainly going to have a go with peating my water and trying to infuse some smoke into some liquor.

Also, the Peat is supposed to be the main ingredient in the pellets, so there's that.

[blond.chap]

Cheers Canadoz, I have seen those around but I didn't trust that they wouldn't poison me. I'm still not sure about putting peat directly in the vapour stream as I assume it would have a different flavour to peat smoke. But I'll certainly look into using them to smoke some malt.

I might leave the directly smoking whisky to a later date (or for someone else to look at). First step is the peat malt in the vapour stream.

[forefold]

This looks interesting, would you be able to use this method to impart the peat smoke flavour?

[blond.chap]

That's a good find mate, thanks.

I'm still not sold on directly smoking the spirit, but I'm seriously thinking about one of these now to smoke malt:
http://cuisinetechnology.com/the-smoking-gun.php

Could also use it to make salami...

[forefold]

thanks bud, this thing could have many uses.... :twisted: