An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk • Hacker News Board

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#61

Post by mturmon » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 6:34 PM UTC

jcelerier wrote: post #60

jerrysievert wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I thought alcohol is ethanol ethanol is an alcohol, but not all alcohol is ethanol. an apple is a pome, not all pome are apples. amyl (isobutyl carbinol: C5H12O) alcohol is also an alcohol, that has a boiling point of 131.6ºF - that means it comes in the heads (lower temperatures). methanol comes in at 148ºF. other alcohols come in the tails, but typically have more of an oily texture to them.

> an apple is a pome, not all pome are apples. coming from a language where "pomme" is the translation of "apple"... wat ?

An analogy is a literary device, but not all literary devices are analogies.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#62

Post by tw04 » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 6:44 PM UTC

auiya wrote: post #55

jerrysievert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's ignoring the headache you're going to have after a night of drinking Karkov. typically from cutting the heads too shallow. ethanol's boiling point is 173ºF, where the alcohol that is giving you your headache is lower. cutting the heads (or lower evaporating alcohol) too shallow gives you more of that alcohol. now, as to taste, I disagree a little bit with the gp post in that enough complex sugars also make i…

Is there any way to "fix" cheaper vodkas by holding it at the proper temp for sufficiently long enough? Or are they beyond salvageable by that point in the process?

I'd tell you to just buy Svedka if you want something cheap but quality. Haven't had it in years but I know we had at least one long cabin weekend and that was the drink of choice - pretty smooth and no headaches.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#63

Post by RussianCow » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 6:45 PM UTC

auiya wrote: post #55

jerrysievert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's ignoring the headache you're going to have after a night of drinking Karkov. typically from cutting the heads too shallow. ethanol's boiling point is 173ºF, where the alcohol that is giving you your headache is lower. cutting the heads (or lower evaporating alcohol) too shallow gives you more of that alcohol. now, as to taste, I disagree a little bit with the gp post in that enough complex sugars also make i…

Is there any way to "fix" cheaper vodkas by holding it at the proper temp for sufficiently long enough? Or are they beyond salvageable by that point in the process?

I have heard of people putting cheap vodkas through a carbon filter (like Brita) a few times to improve smoothness. I haven't tried it myself, but I am skeptical, because if the fix is that easy then it seems like the producer would have done it. MythBusters did a double-blind taste test[0] in which only the "vodka expert" was able to correctly rank the samples, and they found that the chemical composition of the cheap vodka was the same before and after filtering. Based on that, I would say the answer is most likely "no" and you should spend a few more bucks.

[0]: http://kwc.org/mythbusters/2006/04/episode_50_bullets_fired_...

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#64

Post by frandroid » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #32

tw04 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but if you can take a shot of Karkov vodka and a shot of Stoli and not tell the difference there is something very broken with your taste buds - regardless of what the law says. That's ignoring the headache you're going to have after a night of drinking Karkov. Source: I was poor in college and had the misfortune of dancing with Karkov on more than one occasion. For those of you who have never had the misfo…

Send it through a filter. Thats what my Dorm did and it worked just fine.

Like, a paper filter for coffee?

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#65

Post by klodolph » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:02 PM UTC

jcelerier wrote: post #60

jerrysievert wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I thought alcohol is ethanol ethanol is an alcohol, but not all alcohol is ethanol. an apple is a pome, not all pome are apples. amyl (isobutyl carbinol: C5H12O) alcohol is also an alcohol, that has a boiling point of 131.6ºF - that means it comes in the heads (lower temperatures). methanol comes in at 148ºF. other alcohols come in the tails, but typically have more of an oily texture to them.

> an apple is a pome, not all pome are apples. coming from a language where "pomme" is the translation of "apple"... wat ?

If you look up “pome” in an english dictionary, it’s a botanical term that refers to fruits such as apples and pears.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#66

Post by tj-teej » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:07 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #8

gunshai wrote: post #4

I've been telling my friends for years, if you can successfully sell Vodka in today's market you can probably market any product. While there are "differences", they all basically have to be the same by law and you probably can't reliably identify a difference in a double blinded application. "(1) “Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be with…

I'm sorry but if you can take a shot of Karkov vodka and a shot of Stoli and not tell the difference there is something very broken with your taste buds - regardless of what the law says. That's ignoring the headache you're going to have after a night of drinking Karkov. Source: I was poor in college and had the misfortune of dancing with Karkov on more than one occasion. For those of you who have never had the misfo…

You're right, garbage vodka is garbage.

However the difference between a $20 bottle and a $45 bottle of vodka isn't that noticeable, especially when you consider the difference between equally priced tequila, whiskey or wine.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#67

Post by poidos » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:08 PM UTC

RussianCow wrote: post #63

auiya wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any way to "fix" cheaper vodkas by holding it at the proper temp for sufficiently long enough? Or are they beyond salvageable by that point in the process?

I have heard of people putting cheap vodkas through a carbon filter (like Brita) a few times to improve smoothness. I haven't tried it myself, but I am skeptical, because if the fix is that easy then it seems like the producer would have done it. MythBusters did a double-blind taste test[0] in which only the "vodka expert" was able to correctly rank the samples, and they found that the chemical composition of the che…

I did this in college and all it accomplished was to temporarily ruin the filter -- pretty brutal to wake up after a night of drinking the filtered vodka, stumble hungover to the pitcher for some water, and take a big swig of vodka flavored water!

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#68

Post by jerrysievert » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:17 PM UTC

auiya wrote: post #55

jerrysievert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's ignoring the headache you're going to have after a night of drinking Karkov. typically from cutting the heads too shallow. ethanol's boiling point is 173ºF, where the alcohol that is giving you your headache is lower. cutting the heads (or lower evaporating alcohol) too shallow gives you more of that alcohol. now, as to taste, I disagree a little bit with the gp post in that enough complex sugars also make i…

Is there any way to "fix" cheaper vodkas by holding it at the proper temp for sufficiently long enough? Or are they beyond salvageable by that point in the process?

it's not really about holding it at a proper temperature, it's where things boil and evaporate. if you redistill a vodka, you can typically remove more impurities.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#69

Post by ken » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:18 PM UTC

gunshai wrote: post #4

I've been telling my friends for years, if you can successfully sell Vodka in today's market you can probably market any product. While there are "differences", they all basically have to be the same by law and you probably can't reliably identify a difference in a double blinded application. "(1) “Vodka” is neutral spirits so distilled, or so treated after distillation with charcoal or other materials, as to be with…

I really don't think it's that hard to sell ethanol. This is a substance which is regularly purchased by 70% of the population.

You don't even have to be "not worst". "Worst" often also means "cheapest", and there's lots of people who seek out the cheapest option.

It's well known that wine with pictures of animals on the label outsell non-animal-labelled wines by more than 2:1. This is not a particularly sophisticated market on the low end.

Re: An Oregon creamery making vodka from milk

#70

Post by trhway » Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 7:33 PM UTC

it is a crying shame when it goes to landfill especially considering the appalling low quality of feed at industrial animal farms. Back then, my grandmother was selling milk from the cows on her farm to the cheese making factory, and the factory was returning back the resulting whey which the grandmother used in the pig, chicken, turkey feed. Animals were in great shape, and the meat was very good.

Another thing i wanted to mention is that during 198x, especially during anti-alcohol campaign, when people in the USSR would be making moonshine out of everything containing anything resembling sugars (and there were shortages of real sugar, etc.) nobody used the whey for moonshine. Knowledge is power. Opposite is even more true :)