Carrots?

[AKBIGK]

Has anyone ever heard of distilling carrots into vodka? We have many "discarded" or "waste" carrots, because of shape here in Alaska. They are the highest sugar content of any carrot (according to Dept. of Agriculture, Alaska). Would this be something to look into?

[Paul G]

Remember one key thing: Just because you can doesn't mean it's a good idea.

You have to quantify "highest sugar content" in order to figure out if this is feasible. Consider the humble carrot.

In a single 128 gram serving of carrot, only 6.1 grams are sugar. In other words, 1/20 of a carrot's weight is fermentable. Another 1.8 grams of its weight is starch which could be converted with enzymes to be fermentable...though that would require more time, ingredients, and labor.

As far as I can tell (through Mr. Google) that carrots contain little to no inulin (found in onions and agave) which would be broken down into fermentable sugars when baked, so it looks as if their sugar content is fixed between raw and cooked.

So, in the context of "most sugar content," that could mean maybe 8 grams per 128 (or more, or even less) as it's merely comparative and not quantified. If you can obtain the waste carrots for free, by all means experiment. You might be able to judge the feasibility by making carrot beer.

My opinion is that the finished product to raw material ratio is WAY too low to try on a commercial level. That doesn't mean I wouldn't consider it at home to see what happens.

[robertbirnecker]

Hello,

There are a couple of things you can do with carrots. In Europe, I know some of distillers producing carrot eau de vie. We are going to have the leading mash expert from Germany at our Fall Distilling Workshop in November. He will definitely be able to answer your questions about potato, wheat, carrot and other mashes you are thinking of.

We still have a few (2-3) seats available, if you are interested.

http://www.kothe-distilling.com/en/news-a-...l-2008-workshop

If you have any other question, you can give me a call at 571 278 1343

All the best,

Robert

[AKBIGK]

I am really having fun with all of this. This is a great forum, and I appreciate the insight. I will continue to explore!