Distillation Diaries: Project Destilador
- Kami Kenna
- Jan 18
- 6 min read
On December 1st, I arrived in Cocachimba, Amazonas, Perú for a one-month residency at Gocta Lab. Leading up to the start of the residency, I resisted the urge to pre-plan what I would make; instead, I wanted to listen, learn, and observe with my feet on the ground and allow myself to become inspired sensorially.
It was not until I arrived, got my bearings, and took a long, thought filled walk to the gorgeous Gocta waterfall, a four to five hour round trip spent traipsing past trapiches for the production of sugarcane based panela, guarapo, and cañazo, that the mission presented itself to me, to distill hyper local ingredients using a distiller built from local pottery.
Martes dic 2
Caminata a Gocta waterfall, 10:30 am - 5:00 pm.
I tried guarapo and the cañazo from La Coca, 45% familia Meza at a small cafe on the trail to the waterfall.
Came back to Gocta Lab after the walk and shared the ideas of clay pot distillation with Sergio. I was worried about getting a still, but this is the land of clay, so it makes the most sense to use what is here. The Huancas people were brought here by the Inca to create pottery. Sergio es un creador y tan pronto se inspiró sacando ollas de barro imaginando la construcción.
Miercoles dic 3
Left at 10:30 am with Gianna in a taxi to Chachapoyas. Before going into the market in Chachapoyas, we visited Clotilde, a respected potter of the Huancas tradition. Clotilde showed us her pots, pitchers, macetas, and sarcófagos. We bought some pieces to create a distiller.
The ancestral pottery of Huancas, designated cultural patrimony of Perú, is an all-women craft of utilitarian ceramics that dates back to the time of Inca rule.
Artisanal Intelligence
Our prototyped distiller is a fusion of Huancas pottery that dates back to the Inca era in the region, the knowledge of contemporary ceramic traditions at Gocta Lab, Sergio and Gianna themselves as potters, and the Filipino distillation technology brought to this side of the world more than 400 years ago. None of this would have been possible without Sergio’s DIY ingenuity and his drive to create with what is on hand; together, our collective knowledge came together to produce a piece of equipment that could put local ingredients to the test in a full expression of what Sergio calls inteligencia artesanal.
A Local Distillery Visit
The local hooch (cañazo) that I tried on my walk to the Gocta waterfall comes from the neighboring village, La Coca. I went for a visit on a day when they were sure to be in production. Anyone who knows me knows I am a distillery rat eager to learn from distillers everywhere I go! Joselito and his family make the brand Don Lizha.
Miercoles dic 10
I walked to La Coca to visit Joselito and Maria of the Meza family. They produce cañazo that they commercialize at 45% and sell to Bar Vintage in Cocachimba at 48%. I tried it coming off the still at about 60%, and it was aromatic, very similar to the sugar cane juice distillates in Oaxaca. Joselito jeered when I told him about making rum from caña morada, he said, “no rinde pues”. Their distiller is stainless steel, a modern alembic that they bought in 2010. Historically, they used a copper pan, a tree trunk top (see below), and a clay capitel with external condensation.
Sabado dic 13
LOGRAMOS.
We set up the still.
Sergio pounded out the stainless steel bowl (our condenser). After several trials and errors (some bowls became perforated), we achieved success with one bowl with a slight perforation that we were able to seal. While Sergio worked on the condenser, I worked on the clay pots.
Of course, they leaked water; they must be cured, and they are cured through use. Instead of water, I added the fermento de olluco, which had generated very little alcohol (I don’t have any measurement tools yet, to know for sure). I knew the thicker texture would be better for curing, and we had about 4 liters.
1:49 pm prendimos fuego
3:05 pm we added ice to the condenser as it was feeling hot
3:56 pm we noticed a ton of fugas and sealed with a ton of clay
5:30 pm, cut the heat, since it seemed mostly water was coming out.
Testing the Rocket Stove
For our second attempt, we moved the destilador to a wood fire stove to better control the heat. This presented a learning curve for me personally. Not only was I distilling with clay pots for the second time in my life, but for the first time, I would be managing heat with firewood. I eventually got the hang of it, but I burned it too hot for the first little bit. This was a pretty perfect setup! An adobe wood fire stove + clay pot distillation worked well.
12/19 Distillation #2
9:30 am fuego
10:10 am 285 g yacon (pre-syrup)
10:15 am 685 g yacon (pressure cooked)
10:20 am 2830.4 g of guarapo
10:30- 11 am, we struggled to get the distiller sealed as the mash began to boil over the wood fire.
11:30 am empezó a gotar, added ice to the condenser
2:30 pm - empezó a salir más agua, 2:40 tales ya
500 ml 16% 27C = 14.2% abv
12/25 Distillation #3
Sellamos ollas a las 6 pm (ya con fuego)
4 Liters of guarapo
8:15 pm entro en colas
500 ml at 28% 24 C = 26.4% abv
Vinasas 1.93 kg
12/26 Distillation #4
Sellamos ollas a las 1:20pm
4 Liters 100% Guarapo
0 brix, ph 2.65
Primeras gotas a las 1:37pm
12/29 Distillation #5
Sellamos ollaas a las 9:45 am
Primeras gotas a las 10:15 am
1 Liter guarapo
1 Liter Yacon
2 Liter pitahaya 5 brix
300 mls abv?
2.2 Liter vinasas
12/29 Distillation #6
1.75 L (I forgot one of the odinarios, should have been 2 L)
20% abv
Saved 5 cuts
12/31 Distillation #7
50% abv, I blended in all of cut 2 and 5, it’s rough - experiment #1 on the clay pot still is complete.
January 3 Distillation #7
Cabuya - fermentation incomplete got a whisper of agave…
While we did not get a refined product from our 4-liter capacity clay pot distiller, the idea was to understand how to process the yacon, pitahaya, and cabuya with the materials we had on hand. Opening up a dialogue between us, the agricultural products, and the potential for them to be viable products, while establishing initial production methods for their transformation into spirits.
Conclusions:
Yacon and cabuya require a cooking process to ferment them, which still needs to be studied. Pitahaya, on the other hand, seemed sensitive to temperature fluctuations during fermentation, with cooler temperatures almost halting fermentation altogether. One idea that occurred to me was to create a high jungle pitahaya de churuja vermouth. The ferment itself was fresh, light, and fizzy, a delightful cactus fruit wine. By fortifying that wine with a pitahaya distillate macerated with locally grown plants, this product has strong potential to both fulfill the km 1 philosophy of Pirqapata Lab and become an exciting market product made from a distinctly Peruvian and Amazonian fruit.
Yacon contains inulin, which requires a sustained cooking process at temperatures at or above 120 C in order to cleave complex polymers into simple sugars for fermentation, much like agave spirits require. Obviously, this makes me very excited, given that I have worked in the agave spirits space in Mexico for ten years. I believe that with a proper cooking process and a successful fermentation and subsequent distillation, yacon can become a wildly exciting and uniquely Peruvian standalone spirit. Yacon is endemic to the region and already generating interest for its health benefits, very much like agave syrup, and is digestible for people who suffer from diabetes.
The third ingredient in this month-long exploration is cabuya, or penca, an Agave fourcroydes commonly known in Mexico as henequén. It is plentiful around Cocachimba and the surrounding area. Nearby artisans already use its leaves for agave fibers to make bags and other products for sale, a project that began around 15 to 20 years ago as a rural income-generating initiative. If artisans use the leaves, we can distill the cabezas. Cooking methods will need to be studied, and once the correct cooking process is determined, fermentation and distillation can be explored in turn.
Unfortunately, my time at Gocta ran out - all good things come to an end - and I did not come away with much spirit as a result of an incomplete fermentation of cabuya. Still, it is possible, and that possibility IS the learning here!
I am crazy excited by these three ingredients, and to further build on the construction of the destilador for size and efficiencies!
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