Vodka Mash Explained

A vodka mash is a mixture prepared for fermentation as one stage of spirits production. Fermented mash is not vodka. The earlier version of this page gave no ingredient quantities or starch conversion method and described fermented liquid as if it were ready to drink.

What happens to a vodka mash?

Grain or potato starch must first be converted into fermentable sugars with an appropriate mashing process. Yeast then ferments those sugars. The Brewers Association explains starch conversion; merely cooking potatoes or grain and adding yeast is not a complete method.

Fermentation produces a liquid that still requires further production steps to become vodka. It should not be served as finished spirits. The old ingredient list mixed sugar, grain, potatoes and fruit as interchangeable options and had no usable measurements, so it has been removed.

If you want a vodka drink

Use commercially bottled vodka in a cocktail instead. Try the blueberry vodka cocktail or a vodka press.

Rules governing spirits production depend on where you live. For example, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau says federal law does not permit home distillation for personal use in the United States.