Home Distiller

Just read the 2-up post about microwaving berries. I'll share my trick that may apply to fruit but more for wood(tried oak & cedar) extract. If you have a rice cooker (asian type), put wood chips in a mason jar with 40% clean spirit, secure the lid loosely as if making jam. heat with water in th...

Blackberry wine is so wonderful it's a shame to distil, yet that's what got me started in this godamed hobby. Obsessed with picking, too much for pie/jelly, too much wine (for a casual drinker) how to make it smaller & last forever? Thank you all moonshiners for showing the way! 14 years, 35 fla...

The mirabelles (yellow plums) are getting soft/sweet & just about to turn yellow. I normally wait 'till they're ripe then mash thru a collander to remove the pits/skins to make syrup/jam/vinegar. I read somewhere I can't recall that to make the best eau-de-vie/brandy they should be harvested whe...

Not sure how extra CO2 would help fish? They "breathe" O2 just like us. However, if you have a sour fruit mash that you don't cook or otherwise contaminate, you may end up breeding Vinegar Eels. They are great for the fish. Eels eat bacteria/mother/fish poop, keep filter clean, fish eat th...

Thanks! Did you notice the copper in the last scene? The whole unit is made from found/recycled materials.

Edit: sorry, my bad, not completely recycled... about $60 of hardware & plexiglass.

Since I no longer own a still (that continuous unit freaked me out it was so efficient) & can't imagine doing it again without permits, I thought it would be safe enough to share here another project I'm working on. I converted a 60 gallon oak barrel into an observation honeybee hive, put it in ...

What if you cut a hole in the mailbox top & run with the boiler inside. If you insulated all that bling it would be nearly invisible.

Ok, since you are running "as" a reflux system, to build a neutral, I would recommend: 0. Be sure your column is insulated. This will help in both stripping, and in running in reflux mode. 1. Fill your boiler, and do a stripping run (when you have your wash done). When you do this, dont t...

Does the 24:1 rule of thumb apply to larger columns? ie. should a 6" column be 12' high?

Only the dripping reflux produced should have an effect on the packing and not thermal transfer from the tubes to the packing... Very wise advice. The reflux tube touching packing could make the still perform like a CM. Another reason to keep cooling to a minimum and insulate nearly everything. Edi...

So here it is again. All broken up & scrap now. Working on plans for a 6-8" for my distillery :) http://s1115.photobucket.com/albums/k553/continuouslystripping/?action=view&current=a7c3efd4.jpg&evt=user_media_share" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel=&...

Rather than design a continuous still from scratch, consider modifying your Nixon-Stone. Instead of water, pump wash through your condenser, then inject 1/3 to 1/2 up your column. Mount the column to a small pot (on a hot plate) with a drain. Done.

If I read correctly, you made 21 gal wash & ran 4x5 gal + 3.5L. The first 4 runs were fine & the last one was cloudy. You collect hearts @ 40-50% (pot still, where does the 75% "neutral" come from? 2nd/3rd run?) I would bet that 3rd batch was full of yeast/nutrient/sludge from the ...

I use a combination of proof & tralle alcometer & density to measue proof, quantity & blending water. I check the temp corrected proof by alcometer, pour into volumetric flask & weigh to get density. Same result with both methods confirms result. Use tables ("Alcodens" soft...

blind drunk wrote:

That's interesting, what keeps the wine, then, from re-fermenting in a non-sorbated wine?

No need to use sorbate in a dry wine. Time, filtration, pasteurization, refrigeration. I use TIME, sorbate/PMS only if sweet wine will be aged.

Your 2 oz of vodka would barely fill the LM resevoir, hence the high temp / low abv at the column top. If you are trying to simulate an actual distillation to get flowrates & determine the best reflux ratio, put ~10% alcohol in the boiler, 6.25L vodka in 25.

Your heads takeoff should be much higher, if useful at all. You may need a later batch distillation to remove heads. Also, maybe a flow regulator on the spent wash drain... I can see the pressure forcing everything out the bottom (make the bottoms reservoir deeper?)

Pack the entire length with copper mesh

Not certain, but I think the top half of your column would be wasted.

I know this is an old topic but I'm curious what happened to that 6" pipe. Did you build it? I'm designing a scaled-up version of my 1-1/2 6' LM offset-head valved reflux for commercial use. I think 6" would be about enough. Use a few "reflux redistributers" to prevent channeling...

Or maybe the finishing glucose has an ingredient that hinders reactivating the yeast. This would be important for wines and other low ABV beverages, but not that important for higher proof likkers like a brandy, etc. If you are referring to "wine conditioner", ie. sugar syrup preservered ...

This hobby is fun up to a point. That point is getting caught, or worse, the fear of getting caught. If you are looking for cheap booze pick up a bottle of whatever at the duty-free. If you are serious, call the TTB or whoever is the "revenuer" in your country & get licensed.

Maybe I'm over-simplifying but all you need to do is open your tap fully for a bit to clear the sediment around the inlet then reduce the flow so no more sediment will get sucked through. Same idea with a racking cane (if it is long enough to reach the sediment). The first shot is always "dirty...

Consider white sugar as distilled, rectified, carbon filtered cane (not literally, just an analogy). It is the purest form of sucrose and it really doesn't matter where it came from. Your white sugar may even be from beets or palm, etc., and you wouldn't know it except for the label. You may like to...

I get my spores from http://www.tibbs-vision.com/sake/index.html They ship from Australia but I'm sure their source is Japanese. $20 for a 25g pack, shipping included, cheaper in larger quantities, more $ for smaller. Use their "advanced" recipe. It is worth the extra effort. Last time I u...

I once rescued 120 litres of sugar wash from a friends appartment about to be inspected. Kept it sealed in a plastic drum. Ran it 18 months later when it became obvious they were not going to set up again. Crystal clear as the yeasts had long since died & settled. Good clean stuff.

I think I am going to take the sake route. Can't go wrong with 20% alc in 30 days from something almost free. Just ordered a fresh pack of spores. The yeast in bread eat mostly the added sugar so there should be plenty of starch left to use. I hope the preservative (Calcium Proprionate) doesn't inte...

Industrial 190 proof NGS is typically sold in blue HDPE drums. I use them for fermenting with no issues.

I've just started a new day job in a bread "factory". I can take home nearly endless quantities of fresh buns. So, natually my question is: have any of you successfully (failure stories are just as valuable) made "beer" from primarily bread? I figure I'll have to grind it up, mak...

Thanks loneswinger for your advice. Kept me in the right direction. Felt I had get rid of the photos. I want to do this pro & dont need to get gaught learning with my BP in the early stages. I've found the still can be run in 3 ways. First, with the product valve wide open (no forced reflux mid-...