Home Distiller

I use some Oatmeal and the hottest tap water available. Mash that up a bit and let it steep a couple of minutes. Then I add the flour until I can work it into a rope without it being "too sticky" but not too dry. I lift up on my cap while working the paste into the gap, and then smack it d...

This is how I make my favorite Peach Brandy/Moonshine This is for a 6.5 gallon Ale pale. BOP (big Ole pot) Mash paddle 6.2 gallons good water 8 lbs fresh peaches + 5 more for the thumper 4 lbs white sugar 2 tblsp Braggs nutritional yeast 2 pks Red Star Premiere Cuvee I freeze the fresh peaches. Then...

I did sanitize everything as I always do. No airlock, I just set a bucket lid on top to let gas out and keep bugs and dust out. Its an indoor fermentation. Possibly 8 degrees difference from 1 reading to the next. I think your on to something SS. It smelled fine but tasted vinegar. I may have dumped...

I mashed in a high rye AG mash. 5.5# cracked corn 3# malted rye (ground) 1.5# 6 row malted barley (milled) Used RO water, added 1/4 tsp gypsum to adjust ph to 5. Cooked corn 90 minutes at 190°. Reduced to 150 and added malted Rye and Barley. Held 145° for 3 hours, cooled to 85° and pitched 1 tbsp re...

I would say my watermelon shine had an aftertaste of watermelon rind. Which mellowed with age. It's been about 3 months and the flavor is improving.

I did my 1st watermelon run last night. Fresh off the still I would describe the taste as "dry". Late hearts took on some sweetness. I took 2 large watermelons, cut up and ran through the blender. Then strained through a paint strainer bag, and added 5lbs sugar melted in water to the fresh...

I was shopping at my local Costco a while ago, and discovered Langers Mango Nectar. So I checked for preservatives, none, good! Did a little sugar math and this is the recipe I have been doing that the ladies love so much. This recipe is scaled for a 6.5 gallon Ale Pale. 4 Gallons, (+ 1 gallon for t...

I accidentally filled my still for a new run, and realized I had forgot to dump the backset out from the previous run. :oops: About 2.5 gallons of mash and about 1 gallon of feints, added to 2.5 gallons of backset that was left in the still. I pumped out about half, since the way I realized what I d...

Do you not get smearing with the copper line drooping in the middle as the pic shows? Very little if any. Its not as severe of a bend as the pic seems. And the 3/8ths has never been a problem, since I only run cleared washes. I do ferment on the grain, but I strain and clear for a few days after fe...

The tubing is actually 3/8ths all the way from the end of the arm to the money spout. Pic just looks like it reduces. Might be wrong. I thought 1/2" was the minimum recommended. The end of the arm is 3/8", the in/out on both thumpers is 3/8", and the worm is 3/8". Didn't make se...

The tubing is actually 3/8ths all the way from the end of the arm to the money spout.

Pic just looks like it reduces.

I run 2 thumpers on both spirit and stripping runs. For strips, I put mash in the main boiler, and in the 1st Thump. I put tails from previous run in my 2nd thump. For spirit runs I put what I collected watered down to around 30% abv in my boiler, and 1st thumper, and leave my 2nd thumper dry. I hav...

Running 2 thumpers all the time now.

Been doin' NC Hooch's Bourbon recipe in a BOP. Got some aging on toasted oak for the holidays. Dam fine drink. And I follow it up with Jimbo's Gumballhead method to get the use out of my spent grains and yeast bed. Some may think its a sin to do this to an "All Grain", but I blended a litt...

I won't speak for bilgriss but I do a bit more barley myself. It takes the corn down just a bit. I like using 60 corn, 20 rye or wheat malt, and 20 barley malt. For me that balances the corn perfectly. Sounds like a winner. I'm gonna give your grain bill a try. I think I'm going to raise the bill t...

I won't speak for bilgriss but I do a bit more barley myself. It takes the corn down just a bit. I like using 60 corn, 20 rye or wheat malt, and 20 barley malt. For me that balances the corn perfectly. Sounds like a winner. I'm gonna give your grain bill a try. I think I'm going to raise the bill t...

bilgriss wrote:Looks good. I personally like the barley percentage upped just a little, but that's only personal preference.

Personal preference for flavor, or for ease in mashing?

still_stirrin wrote:With the newly added thumper, did you add any new piping? Are there solder joints which have not yet been cleaned through a sac run?

ss

Yes, a new 6" pipe between the 2 thumpers.
And solder joints, it's a copper thumper.
I see you're point.

Thanks ss.

BM

It's the vinegar in my boiler that I was trying to avoid.
What if I fill the boiler with water, and put vinegar in my current thump keg and the new thump keg?
I bet that would work.
Then water run in all, then sac run.

Thanks! No, I did not check SG. Partly because of how I arrived at this point, by working an "old school" kind of shiners recipe and method, and improving on it, and part laziness. Ran it off last night. 4 gallons of wash in my Pot still with a doubler. I did add some feints to the boiler,...

Im pretty sure I am.
I did a version of this without adding any sugar.
My 1st All Grain, it fermented pretty fast and I'm gonna run it tonight so we will see.

I have been working on my mashing technique by doing a few batches of "Thin Mash". Now, having a real brew pot and not needing to improvise as much has helped in what success I have had so far. I saw my ABV rising even after reducing the amount of sugar in the recipe, and I figured that me...

This stuff turned out better than expected. I have run a few batches now and it is very repeatable. I put a half gallon of wash in my 2.5 gallon thumper, along with some feints from the previous run. I also add feints to wash in the boiler. Side by side taste test by some friends believe the flavor ...

That's what I figured.
I'll just have to get a couple ferments going and run the cleaning process while they're working off.

Thanks.

Would it make a considerable enough difference to be worth it? If you want to raise your ABV or improve separation you would do much much better to add another thumper or a single plate and then run it fast. See the graph on this page EDIT: here is a direct link to the graph: http://homedistiller.o...

I'm adding a 2nd Thump Keg to my rig, and was wondering about the cleaning process. With a new still I know to do a vingear run, then a water run, then a sacrificial alcohol run, but is this ALL needed for just a thumper? I don't want to lose my seasoning on my entire still, but I know I have to get...

Started a new one, adjusting my recipe, and method. 6# Corn 3# Rye 1# 2 Row Barley 5# sugar I ground the corn to flour and cooked 3# in 1.5 gallons of water at 190° for over an hour till I had pudding. I poured it into a cooler and closed the lid while I cooked the other 3# in another 1.5 gallons of...

I ran it off and boy is it good. More flavor than my sugarhead's. It came off the still at 80% abv. I got 3 quarts once proofed down to 120 Proof. I put a medium charred oak spiral in a half gallon, and took the other quart of clear with me for the weekend. The clear was tasty, my friend's liked it ...

Racked it to a carboy 2 days ago to clear.
It's ready to run.
I'll charge the still and run it tonight.

It's bubbling the airlock like crazy now.
This wash smells a lot stronger than my UJSM washes.
1st timE using Rye. I usually use Barley, so maybe that's part of the smell difference.