Home Distiller

The history I've read indicates all grain mash left open to "catch" wild yeast. Every distiller had their own recipe and with the great variation in yeasts and water qualities every batch was different. Ideas about medicinal properties of liquor were very different then than now. The histo...

I just remodeled the bathroom and I have quite a few decent sized pieces of marble tile left over. I live near the ocean so oyster shells are easy to get, free if you take a walk on the beach. I like the idea that the bar of marble doesn't just lay on the bottom like the oyster shells do. Might be t...

I reckon between the reflux coil and the new thumper I've raised my ABV significantly. This was on a sloppy sacrificial cleaning run

Talked to a friend who is working with some electrical engineering grad students and I might be getting some help replacing my ultrasonic driver with something more robust.

Here's mine

Pikey wrote:Soaking does help a bit - but corkers are cheap enough - do you put th epiece of string or wire down the side to let the air escape ?

Well that sounds like a great idea! I'll give it a try.

I didn't soak them as I've read that it really doesn't help. I like Mr. Stirrin's T-corks a lot, and that box-O-whiskey is off th' charts COOL! I have made some labels, but my printer shit th' bed so I have to go the the public library to use theirs and the old ladies there give me the hairy eyeball...

The Baker wrote:The corks don't seem to have gone far enough into the neck of the bottle; did you soak the corks first?

Geoff

I don't have a corker so that's as far as I could get them.

Ain't that a pretty sight?

My heads normally come in between 165 and 170 proof. Hearts come in at around 145 to 150. I have yet to run it with the new thumper side-car. I'm hoping to see an increase of about 5 ABV, but right now that's just pure speculation. Too many other things going on right now to spend any quality time w...

Good eye! Yes, there is an internal cap between the two tees. I wondered who'd catch that...
I did it that way to add structure to the column and externals. If I'd just used two 90's it wouldn't be as sturdy.

Well, why was that so difficult for me? I guess I'm getting old

I love the look, spaceage steampunk. It should serve you well. Do you unscrew it to charge it or just let it fill itself? The drain on the bottom is a great idea. I unscrew it from the top to charge it, but I miscalculated my dimensions and it hits the pot dome before it clears the inner tube. To r...

still_stirrin wrote:I don't know how long those Tap-a-talk photo loads will be around. Sure wish you'd upload them to this site.
ss

Loading pictures directly to this site has eluded me. I'd be very happy to do it directly, but I can't figure out how to do it.

It's pretty neat, will add a lot of weight once filled though. Do you think it may be side heavy once that thing starts rocking? Just curious that's all. My thumper makes my spirits come at 170ish, hearts around 165ish, sometimes depending on what I'm running I've had tails at 155 or at least the s...

Do you like my new thumper?

If you have a metal scrap recycler nearby you might stop by and see what they have in the copper pile. They'll likely sell it to you for scrap prices and you can find some nice pipes there. Fittings are rare there though

I'd be concerned about what those magnets are made of and if anything nasty could leach into the wash. Straining your wash before it goes into the pot seems like an easier solution than a false bottom. I stuff a copper scrubbie in the bottom of my column to help prevent puking, but the sight-glass h...

understanding the fermenting side is a big head start. Learning all the nuances and terms involved in distilling is your next challenge. I'm looking forward to seeing your build!

Looks reasonable to me

안녕하세요 (That's hello in Korean)

I finally gave up on the PTFE hose gasket. No matter how I tried, the drips around the top of the pot wouldn't stop. I finally ditched it and simply wrapped the top of the pot with teflon tape. I used about 8 wraps and now the lid seals perfectly. I hope no one else tried to follow my lead on that s...

I reckon the answer would be," put the wine in a still and run it."
Pretty simple stuff.

Scored some nice copper scraps at the recycling dump. 30 inches of 3" copper pipe and enough pieces of heavy copper sheets to make that thumper I've been thinking about. Thinking about making a plated column out of the 3". I'll post some pictures of my thumper progress.

I just proofed my UJSSM down to 125 and toasted and charred some white oak. I have four half gallon jars of the best whiskey I've ever made aging and oaking. I need to hide at least two of these jars from myself so they can get some real age before I drink them. I do like to occasionally take a tast...

Makes alot more noise dont it? Yup! It made me really nervous as it sounded the same as the times I blew up my elements. My first jar was 170 proof and still tasted like corn whiskey. My hearts came in between 160 and 130 proof. Time to cut, toast and char some more White oak. This ought to be real...

Making my first spirit run. I've finally collected enough heads and tails to fill my pot sufficiently with 80 proof UJSSM. I've just been keeping heart of hearts for aging and consumption but now I've got to do something with all these second rate jars. I'll be running relatively low and slow. I've ...

I was using Fleischmans Bakers yeast and recently switched to EC 1118 Champagne yeast. All of my products had a very slight "sweet" aroma with the bakers yeast and now, with the Champagne yeast that smell is gone. I think the taste of my stuff seems slightly "cleaner" now. It was...

Still is back up and running. I'm four generations into another UJSSM and I'm experimenting with much lower Amperage runs. Getting really good results running at 10 Amps. I'm getting about five quarts out of each five gallon run. My Uncle Jessies is going from 1.06 SG to .995 in about four days and ...