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How would one do that? I've just assumed that blackstap is blackstrap. The low-tech way would be with a hydrometer. Brew a batch noting starting and finishing gravities. The difference is fermentability. Then investigate whether nutrient additions push the final gravity down any further, with DAP a...

muckanic wrote:

Glock19Fan wrote: The first thing any pro distiller would do when obtaining a new batch of molasses would be to check it for fermentables and nutrient levels...

How would one do that? I've just assumed that blackstap is blackstrap.

out of curiosity, what recipe do you make your rum by?

Wow. Talk about Darwinism . my favorite thing about that 'still' is that it is held together with lots and lots of silicone paste. That guy is a convincing argument against legalisation.

punkin wrote: RealStomachWarmersPunkin

Yeah shots straight from the freezer is my pick. gotta love the fire and ice

It's weird, I poured myself a terror tonic, and almost spat it out. Super bitter. Then I squeezed in half a lime, and it bacame marginally drinkable. then a funny thing happened, by the bottom of the glass I kinda liked it

That's a beaut piece of work mate, kinda makes me wish I was decent at metalwork

Be careful about the peat. I looked at some stuff in the gardening places and its actually dried coconut husk, not real peat at all. Most garden centers around here refer to is as "sphagnum peat moss" to keep customers from getting confused... My significant other works at a local greenho...

I'll go home and have one with tonic then report back

Maddest blokes in the world. what's wrong with fishing out of a boat? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: BloodyMadBastardsPunkin haha Well fortunately we don't have that many sharks around NZ, just the odd bronzie up north, and you can just prod them with your gun and they piss off. I'm more worried about getting...

Great topic... I'm a sometime lecturer at a university, more or less a glorified statistician, teaching research methods to students of a range of social sciences. Love teaching, but I try to keep it from getting in the way of my two hobbies: Distilling and freediving / spearfishing. Squeezing booze...

I got some peat to smoke and make my own essence and I'll try that. blanik I've been thinking about doing this as well, but I'm struggling to find peat in NZ. People sell dried peat moss, reckon that might work? Sorry for getting away from the essence thing, but another idea I had was to try and us...

Just got offered a sack :) I might try and do a feijoa brandy. Was thinking of blending 4kg of feijoa, adding 2kg of white sugar and a bit of water, and boiling it for a while first to invert. You reckon that the sodium metabisulphate ruined it for you? I might skip it... I think i'll ferment on the...

has anyone tried just floating an appropriate sized metal bowl containing maceration a boiler full of water? Reckon that might work for a water bath? yeah could do. I was planning on building a little stove top unit anyway for making gin essence. I'm down in christchurch, how do you get people deli...

hmmm feijoa rum... that might not be half bad. one of my fav drinks is a feijoa mojito. I have 25kg of molasses sitting around, I might try 2kg of that, 1kg of brown sugar, then blended feijoas and pectin. I bet that is going to smell absolutely awful while fermenting... what part of NZ are you in a...

my second maceration has worked out gooooood :D I peeled and then sliced 4 big feijoas and just chucked them in 1l of 50% neutrals for about a week, with a pinch of citric acid. It's come out pretty good, close to 42 below in taste, but less... hmm thick is not quite the word. I think i'll add a few...

Thought I might chuck in a few cents from NZ here about binge drinking. In this country we have what they refer to as a 'binge drinking epidemic'. Kiwis are notorious pissheads, we tend to drink too much and do stupid things. This aside, I don't really see stilling contributing to the problem. Why? ...

I had sliced a few up very fine, about to do another batch without the skins.

Could the spices be added like gin? Make up a sashe of spices and hang it just below the lyne arm? One spice I didn't see mentioned, and often used in rum, is black pepper corns. I chuck in a few black pepper corns when aging my rum. love it. haven't thought of trying it a la gin, might give it a g...

I wonder what process 42Below use to make their feijoa vodka? My maceration has ended up a little bitter. I'm considering trying to make an essence, then I'll also be able to make (read: drink) it all year...

love feijoas... I hear they don't seem to be so available outside of NZ. I've got some feijoa's macerating right now, was also thinking of doing a fruit wash with them. Might have to go raid the neighbours tree if you say it works out for you

This stuff is amazing. I made two bottles, and tried adding citric acid to one (just a pinch or two) in the thought that it would preserve the colour better, but I think I enjoy the acid flavour more. I love shots with a bit of bite

just thought I'd mention it...

Ugly wrote:not sure what your fermenter is, but if you stick one 20l pail on top of another and duct tape it, it give lots of barf space...

ah-ha. I like your style. cheers.

OK, Newbie alert. Please don't flame me, wise ones. Just run my first DWWG through the still, mmmm is it tasty or what?! Here's the newbie bit. I when I first pitched my yeast (at 30C) it did nothing for a few hours, so then I re read the thread and found the bit about aeration. shook the hell out o...

Hi, long time lurker, first time poster. I've finally found something I can add to! Toasted Manuka is VERY tasty, but seems to be quite strong compared to oak, so go easy (although that might partly be because I didn't buy it, I wandered into the bush and got some...) I use a finger scoop of manuka ...