Hello from NY!

New to distillation, or simply new to the HD forums.
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Spectrominor
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Hello from NY!

Post by Spectrominor »

Hi gents,

Names Paul I'm an avid boater from NY that was interested in distilling. I have been reading around here for a few weeks and have gotten myself quite excited!

My plans so far are to start with a very basic sugar wash to distill Vodka, eventually once I hone in some skills I want to move into Rye and focus on that.

I see a ton of information about nearly everything but I have some Q's on items such as clarifying and carbon filtering, If anyone has some threads on these and could point me there it would be very appreciated!

After much research and debate I went with the T500 still and copper reflux column as it was a simple setup and I got a deal on it.

as of this moment I am in the process of deciding on what kind of yeast to use and I am leaning with bread or wine yeast, I see a lot of scorn for the turbo yeasts?

I look forward to meeting and learning for you all I've already learned a ton but as I see there is no shortage of info, I also see that there is so much variation that there will always be something to add remove or change!

Cheers!
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nuntius01
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by nuntius01 »

welcome
I'm just the bank and the mule

post your still pics here
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 16&t=66917
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jon1163
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by jon1163 »

Spectrominor wrote:Hi gents,

Names Paul I'm an avid boater from NY that was interested in distilling. I have been reading around here for a few weeks and have gotten myself quite excited!

My plans so far are to start with a very basic sugar wash to distill Vodka, eventually once I hone in some skills I want to move into Rye and focus on that.

I see a ton of information about nearly everything but I have some Q's on items such as clarifying and carbon filtering, If anyone has some threads on these and could point me there it would be very appreciated!

After much research and debate I went with the T500 still and copper reflux column as it was a simple setup and I got a deal on it.

as of this moment I am in the process of deciding on what kind of yeast to use and I am leaning with bread or wine yeast, I see a lot of scorn for the turbo yeasts?

I look forward to meeting and learning for you all I've already learned a ton but as I see there is no shortage of info, I also see that there is so much variation that there will always be something to add remove or change!

Cheers!
Welcome Paul. As far as turbo yeast goes I was one who started with turbos because they were recommended and they ferment easily. I never could figure out why my liquor tasted nasty. No matter how many carbon filters I ran it through or how many times I re-distilled it always had some sort of off taste.

I've used bread yeast with birdwatchers vodka and it turned out marvelously. Right now on my all grains I use Safale US05. I have had no problem with either one. If you were to try birdwatchers recipe for a neutral you'd be very happy. I ran mine once through my pot still and then again through a reflux. It didn't come out perfectly neutral, probably because I just ran it through my pot still a couple times, but the taste was magnificent. Probably better than neutral.

Regardless welcome to the form and let us know what you make. And don't forget to clean your still with a sacrificial run...
Spectrominor
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by Spectrominor »

I will have to look into that yeast!

As for a sacrificial run that I did not read up on yet any links for that? Is it just running a mash through and discarding after? What's the reasoning for this if I thoughroughly clean the still prior to use?
ben stiller
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by ben stiller »

Welcome from a fellow New Yorker. Keep on researching. Seems like there is a run on newbies with the T500. Unfortunately I have no
experience with them. Link for how and why to clean a new still.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15489
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TDick
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by TDick »

Welcome Down The Rabbit Hole.jpg
Welcome Down The Rabbit Hole.jpg (6.14 KiB) Viewed 887 times
:mrgreen:
Last edited by TDick on Sun Dec 10, 2017 4:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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fizzix
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by fizzix »

I was King Turbo Yeast and my kingdom consisted of rotten liquor.
Welcome to the site that lifted me out of that quagmire.
Old Town
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by Old Town »

Welcome aboard http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=68702 check this out for making your cuts.
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Dantuss
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by Dantuss »

Welcome
My Build 2" CCVM
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 17&t=68341" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
My still up and running 1st and 2nd runs Yahoo!
https://youtu.be/KYZUiHw79vY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Spectrominor
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by Spectrominor »

Wow thanks for all the Great info! I will now be doing the cleaning run then the sacrificial run with some cheap wine!

I also decided to try my hand at that mason jar method with pipette for making cuts. I got 24 mason jars for $10.

My first go will be the birdwatchers tried and true with fleischmann's active dry yeast. I am beyond excited and I believe I will be splitting this into half Vodka and the other half Absinthe( if I can get the ingredients )

This is all if it goes well, I know there will be a ton of trial and error as I will more than likely want to edit the recipe to my tastes.

Thanks a lot gents!!!
ben stiller
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by ben stiller »

Good call to choose a known recipe. Birdwatchers is a go to for so many here. Enjoy the journey.
Playhard
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by Playhard »

On 12/10/2017
Bamaberry wrote:
Welcome Down The Rabbit Hole
:mrgreen:
That's the best way I can describe reading and reading the posts here. Down the rabbit hole. New posts and old one too. I have made a lot of wine over the years and recently my niece challenged me to distill some spirits. Fortunately, I found this site. Jumped the gun a bit. Already posted some questions and have been helped by the community , as well. Still in the thinking stage, and gathering sources for parts.
Spectrominor
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by Spectrominor »

Thanks guys! A rabbit hole it is for sure. I have jumped the gun a bit and ordered quite a bit of stuff, so far one error was made in the size of my fermentation bucket, I also saw that the Brute cans at HD can be used and are a better size so that is what I will be picking up next. I ended up with a T500 and the copper reflux head, I almost went with their complete distillery kit but built my own with better/more of the needed items for less.

As of now I am just waiting on an aquarium heater to get here to start my first fermentation which will be a birdwatchers sugar wash. Everything else is here including some epsom salt which I will be experimenting with.

Cheers!
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MoonBreath
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by MoonBreath »

Welcome to HD!
Show some pics as T500s need some tweaks to be acceptable..Theres threads somewhere round here...Yes, due diligence before purchases and practices would be proper.
Corn would be my advice...Experimenting with epsom salt :wtf: :lolno: ...Ive never touched the stuff..Required readn will explain worthless gain...Your not makin fuel..Bakers yeast or distillers yeast specific to your recipe..I prefer to rack clean, not necessarily clear..Carbon filtering isn't prefered but a shortcut for neutrality or easing a bad drop..Water filters are a no no as they contain plastics which will degrade into your drink..Hope I helped.
Keep us posted on the experiments..
Good luck with all that .
*Spend it all, Use it up, Wear it out*
Beware of sheet-sniffers and dime-droppers!
Spectrominor
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Re: Hello from NY!

Post by Spectrominor »

Will do, the column will be here sometime this week thats good to know that it will need tweaks before any runs!
Reading through the entire birdwatchers thread was showing some use of epsom salt during fermenting to bolster the nutrients from the tomato paste.
I am using bread yeast, Fleischmanns active dry to be exact. Thanks for the advice plan was to create my own filter housing from copper for use with activated carbon.

Cheers!
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