My first .....

[Rocodog]

I cannot recall the name of that first girl who showed me the wonders and delights of..... oh wait I am guessing this is supposed to be about stilling.

Through all the reading I have done, here and in books, I came to the conclusion that running my still would be the most difficult aspect of this hobby for me. I am a chef and can follow a recipe. Cooking and temps and food science and all the magic of yeast I have passing familiarity with. But running that magic copper beast so that all my gazinatas are pleasing and safe gazoutas would be the trick for me.

I needed a wash. I looked around the kitchen and had all of 3 cups of sugar... no bueno there. I needed a solution.My neighbor, he is a decent sort, has a bushy beard, brews his own beer, most importantly he shares his beer. I visited with him and he didn't have any sugar. He did have a bit of enzymes left over from a rye beer experiment. ( it tasted good that Rye beer did)

I returned to the kitchen and busted out the BOP and BOS. I began going through my pantry. Hey look, a tube of rolled quick Oats the out laws left the last time they visited and stayed for 5 weeks ( another story for another forum and maybe a reason I like to sip) . Grabbed some cracked red wheat. Oh look polenta, got some of that too. Weighed it all up and I have just over 2 lbs of assorted grains, not near enough for my desired 2 gallon wash. Well hell I have a bit of potato flour too. This isn't supposed to taste good. I just need something for yeast to get freaky in and make some alchohol right?

I started a gallon of water on the heat. I looked at my ingredients and figured that I would attempt the potato flour first. Now I know that if you put cornstarch, potato starch etc into some water and said H2O hits a boil that starch swells up and thickens all kinds of things. I have used it on many occasions in the course of my culinary career, yet never once had I ever had occasion to just drop it into a gallon of hot water. I figured to hell with it and measured out a cup of potato flour and dumped it into the water. Pretty awesome. I just made a 1 gallon clear and tasteless gummy bear..... set that mess aside, I will clean it out later.

I retrieved a second pot and my tablet and started reading. Heated some water. Added wheat and Oats and enzymes. Let it sit at 120 for about 30 minutes. Brought it up to 150 and stirred in polenta. Held it at 150 for an hour and marveled at how thin this mush was. Those damn enzymes actually worked. This should have been a rather disgusting mess of porridge. But it was still stirrable, thickish and chunky but not the mud I had assumed it would be.

I figured what the hell, I have some enzyme left. I turned to my pot of potato gum. I stuck a thermometer in it and it sort of jiggled and moved in a blob kind of way. The temp said 143F. Well within the safe zone for my enzyme. I dropped my enzyme onto the top of this thick gelatinous mass that looked a bit angry due to my poking it with a thermometer. The enzyme landed in a pile right on top. Hell it wasn't even wet. I grabbed my BOS and prepared to do battle. I figured if it rose up out of the pot and came after me it was my own damn fault. My very own Frankenstein come to set accounts straight. I pushed the spoon in and started to stir.....

Within 3 seconds that tightly bound wad of angry potato starch had let go of all of the water. I was shocked and amazed. Speechless really. The most amazing bit of science I had seen in a long damn time. Enzymes. Wow. Bad ass.

So all this typing has nothing to do with my first horrible fail of a wash. Epic mistakes heaped upon fatal flaws. I ended by burning the grain and dirtying up the whole damn kitchen. I wound up later on running to the store and buying all the ingredients to make 10 gal of Birdwatcher's TPW and used that to learn my still. This is about witnessing my first food science miracle while having a go at my new favorite hobby. That was several months ago. I still love it and get a bit antsy waiting to run my next wash.

I love that every time I do anything with this it turns into a lesson. Never done learning.

Roco

[Mikey-moo]

Sounds exciting! As they say - Every day is a school day.

I've got some enzymes in the fridge but yet to put them to good use.

[Still Life]

Mistakes make for good learning --mush and all.
That enzyme magic is almost unbelievable even when you're there watching it happen.

[OtisT]

A neighbor who brews (and shares) beer, and you have a still. It's a match made in.... the hallway/driveway.
I'll bet he can hook you up with something to still, and stillin with friends is more fun.

Good luck with your new hobby.