Home Distiller

Yep. Looks like I messed that one up. Oh well, I'll give it another shot and try to learn from my mistakes.
I don't have a big enough pot to keep it from boiling over so I'll have to use my milk can to boil it in.
Batch # 2 coming up.

Mistake in above post. It was only 6 gallons total. I had to leave town directly after that so I wasn't able to dilute anything and try it. I'll do that when I get back in a week but the smell and taste of heads were distinct in all the spoon samples, spoon of distillate, spoon of water into a small...

I hate to be a spoilsport here but I am not too impressed with the 5 gallon batch of DWWG that I ran off last week. I boiled the jar of toasted WG in a gallon pot for an hour, simmered actually, and divided it into two 5 gallon water bottles to ferment. mixed 12 lbs of sugar in a bucket of hot water...

I gotta chime in on this one. My favorite (before I started stillin) was Jack Daniels or dark rum with coke. I also loved Woodford Reserve bourbon, I got a bottle every year from my son. Everytime anyone asked what i wanted for Christmas or B-day I would say WHISKEY! Now that I am a pro at stilling,...

Welcome XXX. I built the same still you have and I have to say yours looks a lot better than mine. I ran both my cooling tubes through the top first thing and it worked great from the get go once I learned to use a little dough to seal the lid. It makes great vodka, rum and the best sour mash bourbo...

Good to hear from you Thom. I was thinking just like you about 4 months ago when I completed my first still. Since then I have gone through two batches of sour mash bourbon. The first one is gone, after two months, it's better than Jack Daniels, I kid you not. The second will be ready when I get hom...

Thanks guys, I am on the way out of town for two weeks soon so I will check on it when I get back. If not acceptable by then I'll try the toilet paper filter. I have a large funnel lined with fiberglass screen just for that. I aso have a 3 foot piece of 1.5 inch PVC pipe I have been meaning to dump ...

I hae been trying to get rid of the charcoal from two gallons of vodka. I bought activated charcoal from a brewery supplier and it works great at getting rid of off tastes but the vodka is still black. I washed the charcoal in a bucket with a hose running through it for almost a half hour, Looked li...

There is a cure or this. Let it sit a week and siphon the clear whiskey out of each bottle and leave the sediment in the bottle. It is the only way I have found to clear this super fine sediment. You only lose about a quarter inch in each bottle if you're careful with a small siphon tube. I reserve ...

I really like the way the cooling coils look on the outside of the column. Can't wait to see what the next generation of this still is gonna look like. Congradulations of your first drinkable batch.

Air it more, It makes it better. It doesn't take the place of aging but it helps make it drinkable sooner. I have an aquarium air pump and a 5 gallon stainless soda keg. I cut it back to 130 proof then run the air during daylight hours for the first week after it comes out of the still. I turn it of...

Right on Brother! Is it drinkable or are you gonna have to filter? I had to redistill my first batch, (No charcoal).
What cha gonna do next? Corn, try Uncle Jessies Sour Mash (UJSM) for an easy corn liquor.

What's not to love about it? You're making whisky aint cha?
Boy I love this stuff! How is your liquor coming out, drinkable?

Yep, I think I have the bug too, hope I never recover from it. The wife is happy, I'm happy. She calls every day or 3. I tell her little white lies. Yes, I am still going to church twice a week, No, I am not drinking, (too much). If she doesnt come home unexpectedly and find the floor sticky and sme...

I am sitting here in a mellow glow fro my first batch of UJSM that is almost two months old. It's great. I mean really great!! I just had a small glass of Jack Daniels Which used to be my favorite ever with Coke drinking whiskey and it was awful! Of course I had never drank it straight before. I lik...

Thats a nice looking setup. It looks very similar to mine. Do you have an electric heater in the milk can? I have the taller milk can and after 3 to 4 experiments with gaskets to seal the leaks, I tried the flour dough in desperaton. It worked like a charm. Have made about ten runs now and no leaks....

You're right NightForce, It works like a charm. I ran my sugar wash through it and I am getting 90%. I'm pretty happy wth that. It has a lit higher condensing capacity, I can run the burner higher with no vapor loss. It wlll run at 90% at 40 to 45 ml/min. I slowed it down to 20 ml/min to see if I co...

I have just converted from an internal reflux to a twin slanted plate style on top of a 2 inch pipe containing 36 inches of SS scrubbers. I gotta say, I'm kind of disapointed. I am only getting 30 ml/min out of it with a water run. I could get 60 ml/min out of the internal reflux on a stripping run....

I did pretty much the same thing. Had all this ethanol so I ordered some of the Legend Whiskey Essence and Rum essence. It looks good but you will have to add a little bourbon or brandy to give it the right smell. It really wasnt knocking my socks off so I just added (48 hours ago) two table spoons ...

Another welcome aboard chum. I have just built myself a still from the free plans online using the milk can, (e-bay, $45.00 with a few small dents) and the internal reflux through pipes. It works pretty good but I already have started on upgrades to it. The sealing on the milk can was a bear. Of cou...

Thanks Rubber Duck I think I will take that advise. The barn has got to be more peaceful. REWARDING! I'll have to agree with that. I just finished my first sour mash brew and now have 2 and a half gallons of corn whisky freshly bottled with JD Wood Chips in the garage. I have never been that far ahe...

I have been studying this site for a few months and it has kept me really busy trying to absorb all the info here. I have built an internal reflux (Don’t build this one!) still from a milk can and 42 inches of 2 inch copper pipe stuffed with 32 inches of stainless scrubbers. It is insulated and has ...