Home Distiller

I tried making tequila once with $70 worth of 100% blue agave syrup - about a gallon - from the health food store (you can pretty much forget trying to acquire and kiln an agave in Canada). No sugar added to the wash, EC1118, then a double distillation in a Mile Hi 8 gallon pot, 80%-60% cuts. I let ...

It's a personal thing, I guess. I find with a Cotes de Blanc or a Young's Cider Yeast, you really taste the fruit in the end product, and not so much with Bakers' yeast (or maybe it's just the strains you get here in Canada). Sometimes I'll make a natural yeast starter by taking some thin strips of ...

Very cool. Next time I'd really consider avoiding bakers yeast. Either don't use yeast at all (make a natural yeast starter from pear skin and innoculate with that), or a nice fruity wine or cider yeast.

First of all, on HD when people talk about bringing their baby home, they're usually referring to their 'copper' baby.....:) But congrats!! I'd say 25 sticks for 3/4 of a gallon is going to get you a woody taste before any serious aging happens, so if you're going to stick with that approach, be sur...

Very insightful post. If you call your local police office in Canada and tell them you're thinking of buying a still (yeah, call from a phone booth, they still exist) :), they'll tell you that they don't really care as long as you're not selling it, and the way the 2002 Canadian Excise Act revisions...

+1. Danstil 493 is a winner, and there are lots of people selling amounts on this board. Chitosan and Klierasol help too.

Hi Matt - how would you describe the aftertaste, what is your ABV (the wash, not the distillate), and what kind of yeast are you using?

Pretty much every rum I can think of falls into that category. I like El Dorado 25 year. It's a demerara rum made in Guyana and won a bunch of gold medals a few years back.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=17 Hi Adanac - welcome. Good place to start is by reading the column design section of this site. Good luck! Also, I bought this book, which has a good section on building a copper pot still. All you need is a sheet of copper, some tin snips, a rivet gu...

I wonder if you could rent space on an oil rig for this hobby.....?

Risky? No way. Just register your boat in New Zealand, and go 12 miles off the US coast before you start distilling. Then you're under Kiwi law. That's what I'm going to do! LOL

Sounds like a dream vacation!

A 'business' trip to New Orleans - yeah right. You been before?

When is someone going to design a sailboat with a distillation column for a mast? Then you could fish, sail and distill all at once....

Try this - do your first run, don't worry about the temp too much as long as there is no burned molasses residue on the bottom of your pot, and throw the first cup away (there is no methanol - none - in molasses or sugar washes, btw. Only pectin and cellulose fermentations create meth. But the first...

I just bought 500g of 493 (it only comes in one size). Here are my notes: - I made a 130 liter batch, and pitched about 1/4 of the package. 50/50 fancy molasses and brown sugar. - rehydrated in 38 C tap water (not sterilized first) - pitched into a 38 C wash (493 likes it warm) - aerated before pitc...

Odin's advice is spot on. I've used SS TD with carbon and turbo clear, and it works really well - rivals Gert Strand's Black Label for distillate quality (that's if you must use a turbo). Took just over a week to ferment completely. Most sugar washes look slightly brown when they're done, but yours ...

The amphora society (makers of the PDA 1) recommend a few ounces of salt and a few ounces of citric acid mixed together in a 60 C warm water bath. I use this for cleaning my copper, but also copper mesh (and it works surprisingly well). You can wipe it on, or if your still comes apart into pieces, l...

Stilly wrote:Corn , Oats, Barley will work fine. Many feed stores sell this as ....... COB. The ones near me sell it with Molasses or without for the same price about 13-15 devalued Merican dollars.

stilly

How much do you get for the 15 Washington Pesos?

Simple is better. How about running a 1" output pipe straight down the middle of the 3" so (a heck of a lot of) water can flow around it, and lightly pack the 1" with copper mesh? That will condense whatever your column throws at it....

Good question. There is a feed store near me, and I've been reluctant to go in and ask questions without some guidance on what to ask for. Instead I've been buying molasses at the bulk food store for 65 dollars for 5 gallons. Ouch. Let me know when you find out the answer to this one....

Here are some good stills to look at buying for your replacement. While my deep respect goes out to those who build, I firmly believe that when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping - for stills. My first still was this one: http://www.milehidistilling.com/30lt-distillation-unit-with-30-inch-r...

AMEN. I'd do anything to find a local cooper like yours. New barrels are insanely expensive.

Dude - I see a problem here. Too many girlfriends an not enough stills....

Love your game plan. But be a bit more bad ass with the naming and call it Rakia (Bosnia), or Silovitz (wherever). If you're lower than pH 6, you're good. If you're not sure, throw in the juice of a lemon to be safe.

Welcome - good to see one more on the board from the best province in Canada! :) Not the most ruthlessly efficient design I've ever seen, but hey, it's a truly unique Objet D'Art, as Ralph Furley would say! Good luck. I'm offering free tech support if you get stuck. Run your cooling water fast, and ...

Looks solid to me.

Yes - you can send it away to a lab and have it checked out with a gas chromatograph. Costs about 150 USD. You won't go blind from pure sugar because there is no pectin or cellulose in pure sugar, which is required for methanol production. You probably got most of the acetone and ethyl acetate, but ...

Hi Anthony. First of all, there is no methanol in your wash. Meth results from the fermentation of pectin and cellulose, not pure sugar. There is acetone and ethyl acetate though. Your still is running too hot. Are you using a hot plate? If it's a standard US 1500W plate, suggest you get a 20A rout...

I got some dark organic Blue Agave syrup and tried making tequila once. Spent 70 bucks on syrup, used EC1118, and not sure I ended up with Tequila exactly - more of a whiskey with a bit of a tequila-esque tang to it. Let me know if it works for you.....don't know of anyone here who's had luck with t...

The legal limit for heads and tails products in a liquor is maddeningly high. If you're going to buy a microdistillery, it should be for the love of high quality distilling.

Now tell me more about the Marshmallow beverage. Was it a vodka? Was there a marshmallow in the bottle, or....

Marachino cherries and sugar is one I want to try with my first corn sour mash I just finished - real southern cherry bomb, I'm told.