Home Distiller

Nice! What company did you buy from?

Thanks guys, I've used the "high temp - cool to add malt" approach too, just wanted to plumb your minds. I'm a little of a traditionalist but I'll look into enzymes.

Question: I have always used stepped rests (beta gluc 110 f, protease 120 f, and alpha amylase 142 f) out of habit after working with rye. How would you cook this recipe w/o rests? Would you consider substituting malted corn for ref corn?

Once you start toasting and charring your own wood, the world is your oyster. I like staves but now I season my own wood (cherry, mulberry, red oak, s amp white oak, etc.). One more way to make it your own!

Have you considered charring the staves instead of toasting? I like a combo of charred and toasted oak myself.h

Great feedback guys! I usually don't have a problem with conversion, with or without added enzymes. I always use stepped rests. Back in the day I spent a month getting to know rye. It was "learning by doing " and a lot of burnt mash. My guess is the rye and barley will compliment each othe...

I have been fermenting off grain and distilling off grain. I use 24 lb with 10 gallons for my apartment Che's and use 1/4 backseat or stillage when I have it. To kiln I use a dehydrator with temp control. My germination is variable so we am conservative with DP and even sneak in some alpha amalaze(?...

HD'ers How does this sound for a grainbill: 25% malted barley (6 row home malted) 25% unmalted barley 25% rye 25% corn I have an abundance of feed barley and have made some 50/50 barley (malted and unmalted) but like what rye and corn do for mouth feel and "spice". DP looks good, anything ...

Though not a lager yeast, my winter yeast is now T-58 by Safbrew. It seems to work in the low 60's F, albeit slow, I seem to get good flavor and production with it too. When warm enough I am a Red Star bakers yeast fan but this extends my season.

Here is the post I mentioned previously, http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... e#p7034787. The berries pictured above are autumn olive or Russian olive. If you ever get a chance to work with autumn olive, do as it is good stuff!

Looks like autumn olive which makes a fine spirit. I have had it in a wine which was good and in a mixed fruit "palinka" which was good too. I think I posted about it a year or two ago.

Ran a stripping run and this has promise. The roasted barley is very subtle so I am curious to see what the spirits run turns out like.

I usually do not use more than 1/4 backset when making a sourmash whiskey. I could see problems using all the backset.

Good question, I figure I need 30 L per pound for full conversion. With 23 lb that means I need to cover 690 L. With 6.5 lb 6-row barley malt, I was conservative and estimated 110 DP per pound which gave me 715 or full conversion. The unknowns here are that my malt estimate is likely low and the pac...

We shall see. I prepared the first batch today. I ground all ingredients twice except the rolled rye which I ground once. I usually do not grind this at all but wanted to see what happens. While starting the mash, the brown malt gave it a light rye toast smell which seemed to fade as the mash progre...

Brilliant! Same question as raketemensch though, do the drains pass through the water barrel? If so I would be interested in how that was designed and is currently working out.

Hey Guys, good questions. The toasted malt is only to add flavor so in the recipe at the top it is the copper and brown malt. I am not counting on any conversion or Lintner value from either. The copper malt has a "grape-nuts" taste while the brown malt reminds me more of coffee. The packi...

In prepping for this recipe I am learning about dry roasting malt. Here is the malt pre and post roasting, 50 minutes at 400F.

You know what you are worth. Some people do not and have to learn the hard way. Don't let the bastards get you down!

Okay guys, need a second set of eyes and bigger set of experience to bounce this off of. The goal is a whiskey with corn sweetness, rye spice, and subdued oat "floral" notes with some something extra from a toasted malt. Here is the grain bill for a new whiskey: 6.5 lb. barley malt 6 lb. r...

Just ran the corn mash with packing peanuts and I have to say the taste is good and the production was definitely up. I will certainly include this in a recipe in the future and note better SG before and after peanuts.

Jedneck, are you going to try to preserve the yeast strain for future use? If so, have you decided on a method yet? This is all intriguing as I have used DADY, Baker's, and some ale yeasts in the past and am always looking to try something new.

Rad, I am sorry about your family's loss. Take heart that she lives on through you: your memories, your stories, and how you live your life.

I would love to give you an answer as I am experimenting along similar lines. Unfortunately I do not know the answer. You might find this thread interesting however, http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... t=maillard. Keep us posted on answers, etc.

Thanks Kiwi Bruce, the chart is fantastic! I did four cookie sheets of copper malt and the house smells fantastic (to me). With a Copper malt under my belt, I am going to try a darker malt too. I had not considered malting oats but that would be a new frontier for me. I considered smoking malt too b...

Here is the info I relied on, http://barleypopmaker.info/tag/home-roa ... late-malt/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. I mean to check out the e-book mentioned this week.

As an experiment I am toasting malted barley, 400 F for 30 minutes to try for a Copper Malt. Here is the grain bill (10 gal to 23 lb) I am thinking about: 7 lb Malted barley (self malted so estimating 100 L to be conservative) 2 lb Copper malt 5 lb corn 5 lb rye 4 lb oats I like the floral notes of ...

Right, not thinking about Lintner value but the flavor. What I make is unique and I have to admit that my bourbon will never be as good as 1792, Booker's, etc. What I can do however is make something different, something that no one else makes. Hopefully I learn something along the way too.

I am really intrigued by WhiskyD's post in the Maillard discussion: At our distillery, Corsair, we use a lot of dark malts and believe heavily in the maillard reaction improving the finish of our whiskeys. We have experimented with about 60 different malts. One of my personal favorites is chocolate ...

In the long run, spikes in production affect white oak markets as well. I do not know if the industry fully sees it but there will be a shortage of white oak staves in the future if production continues to increase.