Home Distiller

I considered it after I finished my shotgun condenser but like TwoSheds, I didn't have a new one. I ended up running a few cleaning patches through each tube with a flexible cleaning "rod". It got some flecks of stuff out and got a head start on the cleaning process.

Hellfire burner - I can't say I didn't over oak it but I've oaked things much more with significantly more char. They were obviously over oaked by taste and smell but I've never managed this before. This was barely charred. I mean barely. Is there something specific to brandy that may have helped ca...

Bringing back an oldie but I'm hoping to understand this better before I ruin something I care about. My brandy turned black (very dark blue?) when I added oak. I finished my new pot still. Stainless boiler, cooper everything else. Ran the water/vinegar run. Ran a sacrificial run, basically an All B...

Are you losing it out the top past the RC? It's possible that when you lift the RC (part way out of the tube?), you lose some of its condensing effect.

Thanks again, ill go buy the fittings tomorrow and put it all together. Will reducing from 2inch to 3/4 be ok on the outlet? The size of a 3/4" is fine but if it faces straight down under the coil to a collection jar, you will get splashing and splattering. What I found using a shotgun as a pr...

Generally in a pot still, you want the only hole in the system to be where the product comes out. You also want all vapor to pass across the condenser so it is sure to be condensed. If you do as I have so perfectly drawn below :ebiggrin: you COULD have enough cooling to prevent vapor from going out ...

There will be vapor following the red line and right out. Maybe if the vapor inlet was where I drew the other red line in relation to the coil, it would prevent this.

It looks to me like there is a good chance with that design that vapor could flow right out the output without hitting the condenser. Yes the condenser will condense but there will still be vapor allowed to run right through unless you plan to have a leibig, but then why have the coil? Now if all th...

What I would love to see and may do someday is run the entire series of cuts, from fores to tails to see what drops off, what increases and when. Unfortunately, I'm not in the lab anymore and don't really have "my own" instrument like I used to. :( I was rather spoiled by GC/MS I must admi...

Ok, I have to get a bit nerdy here.

I assume an FID (?) but what column? Direct injection?

If you don't drink it why bother? I don't know of any person that would take the chances of being arrested just because they think this is fun. Either you are lieing about not drinking or you are in it to make a buck which is it? Apparently you don't know me and a few others on here. I never drink....

The stills I have seen that were called "tilt reflux" were pot stills with a funky shaped head. The funky shaped head isn't enough to cause enough reflux to be called a reflux still by most standards. A reflux still needs some sort of coolant flow to give it enough reflux to matter. Since ...

It's done fermenting but I am leaving it in the fermenters for the time being. I won't have a chance to run it for a week or so. I don't mean to rub it in but with all the freebees I've gotten lately, my fermenters are keeping busy. The down side is that I haven't gotten a chance to make things I re...

Adding sugar will decrease the flavor from the grains in the end product. How much sugar can be added before you can tell is going to be different for everyone and each still/recipe.

When a liquor bottle uses a cork instead of a screw cap, how likely is it to pop open when going from sea level to 4,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level? Most of my camping and recreation is done at much higher elevations than my home and I've had various things pop open or spray out when opened. Wast...

Has anyone done comparisons of the differences in flavor or aroma when using the following yeast? If you've tried them both and can say what you like and/or disliked about each, I would love to hear it. Fermentis Safspirit American Whiskey - "This dry whiskey yeast strain was selected to meet t...

I don't have any teenagers--yet. But the 12 year old boy has been cuss in' and grumpy and eating a ton lately...I think we are almost in the "puberty zone"! God help me when his younger brother gets there...God help us all... It's the fathers like me that have several pretty daughters tha...

I now have yeast happily munching away on 20 gallons of apple-blend puree. The remaining 35 gallons was discarded to make room for new materials soon to arrive, sorry NcMoonlight. I've never done so much at once but free is free so away we go. I figure the way I do things, I'll screw something up an...

It's still has its original seal, it's refrigerated and it was packaged aseptically. I've struck a compromise. I will be bringing home 20 gallons and i will start it fermenting right away. Not sure how yet but will. I will leave him to figure out how to get rid of the other ~35 gallons and the drum.

I was offered a free drum of single strength apple puree (460 pounds, brix = 11°-18°). Other than my wife using the drum to dispose of my body once she kills me, what could I do with the contents of the drum? I'm trying to decide if this is worth me taking it home. The drum is metal so I probably wo...

3)this sounds the best,,to stop the foam from coming over. as the foam rises it expands in the "bulb) collapsing the bubbles ,then it drains back into the boiler.the "cap" on a simple pot still does similar if its big enough.this would cut down on needed head space. I've seen this fi...

Just throwing this out there: Curved Liebig

Instead of a coiled Liebig how about a sweeping one that bends 45 degrees. It would be easier to make since the curved pipes would slide together.

Odin thanks for the reply I understand how they work I was just wondering if 120 proof as the highest is about right also u say shoot for 10% and I understand that and that is what im shooting for but for 3 times now the numbers come up the same how do I bump it up 120-126 proof (60-63%) is pretty ...

BTW, I do the ultrasonic treatment directly. So with likker in the aparatus. Not in a bottle that sits in water. Odin. I would caution against this. I have seen what happens when electronics go bad around flammable liquids. I have even seen "spark-proof" equipment spark. Things get ugly q...

Odin thanks for the reply I understand how they work I was just wondering if 120 proof as the highest is about right also u say shoot for 10% and I understand that and that is what im shooting for but for 3 times now the numbers come up the same how do I bump it up 120-126 proof (60-63%) is pretty ...

Most shave off the ridge on the keg side so it is flat.

Is your condenser level? It needs to have some downward slope.

You said it was a cleaning run that needed a lot of water flow. Was it just water or your sacrificial alcohol run? Water takes more to knock it down than alcohol runs will.

Butterman - That is just Freakin' Awesome!

HolyBear - "makes some good cammo", I love camo. Now you really have my head spinning. desert, urban, tiger stripe, digital, US woodland, French lizard, DPM, Multicam...must..get...this...out...of...my...head... I didn't do any real prep to the copper. Wiped it down real good with acetone,...

My reflux condenser has 6 tubes of 3/8" ID tubing. That works out to be about 6 feet total. I stuffed some SS scrubber material in each arm as insurance. It knocks down steam/water with very little water flowing through the tubes. The black engine paint is holding up pretty well to bumps and sc...