Home Distiller

I usually run off 20 gallons of mash and collect everything down to about 20%abv, I'll average about 5 gallons after stripping, which I run through for a second distillation, and it comes out around 75% abv, which I collect down to 40%. I put each quart that comes off into a separate jar, and typica...

I've used several different turbo yeasts before, and generally I agree that turbo's suck, but I have had good results using the AlcoTec turbo yeasts when doing neutral spirits. As for the amount of sugar per gallon, I've always just followed the directions on the AlcoTec48 package, which says for 20...

I decided to post this in the Novice Distillers group, because hopefully my experience will help others avoid a rather messy mistake. . . For the record, I've been distilling for about four years now, and probably should've known better, but I've never heard anybody trying this so I didn't think it ...

I actually TOTALLY agree with what you're saying DAD300. I primarily make sugar shine as a basis for apple pie and peach pie moonshine, and have a couple friends who like plain white lightning. I've done rum, tequila, sour mash corn whiskey, and tried a rye whiskey one time, and I do agree, when dis...

The boiler pot is about two feet tall, and I only run it with a full charge of five gallons. With the element being about 6-8" above the bottom, it heats the mash from the middle, while the stove heats from the bottom. Once the condenser starts dripping, I turn off the heater element, and only ...

Just a followup: I got my 2000w 120v element installed and wired up yesterday. Did two runs out of my 5 gallon Clawhammer still. I usually use just the stovetop to run the still, and it would take apprx 1 hour 15mins from time I turned the stove on high to the time the first drips started coming out...

Yeah the possibility of spark from unplugging the chord was an afterthought, but thankfully I did think about it before trying it and blowing everything up! lol That's why I think wiring up an on/off switch, which I could turn off, THEN unplug the chord, would be the safest bet. I just didn't know i...

Well, I don't make a whole lot, and I don't run very often, so I can't really justify the expense of changing over to a whole new still. I've been very happy with what I've been using, just hoping to shorten the heatup time so a five gallon run doesn't take forever to get started.

I'm currently using a 5 gallon copper pot still from ClawHammer Supply, using my kitchen stove as the heat source. Setup works very well, but it takes a little over an hour from the time I turn the heat on high on the stove, to the time the condenser starts dripping. I was hoping to shorten the heat...

Just wanted to post back and give an update! Thanks for the advice guys! I found a 20 gal Rubbermaid storage bin that I forgot I had, emptied it out, and used that as my coolant tank for my liebig. Starting temperature of the water was around 55F, and after each five gallon run, I was still well und...

When I ran a search I was reading about the heat gradient when using a worm, but I didn't realize it was also important when dealing with a liebig coolant vessel. I have a pond pump from Home Depot that suction cups to the bottom of the bucket I use now, pulling water from the cooler bottom of the b...

I'm currently running a 5 gallon Clawhammer with a homemade 28" liebig, pulling coolant from a 5 gallon bucket. I've used this setup many times and it always produces good results, but my issue is with the coolant water temperature getting up above 100F about every 30 mins during a run, and hav...

Thinking about adding a parrot to my setup, but I got to wondering, would you only put it to use after you've cut the foreshots and heads? I'm just thinking everything would sortof mix up inside the parrot tube and it would make it harder to make proper cuts. Wouldn't want leftover fores mixing with...

Thanks for the replies guys! I really didn't mean to open Pandora's box with that question, but I'd never thought about it before my gf asked me.

Funny you mention that.... I just saw somebody's sig the other day that was referring to a battery operated cocktail stirrer. . . LMAO

Ugh.... Okay yeah she's not coming anywhere near my mash buckets when I'm working. I was so hoping the reply would be 'no, that type of yeast is a completely different organism, and there's no chance of that happening...'

Obviously distillers yeast, baker's yeast, turbo yeasts, wine yeasts, etc, are the ideal yeasts for what we do in this hobby. Way back when, wild yeasts were primarily depended upon to do the work of converting mash sugars to alcohol. My girlfriend and I were talking about how I make my spirits, and...

Okay that makes more sense... but then how do you know how many pounds of grain to use per gallon of water?

When a 'legal' description for a particular spirit says 'must be made from at least 51% corn' or 'made from a mixture of at least 35% rye, 20% corn, 25% malted barley' (I'm making these numbers up), what constitutes the percentages? For instance if it says 51% corn, does that mean 51% corn, 49% wate...

Thanks for all the replies guys! I kept worrying that when I hit 10-12% and it stopped working, that I was doing something wrong, like not having enough sugar to start. But now that I hear the consensus seems to be 10-12% is the good range to shoot for, I feel MUCH better! I'm not really trying to b...

I can't remember where I read it, or if maybe I dreamt it, but I seem to remember hearing somewhere that you can increase the overall alcohol content of your mash by letting it ferment down into the .99 SG range like normal, then adding more sugar to the wash to bring it back to about 1.025 or 1.030...

Aaaah, that all makes alot more sense now! I assumed since i was running such small batches, I could just toss the fores and be done with it. I didn't realize the heads went deeper into the run. So can I redistill all this even though I've had it on wood for a week, do better cuts this time, and com...

Well I only use the Brita on the vodka, and only after it's tempered to 40% abv. I know all about high abv and plastics being a no no. None of the rest is filtered through the Brita, just coffee filters after aging and blending. As for the cuts, I generally collect everything after the foreshots (I ...

When I drink name brand liquor of different types, say vodka, whiskey, rum, they all taste different in their own way. When I taste mine, it all tastes the same to me. My rum is molasses based, bakers yeast, double distilled, single pot, worm condenser, no packing or reflux in the still head, aged w...

My issue with using flour isn't so much the mess or extra work to make it or cleanup afterward. My problem is, even using just a small amount of paste, whatever paste ends up on the inside of the pot rim will absorb the steam, swell, fall into the wash, and basically 'cook' in with the wash, making ...

Well honestly, it wasn't anything special. I made some rum using a recipe I found on here (can't remember which one, i just remember I got it from here, lol) but what gave it the 'oakheart' flavor, was Jack Daniels brand oak barrel chips that I found in the barbeque section of a local grocery store....

I've played around with the flour paste gasket for a while, and I found it's easiest (cleanest) for me to make a 'dough' instead of paste, and rolling it between my hands (kinda like when you'd roll 'snakes' out of Play-Doh as a kid) until it's about 1cm in diameter and about 10-12 inches long. I th...

Sorry it took me so long to get back guys. Had a busy weekend running my still! :-) I get acid reflux and heartburn from a variety of foods, but I've learned to control it by watching what I eat. Beer and wine don't give me the same problem, and I haven't paid enough attention to it to figure if it'...

So I got into distilling mostly for the fun of it, but I have one big issue when it comes to drinking. I'm 33 years old now, don't have any problems like ulcers or anything that would prevent me from drinking, but 75% of the time when I drink (especially straight liquor, i.e, on the rocks) I get the...

Hello everyone! I'm glad to join the ranks of the world's moonshiners and distillers! I'm 33 years old, and hail from just outside of Atlanta, GA. I've been lurking on the forum for a long time and learning lots about distilling. I currently have a home built 30qt pot still, with a 12qt thumper, and...