Home Distiller

To be as succinct as possible: Linux

You can't cook them like a store bought goose or duck - too lean & they dry out quick. Some folks I used to work with up north smoked them, used sugar maple I think - that was good. You can steam poach them upside down in a roasting pan with a cover but it a pain to keep basting. My B in law sai...

You want "Artisan Distilling" by Kris Berglund. It is available on-line for free and will keep you reading for a week.
It's all good.

SB

Hey Gman, Welcome, if you are interested in whiskey you are interested in a pot still. Check out the threads here, you will find what you need. That second link is a nice essential oils type still but not what you want. Olddog is right, a keg is what you want assuming you have room for the setup, (s...

Hey HR,

Shoot a few of those shit machines for me! They are a frigg'n nuisance - a plague in some areas.

SB

Hi TL, Check out vapour management reflux stills (lots of threads here). Basically you want a “Tee” section below your reflux condenser and that’s where you tap off the vapour (through a gate valve) into your Liebig condenser. Also you want a “turbulator” inside the condenser to kick the vapour arou...

Hey Ozone, You have put a lot of good work into that rig. Those pipe clamps (pipe to rail) are rather cool - haven't seen those before. In the second photo there appears to be a short length of pvc tubing connecting to the incoming line of your parrot. If so, that is a bad idea to have that material...

You can, I've seen some European copper with a clear coat. It will last a while, (mileage will vary) sooner or later it will look a little shabby and need to be stripped and redone. Personally, IMO, I'd suggest you polish it all up, take a lot of great photos (post them, we all like copper porn) and...

Hi TL, (or should I say Dr. Who?) Welcome to the forum, you will do well here with that skill set. So they finally got the mosquito problem under control this year? :D Now all you have to do is hunker down and wait for June! :lol: Yeah, I can joke - I'm one of the "snow fairies" in the &qu...

I've been using wide range PH strips (1 -14) but I'm not happy with them & I swear they swapped the colour patches for 4 & 5 around too. There's narrow range paper available but it is much more expensive. Santa is bringing me a little hand-held meter :D :D http://www.home-distilling.com/stor...

The count is now 11 - 7 more makes it a full 18 holes. (SHMBO doesn't like that joke for some reason) You guys are not staying up with the times, he has changed his nickname from Tiger to Cheetah... (SHMBO likes that one) According to Doonesbury, comedy writers are fearing layoffs as all these Tiger...

Hawk, That's the first time I saw in writing your tubulator ribbon is 4". :shock: Mine is about 30" - NO - I'm not overcompensating... :roll: I just assumed that is was best to go the full length. Actually I have a union above and below to allow adjustment and disassembly. OK, maybe that h...

Hey big M, What are you planning to drive that with? Your into serious overkill land for 2" columns. Pack that coil with some structured copper mesh (you want to minimize the vapour path to copper to max. 0.10") You will be able to drive an optimized 3" column. If that was where you w...

use flaked corn

SB

Sorry, I forgot, the other really important thing is to mix up the vapour flow. Some folks use structured packing in the pipe (like in a column) others a bent up 12 Ga wire (see "turbulator"). I used 12mm twisted (3-4 twists per foot) copper ribbon. It kicks the vapour to the cooled skin a...

3/4 over 1/2 is a great fit. 3/4, 1/2, 1/2 Tees are easy to got and modify
Treat the calculator as a minimum.
Go as large as you have room for and you distillate will come out cool.

SB

1.00 or lower - you are done. The best you will likely get is .990 but not all hygrometers read the same and there are correction charts for temperature.
A little experience observing the airlock will tell you when you are done.

SB

Turbos can be difficult to get to max. ABV. They also tend to produce a lot of "off flavors" when they are stressed. The turbos are really an expensive con job . You can get wonderful clean results from regular yeasts and going for 12- 15% washes, you use the same amount of sugar, cleaner ...

As Rad said - unless it is sour or rancid you are OK. The wash takes on the taste of the additives (but fermented). I do a OJ style that tastes like ... well fermented OJ - not nice but you could drink it on a dare without penalty . The distillate on the other hand has as nice citrus note to it that...

There are two different beasts: Flaked maize is already-dispersed corn that is hot-rolled the way rolled oats are made. Ground corn meal is undispersed. Flaked - you don't need to boil 150Fand add the malt or enzymes. Corn meal needs a full boil to disperse the starches. My suggestion, get some a pl...

No fifths in my neck of the woods but we do have Texas Mickeys..

Just remember - don't make the column so high you need a step stool to reach the valve <GRIN>

...Now if I could just find a valve with a remote control so I didn't have to get my lazy butt out of my chair...

SB

what LWTCS said +1 If you really have to buy one my preference would be something from: colonel Willson http://www.coppermoonshinestills.com/id1.html or Iberian coppers http://www.copper-alembic.com/products_byclass.php?lang=en&cat_id=11 If you are into stainless then maybe check out Brewhaus o...

I still can't edit for Sh*t. should be tunes as in what's your favorite music? All those windows still freak me out a little - but then again, you are in the hobby distilling capitol of the planet - New Zealand . BTW Everybody I know that has been there absolutely loves the country (and the folks).....

I'm moving in too! This place just screams to me! "Suck back and reload!!" What 'ca got for 'toons?
Tell Fester to quit hogging all of the couch (I know - anybody with a 75Lb a week sugar habit needs a little room)

Sweet!
Hey Manu, how tall is that puppy? I assume it is not tight to the wall as the sides are perfed.

Nice job

SB

RBJ, Rad's right, you don't need the enzymes for a sugar wash. You are doing about twice my normal batch but about the same SG. This is my slop: I invert my white sugar (check parent site if not familiar). Probably don't need to but it gets the ingredients mixed nicely and maybe the yeasty beasties ...

Heneri, You got it right 1 50 mm is good 2 50 mm is good here as well 3 1224mm almost exactly the same as mine (I'm 12mm shorter - height of ceiling was my restriction) 4 a little room is good (mine is about 75mm) just in case you have some foaming 5 doesn't matter, mine drops about that but I swung...

Nick,
One more thing, you want to minimize the distance between the valve and the Tee. IMO maximize the length of the product condenser - I did and my condensate comes out cooler that room temperature

SB