Home Distiller

Also, if you live near a microbrewery, give them a call and ask about any old kegs they would like to get rid of. People sometimes bring old kegs they don't want to our brewery and just give them to us. We try to contact the right distributor to have them pick the keg up, but they rarely do. Or some...

Hi Cackalack, As the other posters said, you should definitely take an O.G when you are done mashing or else you are fumbling in the dark a bit. You can check if your starches have been converted to sugars with iodine. Read this page where it says 'conversion check.' This will tell you if your mash ...

The Institute of Brewing and Distilling provides free public access to their journal. Its a great wealth of information. You can access it here: http://www.scientificsocieties.org/jib/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow They also have a great 'Learning ...

Congrats Bohunk! I know how good it feels to have successfully navigated the TTB's mountains of paperwork. Looking forward to hearing about your products. Good luck! Cheers, J Well after a full year of paper work, yesterday was payday!! I had a “show cause” hearing before the Nebraska State Liquor C...

Hi All - keep it safe, keep it natural. As I stated, there is no good reason to use Rid-X or any other ingredient that is not food-grade when there are perfectly acceptable alternatives that are. Can't/won't get food-grade enzymes off the internet? Do what people have been doing for thousands of yea...

I'm generally someone who doesn't like to repeat myself but I think it is necessary here: Don't use Rid-X! Don't put anything in your product that isn't food grade. Do use food grade enzymes. You can get them from milehidistilling.com among other places. They are reasonably priced and will work bett...

Read this site: http://www.howtobrew.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow It is an excellent site. Then go get some books on home-brewing, there are so many out there. You are right to be concerned about proper mashing and fermentation for creating a ...

Don't use Rid-X! Don't put anything in your product that isn't food grade. Do use food grade enzymes. You can get them from milehidistilling.com among other places. They are reasonably priced and will work better than the Rid-X. There is no reason to use a product that you can't be sure of the safet...

been there, done that, Big J, but never got good results with it. i'm thinking that the corn needed some cooking to soften it for the enzymes to work. product said "no cook" and that was crap because i got nothing. then i realized that for that to work the corn would need to be a powder o...

You could also just get alpha-amylase and glucoamylase enzymes from some place like mile hi distilling or other internet sources.

Cheers,
J

That's cool. I've worked with malted grain sorghum, but never sorghum syrup. I'd be really curious to taste the final product. Does sorghum syrup taste more like cane sugar molasses or more like barley extract?

Cheers,
J

HookLine wrote:So, you really can teach an old dog new tricks?

A spirit fermented and distilled from a hopped wort is generally known as bierschnaps. I've had some fantastic bierschnaps over the years. I've never tried making it myself, but if the commercial versions I've had could be emulated, then you are in for a treat. Give it a try! Here are a couple US ma...

What original gravity are you trying to achieve? I'll assume somewhere around 1.060 - 1.070, so use about 3-4 liters of malt extract in your 23 liter wash. If you are going for a rye whiskey, you should steep a lot of rye in your brewing liquor before adding your malt extract. Don't use a turbo yeas...

And another question for you or others who have researched this: can a distillery and a brewery (or winery for that matter) operate on the same premises? Think I might have read that they cannot. It is possible under an 'alternating proprietorship' arrangement. Anchor does it. Rogue also has a dist...

You guys are over-complicating the matter. Put it in an unsealed commercial bottle, pack it in your suitcase, and be done with it. I can't imagine an airline screener pulling it out, opening it, smelling it, and thinking "hmmm, this doesn't smell like Jack Daniel's. Its certainly not a Tennesse...

http://morebeer.com/search/102281" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I never considered that there were solids of that level in the backset. It's amazing what you find out when you scale things up to an industrial level. All the spent grains from our brewery go to a chicken farmer. As he says, "those dirty little birds will eat anything." We have actually w...

You can see what I did here:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 5&start=21

Perhaps the higher water pressure from the hose will help. Good luck.

Cheers,
J

punkin wrote:Hard to believe that the small (25%) amount of barley can change it from a virtual bourbon to a virtual scotch, but the scotch girl up the road, and the bourbon girl at home both agree.

You have a scotch girl up the road and a bourbon girl at home? Sounds like a little slice of heaven.

Cheers,
J

At the brewery I work at we use a keg as a gas tank on our forklift.

Cheers,
J

http://www.probrewer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=9300" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow There is a brewer in New Hampshire that is buying a bunch of Jack Daniel's barrels and selling the ones he doesn't need, if anyone out that way is interested. Ch...

I'm pretty sure iodophor has enough iodine in it for it to work. I've noticed at the brewery that I work at that it reacts (color change) with starchy liquids. Although I've never tested it thoroughly. You should be able to get iodophor at your LHBS or local chemical supplier.

Cheers,
J

Your molasses should be fine. Just make sure that nothing has been added to it and it is just pure molasses. You can use any yeast, bread yeast, beer yeast, wine yeast. Try some different ones as they will produce different flavors and see which one you like best. Surely you can find beer yeast some...

The wash is very dark in colour so is the other stuff in the wash affecting the hydrometer reading? Yes, it is. The hydrometer won't give you an accurate potential alcohol reading if you use molasses. But it is useful for calculating the difference in o.g. and f.g. and thereby knowing your % alcoho...

St. George's Spirits just came out with a Chipotle Vodka. Limited release, you can buy it online from Caddell and Williams.

"Base spirit distilled from Fresno chiles, infused with Habañero, Jalapeño, and Red Bell peppers for a wonderful balance of smoke and heat."

Cheers,
J

This stage maybe required to be repeated several times over a spermatic period of 3 to 5 days.

I'm afraid to ask, but what is a 'spermatic' period?

-J

I did some mashing and fermenting experiments with flaked millet and crushed millet. I never actually distilled it. It mashed and fermented well and the beer tasted great. I'm sure it would make a nice whiskey. Millet whiskey is popular in Ethiopia, Uganda (and the rest of north-central-east Africa)...

Bought the keg from an aquaintance. For safety's sake, hooked up a tap to it and opened the spout. No air or beer came out, so is it safe to consider it depressurized? (Pretty sure it is, but I'd hate a nasty surprise). How about drilling a small hole in it? Will the sleeve be sufficient? Do a sear...

I've been using cracked corn/maize rice and do a stepped mash prior to the boil. I put in about half my malt with the maize, and let sit at 40C, 50C, and 65C for 20 mins at each temp. Then I boil and continue the mashing procedure. I find that the pre-boil stepped mash allows me to do a nice long bo...