Home Distiller

So something interesting happened for me yesterday. I bought a 5 gallon glass carboy so I could work on multiple projects at the same time. Well both of my plastic buckets were full and I wanted to use one of them for the beer I was gonna make. So my corn/sugar wash has been fermenting for about 5-6...

So my wife loves drinking Mikes. Its really about the only thing she can drink besides wine coolers or any fruity drink. Anyone know what is used to make a home made Mikes. I mean for me id just mix some vodka and lemonade and im good but I think it would be cool to make something similar and supris...

yes its normal. for what ever reason your air lock is not working,,leaky top? as long as its "fizzing " it working.it becomes a problem when it don't "fizz" or stops early before using all the sugar. in this case it has stopped "fizzing but will still be sweet,, the SG will...

first cooking the corn is not necessary as your making sugar head, but it will give more corn flavor. the corn is usaly added to the fermenter,hot water pored over it then when its cooled pitch yeast. the corn can be used several times until its spent.(this is not a mashing) turboes have all kinds ...

do yourself a favour and find some milk crates, glass carboys sit perfect in them and they give a bit of buffer to the bottom. I learned this the hard way gently setting my carboy down on concrete. Must have hit it just the right way because she burst. Nothing worse than trying to clean up sticky w...

So ive been reading, trying to find some answers to the questions I have but I cant seem to get ahold of any material that can specifically answer what I am looking for. There are a few different things I am wondering about, but I have to tell my short history first. Before you read my recipe that I...

Yeah once i posted the temp screw up I started re reading the parent site and from what I read it seemed to be okay to add at 70 degrees, and in some cases leaving it overnight to cool. So Im glad I found the route of my problems with the flux, that has to be it. Once I got to the end of my 2nd run ...

I did 2 with Vinegar/Water and then I went for it. I think I know what happened with my last batch. I was checking out my thermometer I was using and that freaking thing was way off. Im pretty sure I added my yeast when it was like 65-70 degrees. Tonight I used 3 different thermometers and the one t...

I know i know, I did get the Hyrdrometer. Im pretty sure the whole fermentation process was the biggest problem here. I think I may have added the yeast to early and killed it. That is the only thing I can come up with really. I did to a cleaning run, which showed no spots. All clear liquid. I got d...

I know you fine fellers would probably know what is going on. So quick run down..This is my second run, 5 and 4 gallon wash. Used Corn, Sugar, Distilled Water and Champagne Yeast(2nd run) and Turbo Yeast(1st run). I pretty much scrapped the first run because I never did a cleaning so it was all just...

if you jump in and change everything then you don't know what you did right or wrong. Yeah Im not really sure what I would have done wrong, if anything is wrong that is. Just so new that its hard to tell when something is right or wrong when the results are different everytime, haha. I guess my tho...

just wanted to bump this one time, Do you guys think I have enough copper between the pot and the condenser for it to work. My gut says it will be okay, but I was also thinking about flip flopping my copper L long ways, and have the short end connected to the lid, I dont know if that even matters th...

I feel like you arent even using enough to even produce anything drinkable? 1L of wash. That seems almost like a waste to me. Im a super noob though so I may be wrong. I feel like the easiest thing to do is to just grab some corn or any grain, sugar, and yeast and go from there. I checked out a ton ...

Haha thanks guys. Yeah common sense says to use a real recipe. Im just trying to get a good feel for everything right now. Still reading a learning as I go.

Just using corn right now until I get into the swing of things. It was 4 gallons of distilled water, about 6lbs of sugar. Im not really using any specific recipe, just kind of winging it. The lid is on tight, that was the first thing I checked. The temp is at 73 degrees F. Has a beer/alcohol type sc...

Well this is my second time doing this and it doesnt seem to be working as well as the first. I think it may have something to do with the yeast since that is the only different variable in the process. The first time I used 48hour turbo yeast with an Airlock and the airlock was going nuts for a cou...

Alright, So I built my first one a couple weeks ago. Wasnt very pretty, I used 3/8 ID copper 20ft. I cut alot of it off and did some soldering for the first time. It was pretty ugly I must say. Then I found this place and started getting ideas from other people. I want to keep it simple still, so I ...

Sweet, thanks for the tips. I cant wait to start this.

Yeah I think ill try something similar to this. Peach sounds amazing. Just looked up how much a bushel of peaches is..haha 50lb? Anyone know how many lbs of peaches I should use for a 5gal pot. And how much Sugar per lb? Also Should I use an airlock during fermentation. I feel like ive read so many ...

Hey guys, I still very new to this. I have done a ton of reading but I think im just starting to confuse myself at this point. Can anyone steer me to a simple noob Brandy to start with and gain experience with. Something with Bannanas, Peaches, Strawberries sound good to me. I use a 5 gallon pot sti...

I do love this show, not gonna lie. Distilling is something ive always been interested in. Im a beer enthusiast myself, but once the show came on it definately sparked my interest back to learning more about distilling. Not to mention, all my friends make their own beer..so I wanted to change it up....

Cant wait to re solder my still. My current setup was my first solder ever. I had some leaks that I noticed after my first run. So im gonna cut everything up and reconfigure my setup completely after seeing other peoples stills. I think I realized what my main problem was when soldering last week..w...

Thanks man, I was gonna take the plunge and actually take some drinks but I wanted to check here first to see if anyone ever replied to my concern. I ordered some more yeast last night so once it gets in im gonna do another run. In the meantime ill get the cleaning procedure done that you said. I th...

Hey guys, coming in from Ohio. I am complete noob to distilling. I just finished my still today and am currently running my first batch of wash. Its been kind of interesting tonight I must say. First, I wasnt getting anything to come out..which I think my thermometer must just be off by a tad. Event...