Home Distiller

I don't know if the wash ended at 10% or not, it was just a figure. What I meant to say is that once the enzymes have done their job you'll end up with X amount of fermentable sugars, if the yeast ferments all those sugars then your yield should be the same no matter what volume you fermented in. Th...

It was fermented on the grain and the fermenter had about 25 litres total volume in it. Would it really make any difference wether I had, say, 25L and ended at 10% abv or of I doubled the liquid and got 5%? If the available sugars are fermented then the amount of liquid should only affect the final ...

If you're worried about the ABV being too high at the end of the ferment, you could probably add some water to the fermenter now that it's all settled down, give yourself a bit more volume.

I recently bought a bottle of liquid amylase to experiment with. I mashed 5kgs of cracked corn with the amylase for an hour or so at 62C after a cook at a higher temp for as long as I was able to stir it. I then fermented the mix using bakers yeast, took a week or so to completely finish. I drained ...

Thanks mate, sounds good to me.

After a quick trial with a sugar wash to see if I could run my reflux still without the packing, I've decided I'll try this recipe out. I have two fermenters set up last night, bubbling away, and will probably put a third one on today. 3 seems to give me the right amount of low wines for a good spir...

Additionally to that, a higher starting SG will lead to a higher finishing alcohol content. Higher alcohol contents can stress yeasts and introduce bad flavours to the alcohol, hence the recommendation of lower starting SG.

Thanks mate. Mine hasn't stalled either, they are still bubbling along okay and the sg is slowly dropping. I doubt I'll see a 7 day turn around but might not be too far off it. Was just interested in why the big difference in times given the similarity of the recipes, the tomato paste must just give...

I have 2 x 25 litre batches of this fermenting along side 2 x 25 litre batches of birdwatchers recipe. This recipe is fermenting a lot slower than the birdwatchers two. Both had the same starting sg of 1.090 and the same amount of the same bakers yeast pitched, kept in the same temps, yet the birdwa...

I've been doing the BW wash for a while now, and I must say, you're streets ahead of where I was after my first wash. You're pretty close to getting a really great product cause you know the devil is in the detail. Once youn correct the little mistakes you made, it'll be great. Soon the turo will t...

I've just finished running both these washes. I tried to do each wash in a single run through my reflux still, but wasn't 100% happy with my results, so I combined the product and watered down for a final run. I discarded 100+mls on each run to make sure there were no foreshots left. I could still d...

I've just finished running 2 X 25L washes of this recipe, my first distilling experience of any kind so I'm still fumbling my way a little. I tried to do each wash in a single run through my reflux still, but wasn't 100% happy with my results, so I combined the product and watered down for a final r...

Tonight the wash looks like it's reached its end point, there's no more bubbling and the wash has cleared somewhat. My initial SG was 1.090, finish is 0.94. According to the calc on the parent site that equates to 19.3% ABV, a fair bit higher than I was expecting. I'll have to run it and see what th...

Thanks guys. The buckets have the brand "iMake" on the side, but they're really just a 30L bucket with a sealed lid and graduated markings on the side. I coloured the 20L and 25L markings in with a permanent marker as they are the ones I wanted to see easily. The lid has a hole in it that ...

Hi guys, First attempt at home distilling here, been reading heaps of stuff on this forum and have learnt heaps so far. Considering I knew nothing about distillation a fortnight ago I don't think I'm doing too bad so far. I've gone down a path that not many would recommend here, using the Still Spir...

So I've been running things through my head all day and here's what I think I'll do. I'll go with the standard SS T500, I could order the copper version in but I'm not convinced it would be that much better, there still seems to be a few plastic bits on the tower. I'll then order this pot still head...

Thanks mate. Yeah a pot still would probably be a better way to go ultimately, there's just not a lot available ready to go. Those Stilldragon units look pretty industrial :esurprised: Might be something worth looking at down the track. There is a mob here that make a pot still head to fit to the T5...

Hi guys, just about to get started in this hobby, I'm a bourbon drinker normally but would probably make a rum or two. Here in Aus there isn't much available in commercially made stills, the Still Sprits T500 seems to be about the only one, although the local home brew shop has a little 5L pot still...