Home Distiller

We did a job that involved a brewery going broke (micro brewing) and they wanted a more effective system and costs cut. They were utterly shocked when told to treat the beer as a by product and sell the Isoamyl Alcohol, if you tweak the process a little you can get around 17% IA. Seems odd but they...

Nabtastic, yeah I got that, about methane production. And if Makers Mark is doing something like that, then it should be possible for others to do it also, and if MM is doing it, then there HAS to be an effect on the profit margin. Those folks don't care about making good liquor anymore. They are i...

Bushman - I'd love to try that whiskey! I'm not sure I could truly judge it fairly but I'd definitly buy a bottle if I came across one. Sassy - I didn't mean to dry the DDSG and then burn it as a cake. That would be a massive loss in energy at any level over homegrown.. basically what you do is dig ...

how do you capture and pressurize CO2?

lol I'm just saying.. I agree the barriers to entry are too difficult for the average/hobby person and really, I think there should be some basic mandatory competency test for everybody - commercial or otherwise. I've seen too many dangerous set-ups both on the legal and currently illegal side. Shit...

SassyFras - depending on your run times and water flow it would be entirely reasonable to: pre-heat a second wash for distillation, pasteurize a batch of sugar wash, be rerouted into boiler, etc.. All of those are good ideas. We don't have winter in the islands but propane is brought in container sh...

I'm legal and started thanks to finding this forum many moons ago. Though I did actually stop once I found out it was completely illegal (thanks to a handy letter from the Feds). Most smaller legal distillers stick to the ADI website because we spend a ridiculous amount of time worrying about the le...

Energy conservation is great but even better for an economical standpoint is brand extensions. I don't mean adding a 7 year to a 5 year brand, I mean adding something like cherry vodka - macerated in cherries and the cherries sold separately. Pigs n chickens are always good but what about mushrooms ...

hmm, seems kind of like a waste of fruit and time. Like I said, I've never made brandy but I don't see how it became economically sound to produce..

tater - can you walk me through your response? I'm guessing you've got some plug and play formula for various fructose concentrations? On a separate note: could A-amylase be used in conjunction with pectic enzymes to increase available sugars? I assume if you used a starchy plant with lower levels o...

Last time I was in Delaware I searched high and low and could not find them anywhere. My brother in law took me around Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. My wife and I go there frequently, I will find them it's just a matter of time. Be sure to tell us how they turn out. Mitchy - check out KY and O...

Tim Smith doesn't know how to make moonshine. Well somebody with a pot still does I am drinking a bottle right now and it's pretty good. We will see if I have a headache in the morning lol. I'd venture to guess that it came off your still you will feel fine come morning :) Well actually not true th...

Are we talking like 2-3% setback added? I could only see adding dunder post distillation if it was going to be aged. wouldn't want fresh C. butyricum in my bottle.. don't get me wrong, I'll try it (for rum) but I forsee issues with quality control.

I thought backset - in the form of dunder - was added to wash before the yeast was added a la sour mash whiskey?

Be careful with store bought spirits. Commercial distillers sometimes add a little backset to the finished product as a flavor component. Most food producers put allergy information on their labels, but I'm not sure alcohol producers do the same - haven't bought the stuff in a while. Who does this?...

Thanks everybody! Jimbo, have you found a correlation between flavor/yields when using corn based off its amylose/amylopectin ratios? I'm reading through the Alcohol Textbook published largely by my neighbors at Alltech and it's bringing up some pretty good data points...though I'm unsure of their t...

Good info Jimbo - kind of makes me wonder why we don't use regular ass sugar in sodas... also, thought you were from the land of incarcerated politicians (chicago)? So, I think I jumped the gun on the sugars. To my understanding the majority of sugars readily available in corn (sweet white for examp...

Quick update: Gluten is not considered a volatile molecule (too heavy for typical distillation). most spirits - especially corn based - can be marketed as gluten free in the US (updated as of March 2014). Be careful of your wheat source [not making a GMO/Non-GMO debate], hybridized wheats typically ...

My apologies, glucose is the primary sugar in corn: but the question remains: if high % of glucose inhibits maltose ferm, we should make an effort to keep the barley % to the minimum required diastic power, correct?

NAB

Honestly, just add malted barley. Let it cool to about 145 then add pilsner malt (or distiller malt if you can find it). If pilsner isn't available substitute for another pale malt increasing in %the darker it is. All other are correct tho - alpha amyl basically hydrolizes the starches to aid in liq...

Hey guys (maybe girls too?) After reading this article on the BYO site "Sweetness: Brewing Sugars and How to Use Them" I came across this tid bit that got me wondering - here's the quote "Most yeast strains are glucophilic, utilizing most of the glucose in the wort before consuming th...

Shadylane - the temperatures used to cook grains would not normally sterilize (kill potential bacterial contam.) it will likely pasteurize but that would depend largely on the size of granules used, the moisture content of said granule, and the time/temp it was cooked at. As a hobby mycologist I can...

a little late for a response (is there an option to make homedistiller.org email you when you receive a reply?). We have tried a couple batches with distillers malt (DP of 250) from Breiss with malted wheat and coarse ground white corn (similar to grits). There was no noticeable difference but it di...

Evanwiley - just cook the potatoes in the turkey fryer or, even better, a pressure cooker. But in all seriousness, if you are just learning the fermentation and distillation teks I'd stick to sugars and maybe a UJSSM (though I've never tried that personally).

Hey all, I'd be surprised if this hasn't been covered but I haven't been able to find it... Does anybody know what the minimum % of malted barley is needed to convert an all grain recipe? I'm using yellow corn meal, wheat flour, and malted barley @ 66/29/5% respectively. Conversion wasn't the greate...

I think googe might have an interesting and subjective question, even if he doesn't know it.. (no offense - this might be what you were asking anyway) Regarding heads cut, is there a general rule of thumb that would make concentrated heads [less water added to a redistilled spirit 60% v 30% ABV] bet...

Trying to get back on topic. can we get a quick recap here... a summary of the topic so far, if you will. -proper handling of yeast prior to, and during, fermentation (temp, nutrients, hydration practices if needed, anything else?) will severely reduce the amount of heads we chop off. -I did not see...

what? sorry, i had meant to send that as a PM to avoid getting off topic.. anyway, the heat circulates around the still, mash tuns, whatever, and is exhausted out. These forced air like this guy [http://www.glaciertanks.com/Jet_Burners_Air_Burners-Midco_Economite_Forced_Air_Burner_EC300_300_000BTU.h...

It's all in how you run it. Even a gas burner can scorch solids. The only fool proof safe method of heat. Would be steam. When talking scorching. Truthfully I have never scorched a run. That I can tell. No evidence on the elements or in the boiler. Knock on wood. But I have gotten off flavors by he...

excellent work Kaziel. I've just started playing around with malting my own grains. Might make this two experiments in one! (not much for a "control" guy anyway..)