Home Distiller

Never had grappa and the only brandy I've had is cognac. I enjoy cognac, but am kinda shooting in the dark with this one.

It's already under 1.0SG. gonna steam strip it on skins Monday. Just gonna treat it like whiskey I think.

A beautiful fortified wine is made with grapes affected by noble rot (botrytis cinerea). The little holes in the skin allow the grapes to dry. Lovely apricot flavour. ' Grapes infected with Botrytis bunch rot show grey fungal growth ... Berries may shrivel and become mummified if hot conditions occ...

Anyone have experience with distillation on skins vs off? Mainly what it does to the final product. They're fermenting on skins and taste and smell pretty good. Probably be done fermenting in another few days. Not sure whether I want to press them before distillation or dump the whole thing in a keg.

I probably always get a little bit of mold in my brandy ferments and they are always fermented on the skins. Make sure you have a well prepared starter ready to go and pitch it without delay. If a shriveled grape still contains sugar, it's fine to use. Thanks! The plan is to have everything ready t...

I'm getting grapes from a friend to make brandy. I've made wine in the past from these grapes and they make an ok wine that is a bit too tart. Some of this year's are a bit past their prime. Some bunches have a bit of mold growing on them. I'm hoping to end up with 6 or 7 gallons of juice. Anyone ha...

Out of curiosity, how long is the thermowell?

Mine are not isolated at all. They're soldered to the pot. I think part of the issue is the length. With a relatively short thermowell that is welded or soldered to the pot, you will get some deviation from the outside of the pot. Mine are 50mm long and the probes are 40mm long. The one in mt mash t...

But if the error is consistent, it's pretty easy to work around. I also have much thicker walled thermowells than you even if they are copper. I wouldn't be surprised if thermal paste brought you closer.

In my experiments, the thermal paste made a huge difference even with a very tight fitting thermowell. I got a lot more bouncing around and it was slower to register temp changes without the paste. It's really not that messy. It wipes off easily with alcohol. But I had to adjust mine by 0.8-1C while...

I love thermowells. I put them in my kettle, mashtun, boilers, and fermenters. I haven't used them in vapor, so I can't comment on that. I just calibrate them to another thermometer I have that I put directly into the liquid. With thermal paste it's pretty accurate. Not sure how well they will work ...

I'm directly affected in that I currently have it. Kinda blows, but I'm lucky enough to have a mild case. If it subsides soon, I'll have a week and a half to do projects before I need to go back to work.

I'm using that type of meter. As long as you put the current transformer before the scr, you'll have good results.

Use the best yeast for your intended use. What are you making? Why would you want to use turbo yeast? You have homebrew experience, so why do you want to use turbo yeast?

A sloped floor drain? kind of steep.

The color of the copper mesh I use in pot mode says it's doing something.

You're right. My brain completely ignored the mash tun part and replaced it with boiler. It'll work as a mash tun though.

Looks like todays a beer day. Making a fresh hop IPA. I've got a giant cascade hop plant that wants to be a beer. I think it's been a year since I made beer. Been so focused on the whiskey side of things lately.

The link doesn't seem to work for me.

Any outdoor rtv should work. If you get a small tube and seal the seams that should get rid of any danger. It's an enclosed box, so it's already minimal, but the rtv will seal it.

Probably a good idea to seal it with some silicone so a spark doesn't come into contact with grain dust.

Automation is it's own hobby. It bleeds into other hobbies!

That sounds delicious.

I haven't really looked that hard. I've been using copper packing and it's ok, but not what I want long term. I'll give the 1/2 inch a try. Eventually I'll get some 4in spools and go bigger, but I only make like 2 batches of vodka a year. It interferes with my whiskey pipeline.

That's awesome. Any idea what the ideal size for a 2in column would be? I'm guessing 3/8 or 1/2in.

Automation isn't the issue here. There are a lot of ways to automate a still. An Arduino driving an SSR can be used in many ways. PID mode can be used for holding strike temps during the mash. For distilling, you'll want a short period on/off cycle if using an Arduino to control the SSR. Automating ...

As long as the lid can be sealed somehow, that sounds awesome.

A dephleg is a type of reflux condenser though. And a cm still relies on reflux to function, so it's definitely a reflux still.

I don't use anything on the bottom. It's just open 1in pipe at the bottom. It works fine and I don't worry about blockages.

It's a typical thumper connection. A triclamp tee with a reducer and 1in copper pipe soldered in. 20200405_122305_HDR.jpg 20200921_144537.jpg What a beautiful piece of equipment ... I'm envious. If I understand correctly, the steam of the boiler enters the thumper from the top and descends to the b...

The first link (aliexpress) is definitely with inner rubber, that braid cannot be watertight. I know those pipes (variant with screw connection) they recognize on the fly. At this link https://bit.ly/3031orH there is a kit for the connection with long pipes, maybe you may be interested. I think the...