Home Distiller

There are definitely a few bugaboos here.... I'm going to go into Informed Opinion Mode, if you'll excuse me in advance :) And hey, been away awhile but happy to be back, if seriously part time. Rum is running well and people call it "Magical" :-) Ethanol costs more energy to produce than ...

Hey all. Haven't been here in awhile except to mine for good information, and I thought I would share my success stories :) Ive been doing sugar washes now for some time (over a year) and have never had a failure. I am on my 5th 100 liter batch in that time and it always ferments out dry, with very ...

Hey all. Long time! But I've been busy... A friend and I put together a pot still head for my ten gallon milk can boiler, and its quite a treat. I'd post pics, but the house was messy. Dont worry.. I'll get them up next week when I run it the second time! Anyhoo, its a 3 foot 1 1/4" pipe column...

I had a PDA-1 given to me for xmas (best way to get one! ;) and so I've been using it for a bit now. The PDA-1 is a Vapor Management column still with reflux. It is a complex device. Sure, you can build one yourself for half the cost or less, depending on how you source the copper, but you'd need on...

Packing (and the still in general) was definitely stinky but it cleaned up pretty easily with a soak and some elbow grease. Didn't need more cleaning than usual except soaking the packing a bit longer to get out the funk.

Picked me up 65 lbs of amber molasses bulk, 60+% sugars (man that stuff is tasty!) and decided to make rum. Made up 4 fermenters with 20L of well water. Followed the competition recipe (Black strap vs Fancy Molasses in recipe development) to the letter, except: I used baker's yeast as well on three ...

What he said :) I've found that in my sugar washes the pH lowers something like a full point during fermentation. Its possible you measured you pH too quickly and got to oalkaline a reading, and the wash stabilized out at pH 4. I also almost always use baker's yeast for fermentation of sugar and mol...

On a lark, a friend brought me two cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and a bottle of cheap vodka to distill out into something drinkable. So, with no modifications or changes, we poured all 60 cans of PBR and the vodka into the still and... ..lo and behold, it tastes GOOD! :) Wheaty with a slight flor...

Hey Tac, I think some people just like making beautiful equipment :) Also, a good VM setup will give you reliable flow through the entire run, and won't sputter or peter out. It also requires a lot less attending than other designs. And, if you've sized everything right, and done everything right, t...

@ -78, the water would freeze up around the cold finger and eventually clog the condenser.

Hehe. I agree Hookline I guess I just felt a little snarky.

mroe, first off, I'd read through the site. There is a hell of a lot of information there. Most of your questions will probably be answered. Second off, the reason they sell the flavor additives is probably because its a way to get more money out of you :) See, if you actually knew you could knock t...

I kinda like the Alihn style condenser. In chem those are usually used for reflux, but thats more a function of semantics. Its pretty efficient since the vapor is being recondensed several times by the varying volumes. Its just not smooth, in terms of output, but that may not be a trouble for this a...

I think an old disc brake would work for this, FYI. a lot cheaper than buying an actual steel plate

I did that as well, minime and I didnt see any difference in quantity, but the inverted batch did have a cleaner taste, and I came out with a bit more hearts.

I'll have to do a true side by side, using exactly the same conditions and nutrients, to really see.

And please.. make sure you drill a VENT HOLE in the top of your reflux condenser if you do a VM design!

Does anyone know how Uncle Jesse is coming along in his venture? The website for Pioneer Spirits has not been updated in awhile, so.. inquiring minds want to know!!

I haven't seen any designs with a valve after the condencer. The PDA-1 has the valve after the condenser. So essentially you drive it by equalizing it first with no flow, waiting a bit, and then cracking it open a tiny bit at a time. As the run progresses, and the temperature rises, you'll need to ...

You could try a bit of DAP (maybe 1/2 tsp) and a pinch of Epsom salts (1/4 tsp), as well, and see if action resumes.

Heya OG.

There shouldn't be as many nasties in the foreshots on an interrupted run (as talked about elsewhere.. sorry I dont have the link) and so people have said you can throw less away, but it would help to know:

- What kind of still you are using.
- What size is your boiler

True story.. my wife, when she was born, her parents bought a then expensive bottle of red wine.

At our wedding party, they brought it out for us to open and drink.

The year.. was the year of my birth. And I checked later.. that bottle was worth something in excess of $1k

It was really good

Hey squint! Its an awesome unit, but it is definitely slow when going from low ABV. Even with the column extension, doing 50L will take probably 12 hours or more at 92+% hearts. You may want to consider doing what I am considering, which is doing a pot still head for my large boiler, and using the P...

http://homedistiller.org/wash/ferment/alcohol" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow according to this widget, you have 7.74% alcohol in that wash, given your numbers of 1.09/1.03. But something is off, considering you used 6kg of sugar in 21L of water, whi...

This table is a bit small, but it has what you need on it. Zoom in on it and you should be all set. It goes all the way from 1.00 to 0.793 http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_manual/z-image/fig5-3.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow a...

Finally, we're exporting some of our culture to China!

Corn Squeezins + International Relations for the win.

Inverted sugar (syrup) is created by taking sucrose and boiling it in acidic conditions with water to split it into glucose and fructose, which I am guessing you all know already :) The kicker is that it behaves differently. For one thing, it stays in solution much better.. wont crystallize out easi...

I guess its just a "style" thing, but I don't understand why, when you want a 100 year roof, you don't just go with clay. I realize it is a bit heavier, but you're doing a 100 year roof.. seems to me you can afford to think about a bit of reinforcement :) Amsterdam is a great example.. som...

Second run results: 2.5L of solid hearts from a 14% or so wash. 1.5 liters of tails and 1/2 L of heads.

Nice run Even smoother than the first time.

Second run started. The previous run had a bit of sugar still in it (SG 1.000), but this one went to dryness (tasted dry and was @ SG 0.990) and so that means its actually at 14% or so. I used baker's yeast with this one and just let it sit for two days after it had stopped bubbling. I put the tails...

*snip* He emphasized that the reaction took place in the liquid phase. I'm assuming the copper/sulfur compounds end up in the stillage. I read somewhere that some whisky distillers put copper scrap in their boilers to trap the sulfur. This only makes sense if their boiler surface doesn't do the job...