Home Distiller

It's not really offending anyone, don't worry. As you'll see when you read the thread, many of the same questions are asked over and over, sometimes only a page apart. That's why people suggest reading before asking questions. One of the other advantages to reading everything is that you'll see how ...

I finally got around to making some gin this weekend. I picked and chose bits of several recipes to give it my own flair. Here's what I came up with: 4 Tbsp juniper berries 4 almonds Zest of 2 sweetheart oranges (about a Tbsp) Zest of 1 lime (about 1/2 Tbsp) 1/2 Tbsp angelica root 1 tsp Orris root 1...

I've started my test. I washed the corn from one fermenter as best I could before tossing it out...I was surprised how much stuff was caked at the very bottom. Not just piled there, but really stuck. Even if it turns out that all the corn is needed, I'd think that it would be good to break that stu...

One of the easiest way to get this infection is via fruit flies. If you get them caught in your mix it can spoil really quickly.

If you already have an immersion chiller for your beer brewing, perhaps you can pick up a second and a pump, if you don't have one. Find a way to rig one of the chillers inside your fermenter, the other outside in some sort of reservoir, and the pump circulating water through them both. The freezing...

Thanks! based on the other responses, I have high hopes.

I'm really not very handy. is there anywhere that sells a centering ring? I'm going to see how the other mods I can do (insulation, extension, plenty of packing, etc) work first, but in the event I need one of these rings, I'd prefer to buy one.

I've started my test. I washed the corn from one fermenter as best I could before tossing it out...I was surprised how much stuff was caked at the very bottom. Not just piled there, but really stuck. Even if it turns out that all the corn is needed, I'd think that it would be good to break that stuf...

I don't think so. The first cup would be so strong it would be undrinkable, the last would be almost totally flavorless. I had a chew on some grains after the first generation of my UJSSM and reckon they were pretty much washed out flavorwise. If they did have something to add to the next generatio...

There might be some flavor in the last generation's grains that doesn't come through until the next ferment, but I can't imagine what it would be. I don't leave coffee dregs in my press for a second time around. But all of the corn isn't getting used, like your coffee. Imagine using 10 times the am...

ODIN: I agree as I've written you. No one seems to identify a positive contribution the accumulating trub provides. There is some benefit to having dead yeast, as the living yeast will break them down and use them for nutrients (yeast energizer is mostly dead yeast). However, there is likely to be ...

Hey Guys, As you can tell by my number of posts, I'm pretty new. I've been reading up a storm and ideas of creativity are starting the emerge as I begin to understand some concepts. I never made sugar shine and instead went straight to SF. Glad I did as I love the taste. However I am thinking I can...

My wife just bought a bottle of this from our local liquor store. She loves it but is disappointed with the brand she got. The brand in your first post is the one she likes best.

Is the green anise just seeds, or is it part of the plant?

It can be tough sometimes to replace exactly what you take out...if you do it by volume, you'll add more over time because the removed corn is swollen with liquid. I generally scrape off the dull colored surface (the good corn is bright yellow underneath...unmistakable difference) and replace it wit...

I've found that even after airing those 48 hours, it takes at least a week for the flavor to come into its own. I'm not a big fan of the flavor before then...it mellows and smooths out pretty quickly. Note that this will not actually be sweet, because there's no sugar in it. But I do find that the c...

Rather than make cuts (other than fores) during your stripping runs, make your cuts after collecting in small jars from a spirit run. Run slow through the heads, and you'll get better separation. If you're running full out, you may just have so much smearing you really don't have much in the way of ...

Sounds good...I'll stick with the original amounts of botanicals. I've made a large quantity of sugar wash so I can have a good amount of hearts for trying different things.

Couple thoughts. One is: if you're after a neutral and you think you're ending up with too much flavor after your spirit run, maybe you need to look for a different recipe for your original wash. Second is: if you're committed to your recipe because it makes use of some raw ingredient that's really...

How long should this age after the final blending/dilution to 74%? I was thinking it'd be like gin...5 weeks or so.

Yes, it confirms what I thought initially, that you only rerun hearts from the spirit run to clean up. I do my stripping runs by collecting everything after discarding fores down to 20%-25%, then dilute to 40% for the spirit run. I may rerun just the heads, and just the tails first, though, to squee...

I tried doing a search for this, but search ignores "distilling" so I got every post with "double" in it. After doing a spirit run (for vodka/neutrals), people suggest distilling again to clean up the flavor. I had assumed that this meant making cuts and diluting then distilling ...

I just load my boiler with 25lts of fermented sugar wash, sugar/ tomato paste / lemon juice & water, put your bag of herbs in the neck of the boiler and distill. what comes out of your condenser is gin. With many botanical flavors coming early, don't you lose a lot of flavor in the heads starti...

Looks like Triple Crown molasses has some preservative, as my ferment is barely trickling along, despite following the recipe, yeast bomb and everything. I suppose as long as it ferments fully, slow is better than not at all.

Once I discovered how well oxyclean works, I've never had to scrub a fermenter again. fill to the brim with hot water from the tap, leave just enough room for the scoop of oxyclean, and walk away. By the next day, all the clingy bits will be gone and the inside will be clean as new. Empty, fill with...

I know this is a late response, but I once worked in a lab where we had a vacuum pump to suck moisture out of a paste on top of a paper filter. The pump hooked up to an erlenmeyer flask with a port near the top for the vacuum tube. With a well designed cap of some sort and a large enough flask (not ...

Just on the yield question, have one along those lines myself. Have done three washes using this recipe and it appears that im gettin around the 3 to 3.5 litre mark of %65 aprox after first stripping run. As pryor to this have been using (sorry in advance) turbo yeasts and getting aprox10 litres fr...

So I hooked up the radiator. I used a 1/2" PVC plug to fill the reservoir hole (it's threaded). I took about 3" of 1.25" ID tubing and clamped it to the radiator, and at the other end, to a 1" hose barb with a 3/4" thread at the other side. I screwed that to a 3/4" fema...

I don't thinkin would try a gallon in a 13 gallon boiler. If it were me I would add 2" of water to the boiler. And measure how much that is. And that's how much I would want to be left in the boiler. After a run. But that's just me. It's fairly narrow and tall (milk jug), so I'd be willing to ...

What is the ABV of this gallon of hearts you are wanting to run? The reason I am asking is because if it is above 40% then you are going to want to water it down to 40% or even lower, wich will add to the volume of liquid you are wanting to put in that 13 gal. boiler. Yes, I would dilute with water...