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Do you know what the temperature and humidity were inside the room you were running it in?

I run into that frequently, mostly when the temp is cool and humidity is high.

Happy Birthday Tater

Blueberry Man wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:50 pm

Unfortunately, it looks as if I started my distilling career the same way. I'll screw up a few batches until I figure it out.

That's all part of the learning process, we not only need to learn what we are doing we also need to learn what we like. I have a feeling you'll get there very quickly.

Welcome Blueberry Man

I'm always happy to see new people interested in fruit

Blueberry Man wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:39 pm

straight juice and zero sugar. The wine that I've been making the past few years is very good. I learned that it tastes better between 8-12%. I only use juice for my wine. No water is added and I use Lavlin EC-118.

That is the perfect recipe for brandy too.

Mr P. he didn't boil he simply pasteurized to 160 which is much different than boiling. While yes it could alter flavor some it won't alter it as much as boiling. Personally I would go for a gentle pasteurization before the compden myself. I've never been a fan of the stuff. Blueberry Man I'm trying...

Can you tell me more about what that means "you don't ferment on the grain" Since it's been a couple days and nobody has answered this I figured I would. A lot of the whiskey makers will leave the grain in their mash during the fermentation which is "fermenting on the grain" just before running the...

I personally don't care for bakers yeast. My sugar washes are based on the All-Bran recipe and my go to yeast is 1118. If I use bakers yeast my wife complains that she can taste the yeast even though I can't. One important thing with yeasts is they need to be kept at the temperature they like, baker...

Funny thing, In November I was getting Christmas decorations down from the attic and came across these. cinnamon #2 - C.jpg My wife and I have been enjoying it while I was off on Christmas vacation. They are 5 years old. The light colored one is cut and sugared. The darker one is the original bottle...

Even the common as dirt Golden Delicious varies from place to place, the ones at my place aren't quite the same as the ones at my friends and so on. It's funny how that happens. I know that apples from west of the Cascade mountains are actually sought after for their flavor, particularly Golden Del...

Am I misinterpreting things regarding acidity? It will affect the starting Ph which can be adjusted but isn’t the strongest flavors in higher acidic apples?? Hence baking apples being tart but minimal sugar which is compensated by adding sugar through baking. I don't think that's necessarily true. ...

I agree with Chris, I feel concentrate is a good way to add sugar and flavor but it might also make it more acidic.

We obviously have different definitions of "slow" and "fast" To me anything less than a month is considered fast. I wouldn't consider 4 days a difference, nor would I ever under any circumstances consider anything finished in only 3 even if it has slowed and is reading as if it were finished. Crank...

Experiment I've done bread yeast and sugar wash, indicate that there is not much of a different in finished product, vera a 3 day or 7 days.. what I did notice was that once finished the 3 day cleared much faster than the 7 day ones.. We obviously have different definitions of "slow" and "fast" :th...

I’m trying to decide if I need to heat store bought cider or just pitch the yeast in once the brix is right. Why would you heat it? and what do you mean by "once the brix is right."? I don't like to make assumptions but if you are in the US the only way to buy unpasteurized cider is at the source, ...

My personal preference is for cold and slow, I feel it gives me better results but I mostly do fruit and I've read that a fast ferment can "blow a lot of flavor out the airlock". I also generally let mine sit for what some would considerable time after fermenting because in my experience something m...

It’s easy to get the pickers caught in the branches. We pruned the lower orchard several years ago and really increased the yield. The upper orchard needs it and I am hoping to work on it this year. Cranky I know you get a lot of free fruit from neighbors have you ever offered to help prune? I have...

It sounds like you need to invent an apple picking pole. I have made one for a large soft fruit that has a bag to catch the fruit, but for apples a long sock to the picking bag would be ideal if you can find some suitable material. I have a couple different kinds of picking poles and they work well...

The other day I got a call from the people who own the black apple tree. They said they were wondering where I'd been and said "Pick all you want". I love hearing those words :ebiggrin: So Yesterday I found some time to go over there and pick. I got about 12 buckets of apples APPLES 2- MPV 2- #14a.j...

Now that's a thought but Wa is looking like it's quickly moving back to locking down. I do have plenty of flour put back so may just go ahead and use the wheat for whiskey...if I ever find it :roll: Yesterday I found another bag of malt, probably around 8 lbs, I know this is older than the first one...

Well my wife kindly pointed out that I have too much on my plate to mess with a truck load of pumpkins. The house still needs some finishing up, the kitchen needs painted, the siding I started 2 months ago needs the last 6 pieces put up, some doors need changed, the shed needs finished...yada, yada,...

The other day my wife and I got around to cooking the dwarf Japanese Quince. It took a crap load of sugar to balance out the sourness, at one point it tasted very much like lemon drop candy. There is a ton of pectin in these things too so it made jelly pretty easily. It's not bad jelly but has very ...

This evening while making my annual attempt to clean at my garage deep in the east tunnel I found a box with what must be at least 15 lbs of malt and at least 10 lbs of what I suspect is corn but may be wheat, (I need better light to be sure) all ground up and ready to make into whiskey. Every so of...

What is the temperature and humidity of the room you are distilling in? From your name I'm taking a wild guess that you are in Idaho. I haven't been watching Idaho weather but this time of year around here the temperature is dropping and the humidity is increasing and many people around here this ti...

Ok I am very jealous of you PNW folks. I never find fruit trees here WWWV (WIld Wonderful West Virginia), that just sit there and I can get fruit from. That's one of the things I like most about living here. Pretty much you can have as much free fruit as you have time to deal with, the real problem...

I love finding new and interesting fruit :D Today while driving down the road I spotted these little jewels DWARF QUINCE 05 NOV 20 #1A - C.jpg At a glance I thought they were persimmons but pulling over and closely inspecting them I discovered they were tiny little quince DWARF QUINCE 05 NOV 20 #1B ...

That was a good story cuginosgrizzo :lol: Funny how the males tend to be more affectionate. I think one of the best but short stories about Mouse was the day an imposter showed up in the yard. Stranger was a big cat, Siberians are, but not as big as Main Coons of course but he was pushing 20lbs and ...

I had a similar cat but with one blue and one green eye. The solid white ones often have one eye of each color. Often the blue eyed ones are deaf and the mixed eye ones are deaf on the side with the blue eye. Mouse never had good hearing but fortunately wasn't deaf but as near as we can tell he is ...

Those are great stories :thumbup: You guys are making me get all nostalgic and it's probably a good think I don't have time this morning to type a lot because I have 20 years of memories and stories about Mouse and another 10 for Stranger but don't want to bore you guys. I do love reading your stori...