Home Distiller

Hopscotch, I like that. I think it shall be labeled as such. And for cleaning the still, I really didn't think of that, but I guess I should get on it as I'm running the rest of my sugar wash today and then my trial of hook rum. I guess I better get it going on some vinegar......

Well a 5 gallon batch of IPA beer didn't turn out to well on its own, and a run through the still changed it a full 270 degrees. It was a bit minty to try to describe it best. Well I added medium toast an a few alligator char pieces. It is quite an interesting spirit, and I am trying to classify it ...

Bushman, other than for looks, is there any reason that you needed to filter it? Well, filter it so fine. I want to try this, I am thinking ill need the butternut squash because its mid April, and in Michigan, I don't know of any pumpkins, but when I do AP I just strain it and serve it. I don't have...

Yeah, that's what I do. I have also found that when you are warming it back up, to push some air into it(fish tank pump) not only will it help it warm up faster(not by much but it is a plus) but it will help get some VOC's outa it. think of what happens in a barrel, it breaths and does this on its o...

All; My friend was telling me about this rum he had in south America. Naturally he brought it up to get me to make it, and a few problems this poses. 1. I have never made a rum. I have perfected my own Bourbon, but never rum. So first, where do I start. I am looking at doing a 5 gallon wash to run a...

I will let yall know but due to scheduling issues the trip is pushed back till later spring, when we are gonna do 4 in 1 day. I will let yall know then

I am going tomorrow, with some friends who are gonna get into our hobby, Does anyone have any info on their tour? What you do, what, if anything, you get to make and/or bottle? Thanks guys.

I have had good results when I siphoned off the beer and skipped squeezing the corn. Unfortunately, that also means tossing out about 1/3 of the beer along with the corn. I will give this a shot on my next bourbon sometime this spring. Thanks, I really think this will work. If you want to accept th...

OK, Ill dive a bit deeper: I have FOG two ways, they each have advantages. 1. grains loose in the bucket(barrel, tub, what have you): This way it seams to ferment tad faster(24hours or so) and I'd guess its because theres more access to all the grain. I do stir it when I think bout it when I do it t...

I ferment on the grain, I think it just as good and to me for what I do, it is a piece of cake. Just throw your stuff in a bag, tie it up near the top and pour on the water, it keeps things separated well.

Oh, I am not worried, I just thought it was a neat thing to watch because it is like clockwork, its still doing it but it is slowed way down. Foam, no foam, foam no foam.

Ok, I am going there next Saturday. So, I need $9 for the tour, 40 for the bottle, and 10ish for a rocks glass? But I can dip the glass and bottle in wax??

So I am fermenting out 5.5 gallon of Elderberry wine in a 6 gal carboy, it will eventually be brandy. So I have been watching it today out of pure boredom and observed the following with the foam... At the top of the hour there will be a 1/2 inch layer of foam across the whole top of the wine. half ...

What did the bottle cost?

Did you go to Makers? I am going there next week, and they don't list, or at least I cant find online, what all the trip entales? Most of the other ones let you keep your tasting glass, does Makers? Do you get to 'play' with the wax??

Its probably fine, I mean I guess you could take a sample to a lab and ask them to test if for toxins, but at the point of doing that I think the toxins will be the least of your worries after explaining what it is, so the second best thing is to just try it. Let your nose lead you, but I would be s...

Here's the link being discussed: http://homedistiller.org/distill/dtw/salt I hadn't seen that before, but would have to agree with stainless dude. No commercial craft distilleries use salt in their wash, so why bother? If you focus on improving your washes and ferments, you'll be far ahead of needi...

I read on the parent site that adding salt to the mash once its in the pot will raise the boiling temp of the water,making the distillate flow stronger(with less water dilution) and that it wont effect the taste at all.

Does anyone do this?

Thanks guys, I wrote this and figured what the heck, I'll give it a shot with an empty bottle and a tasting cork. I wrapped the cork with 2 loops of fishing line and then pushed it the rest of the way in, I dunked it a few times to get it to where I wanted it, cooled it in water, and pulled on the s...

All; So it is time to bottle, and while waxing is an amazing finish that I do really like, I reserve it for my 'reserve' batches...and I only do this because I have not came up with a good way to break the wax and drink the product without destroying the wax art. So the only bottles that get wax are...

Well results are in. I added about some sugar to the mash and got it to where i wanted it, let it ferment to 7% and ended up with 20 gallons of mash. After running the still in 4 painstaking batches, totaling 36 hours, the final product is oaking. I ended up with a gallon and a half, and after blowi...

I think that I am going to let it run as is, Im good with sugar mashing, and this seams like a sugar mash with grain added for flavor, but I did look at Jimbo's, and I am going to do that one later this week. Thankyou for your input, and I wil post results of this mash when it gets run.

Thankyou, and no, I did not use malt.
So what is gonna happen with this run?

Good evening felas; So I finally tried my hand at an AG with a bourbon recipe. It is a basic recipe of 12# flaked corn, 2# flaked barley, 1# flaked wheat, and 1# flaked rye. Instructions told me to boil the grains at 145 for 90 minutes, drain, and cool, then pitch. So I got the grains today, and thr...

What happens if you just run it with the yeast in suspension?

Just a pot.... Is there more? What kind of metal?

I understand. You had talked about milling it to an oval, what do you plan on using to do that? I was thinking if you had a template, which I would make a round plug, let it expand, and use it as a template and used a router with a 1/8 inset flush bit, you may be able to make a good oval. You could ...

Did you ever perfect that? If so how did it work??

Greetings; I just finished and put up the clean still, disassembles in different parts of house naturally, and I figure as I sit her watching my product slowly(very slowly I may add) take on the color and most importantly flavor of Hickory I added, I'd write about it. So I started from scratch, ever...