Home Distiller

I'm with Possum on the cold temp method for clearing the wash. I just used Super Start Distiller Yeast for my last wash. This took off like a rocket but sure dosen't floculate like my prefered ale yeast. That being said I have a chest freezer with a temp controler. I placed my carboy in last night a...

Captin, I buy all of my grain through my local home brew shop (The Wine Smith). I think that he orders his stuff thorough Crosby & Baker (something like that i can't remember exactly) I do know however that the supplier is located in Atlanta Ga. I get all my grain from him because it is way chea...

Yes it is a single malt. I plan on using the pilsner malt next time & am going to compare the flavor profiles of the 2 different malts. The wash recipe: 15 lbs Maris Otter 2 row barley 5 lbs cane sugar distillers yeast walter This is not really a "true" single malt whiskey since i kick...

Sorry about the wacked out pic sizes & quality earlier. I had to re-upload them at work where I have a high speed connection.

Well I thought it would be cool to let some of my non-brewing friends see exactly how whiskey starts out, so I went to town with the digital camera. Here's what I've got so far. http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/beerpics/Redneck%20Brewery/Picture008.jpg I used 15lbs of the Maris Otter. I will t...

I just got to thinking about it and since hurricane Katrina came by I seem to have an very very large excess of white oak sitting in the back yard curing. I'm thinking about getting the ol' splitting ax out and chopping up some nice slabs so they will cure faster. Once they are cured what's the best...

Well I have really hit a wall this time. I have been waiting and waiting for this stuff to ferment and am getting nothing at all!!! I have a bad feeling that there is something in the mollasses to prevent fermentation. Here's the recipe: 1 3/4 gallon feed store mollasses(came from tanker truck - i k...

I have just the solution that you guys have been looking for regarding the whole foaming issue. There is this product called "Fermcap" which is a foam reducer. I use it in my primary frementor so that the yeast dosen't come spewing out of the top of my carboy any more. I have a 6 gallon ca...

Dawg - I have never cracked corn with it so I really can't say how it would do. I have however used rye, wheat & 2-row barley - worked on all of them like a charm. The wheat I used last time seemed to bit a bit smaller so I just tightened up the gap a bit and away I went. I will say the harder t...

Dopppphhh...sorry about the double posting of a thread. Kill this one if you would please.

I was at the brew shop today and bought some heavy toast oak chips for aging rum on. I found a bottle of oak essence there also. I'm just wondering if anyone else has used this instead of real oak or in addition to? I have a bad feeling though that it would be along the lines of liquid smoke that's ...

Well I went looking to buy some mollasses today and low and behold almost everyone was sold out. They said that since it's not deer season any more they don't sell much through out the entire year so only keep it in stock during the fall/winter. Well I found another feed & seed store even closer...

I use the "Barley Crusher" and couldn't be more pleased! I have had it for a couple of years now and still have no complaints. I chose it over others for 3 reasons. 1) Nice sized hopper standard 2)adjustable roller gap also standard 3) an unbeatable price for all of the standard features. ...

Revox -- I see that you are a new member. Before asking questions it helps to use the search feature first.....kind of gets old people beat the same subjects to death and then getting pissy when they don't instantly get the answer they want. Here's one of the first entries I found: http://homedistil...

If you have to run it inside, then I would consider using a heating element from a water heater in conjunction with a large stock pot. Even if your cooker is 6 qts that will still take forever to run 20 gallons. Besides that it's going to be sooo much easier making the cuts properly on a 5-20 gallon...

I wouldn't use one all together. Too damn small! That is unless you are talking about the really big one which I have found to only be made out of aluminum which is out of the question for me. The first still I made was out of a stainless steel pressure cooker. Total waste of money. Took forever to ...

Oh yah almost forgot to mention this! I haven't tried it but you might want to give this a trry also. There is a cleanser for beer brewing called Straight-A can't remember who makes it, but this stuff is good enough to get stubbern deposits off of nasty carboys and will easily take labels off of bee...

Man oh man do I feel your pain!! :o I am almost finished building my still and have started the absolute worst part.... cleaning. I would have to say that this portion is the biggest pain of all. I am brazing all of the parts together and have ended up with the same crap all over the pipe. Have to s...

The temp is a bit low but shouldn't really be a problem, though warmer is faster it will also be prone to producing more higher alcohols and nasties that don't taste good. 25 deg C shouldn't be bad though. If you want to raise the temp forget the lamp and use a heating pad, the same kind you would u...

Well I for one am going to thumb my nose at the whole green beer thing and will be drinking Guiness & brewing some whiskey for St. Pats this year. My own little way of paying homage to the birth place of whiskey. This is going to be the first time using my new still as well as my first time maki...

Well at long last I have all the parts I need to start construction. My pop is going to help me build my pot still and the first thing that comes out of his mouth is "that flange in gonna rust". :? He has been a sheetmetal worker for the last 40 or so years, so I'm compelled to listen to h...

I guess that just depends on what country you live in. If it's the US homeless depot or lowes both sell up to 1" dia pipe in various lenghts. If you are looking for larger sizes then all i can say is good luck. All of the plumbing supply places i have ever checked only sell the larger stuff in ...

That's a big 10-4 on the safety issues Possum, I always try to err on the side of being to cautious. I almost forgot to ask, how are you guys attaching the bowl to the top of the keg? I have thought about going the threaded rivet route but wanted to know if there was a better way to go about it. If ...

I plan on attaching 16" of 2" diam copper pipe to a bowl to a 15 gal keg. I am planning on using the pipe that I already have on hand for the cooling jacket for my condensor. It's going to be kicked off at a 45 degreee angle from the main pipe. It is 20" long 1 1/2" dia. I plan o...

Well I was just looking at the keg I just got for free, 15.5 gallon size and got to thinking. I am wondering of it is made of SS or Aluminum. I know the one I use for me beer kettle is but this one I'm not sure of. I will certainly know once I cut into it but would like to know before hand. The reas...

Grayson, here's the link http://www.sugarcanemills.com/

Tater- Now that's an interesting thought. I don't have access to a chipper BUT I would think that if one was to hack up enough cane & split it, and then boil the daylights out of it you would probably end up getting a good portion of the sugar out? I think that it's worth a shot. I can already s...

Actually here in Alabama I see it growing quite a bit. I think I could probably even get the stuff at the farmers market when it comes time for harvesting. I remember as a kid chewing on pieces of the stalk getting all the sweet stuff out of it. It was pretty cool as a kid to be able to hack down an...

Whoohooo! I just got my book yesterday. 'Making pure corn whiskey' is hands down the best book on distilling I have read so far. I can't thank yall enough for this recommendation, excellent book! I am sure that I will make some decent licker now that I have this book. I must say I can see why I made...

Swag wrote: You can easly convert a reflux still to a potstill, but you can't make a potstill into a reflux. Why not build a nice tall reflux column. Just take the packing out and you have a potstill. It's not the same So knuklehead, are you stating that using a reflux still w/o the packing won't g...