Home Distiller

columbia36 wrote:I get the same thing from the home brew store. Been shopping there for years for beer stuff, but when you buy grain and no hops, they know what you're up to.

Hops are much cheaper in bulk, so I say.

buckfity6 wrote:this is equivalent to 1 year in a barrel

I've seen that episode of Moonshiners too. It's an entertaining TV-show, nothing more.
The picture you inserted is how different flavours can be converted in oak while heating the oak, it is not about heating spirits.

Hi,
maybe you want to read my All-flour Method, it is in my sig below.
One thing to change is better stay under 77C to prevent tannins leaking out if using flours which has grain-husks milled in them.

You're absolutely right, huge thanks for not leaving half-ass info here! Cheers!

Yeah OK not convinced turbo yeast would result in less methanol AFAIK turbo yeast was designed* with the sole purpose of creating (mostly) ethanol-fuel, sensory qualities and ratio of other alcohols/fusels were not in consideration. TY made to be a quick corn-glucose-to-fuel converter, and as such,...

I agree that there are some good aromas in the foreshot, but will it need to be aged for a very long time? Foreshots shouldn't be used, no matter how lovely they smell. Head-segments can be blended in, especially with the oil-separation method described above. Otherwise, if head-segments blended st...

Hello Kareltje, yes, 45-40% is usually a section that is not just bland beyond itself but somehow has a negative effect on the overall quality of the final blended spirit if not selected out. I have no exact idea what kind of esters or alcohols are at peak in this segment but try to separate it and ...

Dear Friends, nice to be here again - it's been a long time, I spent most of my energy to enhance my brewing-skills -, and seeing this topic is at top and with a great on-topic conversation warms my heart. Thank you all! Now, I'm pretty sure that it sounds most extreme and even suicidal, not to ment...

"using pectinase in fruit brandy produces more methanol" Ok, as strange as it sounds: stop fearing methanol. It is a minority player of the game and a valuable one, holding some of the most precious fruit scents and aromas. Even if your fruit ferment has lots of unripe fruits and/or seed-o...

Few more things: - If you aim for clove-flavours then underpitching is better than overpitching but needs more care regarding sanitation. - Do not raise the mash temperature over 80C or you will wash out tannins from the hulls. As ferulic acid is in the hulls, I use triticale that was milled whole. ...

I have results from my new experiment with triticale flour combined with hefeweizen yeast. I mixed 3kg of triticale flour in 12L 48C water that already had 2ml of hitemp-alfa in it. After mixing evenly I let it for a long ferulic acid rest, 30 minutes at 43C, this is where it dropped by using 20C fl...

Poor backset seems sick now, high ambient temperature made it smell like cheese, also some mold formed on top and has an acetic scent. Not good. Anyway, I gave it a good 15 L fresh backset made from triticale, let's see what comes out.

Incremental feeding of the ferment also speeds up fermentation: if the same amount of yeast starter been put into a mash with 1.075 SG vs. a 1.045 SG, the latter one will start to work faster and with much less stress. This way, after high krausen ends and the yeast is already on cruising speed, fee...

Making some mash from triticale with enzymes, yeast will be an M20 Bavarian Wheat from Mangrove Jack's for the first week, then I dry it out with a S. bayanus for another week.
I wonder if I can capture the Hefeweizen-typical clove and banana aroma in a spirit.

Just stripped 10 gal of Birdwatcher's (Faux Cointreau is quite popular in my family), and distilled some aged backset with my multi-malt. It gave a wide, deep flavour into it that came as a bomb at late hearts, some hay, old Virginia tobacco, dark honey, sweet grains, raisins, much like one experien...

I don't know yeasts' metabolism in depth, but using this product (for baby poultry) which has quite a lot of B-vits and aminoacids made me wonder how it could work in a mash/wash. After all, it is a cell level booster, designed to speed up cell division. http://www.zygosis.com.ng/index.php/chicktoni...

Bitter oils, wax, terpenes, all of them are shields that act as a repellent against insects and/or UV-radiation, etc. From the plants point of view the outer layer of the fruit is all about protecting the seeds inside until full ripening, quite the opposite direction to when they are in bloom and ba...

Nearly a month later the lacto works perfectly well*, the backset smells like bread now with no fruit at all, only the chocolate malt is detectable. It always makes me wonder how long a little chocolate malt goes. It does not smell that awesome as it was a week ago, smells more relaxed and round. As...

Sadly, guavasteen is absolutely unknown in this part of the world, as it prefers cool winters (we have cold winters, 8-12C below zero) and moderate summers (+30-35C is more of what I call hot). Maybe in some places that have a moderate microclimate. The nursery garden where I use to order egzotic fr...

Hello InglisHill, by soap do you mean some flake-like particles that settle at the bottom of the container of the spirit? Those are normal, some fruit oils form waxy flakes over time. Kind of what happens with aged wines. By that time fruit brandies can be filtered (I use unbleached coffee filter pa...

Alcohol pulls out acetaldehyde from PET-bottles. It can be used for storing low wines a few days, heads will be cut out anyway with distilling it, but using plastic for aging is definitely not a good idea.

Dear Odin, thank you for you answer.

I made topanimbour vodka today. Regards, Odin. Wow, that is interesting! We have lots of Jerusalem artichokes in the garden, I really should dig up some if the vodka is tasty. How did you convert the inulin to fructose? Just found some method how to make fructose-glucose syrup from them ( http://on...

Traditionally baijiu's cuts are made much more liberally then what we feel safe. It sends your liver sporting.

Our tap water is chlorine-free, it comes from prehistorical underground limestone-caverns that the river Danube carved millions of years ago. It is alkaline (pH 7.2) and has a moderate amount of calcium ions, and no sulphur-, metal-, phosphate/nitrit compounds. Best water in Hungary, right here, und...

Tokoroa_Shiner wrote:a "special" strain of yeast?

That would be an unlucky combo

Due51 wrote:I just want to make sure I understand: you stir your ferment daily? Disturbing the grain bed?

Absolutely, I stir around the grain bed with my pipe-heater. But because I have a shouldered fermentation barrel I am not disturbing the CO2-layer.

No way we can't do something much more interesting easily :) "- How 'bout this bourbon of mine? - Mmmmm, nice long creamy nutty aftertaste and smells a bit like fruity wine with lots of dry fruit and marmelade... I really like it, oak plays a lesser role and a good complex grainy taste is defin...

I'm afraid there's going to be a lot of suspended particulate and a humongous grain bed (22lbs of grain). Just stir it up daily as I do with my all-flours. A few percent of scolded whole wheat berries would give the grain layer a better texture, if fermented on grain it makes easier to stir. My nex...

It was not an exact science, and any experienced microbiologist is sure to do a double facepalm by just reading my method. I have taken steps toward the goal to have "my own" beneficial lacto strain, and luckily one step resulted in a leap. After stripping a mash I fill the piping hot back...