Home Distiller

JS, Indeed. I stole the concept from those who take an empty bottle and then pour bits of other commercial make into their 'house' blend. We have the advantage of being able to work in larger quantities and have more influence on the final outcome. Cheers! Best, Drifter I love this! Ever evolving ho...

Deplorable: I think you're right on the money with multiple barrels each with a single grain bill. With skill, there shouldn't be much variation btw each batch of new make, so your flavor drift should be minor, and after a few generations, you should have a consistent house blend. My challenge was I...

My barrel of UJ is 94 Litres at roughly 63%.....I take 5L and cut that to about 42% for bottling and drinking. The 5 L taken gets replaced with stored white dog immediately......the barrel is a X bourbon import....once used when I bought it in a group buy. I don't worry about over oaking.....I've y...

I have 4 Badmo’s and 3 x 5-7G barrels (ex bourbon or wine). I’ve started heading toward a solera systems for rum, HBB and UJSSM. I thought about do the UJ as an infinity barrel, but became concerned that a poorly cut run would run the barrel / system…. This feels like a process that works great as ...

I've posted elsewhere how I got surprised by a barrel that was much bigger than I thought it was (60 l vs 20 l). I filled it with UJSSM over the course of about 6 months. and I'm now about 17 months after topping off. I'm approaching the time frame where I need to watch out for over-oaking. The thou...

I started my UJ project with the expectation of getting some spirit to age on oak in glass. I've been pretty conservative with cuts on everything I had made to that point and was with UJ too. The first couple of gens were delicious. After a few gens, I decided to fill one of the 2 20 l new barrels I...

Welcome to HD FOE2,

Lots of great info here, and you are right, you will progress, improve and achieve your goals of more and and different.

Best Drifter

Howdy Yankle, I have yet to use the soda ash, but have my stash laid in. I don't think you need to wait for soda ash, just for bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) per bgrizzle above.

Best Drifter

Great technique Kyolic, thanks for sharing. I happen to have one of those steamer baskets in house. Of course SwMBO might get excited if it 'disappeared'.

What did you use for legs?

Experience is the best teacher, and we all started out with about zero. The advice so far has been on spirits that are 'just' distillate, with no added flavorings - not something like apple or cherry pie. Not that there is anything wrong with flavored spirits, many of us have our favorites and stock...

Welcome BTR, We're happy to have you. I'm not familiar with the 'turbo still', but I've seen the Vevor and know that some like them, but they are often outgrown quickly. They have gimmicks like a little thumper, a flake and worm etc. The issue that I've heard is that Vevor is the distributor/sales o...

Bradster68 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:35 am Welcome and to the men keeping the country safe.

What Bradster said in triplicate. We owe you guys and gals alot. Glad to have you come aboard!

Best, Drifter

Welcome Dutch, I'm a bit north a some a ya, but on the 'wrong' side of the border. Often, we figure we're closer to y'all than some others way south of us. Anyway, back to the topic at hand: Great that you've already got an AG on the yeast, and are hooked up with temp control. I smell a beer brewer....

Howdy SD! Welcome to HD, and we're happy to have you. Ideally, the craft made stuff is much less likely to give you a headache. Anything drunk in large enough quantities will of course, but because we can choose (afford) to leave most of the nasties behind and only bottle the sweetest, you may find ...

Howdy RV, Welcome. Your concern about a long term investment before knowing whether you had gold or dreck kept me on the sidelines for quite a while. The good news is that actually, a couple of days after you do your spirit run you will know if you will have something to be proud enough to say 'I ma...

Welcome HG,
If'n whiskey you're after, you should start your research with pot stills, as that type of still makes the flavorful spirits (not like vodka) possible.

Best, Drifter

Howdy Moe and welcome. This is a great place to start your journey. And we were all cherry once.

Best, Drifter

Thanks sl, this is the first time I've seen this fact and hadn't taken it into account. Is this just for perf plates or for bubble plates as well? The downcomer cup needs to be 2 times deeper than the liquid on top the plate. If it's not, the vapor will take the easy route and go up the downcomer in...

RR, Great recap of what sounds like an epic event. I think you outline the overarching benefit: sharing the passion we have for the craft with others in what is normally a solitary hobby. Regrettably, the portion of my life spent on the Front Range/Western Slope is receding in the rearview mirror. T...

B73: Great initial report. Just be aware that your 10 l barrel will give up it's oak much faster than a full sized barrel due to the much greater ratio of surface area to volume. My (really bad) memory seems to recall that for a 20 l, 9-12 months is optimal, so I'd think you are in the 4-6 month cat...

Welcome Avreies, we're happy to have you. Lots of good knowledge here so come around often!

Best, Drifter

Lots of great work here. I've got a prototype in the works for my first batch of barrel aged UJSSM that I'll pull off after some spicier new make is ready to replace the drinking stock. To date, I've been on the blue painters tape and sharpie method. Keep up the good work, both in the distillery and...

Does your still have a name? Thought this thread deserved to be resurrected after having researched pics of stills for column lyne arms earlier and seeing how many had names. As of tonight, my still (simple pot atm) has been christened "Sentimental Lady". The opening lyrics (Fleetwood Mac)...

Thanks for the tip Shady! Priming the downcomers sounds like a great experiment, and I'll report back on my findings. I'm stubborn and decided that since I had all the parts fabbed I'd try building a plate last week. It went together all right, just a bit fiddly because everything is so tightly pack...

Welcome! I've never made a gin, but it is on the list!

PS, Welcome to HD. Sounds like you're off to a build project. Good on ya, Drifter

Howdy blinnh, Many here are retired or close and this hobby can certainly help pass the time.

Welcome, Drifter

Howdy Thor, and Welcome! Art it is, but with a side of science for sure. While some will tell you to disregard most instrumentation during the distillation, I'd slightly modify that by telling you that you CAN'T run your still 'by the numbers' early on. Too many variablews for that. That said, good ...

Howdy Maddog and welcome. Your fermenting experience will come in handy, but lots to learn in the next phase of your hobby. Join us often!

Drifter

Howdy PGB, Yes, modular is the way to go, either as a build or buy. There are lots of avenues to explore. Welcome!

Best, Drifter