Home Distiller

carbohydratesn wrote:Many avoid the problem altogether by fermenting and distilling on the grain.

Distilling on the grain sounds very difficult to clean up unless I can rig up a double-boiler.

Thanks!

Did a 6 gallon, 70% flaked maize, 30% barley mash yesterday and, as expected, I could not sparge using the SS-braid manifold in my MLT. I ended up scooping it out and squeezing it through a nylon strainer bag. That's fine for small batches, but that doesn't really scale well - I don't really want to...

I do my runs in my townhouse garage. My barley ferments stink up the house and stripping runs smell....so good. But all I smell is cigars during the spirit runs

I made beer for over a decade before I started distilling and I think it's really been beneficial. I share an the rather unpopular opinion that raw materials and fermentation are far more important than still design and control when it comes to making good whiskey. Knowing how to manage yeast means ...

Thought I'd post a follow up... The next run with the same grain bill puked as well, so I'm pretty sure it's just due to the chemistry of the malt. A buddy of mine who runs a distillery up in NY recommended fermcap, so I figured I'd give it a try. My local homebrew store didn't carry that, but had a...

Another thought - maybe your wash didn't quite finish fermenting.

I think I'm good here. FG was 1.002! I usually aim for a 72 hour ferm to keep the autolysis at bay, but I really don't know how necessary that is on a small scale. I let this one go a whole week.

Bushman wrote:Read PP's post and the following comments. Should answer your question!
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... g#p7120110

Nice, thanks!

I've run a couple dozen barley washes through my pot still + hotplate but yesterday was the first time it's ever puked on me. The boiler's 8 gallons and I had 5.5 gal of wash. In the past I've run up to 6 gallons without issue. Typically I'll turn the heat on as I've transferring the wash, but this ...

A lot of the Scotch distilleries claim to use bread yeast. Originally I was using WLP045 and WLP070 but have now switched to whatever Costco carries. I think it's Red Star instant but I'm too lazy to put this cigar down and check the fridge. Can't really say I can taste the difference, but my final ...

I stop around 20%. This gives me about a gallon of 40% low wines per 5 gallons of 8-9% wash, whether malt or molasses. If I had it on propane I'd likely go lower and try to match the Scotch distillery 3:1 reduction, but with my cycling hotplate it just takes too long. By the time the output is in th...

Took your advice and stirred the bucket and boy what a difference that made. Ended up using only 3L in 5 gallons and it clocked in at 1.085. I don't think the purist in me will ever allow white or brown sugar in any of my washes. Hell, I hate using it in old ales and the likes and that's actually hi...

Taaser wrote:If anyone is wondering and doesn't know yet. I contacted Mile Hi today and they report every 3 months for stills and columns to TTB.

Appreciate it, as it answers the question that's been on my mind. Wonder how things went from "when requested by the TTB" to an ongoing thing.

Recipe? Molasses, water and yeast. I weighed out a pound of the blackstrap and added it to a gallon of water and ended up with a SG of 1.028. So it worked out pretty well to just use 1L per gallon. I didn't even think of stirring the bucket though, so now I'm going to have to recalibrate. I typicall...

I went ahead and stripped it last night. The hydro reading was about the same, maybe a bit lower. I didn't really spend too much time de-gassing the sample or anything since I was already committed. Tasted very dry, no sweetness whatsoever, so that was a good sign. pH was still higher than expected ...

You need both alpha and beta. They work in conjunction, but have different ideal temperatures. Alpha cuts the chains in the middle while beta works on the ends. The textbook difference between distillers and brewers malt is the diastatic power. Distiller's malt has more DP which aids in converting a...

dudasaj - how long ago was your purchase? I recently (March) bought a complete rig from MH and haven't received a letter or anything. Mile-Hi had records requested last summer... There is a topic about it... That's why I was asking. I bought right after the Florida thing and have been kinda paranoi...

dudasaj - how long ago was your purchase? I recently (March) bought a complete rig from MH and haven't received a letter or anything.

LWTCS wrote:Temp drop didn't help one bit.

Yeah, but this late in the show I wouldn't expect it to be too much of an issue. There was a good 72+ hours at 78.

Did you taste it? Sweet on your tongue? Or dry like dry wine/beer? No, too busy being disappointed by the gravity reading. Should have at least done that and checked the pH. Lesson learned. :? After some very quick reading about molasses and hydrometer readings, I may not be as far off as I initial...

White Labs suggests a starting pH of 4.5-4.8 - fermentation worksheet (pdf) - but I tend to agree that it seems a bit low. I put it in the garage tonight, so it'll be closer to 80 by tomorrow. Didn't know about the accuracy issue, so thanks! Looks like I have more reading to do.

I'm trying to make rum and I've never fermented anything other than malt, so I'm in uncharted territory here. I made a 1.083 wash with this blackstrap . A little over 4 days later it's only at 1.040. I've read that there can be a lot of variation with the final gravity depending on the molasses, but...

Sounds good alpine i assume your fermenting on the grain? I dont but use the grain and leftover sugars for a sugarhead so i have something to drink while the good stuff ages. No, I sparge like I do for beer but I don't boil the wort. I use one of those Igloo cubes with SS braid for my mash tun. My ...

For a 5 gallon wash:
8 lbs Fawcett Optic Malt
8 lbs Simpson Peated Malt
Enough calcium to get your pH where it needs to be
White Labs WLP 045

Forgot to mention that for washes #2 through #5 I used a half-gallon of backset from the previous stripping run. My pH was consistently on the high side for both the mash (5.5ish) and fermentation (finishing in the mid 4s), and the half gallon made only a slight improvement. Next time I think I'll u...

nickbbb wrote:It stopped bubbling yesterday. The SG was 1.06 FG now is 1.008. Yesterday it was FG 1.014

That seems reasonable, no? Were you expecting a lower FG? For my whiskey mashes (50% 2-row 50% wheat) I've only had a couple go below 1.010.

Do you have a hydrometer? What was your OG and FG? What temp was the fermentation?

Good idea about modifying the hotplate. I think I'm eventually going to switch over to propane but I'm a little nervous about an open flame in my garage. Think I'll get a nice box fan and CO2 detector first. It would be nice to speed things up a bit.

Yesterday I did my first spirit run and I think everything was successful, so I figure I'd post about it. Equipment: In addition to the regular home brewing equipment (Mash tun, chiller, test equipment, etc...) I have a MilHi 8 gallon CM still. I only run it in potstill mode - I don't have any cooli...

If you want to get serious about water, do yourself a favor and get it tested. After that, Bru'n Water makes it pretty simple to hit whatever profile you're after.

Making a starter for dry yeast is typically unnecessary as you have more than enough cells. Rehydration with warm water, however, is pretty important as without it about half of the cells die.