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I really like apple wood for aging. I use apple wood chunks packaged for use for smokers. They are about fist-sized chunks. I split them down into about 2" x 2" x 3" long pieces. I toast them wrapped tight in aluminum foil in my oven at a little less than 400 degrees for two hours. I ...

I like your copper work on that. Pretty cool.

I've been a little delayed on this project. I like the idea of a tire rim... One of the problems I ran into is on the inverted flare. To use it as-is, I need to find a 1/2" female NPT that has the male end of the flare down inside it (called an inverted flare...). I can't find them anywhere loc...

Welcome to the Forum!

Post some pics when you get everything together; we love to see the equipment.

Keep reading and reading. There will always be something you missed or something new to pick-up on a reread...

did you dilute any with water? something similar happened to me, i think my water, or not adding product to the water, i added water to the product. maybe i had tails. i dont mind a little haze, i am going to drink it any how. No, I didn't add anything to it. I think I just went a little deep into ...

However, it is best to rehydrate with just plain water. In the first few minutes during rehydration yeast are unable to prevent sugar and other contaminants from being absorbed directly through the cell walls. Not real good for the yeast, it will kill half of your yeast. For rehydrating yeast just ...

Got a new rum recipe going through the still now. It's a 12 gallon charge through a thumper charged w/ mixed rum and grape brandy heads & tails. I'm into pint #9. It's still in the heads, but pretty tasty...

Now as the journeyman I always pass on the tips / tricks of the trade to the apprentices in my charge. This next generation of trades people will only be as good as we make them. Training is important to me and if any of the things I do here in the forum help even one person to have the confidence ...

Nice!

Welcome to HD!

^^^^^ ^^^^^

Do the mandatory reading and research...

Be safe and welcome to HD!

Welcome! Sounds like you're well on your way! Be safe and read, read, read. Some of the Old Heads on here get miffed w/ questions that could have easily been answered in the mandatory reading and research that one should do before trying any of this stuff. Can't say I blame them... Keep us posted on...

Update on my first SF... It's quite good flavor-wise! I still think it is a little thin which should take care of itself in future generations. When I pulled spent grains, I added about four pounds of cracked corn w/ another two pounds of SF (I think my Tractor Supply all grain SF is a little lite i...

InglisHill wrote: As an aside, for others to think about, this is shiners first build, you may have already seen a hundred boka builds, but, the site is about encouraging people. There has been a real lack of that here. Just something to consider.

+1


Nice job T Shiner! Looks good!

dan_buddy wrote:do you think 3/8 inch coil is big enuff ?for a 50 liter boiler

Minimum 1/2" ID. And if it was me, I'd probably go a little bigger... 5/8" - 3/4".

Those look great, but I'd be real careful ordering any still. In fact I would not order a still from any kind of store or manufacturer in the US. W/ them needing to provide documentation of sales to the TBB, I'd just as soon build my own.

Having said that, they do make some nice stuff...

I got another one. I have 12 gallons of a molasses rum wash ready to go. I don't really want to put it into my large boiler over my pipe burner. I want to run it in my 15.5 gallon keg. Since I'm going to need another round/banjo style burner anyway for my keggle when I start doing AG, I figured I be...

Welcome, Greg!

Read lots! Good info here...

Welcome, Mike!

I ran my first sweetfeed the other day. Not so sure yet on the results. I did it just like KS's recipie when he went to 30 gallon. I used Tractor Supply's All Grain Sweetfeed. As it was the first gen, I didn't use backset (I had some from some UJSSM, but I wanted to keep it sweetfeed...). I did use ...

Thanks, Goose Eye. Will do.

Another thing I didn't notice until I did my clean-up was that there was no soot or anything on the bottom of the boiler. I don't know if that was just from it being NG instead of LP, or if I just got lucky w/ my air intakes...

Thanks, Hamshine! I got to use it today on a 20+ gallon sweetfeed run (my first gen of sweetfeed). From first drips to shutting it off at 35ABV was a little less than four hours. I ran it on high until I got a steady stream (this was about a half hour), and then I backed it off. It ran pretty smooth...

A 35 degree temp difference is pretty good, in my opinion... How big is the coil? I managed to get a smallish condenser coil (18" X 14" and about 2" thick - three passes) that I was going to try to employ for some cooling. I'd be happy w/ a 35 degree temp drop.

Here a couple of picks of the burner under a test fire. I still need to weld something underneath each end to keep it from rolling in case of a bump, etc.. Having the flex line hooked up to it keeps it pretty secure, but I want something much more stable.

Ole boys would be wieldin some stops on it so It locks onto blocks. In case you kickit or somethin. you getting 5v tin for wind brake. Just cut a slot for braided ss gas hose from burn to go thru. Take black paint to take the shine off if you in the woods. You doin it on wood floor make a sandbox t...

Sweet rig! I'm slowly working on a 3" four plate. When I see posts like yours, it gets me fired up to get back to my build.

Nice work!

Nice lookin' boiler! As Brendan said above, your cooling water is too cold, causing vapor collapse. There are a couple of things that will help. Slow down your cooling water flow through the condenser. You should be able to feel a temp gradient across the condenser. It should be cool close to the ou...

+1 on what goose said. Maybe put a brass ball valve close to your gas source so you can shut it down with a 1/4 turn. The valve shown that will be attached to the burner is more of a control valve than a shut-off. There is another valve (same kind - 1/4 turn gas cock shut-off) on the hard piped gas...

freshwaterjellyfish wrote:
Some advice back to anyone that will read this: TURBINARO SUGAR makes some sexy rum. So far its made the best (well, except for a run w all tails).
Thanx again!!

I agree. I like my rum made w/ turbinado...

Welcome to HD!

Welcome!

Wow, w/ the title of this thread, I wasn't sure what I was gonna see... lol.

Welcome! Read, read, and read some more. Most questions have already been answered - many times. Please take time to do required reading and practice safety at all costs.