Home Distiller

Thanks for all the replies. I was not aware that it would be necessary to dilute down so much to do cuts and will do so going forward. I originally thought I was dealing with a conservative hearts cut but apparently not. I'll be more vigilant when doing a run and separate the distillate into smaller...

I have 12 mashes under my belt and just as many stripping runs. I've recently completed my 2nd spirits run which was incidentally my 1st AG spirits run. The mash bill was for the most part 80/20 corn and barley malt. One of the mashes I introduced rye in the bill but had a hell of a time with it and...

NZChris wrote:Sounds like you still had unconverted starch. Did you test for it?

No I did not. I'll start doing that from now on.

I had my first experience with scorching of the wash on a stripping run I did yesterday. This was also my first grain bill that I included rye in so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. I had the pump to my condenser turned on and right before distillate started coming out of the still I...

Thanks for all the replies. I tested the setup on a stripping run today. For the most part I ran it full blast because of that, but I did turn on the variable control for a bit. The unit got a little warm over time. I was expecting it to get scorching hot like it had been described to, but perhaps i...

I bought a 1500 watt immersion element with built in thermostat control for my 8 gallon boiler before reading this forum and discovering that was a mistake. I've been using it for mostly stripping runs which it works just fine for as the thermostat control is useless and I just run it full blast as ...

Well the good news is there were only the 3 bugs so I will run this wash. There must not have been many bugs in the cracked corn I used at the time that I used it but the bag is now fully infested. I'm assuming you guys aren't recommending I keep it and continue making batches with it are you? Becau...

Just discovered the bag of cracked corn I was using is infested with the same bugs. I guess they weren't actually flies. They must've been present from the start. I'll be tossing the entire batch and the remaining bag of corn.

I've done several sugar/corn mashes and had done 1 prior all grain corn mash without issue. On my most recent all grain adventure, I've found a few flies in the wash. I did not see them flying around in the glass carboy it was fermenting in. My process has me pouring the wash from the carboy to a st...

I wouldn't say there's that much difference in versions but idk never read the new one. It's just good for concepts and the rest of the stuff you'd want or need to know is available here. Use the HD Google search and almost any of your questions will be answered. Sounds like your off to a good star...

You need to have more enzymes the just alpha. That won't give you a full conversion alone. I wouldn't say you cooked to hot? For corn you just need to to gel, so the hotter the faster it will. Get some malt (or the correct enzymes) or do a sugarhead. When you try to up the potential of AG with suga...

why did ya cook the corn on a sugarhead? a pint of alcohol from a 5 gallon wash seems really low... :wtf: maybe try a recipe that works? with less work? Not sure what the exact recipe of the distillery that I visited was, but it was corn and sugar he was using and he was cooking the corn. I realize...

Tokoroa_Shiner wrote:Final gravity of 1.081?? Surely that's a typo? 1.081 would be a good starting gravity.

Yep, sorry. That should have been 1.0081.

Alright, this may get long winded and I understand that I'll lose a few of you as I've been guilty as well of the TLDR response on other's posts but there's a lot of info and for those that stick with me I'd appreciate any comments or constructive criticism. Some of you have been following my initia...

I have a conical fermenter and I did not remove the airlock prior to taking a sample from one of the valves and it ended up sucking the water/starsan solution from the airlock into the wash. Initial thoughts were not to drink the distillate once I've run it, but wanted to get some opinions first. It...

Thanks for the quick links. I vaguely remember reading about thermostats and avoiding them with electric heating elements a while back. I guess it didn't sink in enough when I went shopping for one though. There are two pins in mine which hold the thermo to the element. I'm not real confident about ...

I apologize if my explaination is not descriptive enough to understand. I'm a design engineer and electric and mechanical systems are intrinsic to me, as I've studied them and worked with them for many years. But lets see if I can shed more light on the process in layman's terms. The thermostat tur...

Congrats on your 1st run (sac run). It sounds like the run went pretty much normal. A pot still used in stripping, like you did for the sacrificial, is best run as fast as possible, ie-wide open, like you did. And your observations about the temps were correct. Without knowing the make and model of...

sounds like a resounding success! :clap: :clap: :clap: couple things: the ice is overkill. you can just use water, as long as there is no vapour escape you are fine. this is the reason i suggested valving the input water...you can choke the water down to warm your product condenser a bit, the resul...

I completed my sac run a couple of days ago and have been meaning to get on here to share my experience and observations and also get some feedback on some things. I fully intend to take detailed notes of my regular runs, but I was not doing this on the sac run. I have an 8 gallon milk can boiler wi...

Alright, I took HDNB's advice and turned my rig into a pot still which is probably what I really wanted and needed to do all along. I cut the reflux pipes and turned the liebig 90 degrees and attached a valve on the water intake to control flow as was also recommended above. I immersed it in vinegar...

Well I was finally able to seal the holes in my column. Thank god! I'm also in the middle of reading The Compleat Distiller and that book discourages putting the cooling tubes through the column like I did and which was also discouraged above. I will run it as it has been designed a few times initi...

Well I was finally able to seal the holes in my column. Thank god! I'm also in the middle of reading The Compleat Distiller and that book discourages putting the cooling tubes through the column like I did and which was also discouraged above. I will run it as it has been designed a few times initia...

the first pic on that site has the cold water in the top, waste water at the bottom....that is backwards...when you do your mods, cold in at the bottom, waste water out at the top. coolant water should be valved, either at the tap, or in line if you are recirculating. there are at least two good re...

Hi logic, I'm a NE FL guy too. Just getting started. Have you looked at Rockytopstills.com? John I just took a look since you mentioned it. Their site only has one product for sale and that's the still that the guy builds. I could cut the pipes on mine and turn it into a pot still like the one on t...

First, I wish you had checked here before building that antiquated Cooling Management reflux column because it is very inefficient... If the lower tube leaks, remove it and patch over the holes... Then drill new perpendicular holes either immediately above or below the upper tube... You can also wi...

Here's the flux that the local plumbing store sold me. I've completed the whole column with the exception of these leaky areas using this flux. I hope this is/was adequate.

Here's a pic of the column. I've tried and retried soldering (I've definitely gotten better, but I still suck at soldering as can be witnessed by the mess around each area) the areas described to be water tight and it's just not working. Hopefully I don't need them water tight as was mentioned above...

Hi guys, I'm from Northeast Florida and I'm new to fermenting and distilling and have been building my first still. I've soldered the copper together for a reflux still using the plans found on erowid.org. I got interested in this about 6 months ago and I'm anxious to get started on my first run. I ...