Home Distiller

That looks normal to me.

before adding vitamins You'll need to tell us what you used and how much of it. Good chance that explains the colour and the oil slick. Spring Valley brand B100 complex and B1 vitamins crushed. 50 gallon wash and used 7 of each. The one that sticks out is Riboflavin, but the best thing would be if ...

Yeah the colour does make me wonder. Keratin in multivitamins in sugar washes have made my wash look yellow in the past.

30xs wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 29, 2020 3:15 pm

before adding vitamins

You'll need to tell us what you used and how much of it. Good chance that explains the colour and the oil slick.

Sailman wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:39 pm

This is my first attempt at trying to char some Oak, how does it look I was trying for a medium.
IMG_20200929_173234.jpg

Looks nothing like a char. More like a heavy toast. Although photos can be deceptive.
Char is literally black charcoal, which will rub off easily onto your fingers.

Freezing it is probably better than fresh in some ways. You don't have to blend it up either, as the cellulose would be degraded with the freezing. I've done it that way with whole leaves and it worked, but the leaves developed a slime on them in the fermenter. Not sure what it was, but it was still...

Salty, I have read if Kiln dried, it can "lock" in the tannins and then putting them through the wet dry cycles do not really work well in getting rid of the tannins. But I do not have practical experience, nor do I recall reading it from expert per se. It could have just been from someone like me ...

Just to be clear, no one here is recommeding 10%. Half of that what we'd recommend.

I've never seasoned my own oak but shouldn't it also be out in the rain to wash excess tannins out? So not just air dried? You can start out with kiln dried or air dried pieces, but both need to be put through cycles of wet/dry seasoning. As well as washing out some of the more undesirable tannins,...

tecki_trojans wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 22, 2020 6:00 pm

Let us know how your experiment goes with toffee malt.

Already bottled and enjoying it with Oloroso sherry oak. I can see me using it regularly.
Its the Aurora that is still yet to be run, but the wort tasted great, so I have high hopes.

The specialty malts being over 10% of the mash bill means they won't be subtle, but then again, Bairds HPM is as dominant a malt that you can buy, so you might be ok. Gladfields Toffee is great. Its more a chewy caramel than honey though. For honey you might want to try Aurora (which I used recently...

You can get yellow distillate without puking. Foam ups will leave deposits on the side walls of the boiler/riser after the foam settles down. Then vapour will contact those deposits and carry over.
Double distillation sorts it out.

If its not easy to add and then fetch out of the boiler, then it will become a chore. Patina will be loosened by the acidic wash, so the shape isn't that important. It only really matters if you don't have an element and you need nucleation sites. All my copper is to the sides of the boiler, not und...

My sight glass is the porthole type with PTFE seals. Its also my fill port.

Had a sight glass added to the top of my boiler to avoid such problems, but of course when you're on strip number four at the end of a long day, you can get complacent... I looked over to see foam streaming past the sight glass and immediately killed the heat. Still wasn't fast enough as yellow liqu...

I have the option of using an offset gin basket, which means the heavier compounds/oils from the peels can't fall back down into the boiler charge. This makes for a lighter, fresh aroma/flavour. I find it works particularly well with lemon peels and I can get away with using more than what I would i...

Creep is a major problem with PTFE gaskets. Especially large ones. The first time you use it, will be the last time it fits.
Better to have a flexible gasket with PTFE tape. Although for that size, I would rather pay someone to weld something. It looks like a world of pain to me.

I used two specialty malts in my last whisky that were each 6.3% of the grain bill (the remainder was base malt). One adds honey toffee flavours that I have used before and the other was more biscuity/roasted. It came out slightly burnt chocolate orange and I'm not sure what to do about the maturati...

How much foreshot did you throw away? Not much and I didn't throw it away. It was recycled back into my 'Sugardos' which I made with all the leftovers from the Calvados. Then it was discarded with the foreshot take from that run. I think that an "EPDM gasket" is the stainless stell part of the pot ...

If its a first pass through the pot still and you intend to do a spirit run, then it seems like a very conservative take to me. From my notes, I had a 6.7% ABV Cider and collected (minus the foreshot) 2.7L @ 34%ABV from a 17L strip. Nice pot still BTW. Though I'm not a fan of what looks like an EPDM...

Virandell wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 03, 2020 11:10 pm

It's illegal in UK so I would no ask anybody but I could order from Poland for quite cheap

Who said it was for distilling? Most of my neighbours think I'm a home brewer. I've never made beer in my life.

How is it more work ? Because in order to make a sufficient amount, you'd need to mash multiple times to get enough low wines to make it worth doing. Doing it on such a small mash tun is doable, but using the same mash tun as the fermentation vessel is where your problems start, because you are tyi...

It sounds like a lot of work for a "lazy" method. Is there a reason you can't increase your fermentation size by a multiple of 3? Many people pour hot water over grains and then cover it up to keep the heat in, then come back and pitch yeast later after it has converted and cooled. Thats the true la...

You've got a 30L keg boiler and you want to buy a 30L mash tun/fermenter? Are you going to mash and ferment a wash and strip it, then put it aside and then repeat the whole process a week or more later? Planning to do that three or four times until you have enough stripped low wines for a decent spi...

The stripping runs are easy as there will always be sufficient liquid retained, it is the spirit run that concerns me. Multiple stripping runs is the answer. Ferment more. Strip more. You'll have enough low wines that you don't need to dilute and you'll have more (and better cut) product to show fo...

Peat smells like nothing and tastes like nothing you'd want to drink. Only when it is burned that it creates a smoke that imparts desirable qualities.

ya, only 21 liter of wash i have....my first rum! high molasses sugar with banana added :D...want to achieve atleast light rum....how about making 8 liter more simple dark brown sugar wash and add in final run to topup? or just do a single run very very slow(no striping run)? Making a ferment that ...

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:34 pm

You could use all of your low wines and add wash to bring the boiler charge up to the desired level.

ravi wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 3:58 pm

I have about 21 liter wash.

He hasn't got any wash to spare.

Chauncey wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:43 pm

SaltyStaves wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:31 pm

If you're in a pinch, some Teflon coated BBQ liner would be suitable.

What is that exactly.

Its a thin E-glass material coated in Teflon. Which makes it resistant to heat and chemicals and its very hydrophobic, so contact time would be minimal.

If you're in a pinch, some Teflon coated BBQ liner would be suitable.