Home Distiller

I think I am going to
Pillow case it out of the fermenter and single distill in my pot. I pitched the yeast at 6:30 and its bubbling away already. Did not fully pass iodine test, but was really tough to get a clean sample. SG was 1.065 so I think I did ok.

After getting mold in my first home attempt at malting wheat, I tried again. This time I had some success. I malted 20 lbs of wheat, dried it and knocked rootlets off, and milled it. I toasted 10 lbs raw wheat in the oven at 380 for 30 mins, until I could smell the wheat , I will call this my "...

^
|

Exactly what I said, I have been clipped for 4 years now, there aren't doing me much good, plus the replace it with a synthetic so it still feels real. I'm in!

Not at all. Kind of has a wet tent smell to it though

Think it's safe to mash? I already started another batch.

The one that molded also has a bunch of swollen grains that are not germinated and full of a sticky, milky, creamy substance. I would assume this is saturated wheat.

Just read through it again( 4th or 5th time) guess it's just a process of elimination and knowing how each environment reacts. Here is a picture yesterday. I removed all the mold I saw and just wanted to complete the process, I think I will pitch it all though. ImageUploadedByTapatalk1440946476.3099...

After the initial soak how often do you spray the grains?

I decided to try my hand at malting. Everything was going pretty well. Soaked and drained in 2 ,8 hr cycles. Chits appeared on about 90% of the grains. I then moved the grains to the malting table I made. After 24 hrs rootlets and acrospire began coming through. I had been covering the grains with p...

I have a AG sour mash aging right now. I ran stripping runs 3 nights in a row, on the fourth night I charged the boiler with the remaining backset from my last stripping run, about 3 gallons of "ass pressed" mash, and 3 gallons of low wines. The product has been Oaked on JD chips for 4 day...

For me: I use about 8 hrs a week in the hobby at most. Depends on how many ferments and what they are, or where I am at on making runs. The site on the other hand seems to occupy another 49 hrs a week! There is so much info on this site, I am not so sure there is anything left to be covered. It amaz...

My last sugar head, with corn for flavor, ended up with a bubbling white film on top of it. Not sure if it was lacto or not. Smelled a hint like nail polish remover. I siphoned from below the white funk, left it on top. Ran through my boka with half the packing and made one of the best, full flavor,...

I use bakers yeast most of the time, plan on switching to us-05 for my whiskey.

I have never had off tastes in my opinion, never bready, nor astringent.

I have read quite a few posts talking about over worked yeast and off flavors. What do these "off" flavors taste like? I always use 2-3 grams of yeast. My latest AG has been stripped and I ran my spirit run. I notice a very sweet flavor this time though. That made me wonder....what are the...

I ended up getting 280 lbs white winter wheat for free. I have seen quite a few things about using winter wheat for vodka, but not much on whisky. Is there any opinions on whether or not this will make a decent whiskey? I plan on doing a grain bill of 33% ( until I figure out how good the enzymes ar...

That's where I plan on starting 33%, I think I will probably be able to get away with 25% but no need to be stingy now.

Finally got my hands on my wheat! Free 150 lbs straight from the CoOp. Just had to promise to keep some whisky available for the man who made it possible when he stops by. Have a malting table ready to go, going to try my hand at malting 10 lbs first. Now I just need to figure out what kind of DP I ...

"Free work"= self gratification, fulfillment of some unknown agenda.....

I completely agree. I generally start sipping( due to limited stock) at about 3 months. I will have a jar or two that makes it over the 8 month mark, but that's about it. I think I am going to lose this jar for a while along with one with just the chips.

Well the verdict is in, 4 cycles in the microwave/ freezer and this jar seems like it has been aging on spirals for 6 months. This is a beautiful thing, rear end was puckered up the whole time, but now that I have some well aged whisky I think I can relax and have a sip.

I thought about trying each one separately, but I feel it would be a bit redundant. I know that my spirals come with toast only, so after a few trials with them I decided to start charring half of it. I knew going into it that I like the earthiness of the char and the flavor of the toast, so I just ...

Just added JD chips to a quart from a stripping run. Came across this thread and decided to give it a go. I charred and toasted equal quantities of chips, added a 1/2 cup of blended chips ( left equal part chips untouched as well) to a quart of 30% 6 row 70% corn. Nuked it for 1:15 and let cool to r...

While waiting for my wife to surprise me with a barrel, I decided to try the chips. I normally use the oak infusion spirals with great success. I split the bag into 3. I used my propane torch to char 1/3 of the bag. I toasted another 1/3 of the bag in the oven at 360 degrees for 1 hr. The last 1/3 I...

I have never tried checking or adjusting my ph, but with the bust I had this past mash I am looking to improve across the board. Are fish tank ph strips ok to use for our purposes? How about fish tank ph adjusters?

Just to update. Looks like my ferment is done. Final gravity of .996. Ended up drying out at least. ABV of wash is 3.5%. Hopefully I can pull 1 gallon( unless I really want to squeeze grains) of decent spirits off of it, sulk for a few days and start my next AG this weekend. I plan on using backset ...

Check out allgrainbrewing.biz
I recently found out them. I got the really good deal from a little brew shop that was closing their doors

I am going to run it. I also think that I am going to get a small mill. As I said before, never had this problem, I am beginning to think that a faulty thermometer could have been part of the problem. Not sure my gelatinization was all that great. This sure had made me gun shy though! Feel like a br...

Think it would be ok to dissolve 50 lbs sugar in 10 gals water and put that in, or I could just run it when it's done and take my gallon and walk away. Never had to save a ferment like this before, I'm heartbroken[PENSIVE FACE]

Thanks guys I really appreciate all the input. Have been thinking about setting up a steam system. Now that I have moved on to bigger mashes I may just do that.

I have used the same cracked corn, and process numerous times and have not had much of a problem . I generally shoot for 2 lbs per gallon but added a little more to help mash the corn this time. The iodine remained reddish/brown when checked. If starched were trapped still inside the large cracked c...

So after getting such a good deal on the 6 row, I had to use it. I decided to make the biggest mash I have ever made. I decided on a grain bill of 50 lbs of cracked corn and 25 lbs of 6 row. I only have a 7 gallon stock pot, so I had to cook in multiple batches. I heated 10 quarts of water to 190 an...