Home Distiller

I've got plenty on the shelf.... But that's for much later not now

I've started waiting almost until bed time for my nightcap and skipping it on "most" (ie; some) days and that limits the reduction of shelf-stock

Cheers,
jonny

This is the best deal (free/gifted). Also very good and goes down smooth @ 57.5%.

Cheers,
jonny

Welcome to HD! Make sure to check out and use the tried and true recipe section here, review the rules and take some time to read and research. If you’re after a neutral, Shady’s Sugar Shine is great and uses bakers yeast. Slow down, Make good cuts and no filtering required.

Cheers,
Jonny

For the most part it's a long game in my shed - not a quick turnaround for most worthwhile and sought after end products...

Well worth it too

A big thanks to the folks here that have contributed to the deep pool of knowledge in the past (and many still around that continue)..

Cheers,
jonny

Does anyone here have any experience reconditioning BadMo barrels, or reusing them as they age? I’ve got a few that are on their 3rd fill, and I can tell that they’re definitely not affecting the contents as quickly as when new. So far, I’ve tried to use that to my advantage, using them for things ...

IMG_3075.jpeg Allspice Berries, Black Cardamom, Cassia, Cloves, Coffee Beans, Fennel Seeds, Ginger Root, Grapefruit Peel, Lemon Peel, Liquorice Root, Pink Peppercorns. I like the idea of orange. Perhaps some coffee and cocoa. I’ve got some bourbon extracted vanilla beans in the spice rack. Orange b...

I enjoy a drambui every once in a while. Me Da turned me ontoit a number of years ago along with a rusty nail.

Might collect and produce some tinctures and use a bourbon base instead of scotch for something interesting.

viewtopic.php?t=30960

Cheers,
jonny

Slaked lime or calcium hydroxide works well to raise pH to where you might want it and a mesh baggie with a pocket full of shells helps to keep the pH stable. 10% backset is a pretty safe amount to prevent crashes. Maybe see if you can bump the pH with calcium hydroxide to restart the ferment or run...

Totes ship very well. Glass in the same volumes not so much. SS would elevate the pricing further. Business is business. Hobby distilling isn't business... For my likker made at home I use wood or glass for storage :) And I drink it out of a glass too! That's right! And it brings up another questio...

I would suggest using about 2# grain per gallon of water and that will get you in the range of 1.060-1.070 or so.. Maybe a little more/less..

Cheers,
j

Totes ship very well. Glass in the same volumes not so much. SS would elevate the pricing further. Business is business. Hobby distilling isn't business...

For my likker made at home I use wood or glass for storage And I drink it out of a glass too!

Cheers,
j

If you're going to distill this then I'd start at the higher temps to gelatinize the corn and add the malt as the temp drops to 150*F and then let it drop naturally to pitching temp or use a wort chiller. That way you also don't denature the enzymes and they can continue working throughout the ferme...

Just an update on my experience with this: I've run 20 gallons of wine, three gallons of brandy feints, and three gallons of agave feints. I'm now into running three gallons of Bourbon feints that has been recycled through a number of AG Bourbon generations. These AG bourbon feints are probably 6-9 ...

IMG_2996.jpeg Here’s the boiler cap on mine. I clean it for a few hours with hot ethanol vapor then a rinse and dry :) I’ve had “very purple” before but can’t seem to find the pic. Depending on what i’m running the patina changes up a bit. All joking aside, stripping runs consist of boiling a somew...

I use a 50g hdpe barrel and the large batch mashing method with a 16g boiler. Three strip runs and one spirit run makes about 2.5-3g of -120pf after cuts. That’s with AG bourbon mashes fermented on-grain, squeezed, stripped, and spirit run. If you’re making whisky, you might consider lautering and f...

@Peaty Jones - I'm sure you also are aware that you might want to strip down to 25-30% aggregate total ABV in your low wines which will bump the low wine volume yield a bit (instead of stripping to 40%abv) and when you do your spirit run will come out after cuts in the neighborhood of 120proof or so...

A few Notes: Sanitation in distillers beer is less important than brewers beer. If there are hops in the wort those will be concentrated in the distilate and you may not like it. Beer typically has some residual sweetness from un-fermentables - this can lead to excessive foaming. 5% is fine, no prob...

IMG_2976.jpeg IMG_2977.jpeg I’ve been running something like this ^^ for wine and also going through a few batches of feints. I might end up running the feints again which comes out at a lower proof (80-85%). The wine came out about 90%. I proofed the feints down to the 10-12% range and have a bit ...

Take an so2 measurement and treat with h2o2. I think treating the wine would be better because it will remediate the so2 before running it. H2o2 will probably oxidize it to some extent but thats fine if you run it. Double distill like you mentioned. If you can smell the so2 in the low wines do a lit...

Agree - However, if you're product is coming off warm or hot, which isn't necessarily bad or a problem as long as all the ethanol vapor is knocked down, you may prefer it to come off at a cooler temp for whatever reason and additional length would help achieve that.

Cheers,
j

Just some thoughts on this. In my life, I am surrounded by teachers (wife, daughter, friends, etc) and planned to teach when I left the Navy years ago so I got my certification to teach middle school in the USA. As part of that curriculum in education there’s a lot of discussion around the modaliti...

Hey there Jacobacro, I’m going to suggest that you start reading and researching here on this site. Here’s a good link that will lead you down a few rabbit holes. https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=52975 I’ve not done an absinthe yet but there should be some recipes in the trie...

I reckon you'd do one, maybe two runs like that before putting in a large access port.

I wonder how much water volume it takes on from the steam?

Cheers,
j

Stay safe out there!

Cheers,
-jonny

TheBaconLard wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 2:49 pm Thanks for the replies, I’m not an expert yet on crafting stills so I was a little confused. Wish me luck!

There - I fixed that for you and good luck. Pay it forward some day some way

Cheers,
jonny

@DaviesCountyBooxer - You only need to satisfy yourself so if you're happy with your product then you're good to go :) Most folks around here are chasing the craft of producing higher quality product than what is available (affordably) in a store near them. These folks are going to attempt to help y...

You only need to please yourself

That being said, is that a plastic coupler between the small pot and the worm/bucket?

It wouldn't be hard to make a more proper worm with the parts you have to up the quality of your spirits a little.

Cheers,
jonny

Yup. Basically using it as a pre-cooling pot. There's 10 ft of copper tube in the 5 gal bucket under water. Oh, and that "push" makes the whole system act like a reflux. Getting 90 percent all day long. Also, reflux would mean condensate being directed back towards the boiler for re-disti...

I feel like that's going to cause significant smearing. Cheers, jonny Newbie here. What's "smearing" ? Smearing is when your fractions become smeared together and are therefore much less concise. For instance if you collected into three containers only you would have much less resolution ...

I feel like that's going to cause significant smearing.

Cheers,
jonny