Home Distiller

...Starting Gravity: 1.096...Potential Alcohol: 12%...Any thoughts?.. I think your OG is too big. Indicative of a novice...trying to boost the %ABV without regard to what the high gravity ferment will produce in the way of off flavors. Yea I thought it was high too. My early Cornmeal/Sugar Mashes h...

Over the past weekend I decided to do a basic cornflake mash from one of the recipes I've seen posted on one of the other forum threads. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=31371 I did it a just a tad bit differently. I finely crushed 3lbs of Kellogg's Corn Flakes 8lbs of Cane Su...

I'd add the barley malt (2 lb) to the flour mash. Let the enzymes convert the wheat flour starches to sugars. The additional sugar will add a harshness that you won't get with the wheat. So, it would be better to reduce or eliminate the white sugar in favor of more barley or wheat. You asked, "...

I have 3 gallons of Apple Juice fermenting right now. I'm going to try making a brandy out of it. I made a couple before but I wanted to try something different with this one. I want to keep a good bit of the Apple flavor but with a kick. My plan was to run through the still to get the initial spiri...

What do you think of this recipe idea. 5lbs Whole Grain Wheat flour (I bought it a while back but never used it) 5lbs White Cane Sugar 5 Gallons of Well Water (Maybe 1 - 2lbs of Malted Barley maybe not) I kind of want to try an all wheat whiskey. I do have access to get wheat malt and wheat grains b...

Hi, I'm still new and made a couple batches which were good but I'm still sticking with the basics in order to learn more and devolop my skill. I enjoy Whiskey it's my favorite spirit. I had a question about a basic recipe. 5 lbs of corn meal 1 lb of malted barley. 5 lbs of white sugar. 2 packages o...

Yikes I just read up on why, glad I was careful and had no spillage. OK for my next batch I will dilute the first run down to 40% and rerun it. I didn't use the Chinese instructions I culled together instructions from some other sites and distiller blogs before I found this forum. This was the one I...

JayTeeDee, did you dilute your 90 - 100 proof spirits to under 40%/80proof before redistilling...??? You should not charge your boiler with anything higher than 40%... If you didn't then that would help explain how you hit 155 proof average with the second distillation... I did not I just reran it ...

Howdy here's my latest update from my first run here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=60750 I did my second run over the weekend and it went much better. The little Chinese Still is going strong. After multiple trips to Lowes and Home Depot I finally found a solution and I was...

Yea about that 32oz....remember when I said you might outgrow that boiler pretty quick? That's what I was talking about! Lol. Hard to learn and make cuts with such a small amount. That's why alot of us run keg boilers. 10 or 12 gallons of wash to start with makes life alot easier. Yep didn't take i...

You did not specify how you did the mash, but i gather it is 5 pounds sugar in 5 gallon water, plus some grains not mashed, just for flavor. That should yield you around 5%ABV, so doing the math you should have about 32 ounces alcohol in your charge. You collected 12 pints, starting at 110pr ending...

JTD, if I get this right, this was your first run ever. It is not to be tasted, it is not to be kept. It's a sac run, it must be dumped. Also, did you do the previous cleaning runs with vinegar/water? Those apply even on bought stills. Before I did this run I had done all my cleaning, steaming, san...

What up?! Giving y'all a update from my previous dilema which I detailed here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=60703 Well I got past that issue and ran my first full batch so let me let you know what happened. First off the Chinese still did work as advertised but I can tell i...

Almost done with my first run. Haven't tested the proof yet but everything is looking good.

LOL autocorrect I meant sac run. My main run is going now. The pot is heating up

Update: I got the missing part. And I did my cleaning and doing my vinegar run now. So far so good. The Chinese still is working as advertised. I bought a gallon of cheapo wine to do my dad run next. Ill keep y'all posted.

I just got notification my part made it to the local post office so it should be delivered tomorrow. I'm going to do my cleaning and my sac run then my distillation and report back!

Sorry Jayteedee. I wasn't trying to burst your bubble. But I was afraid you may have ordered one of those eBay stills. We see it at least once a week here, someone orders one of those then comes here wondering why it won't work well. The good news is your here now and you can research the still, fi...

If I ever get a response from my email I'm going to see about getting a refund but if that falls through...would it be better to try to fix the issues with this setup, or just toss everything but the boiler and start from scratch? I already have enough 1/2" copper line to make a reasonably siz...

I never considered building but I'm pretty handy maybe I could do DIY it. I'll see how the Chinese thing works for now and go from there.

What's that gasket made of? It looks like silicon: if it is discard it, since it is not considered safe, and make yourself another with ptfe wrapped cardboard (look for everlasting gasket on this site). The worm I fear is way too small, you'll not have an easy life tuning that. Also, collection poi...

JTD can we see a picture of the chinese still? I fear it might have plenty of unsafe materials.... UH OH! Here is the product page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XZ4Y5T0?colid=25KMFVNH0C85N&coliid=I3DVZULAQJ8GT2&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl And here are some pictures I took when I notifi...

So, what's more critical...the cleaning runs for your still. There is a 4-step protocol recommended here: step 1) mechanical cleaning (brush and soap), step 2) a good steam bath (fill with water and make some steam). Get it all good and hot. step 3) vinegar run with 50/50 vinegar and water (get it ...

I noticed that you wanted to run it after several days - did you miss that you said fermentation stopped after 10 days? Leave it be Beaver, you'll be fine. My original plan based on what I thought at the time was solid research from youtube and other blogs before I found this forum was to run it af...

Man we got a guy here that swears by letting his ferments sit for AT LEAST a month after fermentation stops. Just keep the lid on and the fingers out and you should be fine. What kinda still did you order A friend bought me one of those Chinese made stills off Amazon because they knew I home brewin...

Whew good to know. I plan on running them twice. I read some stuff from different books and distillation blogs that had me freaking out. I'm just trying to make some good whiskey. Thanks for the quick reply!

Yea I might use the Turbo as a sac run it's the one that's been sitting the longest.

Hi folks, I may have a bit of a dilemma. I started a 2 separate 5 gallon Cornmeal/Sugar/Barley mashes in anticipation of distilling after about 7 or 8 days. However, when I unpacked my new still that I ordered I realized that an important piece was missing and I had to alert to seller to send to me ...

Hi folks I’m totally new to this and needed some help/advice. I been home craft beer brewing for a few years I decided to try my hand at making some shine. I culled together some instructions and tips for making my first mash from some video resources and sites. I found these to be most helpful: htt...

Hello folks!

I've been home brewing craft beer for a few years now and quite enjoy it and I thought that I could take those methods I've developed over the years and try my hand at distilling. I'm having some beginner issues but I like it so far. It's a great new hobby!

Take care!