Home Distiller

Hi, and a good new years to y'all. I'm seeing wisps of vapor coming out of my collection pipe. Regular ol' pot still, 30" liebig, distillate coming out cool, all pipes cool/warm, not running it super fast, stripping run. I was worried that it was scorch, so I took the top off and stirred to the...

One of my rye/wheat mashes fermented out dry - .985. the other is stuck at 1.025. I've tried warming it, repitching, fiddling with the pH, repitching... it smells fine, seems thin and clear (as was the other: I take back my doubts about the beta glucon rest). It tastes sour, like it's ready to go. I...

I've learned a lot from this thread. Thanks for sharing experience and wisdom. Looks like you've been traumatized from a rye scorch or two. Same here. After about two years of working on this, I figured out that my 50 l still bottom fit inside my 35 l cooking pot (the first is tall and skinny, the s...

there is no better feeling that encountering a problem and solving it. good going!

yep. first thing.

yes, I 'm thinking now that I procured this blue plastic barrel from a friend who produced wine for several years but has left off from it - he may well have sanitized his equipment with chlorine. I'll ask him today - that may well solve the mystery, Thanks for your help and advice. - Vern

yes, that is what I also understood. thanks for your knowledge.

I have starsan but I admit to not always being diligent about using it. I guess I will be now...

My impression is that many of the distillers here do not follow a strict sanitation regimen. Is that so or am I just projecting my own laziness onto others?

ss - that's what worries me. I think you're right, there's something in there that is killing the yeast. I've never heard of anything like this before - but I think I may have experienced it on a smaller scale when I was first starting out. I figured I had done something stupid and dumped the bucket...

yeah, the other container fermented dry within 10 days. I could try that - certainly it will not do any damage. Thanks.

i even chilled it a bit more and used US-05. a waste of yeast.

I tried what you suggested, down to the last detail, and no fermentation.i even warmed it, added more sebstar gl - no joy. added sugar,, no change. IDK - i'm out of ideas.

my string of impossible bad results continues: I think I'll take up knitting. smoked barley single malt. 40 liters of 155F water, dumped 10 k grain in (the grain was cold having set outside for a while in a sealed container), drill stirred every 15 minutes, covered, let it set til morning. Now at 95...

I'll give it a shot - thanks.

and it dries sticky on my hand - there's sugar there. it just doesn't want to ferment.

still tastes sweet. actually, let me go check.

sweet and a bit sour. hydrometer is at 1.06 after temp correction.

Thanks Red - I've tried that, but to no effect whatsoever. HDNS - I twas thinking of trying that - bringing some in the house and experimenting til I got results. My wife can't stand the smell of mash though. I use unmalted rye. I like the flavor of it - less spicy and more earthy. Had issues grindi...

I admit failure! My mash has defeated me! Anyone have any good advice? I’m speaking of two identical vats of rye mash, same protocol for each as described below. One has fermented down to 1.00, the other stubbornly holding at 1.055, and as sweet as it was on mash day. It refuses to ferment. My rye p...

Yeah, I think that's right, and I'm just being impatient. I don't use airlocks anymore, the bubbling i see is slow bubbling on the surface. With the rye, it was just impossible to get an OG, but it tasted very sweet. Flicking the side of the cylinder it's reading ~ 1.038. Time to pour myself one and...

Having the same problem here with a rye mash (9k raw rye, 4k corn, 2k barley). Mashed the rye and corn separately, the rye with malt, the corn with enzymes, good conversion according to iodine test. US-05, mash is holding at 73 degrees. Also 3 days shy of 2 weeks and SG is high - mash tastes like a ...

My staves (wine barrels) are years old, exposed to the elements and well-aired on racks, not stacked. I don't sand or clean them at all, just toast 'em and roast 'em. They seem to work all right - but is there any danger in what I'm doing? Is it a bad practice? Only thing I could see is if the iron...

My staves (wine barrels) are years old, exposed to the elements and well-aired on racks, not stacked. I don't sand or clean them at all, just toast 'em and roast 'em. They seem to work all right - but is there any danger in what I'm doing? Is it a bad practice?

I could not have had the success I had without the your help and that of other experienced distillers on this forum. Thanks!

Vern’s Rye – Made with unmalted rye, using both enzymes to convert the corn and malted barley to convert the rye. This recipe gives an earthy full-bodied rye whiskey. While you may have heard that a rye has a spicier flavor and there is some spice here, you are going to get the earthier tones from u...

an update on the rye project: I've got a cousin who works for a distillery in Finland - Kyro - and they make everything from rye. She sent me some samples of their 100% rye whiskey, and it had a very distinctive, earthy rye flavor. I tried mine for the first time last night, and whooeeee - it is at ...

I agree with Otis, mo' time mo' better. Rapid aging or heavy oaking might give you something quicker but breaking a personal best becomes an uphill battle. I was really proud of my in-glass aging attempts until I got a barrel and waited a year. Doesn't mean I don't have an ultrasonic cleaner and fi...

just to add - coincidentally, I've just been reading the single pot run thread where you talk about 1.5-ing - a process I had never come across. I always thought that 1.5 -ing referred to using a thumper. I can certainly see how that would solve issues of in-between size runs.

brother, I was! I was! I knew I could stick 50 l into the boiler and have 4 liters left over for my guests and me for the holiday! Everyone was happy, and next year we'll be drinking brandy instead of wine. I've pulled 5 liters of 85 proof out of the spirit run so far, and it is still goin strong! m...

A friend just gave me a 54 l demijohn of petit verdot - he did not like the flavor of the grape (it's good for mixing with other varietals, but pretty heavy by itself). I did a fast stripping run in my 50 l pot still, but halfway though I wished that I had ade cuts - it really tasted great. But what...

Early on, Badmo was talking about using a thin flour paste or caramel for a glue, then developed techniques that made a glue redundant.