Home Distiller

Bushman, I use a flour and water gasket. I use self-rising flour so it expands as it heats. Haven’t had a leak so far.

Thanks, all. In terms of clips, this thing is airtight. I only had 4 clips on my smaller still (permanently attached with SS screws and PTFE gaskets). Now I have twice the clips and I haven’t come close to having a leak.

Thanks, yummyrum.

Thanks, Mooseman. I’m thinking of getting a larger propane burner, although I don’t really care how long it takes to strip. I used to make 3 5-gallon washes and strip all 3 separately. Now I can make 20 gallons of wash and it only takes 2 runs to strip it. Is there any reason not to use the larger s...

Thanks, Mod and Salt Must Flow.

After 6 years using a 34 quart SS pot for a still, I built a new one. This is a 60 quart SS pot with standard worm and flake stand. I went through the full clean and break-in protocol and now I’m stripping a 10-gallon wash for gin. I upgraded from 3/8” copper to 1/2” but it doesn’t seem to have incr...

I age all my whiskey at 120 and I've conducted blind taste tests and most people can't tell my whiskey from commercial whiskey. I can say that it comes out really good at 120. Never tried 130.

Fish

I recently learned the hard way about storing low wines in plastic. I have always stored them in plastic buckets from Lowes or Home Depot. Last time I went to run my gin, I opened my bucket and found nothing but juniper berries. I examined the bucket and the alcohol had caused the plastic to crack o...

Hi, guys. I'm late to this thread, but wanted to echo I use almost the same procedure as Bencornish. 3 stripping runs of DWWG and the botanicals macerate in the low wines for a week. I go much heavier on the juniper though. I found 1 lb. bags of fresh juniper berries from a company in California. I ...

I would echo what AC fixer said. A hydrometer is a must. Without knowing your starting gravity, it’s hard to tell if that’s a fast fermentation. At those temps, I’d taste the beer for sure to see if it’s done. Also, without knowing your mash or wash recipe it’s impossible to comment. If you just add...

Thanks for the edit, Shineon!

Shoot! Wrong title. Corn flake, not corn meal.

This recipe owes its beginnings to Odin's cornflake whiskey. For 10 gallons of mash, I use 6 lbs. of American 2-row malted barley and 2 boxes of generic cornflakes. I mix the ingredients together as if doing a traditional beer mash and mash for 45 minutes at 150 degrees F. Sparging is tricky, but I ...

I would echo what frunobulax said about the overhead stirrer and the video he linked. I have a 1/2" drill mounted on a 2 x 4 that is bolted to a joist in my basement, so it can be folded up out of the way or brought down with a mud mixer to stir a big old pot. It's very handy. The other thing I...

Personally, I prefer the deathwish wheat germ recipe. Seems to make a very nice neutral base for my gin. Note: I don't have (nor do I care to build) a reflux still. I've never had a stuck ferment with the DWWG and it always ferments down to around .995 or lower.

Here's a Briess 6 row at 150 http://store.homebrewden.com/us-6-row-m" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow ... -p599.aspx

Right down the road from me. I've been purchasing my beer supplies from them for years. Good folks.

I refrigerate mine. If it gets a little infection, no big deal, as it will be sterilized again when running the corn mash. Plus some of that lactobacillus makes a nice sour taste.

Making “flour paste” in a breadmaker to a stiff pizza dough consistency makes it easy to work with and after the run, it comes off easily. In the bread maker, I make a big batch and just leave it in a plastic bag in the shed, which is like a fridge. For those of you in warmer climes, you may need l...

FWIW, my ferments take at least 2 weeks on average. I do mine in a basement in Florida, which stays around 66 or so in the winter and up around 74 in the summer. OG is usually around 1.090 and FG is 1.000 or below. On average, I lose around 10 "points" a day. But once they're finished, I h...

Mice around here will sometimes chew through buckets and tubs. I store bulk grain in plastic bags inside galvanized trashcans. I tried buckets, but I have rats and they chewed right through the bucket, so I now have large galvanized cans too. But as someone else said, it goes rancid over time, so I...

Agree with NZ Chris. I run uncleared corn mash all the time and never had a scorching issue.

Sounds like you released some starch from the corn, but didn't do anything to convert it to sugar. In the absence of some enzymes (liquid or via malted barley or other source), the starch from the corn won't ferment. Also, corn needs about 180 degrees to fully gelatinize. I would suggest reading the...

What do you use to convert the starch?

I use Sebstar high-temperature alpha amylase for 1 hour at 180 degrees, then Seb-Amyl beta amylase at 148 degrees for one hour or until the iodine test shows no more starch.

I don't think it takes much energy. Gas stove on low all day.

I use a 5 gallon bucket with 3/32" holes drilled in the bottom and a drill with a plaster paddle. No squeezing here.

Late to this thread, I know, but FWIW, I cook my corn in the oven at 200 for 8 hours. Never boils, and it renders 100% of the starch. After that, once I've mixed it into my brew pot, and it's being stirred by the overhead mixer, I hit it with an immersion blender for a couple minutes to break up the...

I know this has been addressed in some of the T & T threads, but it bears repeating. I recently started adding my cracked corn to a 4 gallon pot and filling it with water, then leaving it in the oven for 8 hours at 200 degrees before starting my mash procedure. The first time, I used 15 pounds o...

I'm with irvingsprinkle. I have a skill which will be in high demand when my job as a lawyer becomes useless. I'm a prepper, which I figure most around here are. Alcohol is a valuable commodity, so stocking up on it is smart in my opinion. Otherwise, I do enjoy the process. There's so much more to d...

The old M*A*S*H still has been a source of amusement since I started distilling. They never mash anything, just put 1/2 a cup of grain in a small boiler and voila! endless supply of vodka.

Incidentally, I've started using a modification of pintoshine's method. Instead of continuing to heat once the mash reaches 180 and keeping the mud mixer going, I just add the enzymes, stir for another minute or so, then turn off the heat and the mixer and leave for an hour with the top on and some ...