Home Distiller

I have had good luck with EC-1118, but have had a couple of failures. I've found it needs yeast nutrients to work with corn or sugar. I use a tablespoon a Citric Acid, a Teaspoon of DSP and Gypsum, and 1/4 teaspoon of Epsom salts for a 5 gallon batch with 8 lbs of sugar. I used 12 pounds of cracked ...

Freezing won't kill the eggs.

You can always boil it down to increase the SG. I made corn syrup at 66% sugar.

From the Interweb, a destination called Kitchn: "But how did the weevils get there in the first place? So long term storage of grain at home is not indicated. Geoff Wheat seems to last forever as does barley. I have both in 55 gallon steel drums and have never had an issue as long as they are ...

Protect in in metal as well. Mice live to get in and moths can chew through plastic vacuum bags. I had 100# of rye turned into bug poop and over run with bugs. It was in a plastic trash can and weevils got into it somehow. I had a bunch of barley in vacuum bags and miller moth's chewed their way in....

I use enzymes and have gotten pretty good yields from cracked corn with no boiling. I got 15 brix from 10# of corn in a 4 gallon extract. The nice thing about cracked corn is I can use my kettle with a false bottom and not have it clog up. Finer grinds will plug up the false bottom and make it impos...

I'm doing something similar with peaches. I probably won't add the sugar, but had not thought of cooking. Thanks.

What heating process did you use? Did you do a rest at 150F or there abouts? The process I've used in the past took 2 pounds of crushed malted 6 row barley and 8 pounds of corn. Heat to 150F and give it a 1 hour rest. Bring it to a full boil for about 30 minutes, then cool back to 150 and add anothe...

It was interesting to see the effects of the enzymes. Going from true mashed potatoes that would stand the mash spoon up to liquid runny enough to pump in 2 hours was pretty cool. That low temp enzyme really does a good prep job. No big deal boiling it down some before pitching though.

The Maple Syrup industry uses reverse osmosis to concentrate weak sugar up to around 15% sugar from about 3%-4% from the sap. Anyone have experience using this? What sort of filtration is needed before feeding the RO unit?

I just squeeze the mash by hand and run the liquid through a 600 micron filter. If you put the liquid in a fermenter and let it sit a while, the tiny chunks of corn settle and you can siphon off the clear stuff. Not really needed, but if you want pure corn sugar, that is how to get it.

Disappointing. SG is only 1.025. Tomorrow I will check for starch. I can always boil it down.

I've got one of those, but it is too fine and clogs up without some courser screening before you get to 600 micron. Corn and grain is easy, but ground up pastries are a real challenge.

OK, this seems to be working well. I have 12 gallons of potatoes converting as we speak. I steamed 10 gallons of potatoes for 2 hours and let cool over night. Probably should have peeled them first, don't know if that would have been more or less work. I ran them through my stand-alone disposal and ...

These come in handy: https://www.walmart.com/ip/SE-Sifting-Pan/238476892" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow I got the 1/8" mesh and it works great! Some of the stuff I am mashing has chunks like carrots or raisins, or even potato peels and this mak...

Not worried in the slightest about peach kernels, or almonds. Too much work though.

I dropped by one of our local craft distillers that has a variety of fruit flavored whiskeys and brandies. I was interested how they got the flavor so true to the fruit. He said it was really simple, the soak it in the fruit. I'm giving it a shot. I had a bunch of dead ripe peaches. I chunked them u...

I've been playing around with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N919PIO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Not as good as the 2 step process with alpha and beta enzymes, and it takes a few weeks t...

My guess is the high gravity and low pH. Shoot for a pH of 5.2 there abouts. I use slaked lime from the garden store, way cheaper than the pickling lime.

glenlyon wrote:His thirst!

Tsk Tsk, that would not be legal.

Not for malting, but maybe for flavor. Oats have plenty of hull, so no problem mashing.

I have a 2000 Flex fuel Ford Ranger. I also plan on powering my tractor with it. Looks like my Coleman lantern will work too.

Corn. I use enzymes, you don't need them with malted corn.

I've done 3 batches of corn so far. 2 with ground corn and 1 with cracked corn. I add 4 ml of AG300L to the water with 10# of corn. The AG300L is active at 140F so it avoids scorching at the 1st gel point. I also add a tablespoon of citric acid which brings the pH into the proper range. Once it gets...

Malting oats can be tricky, but I found a neat trick that seems to avoid the bacterial pitfalls that will totally screw it up. I soak in a bucket for 12 hours with an aquarium bubbler so the grain doesn't drown. I mix in 1/3 cup of regular unscented bleach with 4 gallons of water for the soak. Disca...

Properly made corn malt needs shoots between 1" and 2". Corn malt does not have a lot of extra enzymes, so it won't convert much other starch. Best to malt all your corn for your recipe rather than try to use it as a base malt to convert more unmalted corn. If you really want the easy way ...

Good to know, I always wondered about that.

Fart Vader wrote:Ah yes. Denaturing.
Reading carefully through the first part of this thread, one notices that the grain is fully dried at room temperature.
Then the killing is performed. No degradation in DP.

Point taken on coming on too strong. Sorry about that. I can certainly see how corn malt would grassy as the shoot needs to be 1"-2" long for proper enzyme formation. With wheat and barley the shoot is only 1/2 to 3/4 the length of the grain. If you take some and chew it, there is no grass...

Too bad my statement came off sounding blasphemous or untrue to you. Neither, it came out sounding sanctimonious. I see so much stuff in forums by people who are just parroting what other people have posted that also don't know what they are talking about. Nearly all the posts on how to malt are BS...

If you run the car on Just alcohol, you only need 165 Proof. The only reason for the 98% pure alcohol is to make it mix with the denaturing product.