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Up to you as you can see above. Want it crystal clear with little to no effort? Just add some gelatin. 1/2 tsp dissolved in 1/4 cup water per every 5 gallons. Let sit for a few days.

Mashing - Brought about 10 gallons of water to pretty damn hot, guessing 160-170 degrees, couldn't find thermometer. While water was coming up to temp, I cleaned and prepped the 10 Gallon Round Igloo cooler, put the Mesh BIAB bag and all the grains in the cooler. Mixed the grains up good. (See grai...

...The mop bucket has crossed my mind many times, not sure I would use it enough to justify storing the damn thing. With success, you will. Go ahead and “dive in”. ss Idk, it seems the only size worth worrying about quantity of wash wise would be too hard to lift by hand. Ymmv. That said, this IS o...

I have used 50% flaked corn several times with zero problems in my RIMS. I do add rice hulls as a practice. However, I have not done it in conjunction with that high of a percentage of wheat.

Interesting stuff. I am just a smuck noob and have so far come to the realization for me that so far with the variability of wash abv, ambient temperature variations and different chararcteristics of what I am making, anything more than a controller with a dial with marks at full, 1/2, and 1/4 would...

LWTCS wrote:Interesting how all three articles only reference the wine side.

Yes it can matter but not to the extent he is experiencing.

There should be no material difference in fermentation berween the two vessels. I suspect you have some other process variations at play.

Yes it’s all great advice. Ok so here is my NOOB take so far. I am looking forward to two years from now looking back at this and seeing how naive I was/am. So here goes. First off I will likely be doing two runs in the future and I am really curious how they will compare. As mentioned I currently d...

I prefer single pot still runs. Thus I need the healthy wash. I think your best brewing practices are mostly redundant, but you won't be harming yourself, so if it makes you happy... The single run through the pot still however.... I think its poor practice and cannot be rectified by how your wash ...

Yes good reminder that one has to ramp up slower to eliminate barfing. I prefer single pot still runs. Thus I need the healthy wash. I am currently in the middle of 9% run as we speak and had to ramp slowly. (Learned the hard way). Messing around: It is 87% 2-row and 13% special B I used s05 with no...

Yeast at 1.040 will put off fewer "off flavors" than at 1.080. I put that in quotes because it's kinda key to understand how to develop a flavor profile. For a clean American style Whiskey it needs to be a clean happy ferment so you don't get a lot of fusel oils/alcohols. Those are the &q...

Fwiw i don’t care about alcohol quantity. So far my limited experience says I’ll take the 5 gal single pot still run of 1080 over the 10 gal 1040 every time. Yum. I'll have to argue with that. Yeast likes 1.040 aloft better than 1.080. It will ferment faster and cleaner. Not sure what that has to d...

I came from a beer brewing background and the first time I saw a whiskey mash my jaw hit the ground as you could imagine. The transition for me was not so hard because it was explained why it was different. That said I did start with hang ups on clearing and sterilisation but not for long. It was n...

Awesome conversation. I expect if we trade back and forth for a week or so we will see that we are more in agreement than disagreement. I have a great deal to learn and A great deal of experimentation to do. I am always open to thoughts on the craft. Regarding my original ref to the beer folks, base...

@single malt yinzer I have a fully automated system I can program to do what ever I want for as long as I want at what ever temp I chose. You now have me thinking. Here is a little paragraph on mashing that you may have seen. I may try some creative mashing profiles to see the affect of FG. Thanks a...

Beyond that I suggest anyone reading this thread that really wants to learn the ins and outs of AG mashing, fermentation, diacetyl rests, wash clarification, lagering etc go to homebrewtalk.com. Beer guys, by necessity, are way ahead here. Huge difference between beer and distilling. I've always fo...

Why does wine and most beer get better after sitting? Ever tried green cider vs cider over 6 months? There are alot of sciences that I don't understand. I do know that yeast will continue to clean the ferment up for months after it is done. I only talk from experience, not in knowledge :lol: . Im n...

ShineonCrazyDiamond wrote:The longer it sits (safely), the better it is.

Lucky bastard

Really? What improvement happens after fermentation is done and the wash has cleared? Inquiring minds would like to know. Thanks.

You can look up autolysis of yeast. Likely not an issue for you but: 1) you will know by smell and taste if this has occurred. It will be nasty. 2) a real problem for beer, likely not for distilling unless it has a bad burnt rubber smell. I think that could be problematic. Again , all of this is dou...

I draw distinction between ‘not good’ and ‘don’t like’.

@nerdybrewer Ya know I have never been much of a rum drinker. Well except for some mixed drinks while in vacation in sunny warm places. I may have to sample a few quality rums to maybe see what I have been missing. Thanks

Thanks so far everyone. Again, I am NOT looking at replication so no need to keep weighing in on that. Great to hear that excellent quality can be had. That is simply not the case on the wine side, but is quite doable on the beer side. I assume it is related to wine/grape being such a ‘living’ and v...

I'll take a stab and responding to your question. Yes... If you are patient, have an insatiable drive to learn and can deal with the disappointment that inevitably comes from learning. To learn we have to fail, failure is a result and it's an important one. The critical thing is learning from failu...

Not trying to replicate (but damn ... if we only could). Just asking if producing this level of quality is reasonably achievable. Fwiw I am fully prepared to drink my fill of ‘failures’. Lol. I guess that is why they invented soda and other mixers.

I brew beer because I can make it as good or better than I can buy. I don’t make wine because I can’t accomplish that Recently started distilling with several runs done, testing out mashes and techniques. Sitting back with a dram I got to wondering... I have three go-to’s at the moment. And these ch...

Not sure where to ask this. I did look but have not seen it yet. I have to leave town after a run. How long can I leave the cuts covered before tasting and blending? Thanks.

Yeah my son made beer a few times but he said (I don't drink beer) that it wasn't so great. So we plan to make some beer with the braumeister before trying it for grain whiskey. Geoff Fermentation temp stability makes a big difference in beer. After getting great sanitation, that is the next thing ...

Heck I am not proud, I will dig up a 4 year old thread...to the Noob, old is Noo. The idea of gas separation due to molecular weight and the idea that disturbance might get in the way of that process got me thinking. Hmmm, Co2 is heavier than O2. Therefore we should all be dead with all the co2 at t...

I don't think anyone has escalated, they simply want to know what your goal is. Which is a logical request when trying to answer your question. I think the gap in your understanding is this. If you're doing a stripping run and need to know the proof, it's easier to use a parrot and smearing doesn't...

Smearing isnt a bad thing If you'r really worried about it only use a parrot on a stripping run Don't use it on the spirit run It sounds like your mistaking quality for purity What is your goal to make Right Now Gin, Vodka, Whiskey, Rum, Brandy? Have you ran a still yet Wow this is escalating fast....