Home Distiller

I was going out to see a cabin to rent in the middle of the woods. Friend of a friend was the landlord. Place seemed cool and so did the landlord. He asked med to lunch, I said sure. He served up deer he found on the side of the road. He said it must have been killed the night before. Delicious. I t...

Sounds about right to me. I seem to wind up at about 65% aggregate by the time I cut it off. Glad to hear it isn't still bitter, whatever the cause. Now leave it alone for as long as you can stand it but even in 4 months it should start showing its character, at least enough to where you can tell wh...

Nice! Good to see the old school carried forward! Thanks for sharing. I was gonna polish mine when I built it vut then I just started using it. I have been asked how old it is as it is already getting a nice patina to it.

As a newbie, without the temp gauge, in a pot still, how does a beginner judge the temp of the mash? I could see using the temp gauge as a “guide” until ya have made a few runs? What is the “trick” to judging the temp? I too wanted a thermometer in the beginning. But I was too lazy and impatient to...

Naw. More chance of infecting it by fooling with it. It isn't exposed to air as there is a nice co2 blanket in the fermenter. Well summumagun. I didn't know Yep, as the yeast produces co2 it pushes the air up and out, since co2 is heavier. The cap is irrelevant and will fall as the fermentation nea...

Naw. More chance of infecting it by fooling with it. It isn't exposed to air as there is a nice co2 blanket in the fermenter.

I never touch the ferment. Pour it all in the fermenter, hang the stocking of oyster shells, pitch yeast and walk away. Open it a week later and run it. It is always done. I have an aquarium heater in there to keep it warm. What is the benefit of stirring it up? With a fruit where there is a real ca...

Now that the master has spoken... :D Did it taste bitter before you ran it? I am guessing not as you didn't mention it. I have never (in my all of 4 runs of apple brandy) had a bitter taste. Like Cranky says it can take a while for the apple to show up. Actually, in mine it is there strong at first,...

I find my parrot quite handy. I only use it on the stripping runs. Mine has a funnel and I accidently made it a little low so that it is mostly full during operation. Turns out that for all grain it is a big plus as it also collects oils that then do not make it into my low wines. As to charcoal, I ...

Stillanoob, I am in the middle of my first ferment of plums for a plum brandy. Can I ask what are your quantities for plums / water? How may kilos plums / litres water? What is your yield at the end? Presumably you make a starter, what surprises me is that it isn't more common. Finally, do you push...

Use the turbo wash to clean your still and toss it out. Go peruse the tried and true recipe section, pick one and do it as described. Saves so much time instead of re-inventing the wheel. And welcome!

So in Australia that would be dunny buggy? Perhaps our down under friends could elucidate.

Click the board index link above. Select the appropriate sub-forum. You should see a "new topic" button.

Thanks for the link IG. The fact that your buddy's is better than yours is a compelling reason. Also it is fun to build stuff and I have the tall keg just sitting around. Are you running whisky or brandy?

I'd guess tails too. Tannic is, well, tannic and grain husky tasting and sort of dries your tongue. You wouldn't be the first around here to have the ability to taste small amounts of tails. I am not one of them naturally but since I have been using a heads and tails mixture for hand sanitizer for a...

I would say that sometimes at least it may not be pointless to answer a question from a long dead thread. Yeah, the OP may not get the answer but others might. And I totally agree that a +1 or things like that are pointless and just add to the clutter.

Thanks I'G., I know to keep the ABV below 40. Iwas wondering if yours wound up much lower than 30%. Sounds not. I have been reading up on thumpers for a while. Your take on the process of a thumper that is better than a 1.5 distillation? Intuitively it feels to me it would be better but I have no re...

Thanks for the replies. Good to know I am headed in some sort of reasonable direction. IrishG, when you do your "true" 1.5, what is your starting ABV in the second run? I do wonder if my plan above puts enough cider in the low wines to be effective. Another question: Is there any reason why a thumpe...

Thanks Jonny, I appreciate the feedback. I'm a heads monster for apple brandy. I agree the flavor is in the heads. I was lucky enough to do my first run with a French trained distiller who worked in the cognac trade and know makes apple brandy and he says the same thing. He showed me to toss the for...

Hi All, Well, my 30 gallons of cider is getting close to ready to run for brandy. This is only my second year and fourth run of making apple brandy. I am toying with the idea of doing a 1.5 run to bring across more of the apple flavor. I was thinking along the lines of cutting off the stripping run ...

Good brandy is traditionally made with a wine that you might not want to drink Geoff That is true. But it isn't that it has gone bad or skunky. It is a particular wine that experience has shown to do that. It is also not the general rule. A friend of mine that worked with Germaine Robin and other w...

Good brandy is traditionally made with a wine that you might not want to drink Geoff That is true. But it isn't that it has gone bad or skunky. It is a particular wine that experience has shown to do that. It is also not the general rule. A friend of mine that worked with Germaine Robin and other w...

Welcome! I'm a new guy too but my experience so far has been if it tastes nasty going into the still it tastes nasty coming out. The one exception I have found so far is a lacto infection on top but the product still tastes fine. That was worth running. I also recently had a whisky low wines that ha...

Thanks Tuinboon. I just took another look and I can't find a place in the US selling 250g packets. The best I find is $4.99 for a 10g packet.

For the oak I use one light and one medium toast stick. That gives it some oak but (IMO) not too much.

It is working as a separator and I was quite surprised at the volume of the oils. I was surprised at how thick it was too, as it congealed and balled up during the run. It seems to me that getting rid of that much oil is a real plus but as I am new to all grain I don't really know.

Hi All, A while back I made a parrot for use when stripping. (Let's not get into the parrot debate.) It came out looking nice but the first time I used it I realized that I should have made the funnel part a little higher than it is as the funnel is mostly filled before it starts to drip out the spo...

Can you get these from epay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1LB-Toasted-White-American-Oak-Chips-Sticks-Distilling-Moonshine-Beer-Wine/190834648120?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 They have worked for me. I just got 1/2 of a wine barrel and am going to toast my own. I am curious...

So, maybe try hitting the sweet feed with boiling water, give the corn time to gelatinize, allow to cool to 150 or so and add quite a bit of malted barley for enzymes. Yes sir that's my plan exactly. I do have some Sebstar and Sebamyl on hand. Might do a batch only using malted barley and another o...

My understanding ( and I am just getting started with AG) is that the temperature to gelatinize the corn (190ish) would denature the enzymes in the barley. Since none of the grain in sweet feed is malted you are going to need serious additional enzymes to convert the starches. So, maybe try hitting ...

I leave my white brandy at room temperature. However, plum is the only brandy that I leave white. I did a pear/apple brandy a few weeks back and it was good white but was asking for some oak so it is sitting on it now. I like the mangrove jack yeast. I think I like it better than EC1118. Bummer is t...