Home Distiller

Sorry for the long delay. Haven't built it yet. Life came up, then I was introduced to a hobby bee keeper, and I'm now on a mead kick because I get a great bulk rate. As soon as mead madness ends, I'm on it. I have however brainstormed a better way to build it - essentially fabricate a more practica...

So for a long time I've wondered about essentially making a custom yeast strain, but the thought of spoilage and starting over put it on the back burner. However I may have an acquaintance that has come into possession of a freeze dryer - so this most recent thoughts of yeast sparked a possible solu...

Can you get your hands on activated carbon? Sounds like it would be ideal for your needs Had some and actually forgot I had used it on the feints and stripped them. Decided I didn't care for the mess and hassle after that and gave it away to someone with an aquarium. But the scraps wash was mostly ...

Couldn't sleep and couldn't stop thinking about the idea of an external reflux system for the pot still. Since this will be my last huzzah for a while, may as well enjoy the ride and go out with a bang. Slapped together a quick proof of concept to see if it was realistic to pull off with supplies I ...

So I did end up getting some mild flavor and aroma coming over after I switched over to stripping around when the still head hit 93C. Really didn't pick up all too much from there (tails came off about as fragrant as my whiskey hearts), which got me thinking why that may be - also recalled my feints...

Just unwrapped the rig and switched to stripping. Ran half a gallon at a rate of about 1 pint per hour. The still head happily stayed parked in the 81-83C range for the entirety of that half gallon; once I removed all the mods, it shot up to 86C within a minute or two. But tasting (sampling 2-3 drop...

Heck yeah. Figured I may as well run as slow as possible because personally, not sure about the rest of y'all, the only complaint I have with pot distilling is the smearing of those damn heads. Hard to believe I hit hearts in a pot without the still head exceeding 83C - these halfass mods far surpas...

As am I. Love thinking about what solutions for various things can be rigged up with household supplies while manning the still to compensate for lack of professional setup funds. Just a bit saddening to think even if I tossed a protype together, there won't be much of an opportunity to test drive i...

You really need some packing in the column below the reflux to get multiple re-distillations. The packed column doesn't need to be a 20:1 height:diameter ratio to perform re-distillations but that's the recommended ration for achieving neutral with adequate HETP's. You could put the end of the towe...

Been managing the lid reservoir with an occasional ice cube to try to maintain the still head temp at or under 82C (I use C for distilling and F for everything else - just the way I learned, so sorry). Been keeping the drip rate low and defined - took an hour to pull the first pint of foreshots/earl...

Watching this improvised reflux aide in action has got me brainstorming about how it could be improved, so thought I'd think out loud, so to speak, so I can backtrack to it or if anyone who reads it may want to try to build upon it. But in a nutshell, I'm thinking wrap the riser in a better suited w...

'dog towels' . That's an ideal solution for some quality white dog lol Cheers, jonny You know it! Can hear the boil and the thermometer at the still head is bobbing around rather than shooting up. Just dialed the heat back before I get more than I bargained for. But looks like this 'quasi reflux' i...

Found where the wife hides the 'dog towels' so we're in business now. Getting the photo file size small enough to attach was the tricky part.

Sadly the wife takes the portable fan to work in the summer, so don't have one handy. Trying to locate a large enough rag or an undershirt I can wrap around the top - don't want to hear from the wife about using a good towel when she gets home mid run.

Had a fun thought, the top/lid to my boiler looked like a fine place to pour a little cooling water, so I did.

Got the burner going. Copper tube proved to be a pain - definitely something I wouldn't mind investing a couple hours into once it comes out of storage (or I'll just get a new column to work with/who knows if I'll have a height restriction at that time). Also couldn't find the washing soda - think t...

Glad you made something you were happy with. As a bourbon drinker and maker, I feel compelled to point out that by having 43% low wines you're missing out on a ton of flavor by not stripping deep enough. I'll run my strips dry and then some - I aim for 25% low wines off the strip, which I feel does ...

Tito’s: I would take their statements with a grain of salt. Six times pot stilled can be smoke and mirrors if sourcing NGS and there is no TTB regulation that deems those statements to be accurate to what one may believe. Definitely do. Everytime I look into regulations from any government agencies...

Unable to make it taller, just have more or less an elbow of a riser that leads to a liebig, if I reversed how the elbow attached, I'd lose a couple inches. I was planning to pack it with about twice as much copper mesh that I'd normally pack running whiskey for whatever assistance it'll offer (shou...

And I guess I will add majority of the feints is tails since I'll usually dub the first 2/3 or so of the heads not worth the time or effort in saving/trying to salvage.

Not a bad thought. I had been thinking about potentially adding a couple stripping runs in since I've read on people getting good results around the 5th distillation in a pot (and of course at the liquor store there's Tito's which is a six time pot distilled corn vodka). Still think I'll keep the pr...

I also age and drink at about 125 proof, give or take a couple points. I feel diluting does the flavor a substantial disservice and it feels like a slap in the face after all the time and labor I put in. However, I've encountered a number of people I've shared my likker with that allege it's like dr...

I'm hopeful the washing soda may remedy the abundance of flavor, but after the first run I'm sure I'll get a sense of what I can reasonably expect. If flavor is still prominent, I'm not apposed to just calling it whiskey. White dog based vanilla extract is something I've been curious of - now I'm cu...

This is why I personally moved away from cooking the corn on the stovetop to a more indirect method - scorching is always disappointing. Firstly, if you're using added enzymes, pick up some high temperature alpha amylase - good for something like 180F before it starts to denature and it sounds like ...

I actually ended up calling it quits with chocolate malt - a little goes a long way in distilling. I wouldn't say results I got were bad, just not what I wanted and the flavor was out of place for a nice whiskey. I concluded chocolate malt is best used for beer, not so great for whiskey (at least no...

So with life happening and needing to hang up the hobby for at least a few years, decided to take all my feints from my toasted bourbon [AG - toasted corn, toated wheat, toasted oats, vienna malt] and a quickly slapped together wash I made with my leftover wheat, oats, and a few pounds of dextrose I...

Haven't experimented with mineral composition in dilution water as I don't dilute my low wines or finished product (I make bourbon and keep it barrel strength because I get sad when the flavor is diluted). However, I have experimented with my mash water. I've found with mash water in an AG ferment, ...

Definitely don't keep it for reprocessing/drinking. But if it wasn't implicit under chuck, I'd say keep it for use as fire starter and/or solvent - I'd probably only be willing to use it as fire starter presuming it's a high enough proof (I keep my foreshots/early heads as solvent/cleaner, then once...

Sounds like you've got a lot of detailed input, so I'll keep mine short and sweet. I'm sure you've noticed the drip rate of the condenser fluctuates even at a set temperature. With better separation achieved at a slower drip, I'll aim to have defined droplets form until I'm safely in the hearts cut ...

Not sure what kind of spirit you're making or what kind of still you're running, but read something that I thought I'd give my two cents on as some friendly advice. On a stripping run, I wouldn't bother with making any heads or tails cuts, leave that for the spirit run; just take a foreshot cut when...