Home Distiller

Hello fellow distillers, I have made a few all grain whiskeys. My wife is asking me to make a rum now. I was thinking of Pirates Life Banana Rum. 1.5 it's of molasses, 5lbs of brown or raw sugar and 12lbs of bananas. Question I have, has anyone added oats to a rum for the mouth feel/viscosity? TIA

Can flaked corn be used to make this starter? Or has the "flaking" process killed or removed the wild yeast? TIA

sadie33 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:06 pm nobody answered the ? about using the sour dough starter...I am curious about that. Anyone know?

sadie33 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 7:06 pm nobody answered the ? about using the sour dough starter...I am curious about that. Anyone know?

Bearded and bored has a YouTube video on using a sour dough starter in place of "yeast"

Planning my next AG bourbon, and will be doing this sour corn starter. My question is, after fermentation and I rack it off and run it how long can that spent grain sit? It may be two or three weeks before I start another mash.

When do you add this "sour corn starter" in? During mashing? During fermentation??

Getting a mash bill together for a bourbon type run. Looking at three different corn varieties. Can someone give their opinion on Bloody Butcher, Hickory White or Blue Hopi varieties? Differences they offer in taste or starch content. have a new 5gal barrel begging to be filled. Thank you

Found it...
viewtopic.php?p=7082872#p7082872

Trying to find a recipe on here, where the guy mashed the corn overnight. He started like at 8pm, cooking the corn. By 10pm had it wrapped in insulation and blankets to sit over night. If anyone knows where that is I would appreciate it. THANK YOU

Hey Jimbo love this, and going to do this for my next mash. Will take more steps as I have a 5 gal barrel I need to fill but only a 8gal BAP. LOL. For the sugar head, I am thinking about using a gallon of molasses and brown sugar. What are your thoughts on that?

When I collect the "sludge " from the bottom of the fermenter, how do I know how much to use on the next batch? I made two 5gal all grain mashes. Then after siphoning off, poured the sludge into two separate jars. ( they were two different yeasts)

My whiskey/bourbon is finally ready to be bottled. The barrels were filled at 60% abv, then moved between being placed in a fridge then to a room with an electric heater. What do I do now? Not sure if I am over thinking, but if warm weather causes the wood to absorb the alcohol, should I do it when ...

...It was 1.063... Feels like the SG should be slightly higher with 2.5#/gallon. ....When it hits 160 I add in the grains and a beta enzyme.... Your enzymes are probably being denatured a bit @ 160*F. Might try waiting until 150*F I'll pitch my beta enzymes and malts over a range of 155-145*F as te...

That's in interesting mash bill. Not sure if I am on the right path, or am I making this overly complicated, but watching Jesse on Still it he talks about trying to add flavor and aroma with specialty grains. I think his reasoning is for the hobby/home distiller to not have to age the product as lo...

At 2.55#/gal, what was your OG? That's in interesting mash bill. It was 1.063 When I cook my mash (I've only done three) I cook them a long time. Like holding the corn at 190f with high temp alpha in it for 90 plus mins. Then let it cool naturally. When it hits 160 I add in the grains and a beta en...

My "bourbon" that is sit patently in a 3L oak barrel is: 5# Bloody Butcher 21.7% 5# Hickory King 21.7% 5# Blue Hoppie corn 21.7% 3# Weyermann Oak Smoked Wheat 13% 2# Weyermann Carafa II 8.7% 2# Weyermann Pilsner Malt 8.7% 1# Weyermann CaraRye 4.3% 9 gals of water It was split into two fer...

My "bourbon" that is sit patently in a 3L oak barrel is: 5# Bloody Butcher 5# Hickory King 5# Blue Hoppie corn 3# Weyermann Oak Smoked Wheat 2# Weyermann Carafa II 2# Weyermann Pilsner Malt 1# Weyermann CaraRye 9 gals of water It was split into two fermenting buckets. One with Stillspirits...

Pretty sure I know the answer, but can a bubble plate be added to a column that does not have a depfleg or any other form of reflux above the plate? I am not looking for a high ABV spirit. 150-160 is good for me. My thinking was if I could get a little reflux action, but not so much as to strip flav...

I like this ""Good whiskey takes time. Excellent whiskey takes a lot of time."" I have two 3L barrels filled and patiently waiting. First, they were in jars with American and French oak cubes. A few days in the fridge, then I would let them sit in a hot water bath at about 130F f...

Wouldn’t get too excited about it mako . Without some reflux condenser above it , a packed section on its own won’t be the startling difference you might expect . Subtle maybe , if tall and uninsulated , but not gonna smack you in the face worth it . I am still super new to this, having only done t...

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 10:25 pm Jezz that was hard to find Salty .
viewtopic.php?t=71451

Very good read! Thank you for finding it

To quote Clawhammer Supply: Packing a column with copper scrubbers will increase the purity of whatever is being distilled. It does so by causing a slight natural reflux in the column. For our commercial customers: copper packing will also remove sulfur compounds from the vapor, which produces a bet...

Firstly what is the minimum charge that will keep your elements covered? - I use propane What is your intended product? - AG whiskey What type of Still? Pot Maybe, dump out what is in the boiler from the first run. Pour in the second bucket of mash and the strippings from the first and run that?

If I had an 8 gallon still but say 12 gallons of mash to run, how would I do that? Do I put 6 gallons in the boiler and when I am done, dump out what is left? Can I leave that liquid in and when it cools some, add the other other 6 gals and keep running? Thanks

Using my 35L SS kettle to I cook my mash, and so far I've done all of them BIAB. Also, I use an electric inductive hot plate. That allows me to hold temp for a long time. Say corn at 190f for 90 mins, then lower the temp to 145f. Then letting it cool naturally, when it gets to 145, I can hold it the...

I am very new to this hobby, and have only done three runs and all of them being all grain. My third run I used 15# of crushed corn, 3# Weyermann oak smoked wheat, 2# Carafa II, 1# CaraRye and 2# Pilsner malt mashed with 8 gals of water. My SG ended up being 1.063. It all seemed to go well. I used a...

Welcome. I’ve heard of the brewing kits but not the distillers kits; that’s cool man. What kind of rig are ya running? Have fun and be safe. Just a cheap one to start. Though I bought an 8" extension piece that wat I can put copper mesh in the vapor path. The "master distiller kit" i...

I am another newbie to this whole brewing thing. I've done three runs so far. The first two were an AG "bourbon" using a "master distiller kit". It included the grains, yeast, amylase, sanitizer and instructions. The first one was OK. Realized a few mistakes I made. The second on...