Home Distiller

This is a yest advertised by Gert as being for whiskey. Cost at Brewhaus is $3.99 / packet. Supposed to have Amyloglucosidase added. Is this the same as the amalyse (sp?) i've seen talked about here? One question I have (to save money). Can I buy one packet of this stuff and culture more myself? An...

I made some rum with too much molasses before too. I had to distill it 3 times in the pot still before it was drinkable. It simply had too much body. BTW a half a cup or so of lemon juice helps with fermentation.

Freezing yeast is no problem it will last a long time...probably a couple years.

Nice...I like it, I like it a lot. Very nice workmanship!

I buy EC1118 right in one of our local grocery store. They sell all kinds of home brewer supplies, carboys, airlocks, wine and beer kits. It's $1.79 a pack or so.

It ain't a big deal if your fermenter isn't totally sealed and the airlock isn't bubbling. I used to make a fuss about getting my fermenters sealed. But really it doesn't matter. As long as your fermenter is covered and holds a layer of CO2 on top of your wash you'll be fine. Lots of guys just cover...

As of now, in my mind, a woman's yeast infection has a whole new meaning. Thanks for implanting that picture there VG!

Yup HolyM is right steady heat source is important with any still weather it be a pot or a reflux. If the heat is not steady the distillate surges out. (...to echo what THM said )

The malt I buy is called pale ale malt. I'm really not sure weather it is a 2 or a 6 row malt. It is used to make beer... so i assume 2 row malt?? Whatever it works fine to convert other grains. I use about 25% malt in the grain bill. Hold the mash temp 66-67°C for about 2 hours. I do sometimes toss...

Given that the bulk of the fermentables in the recipe are derived from sugar, I wouldn't dismiss the Turbo (or maybe a wine yeast). Provided the gravity isn't sky-normous, the usual cogeners may not be too bad. I would. I don't use turbo period anymore. The nasties may not be too bad but they won't...

I don't know anything about fuel production. Is there really any need to use copper for the column? Couldn't a guy just use say 5" exhaust tubing for a column and say maybe a 1.5'' exhaust tube for a lin style condenser? After all it's not for drinking purposes. If it was me I'd wanna build one that...

I have run as little as 4 litres. This was a some rum that had been distilled twice already. I wasn't happy with the flavour so I ran it a third time and it cleaned up nicely. I use propane.

Red oak is good too. I use it cuz it is readily available. From what I understand about barrels is they are made with white oak because white oak will seal up. Apparently red oak doesn't have the structure to make a good barrel.

Any wash I ever make is sourish tasting when it is done fermenting. I think your probably okay.

Bujapat, Those angles are roughly 22.5° 4 angles at 22.5 = 90°. They were cut on a band saw and just butted together. I soldered them with lead free solder, just a typical solder that a plumber would use. They actually soldered very easy. The trick is to get your copper fitted nicely, clean it till ...

Pretty much ditto on what Tater said. If I tripple distill a whiskey or a rum I take a litlle bit of foreshots only off the first 2 runs. The last run I will cut out the heads and tails. I think the you will make a better product with 3 distills simply because you do get out more of the low volitile...

Good trick husker °....I like it a lot.

Remus, how much fuel did you need to do a full run with a camping stove?

I never did a run, I cooked a mash. It took probably only a litre of foreshot/ white gas mix.

I was told by an old timer to freeze the spuds first before you make the mash. Apparently freezing will covert some of the starches to sugars.

I don't think you'd ruin your corn mash by doing this....but why not just mix some neutral spirit with your finished corn distillate. I think the result would be the same with less distilling.

I'm pretty anal too about cleaning fermentors...like some of the guys say around here if you put shit in your still you get shit out. I've always kept my fermenters very clean and neve had a major problem with any fermentation.

Why does this shit have to go on and on and on........... ??? I don't blame Tater or any other admin's for locking out these damn stupid threads. They are the same bullshit over and over again. If you want to re-hash it again do a search and don't start a new thread about it. The plastic thread had ...

Everything make a difference in taste ( and IMHO not just minor differences) Fermenting on the grain gives you one flavour, sparging the grain and fermenting the wort another, distilling on the grain yet another...way more robust and flavourfull. My 2 best whiskies I've made to date have been sparge...

thanks i just assumed that if it was good for home water pip it would be for a still but sounds like i might as well just change it whether it is or isn't thanks for the help I got an older house and one of the first things I did was replace the galvo pipes. I don't think it's much of a health risk...

It is a little crude looking, but I mean that in an affectionate kinda way. It's got character and with a little patience you can probably produce some very nice products.... it's all copper that's a big + you won't go wrong.

Whateverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....good luck in your future endeavours.

I sparged an all malt wash before. What I did was filter the grain out in a nylon sack and squeeze as much liquid as I could out of it and then gave it a rinse with a couple liters of fresh water.

I have used foreshots in a coleman camp stove to cook a mash before. I mixed it half and half with white gas. Works fine.

Fusels I suppose??? I've never froze backins before...matter of fact I only used backset to make a mash once. Kinda sounds like real concentrated tails...fusel oils separate from the rest of the backset when frozen?? I'm just shooting in the dark here...

The one time I did it I used the whole grain bill. The cloudy thing was easily removed... the whiskey is fantastic definitly one of my very best batches so far.