Home Distiller

I made a flared collar that slipped into the union and over the end of the lyne arm.
Possibly a bit difficult to see in this photo, but you can see the bump at the end of the lyne arm before the union.

https://homedistiller.org/forum/downloa ... &mode=view

I use stainless steel unions. I can hold the condenser in one hand and tighten/untighten with the other. Tri-clamps and gasket would be a challenge with a 90 degree angle.

My copper lyne arm is tappered. I didn't overlap the seam and brazed it.

I have a 20 gallon mash tun and an 8 gallon pot still. In a single brew day, I can make what I'd consider a bare minimum for a double distilled pot still whisky. I don't know how big your mash tun is, but it doesn't look like it can feed a keg with enough wash to make it worth the effort. Your money...

Brewed a batch of 'Golden Otter'. Mostly Golden Promise with a bit of Maris Otter.

If I ever invert the grain bill, I'll have to call it Maris Promise.

Stripping my Golden Promise single malt. It sat a couple of days after finishing and a lacto infection was just getting going. Took a bit off the ABV, but it should make up for it with flavour.

So far, its the least foamy all grain I've ever stripped.

I have done it with sugar washes, e.g. UJSSM, Odin's Rye Bread Whiskey, Flaked Barley and Flaked Winter Red Wheat. I stripped them and then blended the low wines to make several varieties of different spirit runs. The 'Gotcha' is the storage space and logistics of what you need to ferment. Most of w...

Welcome.

I would certainly love to have a (copper) 10g Alembic, so don't despair just yet. Let us know what you want to make.

Welcome to the forums.

dieselduo wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 26, 2021 2:40 pm

Made a single malt with maris otter

I didn't have enough leftover Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett) for a second brew, so I decided to add some Maris Otter (Bairds) to make up the shortfall. The grain tastes a more grassy than the GP.

I'd go for the 3rd option and fix your fermentation batch size shortage. * If you can fill your boiler with the entire contents of a single wash and the previous stripping run low wines, then you haven't fermented enough wash. * If you have to add water to two batches of low wines just to have enoug...

Have you got a style of 'Scotch' you are aiming for? What the home brew shop has steered you towards is not a single malt, but closer to a blended malt.

Banana blossom gin. I've got a banana flowering now, so it won't be long and I'll have one to use. What parts of the blossom did you use? Banana blossoms.jpg Rinsed and removed the stamens of every individual and immediately dropped them into some high proof spirit (still went brown). It was a fair...

IdahoShine wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 8:16 pm

will it still work if the vapor just comes in the pot and but the liquid?

No. Sounds like a Slobber box. A picture of your still might lead to a more informed answer though.

Usually a little more soda water than gin. 2 to 3 times as much.
Most commercial tonics I find too sweet and not bitter/sour enough for my taste.

2 oz gin (45%ABV) 1 oz tonic syrup, ice and soda water.

Clae wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 18, 2021 12:06 am

7.5 Liter minimum fill level of my new mini-still...

Clae wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:45 pm

It's effectively the same as Otis' Mini Still; 10L mini keg fitted with an element roughly 2" from the bottom.

It doesn't sound fit for purpose. Did you make it or buy it?

Hi, Yes I have been drinking with the same tonic, well I also made my own tonic but did not like the taste, I will give the recipe below, if you could share your recipe I would be more than happy, this is the one that I made: https://pinchandswirl.com/homemade-tonic-water-for-the-ultimate-gin-and-t...

You cannot have a 40% ABV wash. Not without super yeast... A wash is what you have in your fermenter. It ceases to be called wash when you strip or spirit run it.
'Low wines' would be the common term around here for the first pass through (strip) and 'spirit' if its a finished product.

Today is day 12 and I had 2 glasses of gin and tonic again, luckily today I did not experience that odd feeling, either I get used to it or it continued to mellow and got better, Have you been drinking it with the same tonic you showed on the first page of this thread? I did a quick look at the web...

Get a mirror or a piece of glass. If you have vapour exiting your condenser, then you'll be able to clearly see it.

Banana Rum spirit run. No shortage of banana, but still waiting on the molasses. Hopefully will show up in the later hearts.

The Bananas this year were a disappointment. Sweet enough, but horrible chalky taste that coats the mouth, making them completely inedible. I'm not one to waste free sugar though, so I mashed them all with some fancy molasses, cut up sugar cane from the freezer and some dunder and used a German whea...

ratdog01 wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 14, 2021 12:38 am

not sure if being used for sherry it will be any good for aging spirits

Right now, there are literally hundreds of millions of litres of Sherry cask maturing spirits that are quietly sitting on the same continent as you are...

My first rum was a small charge. Less than a third of what I'd usually ferment. I stripped that and used the dunder to make up a large wash. The low wines from the first strip were added to the low wines from the bigger batch and it all got spirit run together.

What you need to understand is that the element itself, which is embedded inside that cast iron plate, is designed in a way that when it heats up, it separates (bi-metal bridge) and effectively breaks the circuit. You cannot get to it to modify it. Its a built in safety feature. When the plate is to...

Seanjohn19 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 09, 2021 12:31 pm

You had the same hotplate? And heat controller? And it didn't work?

Same hotplate. The controller was different, but that doesn't matter. It won't bypass the built-in issue with the plate itself.

If you guys think it will work and can give me some insight on how if possible to use the heat controller with it your help would be greatly appreciated. I had one. Now scrap. It is booby-trapped. I suspect a bi-metal switch that is part of the element and cannot be defeated. I made a few gins with...

Welcome to the forums.

Sounds like you've got yourself setup for just about all you could ever want. Took me a while before I had more than my main pot still and still haven't sorted out a reflux solution.

Scotch distillers will literally pump an active ferment straight from the washbacks into the wash stills in order to keep to their schedules. They don't care about those pesky washes that don't finish, because the volumes that they are working with will nullify any variation/anomaly. Many have a fer...