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I suspect the rise on your VM takeoff will be your biggest challenge (in terms of maximum takeoff), that and the knockdown power (or lack thereof) of the vertical liebig. Nice thought process though.

Sounds awesome. I had an ale the other day that was 100% maris otter malt but boiled for 4 hours. Huge caramlisation, really high FG and about 10%. Not sure I'd sit on the deck and sink a few pints of it, but a wine glass full in front of the fire is nice. I want to do a version myself using manuka ...

EDV493 - won't ever go back to bakers. Ferments harder and faster with a nicer heads ester profile. I find myself aiming lower and lower on the wash gravity, about 8-9%.

LWTCS wrote:

kiwistiller wrote:My first comp winning beer.

No shit? Good for you Kiwi.

Cheers Hopefully some day we can do that sort of thing with spirits, it's a fun game and the feedback is invaluable.

I've got a cracker based roughly on Rouge's Shakespear stout. 21L batch, OG 1.063 4kg Tomas Fawcet Golden Promise 600g Bairds Pale chocolate 600g Flaked oats (I rehydrate on the stove with boiling water to ensure they're gelatinised, then add 15 mins into the mash) 600g Tomas Fawcet dark crystal (ar...

Where in NZ are you, poyboy? The best way to increase your yeild while still maintaining at least a little bit of that "from scratch" vibe is to use all the grain you grow for malting, and use feedstore grains for the bulk of the starch. Cheap way to go, too. Another idea would be to swap ...

Hey you're welcome to come in and use the oxy-acet rig at work if you need a torch. Also, I've found a scrappy on Neilson street that can supply kegs at about $40 if you need it? The still head connects with a 2" triclamp, and I have both gas and electric kegs, so either is easy. Gas is probabl...

I make a chocolate oatmeal stout with plenty of cocoa nibs in the secondary, and a small amount late boil and in the mash. about 250g total, and probably 600g of oatmeal in the mash and a good whack of dark crystal and pale chocolate malt (from memory but maybe 300g and 500g respectively?). Maris ot...

Hey FTB, I found you an NZ source of orris root. bit pricey but a little goes a long way. http://www.lotusoils.co.nz/lotus-oils-webstore/raw-materials/salts-crystals-and-powders/orris-root-powder-50g" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow. Also, if you need...

Odin. Kiwistiller and a few others (as I recall) have commented that their CM's make a very good white rum. Absolutely. ... which is interesting, because in general it is thought that when distilling at/near azeotropic conditions, you turn pretty much everything into a neutral, no? That's pretty mu...

Gidday, If you want to clone a islay malt, you're going to want to do it properly IMHO - using peated malt. The Lagavulin malt averages about 35 ppm phenols, so you'll want to use mostly heavy peated distilling malt. It's a relatively high OG wash, so aim you mash for 9% potential. Ferment with a sc...

I've used dwwg refluxed to 95% as a base. I rate it highly. My favourite sugar wash for gin. If it's pot stilled I think you'd want it distilled a few extra times with very tight cuts.

Kiwi are you implying that the previously nibbled kawakawa leaves are the best ones because the critters know best? seems that way with the mangos. Yup, the Kawakawa Loper Moth catapillers love the tastiest leaves . FTB, they're also fruiting at the mo, might be worth investigating getting some fru...

Ah excellent. orris root used to be on TM as well but it seems to have vanished. was from a soap maker called Lizziebee if that helps. might be worth dropping them a line: http://www.lizziebee.co.nz/category.pasp?categoryid=24&displayfirst=7&displaylast=11&numbertoreturn=&searchstrin...

Hey mate, get out and grab some nice kawakawa leaves. The ones with holes in them from the insects are the ones you want (most delicious). You can dry them and they're a great gin botanical. should be heaps round you. Horopito also, but it needs judicious use - sub it in for peppery stuff with extre...

Can someone please help me out? Probably not unless you can ask a specific question. Best thing for you to do is run your rig, collect in small containers, and then use your senses to evaluate each container (diluted sample) at the same time as reading some of the lit. It'll probably be a lot clear...

Good article, thanks. It's a bit old, do you know if anything has been done further since then (in the public domain)? I had a bit of a look and didn't find much. did find some very interesting things regarding geographic differences in peat flavour though [ bit offtopic but interesting ] : http://p...

100% medium peated from bairds should give you a nice middle of the road peatiness in a scotch. use 100% heavy if your mate likes the Islay stuff. The light peated is so light that you might as well use golden promise instead and throw in a handful or three of heavy or medium.

It's been done before, both with good results and bad. If you dismantle it, and especially if you build a new frame, BE SURE that it is securely held and anchored (think bolted to the floor sort of anchored), it's a fairly large amount of momentum you'll be building up, and there are a few horror st...

I really want to try to make a whiskey of this style. Has anyone tried peating some water in addition to peated barley? Wildrover - the peatiness of the water is widely acknowledged as more or less neglegible in the final peat profile. It might get you 1-2ppm of phenols, compared with the peated ma...

you know that photonics tests were done on a little air still, right? and that doodle was of a reflux run? And Furfural isn't on that graph? That's pretty much the point, cogeners don't all come off neatly as heads-hearts-tails. But furfural was included (I ommitted it because I have no clue how it ...

I'd also add that UJSM and DWWG will naturally have a similar cogener profile. They're both simple sugar feedstock with starch added for some flavour carryover/ nutrients - very similar recipes. Compare UJSM to, say, all grain scotch (peat smoke complicating the issue, traditionally a very headsy he...

Ya sorry, in an ideal world with larger resolutions I'd draw a long low taper, but not visable in small sizes with different colours. Mainly trying to show a difference from the simple distillation. there will certainly be traces throughout the ethanol fraction with a less than perfect still (i.e. i...

Definitely go for the old bourbon oak - you'll be left with plenty of oak flavour for a scotch, it's not supposed to be as oaky. Don't sweat it if it's too light in colour, remember that the Scots are allowed to cheat and use colourings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_malt_scotch#Additives"...

yes, cogeners will be concentrated. Quick mod of that last graphs to illustrate what increase separation will do) (I'm at work so can't spend as long as I'd like on it, same disclaimers apply, no scale, it's just an illustration etc, etc.) reflux graph, eight.png Yes, they're all there, and they'll ...

don't refrain on my behalf, I was just curious.

So you could say that the 'standard' explanation of this is a gross over-simplification, but useful in the early stage of learning, for the purpose of ....what...? To illustrate and give some concept of how fore-shots and then heads are followed by 'hearts' (the idea of which has been expanded and ...

The implication I'm getting at (for others reading), is each run certainly has a cogener profile that is the "same" as usge says in the OP. Well, if you discount esterification, at least. Anyway, the order of modes of concentration should be pretty much the same. However , this doesn't nes...

Don't sweat it on that graph - remember, it's a fallacy that we use to explain separation to newbies and laymen. If you want to pretend that middle thing is a fraction, then it would be ethanol, which as we know is mostly flavourless and odorless, which may be what's muddling you. I would also asser...

Interesting topic, and an important one I reckon. Here's my thoughts. For a start, we should examine the word flavour (that's right, with a "u" in it :wink: ). What is flavour? Ethanol is effectively flavourless and odorless, with a slight odor normally described, somewhat unhelpfully, as ...