Home Distiller

Same thoughts as Yummy and Ifeel like 70pf is too low for oak to turn out well...

Cheers,
jonny

Welcome to HD FloridaMan! Build if you have the time and will. Do some research on soldering copper and stainless if needed. SS 15gallon keg boiler and cooper plumbing are popular because it works and is economical. You can get going pretty quick and adding on is a deep rabbit hole :) Cheers, Jonny

NZChris wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 9:58 pm I've called it Barley & Hops Liqueur.

Lol! Had a good chuckle at this one

Cheers,
j

Hope you add some hot peppers and garlic too! Maybe also a little straight molasses for some sweet burn and to balance any acidity..

Plate and serve with a rum flambè for the finishing touch

Cheers,
j

I agree with Deplorable’s outlook. At scale it doesn’t feel efficient to chase that last little bit. “Just make another batch :)” I will do a sugarhead or rumski and ferment again on spent grains with some molasses and sugar/jaggery/panela plus a bit more grain mashed in. I’ve also simply topped up ...

I believe most of us are fermenting on the grain, with most seperating the grains in some way prior to distilling. It would be interesting to see what percentage of the forum is now steaming fermented grains (or pomace) for the stripping run. I know some say they can taste a difference, and prefer ...

I don't measure ABV when the still is running anymore. I find that I pay more attention to the smell, taste, and feel of the output. When I did have a thermometer in the vapor path I used it to gauge the end of a strip run. ie; when it was around 212*F that means the strip run is done... I do have a...

I might pick up a case of 200ml likker bottles for sampler gifts - those are way better gifts than 750's IMO. For home use I have several decanters in the bar plus some generic whiskey bottles. I also make wine and have about 300 or so wine bottles which work well for 750's and I use wine corks with...

I’m a fan of Pechuga after this run and will make more.

I might try infusing smoke in straight water or a lower abv boiler charge to see if I can get it to carry over better and then use it to blend.

Cheers,
jonny

That's strange - I only have the small ones, but they all have an inlet and and outlet for the cooling water. That said, I just saw a video on their instagram account that shows the same - a hose is used to fill it, and the top one is for the hot water outlet. It also has a plastic hose on the prod...

You really want cold water in at the bottom and hot water out at the top so there is a temperature gradient with cold or cool at the bottom and hot at the top. Sticking a hose down into the bottom will achieve this. I modified my alembic to use a vertical liebig for PC and a shorter vertical liebig ...

This turned out well albeit different than I expected. I've got a good 1/2g of 60%abv Mezcal'ish de Pechuga that I've been sipping on the past few days. I 'm looking forward to doing this again next time I run some agave and will change it up a bit with the botanical portion of the recipe. I did add...

If you haven't tried pairing this bourbon with desert yet. You are missing out. HBB and a slice of caramel pecan cheesecake is devine. The richness of the cheesecake, the ghramcracker crust, the toasted pecans and caramel. Really are a perfect paring for this bourbon after appropriate aging on oak....

Congrats on the ABV bump @Stoney.

When ever I get my CCVM running I may hit you all up Mine's 3" and I don't really have the height I need so I've been avoiding it.. Might have to move first lol..

Cheers,
jonny

@wildnwhiskey - sounds like you’ve done your homework ;) There’s a small distillery down the street here with a 250g vendome rig. They offer a two day distillers class/workshop for about $800. Seems a little steep for what you can effectively cover in a two day hands on workshop. I reckon it’s all p...

To put some numbers to the amount of smearing that a parrot induces, just think of mixing about 150-200ml from last jar into next jar for every fraction that you collect from a parrot. I use 800ml mason jars to collect spirit run fractions so that's about 25% smearing out of the gate when you could ...

StillDragon also has a very easy DIY 240V controller kit for about $60 (minus connectors and input/output wires). I used that kit in a 120V circuit to drive a hotplate element and needed to use a different control pot. Easy and works well. No ammeter or fancy display but it does have a dial that goe...

Welcome to HD Greg! I tell folks that if they want to come over and sample the barrels they need to bring a bottle (and not a sh!t bottle). No exceptions except for very close friends and family (even with them I encourage donations of likker for "research"). It always starts with a "...

IMG_2322.jpeg IMG_2321.jpeg IMG_2319.jpeg The mole marinade is prep’d. Used a good bit of spices. It was a little dry so I mixed in a little agave spirit. Letting it sit until tomorrow. Cut the meat off the turkey necks and added a section of neck bone into the marinade for the run. Cheers, j

First I start off by making a mezcal’ish base spirit from wild heirloom unrefined/unfiltered agave syrup earlier this year. https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=70730 Then I get up early the day after thanksgiving and hit the Super Mercado for whatever fresh fruit and herbs they have. Aug...

I use the 10l Alembic for maceration/vapor infusion spirits. You can charge it with up to about 2g or so of 40% base spirit plus botanicals. That’s a fairly large batch in my mind for a macerated spirit. Running with a hot plate or gas you could probably do as little as a liter it so. Bump the abv d...

Wow! I’m not normally a cocktail person but I’ve gotta give this a go. I made some vanilla extract with straight madascar vanilla beans and bourbon that might go well with this too.

Thanks!
-jonny

And here I thought putting cremated ashes in wifes douche bag and running me through that thing 1 more time was good idea :lol: :lol: A good friend of mine has suggested the same thing. One can harvest yeasties and bacterial infections from more than one source and I've done it just because it was ...

Oh cool I see - You're going to rivet and solder the cone to the boiler body? And add some ports?

Cheers,
j

I’m thinking that if you make the cap slide and pressure fit into the boiler it’s going to be a more rigid joint and you can also more easily fill any vapor gap once the lid is set with a flour dough/paste to seal it during a run if leaks develop. The top looks smaller in this one than it did in the...

Heat is a little with your torch. Then paint the flux before it’s too hot. The heat will help wick it into the joint.

Cheers,
-j

These days I use sugar as well as some wine kit juice to top up the lightly pressed pomace. Press it again and distill that with a wider than normal cut. They I process once more in my small batch still with the column/chamber packed with additional pomace that I reserved for final processing. Some...

You can pull a stick and let it age. Or make more and add spirit or make it into a solera Or keep as is and test regularly.. You might enjoy more oak for your tastes too?

Less is more in most cases but then more is of course also more in every case...

Cheers,
j

Welcome to HD! Also a fan of honey-shine here as well as grappa (and whiskey, rum, agave, etc..). I make wine in the fall and then process the pomace into grappa. For honey shine, I have a four-banger honey shine solera going and ferment about 15g every so often that I'll spirit run in small batches...