Home Distiller

Good move. I sometimes have so much insulation that I have to loosen it off when the ferment creates too much heat. Chris, you called it. The temp rose over 90f. The way I put the insulation on it wouldn’t be easy to take off. So I removed the lid partially. Temp dropped back down. Another lesson l...

How did it go? So far so good. It is bubbling away in the 30gallon. Decent cap, and would have been close with the 20gallon. It was better to be safe than sorry and put the extra time in. I ended up wrapping it in some insulation to help keep the temp where I need it. My first real attempt at AG, e...

Is the Cream the same as Heavy Whipping Cream?

Thanks everyone. Well, I had mashed in on a 30 gallon barrel. So I decided to wash it real quick and transfer the mash back to it to ferment. The 30 gallon barrel is not as well set up for fermenting, but I will make it work. In hindsight, I should have just left it in the 30 gallon barrel and tried...

Question how much head space do I need? I’ve go about 17 gallon mash in a 20 gallon barrel. The grain bill is 20lbs golden promise, 10lb flakes barley, 7lb flake corn, and 3lbs of flakes out. I’ve got about 4 inches left to top. I could take 5 gallons out a d put in another fermentor but would rathe...

+1 to Stillerboy's advice.

Ceramic rings have been getting some interest as well. https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 17&t=77413

(Which is what brought me to this site, ive malted corn, now what?). MH, Welcome to the forum. The midwest is a great for all its grains. Working the land yourself will give you access to high quality and cheap grains. The fact you have the equipment, and knowledge to Malt these grains yourself wil...

"What is best" is really subjective. It depends on what type of a product you are after and personal preference. Limoncello is a very popular macerated product. Lot's of articles here on how to and process. Geist is German product that often uses citrus fruits in the vapor path. Here is a ...

He is a guy who owns a retail store that sells products to make beer, wine and spirit. He has his own YouTube Channel. His videos range from "how to", "Product Reviews", and general education about distilling. In terms of Distilling, he has the largest following although there ar...

Welcome. Nice to be able to use your former employers equipment still. Is he letting you take it home or will you be using it at your former place of work. Maybe you can become his R&D department and get ingredient at no cost. I know! He implied I could take it home and use it but I might just ...

Just guessing To get 10 gallons of 95% neutral alcohol Will take at least 200ish gallons of 10% wash. Figuring less than half of the fermented alcohol will make the cut for neutral. From my rough estimates, 200 gallons of Shady's Sugar Shine wash @10% would cost about $200. That assumes $0.50/lb fo...

Welcome.

Nice to be able to use your former employers equipment still. Is he letting you take it home or will you be using it at your former place of work. Maybe you can become his R&D department and get ingredient at no cost.

Get your 2" column to a to a minimum height of 48". Pack with the ceramic rings (probably 3/8" for 2" column). Use the CCVM Tee to control reflux out to your shotgun condenser. I just used this same set up except I had 3" column, 1/2" rings packed in a 36" column, ...

Congrats

Thanks, Teddy. Using Jessie's abv results, I deduce that he got his best conversion rate using 85C water. I am not sure it had the best conversion, but rather best yield. Jesse stated that the cooked batch did not settle as well so he did not rack off as much product to run. I would imagine if he l...

I've got a bunch of Sweetfeed. The stuff is notorious for not being able to grind due to the molasses. I wonder how it would do if I took boiler water and let it sit for hours in a insulated cooler until it dropped to 90.

Thoughts?

I use mason jars and replace the lids with PTFE discs. Seals very nicely. +1 Good thing about this is that Mason jars are stackable, bottles aint. PTFE lids are easy to make too. I don't make mine. I just buy them. Cheap and they have perfect sizes for both wide and regular mouth size for Mason jar...

Fair enough, but I have to say that the basic PID I built is pretty simple and I can't see how it can screw up and not work. PiDs are excellent tools for mashing and fermentation, when you desire temperature control. But, for distillation you need heat input control, not temperature control. Heat i...

I use mason jars and replace the lids with PTFE discs. Seals very nicely.

i gel (dough in) at 250grams/600mL of water. after mash in i dilute with another 400mL in the fermenter when all settles the grain bed makes up about 40%, cleared beer about 60% of the volume “Dough in” - that’s the term I should’ve been using from the start. And “ml” and “grams”? That a whole lot ...

I use city tap water with a 3 stage tankless water filtration system. The tap water itself is good, but I like the idea of the filtration system to start with as clean of water as possible. Then adjust PH / hardness accordingly if necessary based on what I'm making.

Ravi, I am not sure what would be available to you in S Korea. However, if you want to use Oak Chips, then you might want to do an online search for BBQ Oak Chips or BBQ Oak Chunk. BBQ (short for barbeque ) is very common in the US. These same chips can be used to toast and char for aging spirits. J...

[/img] Set up.jpg [/img]Here is a pic of the pieces and how they go together. I included rulers so you can see dimensions. I can report I really paid attention to the temp of the return water from the RC. I made sure I kept the water flow a low as possible. I am basically keeping it on the brink of ...

SS, I had coil less than an inch above the tee branch. After I removed the gate valve and ran as CCVM, I did raise the coil as high as I could before vapor escaped through the top. That is when I started to get drips but very slow drips. I did try turning the water flow down, but I did not test the ...

I have built a 3" copper column with tri clamps. I have a 36", 24" and 12" sections of column. I also have a sight glass. This will give me the ability to use various heights/configuration. I also created 3"x2"x3" Tee. I have a 2" 90 degree elbow into a 2"...

The topic that probably makes me the most nervous is corn mashing... I still haven’t fully taken a dive into that yet. ...but that’s for another time. For now, I’m learning all I can about the safety, running my still for the first time, and figuring out what I’m going to run through on my first ef...

Welcome. As others have said, just be sure to have a solid understanding of safety protocols as you don't want to learn those from your mistakes. Your extensive background in home brewing will serve you well. Especially given you said you like to experiment and try new things. Relatively speaking of...

Like the Subject Title says, we don't say thank you enough. While not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, I am learning. So thank you to all that have and continue to contribute their knowledge and guidance. I've done several sugar heads, including flavored sugar heads like Sweat Feed and UJS...

If you are "handy" and willing to learn, then go for it. Once you learn, think of the possibilities beyond just this one project.

Just a thought... You mentioned you are not a whiskey drinking but starting to appreciate it now that you are making it yourself. Rye can be "spicy" and different from corn which can be described as sweet and buttery. So before spending the resources, specifically TIME, you may want to go...