I have been lurking for a while now and finally registered to say thanks to this great community and contribute what I've been up to.
There has been an ongoing descent for me into what I call fermentation madness. It all started out with a simple loaf of bread. I became interested in the process and loved that this wonderful yeast was doing a bunch of work for you while you did absolutely nothing! As I read up on the origins of breads from specific regions of the world and how it has impacted the health of people of those areas, I became more aware of what I was consuming myself.
Jump to today and I have some fairly well developed ideas on why we as a society have such a high incidence of things such as gluten allergies. It all boils back to the fact that time has been optimized out of everything possible when it comes to the commercial production process. Faster is 'better' and makes supply chain's much easier to optimize. Who wants to leave yeast to do its thing to help break down the flour in a loaf of bread into something you can more easily digest and is more healthy for you. Instead we have the Chorleywood bread process with quick time to market and long self live as the primary concerns.
From bread I've gone to other home fermentation such as sauerkraut (this smell will test a marriage if you're not careful). I've also had an interest in home brewing which of course led to keeping hops. I'm currently growing half a dozen different varieties to use in my home brewing. Much fun was had taking a pillow slip full of freshly picked hops to a craft beer festival to share with friends.
Brewing led to thinking about distilling, and while I in no way vouch for authenticity of the show, Moonshiners pushed me over the edge to finally act and take some steps towards producing my own liquor. Investigation online led me to this forum and I settled in the the long haul. What a journey of discovery it's been since I fist got here.
Thinking that things would come together fairly quickly I went and dove into the tried and true recipes. Rad's All Bran was my first go at a wash. Once I got that started I figured there was a deadline to work towards. Little did I realize how naive this was. The All Bran went bad in the carboy and ended up being poured down the drain before the build even started with my wife complaining the whole house smelled of booze (this was before I ever aired any product out
).After much reading on equipment I went ahead with the build for a 2" Boka. It seemed like a good fit in terms of skill and required equipment. At the same time I though I would make a simple pot still to use in the kitchen and picked up parts to do that as well. The irony is, most of those pot still parts still sit unused. Trying to do two builds at once did nothing but distract me from finishing the Boka which was what I really wanted.
The Boka has since been completed, put through its cleaning run with vinegar, and had a sacrificial Hook Rum sent through it. I was experimenting with feed molasses from the local farm supply store. I had read about avoiding molasses with preservatives in it. The farm supply store said it had a preservative in it but I figured it was a cheap experiment so went ahead and tried a wash anyway. It fermented like a champ!
My double condenser coil turned out exceptionally well. I hand wound it and managed not to kink it despite not filling it with salt. Working with the 2" L type was an experience. I'm glad I hammered out 3/4" pipe flat for my plates instead of trying to do the same with the 2". Soldering was fairly straight forward but it's always surprising how much time you can invest into something. I figure between building easy flanges for mating to my keg, measuring, cutting, soldering, sourcing parts, finding suppliers, etc. I have easily invested 3-5 man days into the build, let alone all the reading done on this site!
I've also run a batch of UJSSM and am currently waiting on my 2nd generation to finish so I can strip that to add to what I pulled from the first run.
My results on both the Hook Rum and UJSSM wash were impressive to me. The hearts of both runs came out at 93% ABV. My first run I ran really slow trying to learn as much as possible about the operation of the column. The second run with the UJSSM I pushed much quicker but not quite wide open as I wanted to keep the column temp fairly stable. The fact that the ABV between the two runs was identical was surprising to me. I was expecting to see lower ABV when I pushed the column harder.
The take away for me was I need to get a small liebig built for my off take spout as the distillate was pretty warm and steaming on my 2nd run when I was running hard. The angels got more than their fair share
My column is fairly tall at 6' and needs to be run outside. The Boka head itself has a full 12" of condensing power plus a little extra for the water in/out at the top. The reflux section is at least 54", possibly a touch more.
Last but not least, a picture of the UJSSM 1st gen being pulled off
- 1st gen UJSSM
) The nose on the rum smells so much of the molasses when I compare it to the UJSSM.
I should probably detail my build in a separate post so I can include this stuff in there but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and would need to pull together all the notes, photos etc. I'm glad I got my welcome post in and can focus on a few more washes!
I make it fairly straight ahead and then add a bunch of freshly juiced ginger (to my liking) and a squeeze of lemon and lime. Tastes just like Mauby, so I'm tole.
