Grettings from Scotland

[Scottish auld balrog]

I bid you all a warm hello from north of the Forth/Clyde valley. I am new to the hobby, being the owner of an airstill but owning very little knowledge in this subject.
I would like to thank all on this site for helping the newcomers like myself and teaching how to go about things in a safe manner. I have learned so much from just reading the information given here, saving me from making possibly dangerous mistakes. What to use, what not to use, how to go about it all from start to finish, how it all works, the science that explains how nature works. A big thank you to all for sharing this with the world. I look forward to learning more.

Being Scottish, no surprise that I want to make my own whisky, from the selections of grains to use, correct water chemistry, yeast strains, best sugars, so many questions that I hope will get answered as I journey through my quest to be self sufficient in fire water. I am also interested in making the purest possible spirit for using with essences, another interesting side to this hobby that I wish to learn about in more detail.

Now that there is minimal pricing in Scotland for alcohol, more tax on the national hobby, I can see more making the own, I hope they all learn to do it in a safe and correct manner and none are ever harmed in this hobby.

Have a drink on me, I shall have one on you. (Great excuse eh!).

[Boda Getta]

Welcome!
" best sugars" ??

BG

[rubelstrudel]

Greetings from across the north sea. Viking to Scot. Let's go raid the english together some time. (PS. Bring whisky, their stuff isn't up to code)

[fizzix]

Hello Scottish auld balrog. Nice introduction, and yes we can help you along your way.
Welcome to Home Distiller!

{Boda, by "best sugar" he could be referring to dextrose having a higher cost with no real advantage.
Or beet sugar that sometimes gets a bad rap here (mostly rums). Just a guess.}

[Scottish auld balrog]

Welcome!
" best sugars" ??

BG

This is where I show my lack of knowledge Boda. I have read that various sugars give various results, like dextrose monohydrate being good for a cleaner product while sucrose can cause a higher mix of unwanted guests to my brew. Molasses for darker rum type products, while grains can give a mix of carbohydrates, some good some bad. I have a lot to learn as you can see.
Some sites say this, other sites say something else, I hope to learn fact from fiction about the use of sugars in this hobby from brewing stages to adding sugars for essences.

Hello Scottish auld balrog. Nice introduction, and yes we can help you along your way.
Welcome to Home Distiller!

{Boda, by "best sugar" he could be referring to dextrose having a higher cost with no real advantage.
Or beet sugar that sometimes gets a bad rap here (mostly rums). Just a guess.}

Thank you Fizzix, I have learned from your post, every bit of data helps at this stage. There is so much confusing information on the internet for the new start to read and comprehend.

[Scottish auld balrog]

Greetings from across the north sea. Viking to Scot. Let's go raid the english together some time. (PS. Bring whisky, their stuff isn't up to code)

Hail Viking, I might be a bit too old now for a raiding party, but I can bring the fire water and supervise the raiding from the longboat. Been a while since I got deported back over the border

I would be interested in any Viking drinking brew recipes you might know about, how it was made in the dark ages, anything made with heather in it.

Skol.

[Boda Getta]

Scottish auld balrog

Many newbies here, including me, started making "sugar head" whiskey. Basically a wash comprised of water and sugar with a small amount of grain for "favor". Go to the Tried and True section and UJSSM, Sweet Feed, Birdwatchers and others are excellent examples. IMHO, they are perfect for beginners for several reasons (1) There are fairly inexpensive to make with no malted grain or fancy grain bills needed and the required ingredients are easy to find (2) They are simple to make and fairly fool-proof and (3) and IMHO the most important, you will learn the basics of distilling and how to run your still. You will learn how to make cuts, not to be greedy and a very important lesson, that you can't really mess up. Make a bad batch, just re-run it, learn from it and move on. And they make fine, if not great whiskey. For several years I ran a simple pot still (still do), ran it with gas and aged and charred in gal jugs with charred oak sticks. Absolutely nothing wrong with starting off with these types of washes. Last spring my wife and I spend three weeks in your beautiful country touring in a rental car with me touring all the Single Malt distilleries I could find. I love Single Malt and believe it is one of the finish whiskies made (sour mash Bourbon up there also). I guess I just had that mind set when I saw you mention sugar and knowing you are in the land of great whisky, with access to great malted grain, peat, ect ect and lost sight that you have to start somewhere and learn. My bad.

Many here, after a couple of years running sugar heads and learning the basics want to move on to All Grain mashes and believe that AG are superior to sugar head whiskey, although I suppose a good UJSSM or Sweet Feed, properly charred and aged is superior to a bad All Grain. Good luck with the craft, enjoy the journey and be safe. Be sure and read all the safety sections, OTOH read everything you can on this site. You will find there are great people here who are eager to help the beginners.

BG

[Scottish auld balrog]

Thank you for your reply Boda, I do hope yourself and family had a wonderful time in my homeland, hope the weather was kind and no hangovers to spoil the view . Did you stick to the mainland distillery trail or venture to the Isles, I hope you shall return one day to enjoy more of the local fire water .

I have a very basic turbo brew on the go, only sugar, water, and the packet of turbo products added. I must learn to crawl before walking, learn how to make a very basic brew with the basics, learn from it and build on that. Once I can master that stage then move on to making the recipes listed here, the tried and tested winners. Since I found this site, I have learned much already, I have tried to dilute my brew from 8kg of sucrose in 26 litres of water to 29 litres to try and make a better brew to start with. I know now for next time to research yeasts and strains before purchasing.

I only have a very basic air still, not the best, but a starting point for me, that rock to build upon. I bought it cause it looked the safer option to start with. Once I can get some working knowledge in using it and seeing first hand its limitations, then time to upgrade to better equipment. Rome was not built in a day, I must remember that, read up more, then read some more, go over things again and again till it becomes autopilot. Early retirement means I have the time now to read up even more on the subject, knowledge to experiment with, time to get working experience on equipment, try new methods and materials and compare how they get on.

Thank you for taking the time to reply Boda, it does help the newcomer to the hobby to have great, friendly advice from the more experienced, someone to point the right direction out, show where to look for knowledge. Could I ask please of any books worth adding to my library, from the basics to the in depth chemistry and science of this fasinating hobby. I find it easier to read a book on my travels than a computer screen.
Any advice or words of wisdom is gratefully received, I have had to look up what sugar head means, at least I have taken the first steps but I have so much to learn, so easy to drown in too much information and miss the basics if things are rushed.
Thank you again for your kind, helpful words.

SAB

[Boda Getta]

SAB
No problem. Take a few moments and read up on this site about Turbo Yeast, you will find that Turbo Yeast is not well thought of among home distillers. It is designed to result in a very high ABV wash, as high as +15% and is commonly used to make ethanol fuel. That high ABV will stress the yeast and result in something not pleasant to drink. UJSSM or Sweet Feed usually ends up around 9-10'ish % ABV and a good All Grain in the 5-7% range. Many here use different whisky, beer or wine yeast. I have mostly used plain Fleischmann's yeast with good results; I live in the deep south and it handles the heat well, something not so for some whiskey yeasts. One more tip, take anything you hear in a Beer Brewing store with a grain of salt and come to his site for distilling advice. Those guys know beer brewing and not distilling. A lot of simulartiors, but as many differences; they are well known to tout Turbo Yeast.

Didn't make it to Islay but did do Skye and toured Talisker; their 10 yr old is one of go to's. I will do Islay next trip.

Enjoy the journey.

BG

[Scottish auld balrog]

Thanks again for the wise words of advice BG, I have just found out how to use the site search function, wow, what a load of data on yeasts and sugars, it will take as long as it takes to read through them all. Just like college all over again, more reading with more reading, with some spare time for more reading. At least I can have a good drink while researching my reading, just like college again

Enjoy Islay and the other island distillery trails. Orkney has some really nice firewater that tends to get overlooked. Worth the trip over the Pentland firth to visit. Avoid the East coast new distilleries, we have a local word to describe them 'shyte' .
I wish you a wonderful return to Scotland, may the weather be kind for you as you enjoy the single malts and the view .

[rubelstrudel]

I would be interested in any Viking drinking brew recipes you might know about, how it was made in the dark ages, anything made with heather in it.

That would be mead methinks. Heather-honey mead.
Haven't tried making that yet.

[Scottish auld balrog]

I would be interested in any Viking drinking brew recipes you might know about, how it was made in the dark ages, anything made with heather in it.

That would be mead methinks. Heather-honey mead.
Haven't tried making that yet.

Hello Viking, I was more thinking about heather ale or similar product without hops, but heather mead will also do, I shall do some research into this. Thank you for posting, distilling mead has got me thinking now. There is a lot of heather about here, got to be a lot of bee keepers also, I shall be looking into this. You really have got my brain cells in overdrive now.

SAB

[TDick]

Greetings Sir!

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[Scottish auld balrog]

Greetings TD.

Yes, many rabbit holes of discovery to venture down in this 'Alice in wonderland' road of adventure.

SAB

[ScotsPagan]

Late greetings from a fellow Caledonian

[Scottish auld balrog]

Late greetings from a fellow Caledonian

Greetings fellow Whiskylander. (passes fire water).
SAB

[Mikey-moo]

Greetings from across the north sea. Viking to Scot. Let's go raid the english together some time. (PS. Bring whisky, their stuff isn't up to code)

Hey our stuff's getting much better thank you very much!

[Tony1964]

Welcome SAB from another of your southern friends

Cheers

Tony

[Scottish auld balrog]

Welcome SAB from another of your southern friends

Cheers

Tony

Greetings fellow inhabitant of the ethanol forest (passes some tartan fire water to Tony), welcome to the balrog cave.
SAB

[Scottish auld balrog]

Greetings from across the north sea. Viking to Scot. Let's go raid the english together some time. (PS. Bring whisky, their stuff isn't up to code)

Hey our stuff's getting much better thank you very much!

Greetings Mickey, (passes tartan fire water to Mickey), yes indeed British homebrew fire water production has increased in quality, might be worth a wee 'day trip' to southern realms to samples wares. (still bringing own whisky incase some places only got beer )
SAB