What'd ya'll make today?

Production methods from starch to sugars.

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jonnys_spirit
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Blended Brandy -
Left - 5g Riesling (kit), 2g Chardonnay (california frozen juice bucket), 6g Merlot (fingerlakes juice) - stripped to 27% abv. Some puking for added flavor.
Center - 5g Pinot Blanc (kit), 5g Symphony Blend (kit), 5g Trinity White blend (kit) - stripped to 31%abv. Minimal puke!
Right - 10g Sangiovese Blush (fingerlakes juice), 5g Cab Sav (aussie juice)- stripped to 40%abv. Clean strip no puke.

There was some sulfite detected during the strip so treating the low wines with additional cooper, open to air, and 10ml each H2O2. I pulled and proofed a test glass on each strip and a small coil of copper wire in the glass cleaned it up in 10min.

I went light on the H2O2 sulfite treatment so I’ll probably run a couple 1 or 2 gallon test spirit runs using both the Cognac method and fractions maybe with some top up wine.

Saved 3g of the Chardonnay for potential proofing, and/or spirit run top-up. Bottled three bottles of each wine for the cellar. All bulk aged under vacuum with different oak treatments and minimal sulfites (1/4tsp KMETA only per carboy) for 18months. Used oak has been saved for oaking the brandy.
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Cheers!
-j
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Deplorable »

Stripped a 25 gallon gumball from bourbon grains, and started a jar of Manderinetto. Racked my latest jar of SPD off the pectin to make a clear 750ml bottle, the rest my liver will filter on the next warm day. With lemonade.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Deplorable »

Did the spirit run on my bourbon gumball. Shut it down after 23 jars. 6.9 liters to sort out tomorrow night after work. Left a lot behind since I don't have any use for the back end of the run off a sugarhead.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Hambone »

Got back to the farm tonight. 150 gal of UJSSM ready, as well as my DAP overdosed Shady’s.

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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

C95BD3E3-3CE3-4B9A-B7A3-0FE81BC445D0.jpeg
1 x 3/4 x 1/2 Tee’s arrived so filed the stop and dry fitting over 3/4. I’ve got 1” pipe enroute to make a 1” over 3/4” vertical liebig reflux water jacket style condenser for the small alembic. I guess i’ll need an appropriate needle valve and coolant bypass valve for this. This is primarily for small batch reflux feints runs and probably experimenting with introducing some maybe limited reflux into various small batch spirit runs. The packing will go into the split top botanical chamber on the alembic which is fairly wide and short for reflux so looking forward to experimenting. I’ll probably play around with packing some copper mesh into the 3/4 vapor riser to help with heat transfer to the water jacket - if it makes a difference.

I can do one strip in the big pot still and have enough low wines and left over wash to do two or three spirit or 1.5 runs in the alembic to fine tune some recipes.

Cheers!
-j

Cheers!
-j
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by River Rat »

After a long search for some decent molasses that could be bought locally, I've finally made my first batch of rum. Ran the spirit run on sunday, cut and blended yesterday, and put a couple gallons away tonight to sleep for a while on some toasted white oak. I think it's going to turn out nice. I hope it does because it sure as hell was easier than mashing grain.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Sunday = Runday !!!
64C8511D-B987-475E-94E8-E5E77DC8F961.jpeg
The boiler looks so empty and lonely!!!
ACBA5A9E-813C-4765-B650-C89987542E41.jpeg
Dumping carboy #2 of low wines !!
51C8B855-1F53-4CA9-8F7B-B763661A8E05.jpeg
Carboy #3 of low wines!
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Pretty full! Somewhere close to 15-16 gallons?
DB7C11E5-9895-4A07-AB6B-EDDED8E9531F.jpeg
ABV is about 30%.

These low wines smell pretty good!

Going to be a productive day and I just purchased 25 quart mason jars. Hmmmm what to do with them?

Cheers,
-j
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Deplorable »

That's the first copper milk can I've seen. I like it.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Setsumi »

jonnys_spirit wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 8:00 am Sunday = Runday !!!

64C8511D-B987-475E-94E8-E5E77DC8F961.jpeg
The boiler looks so empty and lonely!!!

ACBA5A9E-813C-4765-B650-C89987542E41.jpeg
Dumping carboy #2 of low wines !!

51C8B855-1F53-4CA9-8F7B-B763661A8E05.jpeg
Carboy #3 of low wines!

5F4CBB23-B1E2-432C-B04D-FF9CD6A0D8EB.jpeg
Pretty full! Somewhere close to 15-16 gallons?

DB7C11E5-9895-4A07-AB6B-EDDED8E9531F.jpeg
ABV is about 30%.

These low wines smell pretty good!

Going to be a productive day and I just purchased 25 quart mason jars. Hmmmm what to do with them?

Cheers,
-j
🤔 my low wines are always crystal crear without colour, unless i have a puke. then they are crystal yellow...?
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I ran three strips on about 46 gallons of various wines and must have had slight pukes on two of em? Sure don’t smell like puke lol! Spirit run’s gonna to clean it all up :)

I love the copper milk can boiler. Milehi scratch-n-dent was discounted. Stop watch is running @ 1h now so dialing back power to take fores for the next hour then filling jars !
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Cheers!
-j
————
i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Rum Agol »

Just prepared a 100litre rum wash. Trying to build stock with a 30 litre pot is real chore - planning on an upgrade soon.

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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by NZChris »

Rum Agol wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:05 am Just prepared a 100litre rum wash. Trying to build stock with a 30 litre pot is real chore - planning on an upgrade soon.

Slainte
How much stock do you want? :D My pot is 33l and I've never had a problem producing enough rum to have some set aside for aging. It does have a Charentaise style preheater that you might not have thought about adding. Google it.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Rum Agol »

Hi Chris

Im hoping to set aside enough to fill a 20L barrel but I only get to run my still about once a month ( and then of course I keep drinking the damned stuff :lol: ) I actually read a post of yours about the chanteraise style preheater and that gave me the inclination to include it in the plans for my new still, so a big thanks for that. Im hoping to finish the build before christmas and i'll post pics when complete.

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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

jonnys_spirit wrote: Sun Jun 13, 2021 8:00 am Sunday = Runday !!!
Just to follow up -

Ran this brandy spirit run pretty low and slow through hearts and into early tails then cranked it and took a good bit of the remaining tails for a future feints run - 11 hour pot still spirit run from turning the heat on to off and rinsed out. Probably could have ran this quicker but it was fairly expensive batches of wine so took some extra time which I feel was well spent.

In my test runs and strip runs I had detected a very significant and offensive sulfite (not sulfide) presence from potassium metabisulfite treatments of the wines (which was very minimal KMETA treatment over about 18 months of bulk aging). I tested remediation treatment using two methods - 1. by adding a length of copper mesh roll to the low wines (I think about 50ft per 5 gallon carboy of low wines) and running strips and spirit runs in all copper boiler/vapor/liquid paths and 2. by adding 10ml of 12% H2O2 also to each 5 gallon carboy of low wines - Set for a week (seven days) then added an additional dose (30ml) of 12% H2O2 to the boiler (about 15.5 gallons of 30% ABV low wines) as the spirit run started. After these treatments I was unable to detect any sulfite (sulphur smell) in any of the spirit run fractions.

Estimated net new make is about 8x 800ml jars of "hearts @ approx 155 average proof" pending further sampling and final blending of fractions for white, aging, and feints cuts.

Cheers!
-jonny
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by NZChris »

Rum Agol wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:57 am Hi Chris

Im hoping to set aside enough to fill a 20L barrel but I only get to run my still about once a month ( and then of course I keep drinking the damned stuff :lol: ) I actually read a post of yours about the chanteraise style preheater and that gave me the inclination to include it in the plans for my new still, so a big thanks for that. Im hoping to finish the build before christmas and i'll post pics when complete.

Slainte
I didn't build a new still, I just added the same sized preheater, 33l. You can run until bedtime, then have a quick start in the morning because the preheated wash is still hot, doing as many strips as your fermenter holds. Filling a 20l barrel will be easy if you have a large enough fermenter. My next stripping run will be 6 or 7 strips from some free Kiwifruit I was offered, easily stripped in 2 days. My biggest problem used to be not having enough containers for the low wines from a large wash/mash/must, but I've fixed that.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Rrmuf »

Prepping botanicals (including Culeb Berries this time) to macerate for a gin run tomorrow.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Rum Agol »

Thanks for the advice Chris, most I have done is 3 strips in one day- without a preheater that took about 12 hours start to finish. I run in our small kitchen so the missus fusses if I hog the place too long. (need to get that man shed built too LOL ). I could probably rig something up with parts ive got lying around I'll let you know how I get on.

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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Rrmuf »

My last distillation run in my house :-) Had a last gin run in our house; we sold it and so I am relocating !!!! :-) I will be setting up again elsewhere and will be going like gangbusters come September! Half the fun has been setting up the operation to match exact conditions here, so I look forward to doing the same in slightly differentr circumstances...... Do I see a new heated garage in my future? :?: :thumbup: :mrgreen:
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by rubberduck71 »

Spirit run of an Irish style whiskey: 70% golden promise, 25% flaked barley, 5% cornmeal. Made with that Yellow Label Angel Yeast.

Airing out for a couple days & then will make the cuts!!!
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by miletwo »

Did a corn forward mash today, new recipe to run on updated design of my still.

Recipe: (x2)
10# Flaked maize
2# 2 row cracked
1# rye flakes
1tsp Amylase enzyme
Pitched:
1tsp Red Star DADY
1tsp Glucoamylase

I did a stupid simple dough-in and rest, no sparge, brew in bag (though missed my strike temps and had to add more water... dummy move posted in "what not to do" thread).

I'm going to run both batches 1-pass on my newly configured still: one pot still mode, the other through two bubblers in reflux mode, just to a) get practice running my still in each mode, and 2) to see what the difference in product is, if any.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

D6E389C3-993B-4A66-B4FB-A84420F750C8.jpeg
3/8 npt to 1/2 sweat fittings and a couple needles. This for mini 1” over 3/4” CM style reflux water jacket column. It’ll also have either a gate “faucet” bypass valve or a ball “lever” bypass valve to quickly go to max reflux without changing the needle setting. Jury is out on length of this jacketed reflux condenser but i’ll probably make it shorter than I want for best stability. Max power is 1k5W hotplate - probably slightly less due to losses but that’s just a number lol. Six inches of water jacket over small 1k5W boiler or so might give me something to play with...

All the parts are in so next up is cutting pipe and dry-fit but I think i’ll make these fittings more permanent and seal the threads with silver solder since it’s all going to be soldered and dedicated.

Cheers!
-j
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Deplorable »

10 pint jars of apple pie, and what will end up being 3 pints of peach pie. Used up the rest of my 95% SSS. So that's likely to be the first ferment this fall before I get my bourbon on.
boozepie.jpg
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Beerswimmer »

Just moved to the Oregon coast and had enough time on my hands to start window shopping for ingredients for rum and whiskeys. There's no homebrew store here, so I went and checked out the outdoorsy stores for feed and molasses. Found plenty of feed grains for whiskeys, but no molasses yet.

My new house has a secluded outdoor shed that's wired up with 110v and is next to a water spigot, my wife already said I can have it and do whatever I want with it! Looking into getting 220v fed to it and finally go electric!
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by NZChris »

Beerswimmer wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:44 pm My new house has a secluded outdoor shed that's wired up with 110v and is next to a water spigot, my wife already said I can have it and do whatever I want with it! Looking into getting 220v fed to it and finally go electric!
Nice score. Our first house came with a shed that made a great brewery/winery/distillery so I know how that feels :thumbup:

Cleaned up Kiwifruit brandy feints with my Bokakob to make some very neutral base spirit for gin.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

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Seven Sugarhead Soldiers. Lined up for the stripping-squad! Leftover grains from an HBB large batch drained to the grain bed, topped up with 10# quick oats fresh mash, 45# sugar, H2O almost to the top. The five on the right are free run, two on the left from squeezing the grains.


B7552632-E360-4FF1-B08C-950E84DF24D4.jpeg
HBB spirit run finishing up.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by Hambone »

First stripping run on agave wash…
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by NZChris »

The culmination of a ten day All Feints experiment.

I've been adding slaked lime, daily, into a collection of nasty feints that I'd accumulated over the past couple of years, until the pH got to 7.5. I filtered precipitate out once, then, when it reached 7.5, filtered it again and ran it in a Bokakob.

66% of the calculated available alcohol in my feints made it into heart cut that is suitable for using for high class gins, a far better yield than I had expected.
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by bluc »

Was it pot or plater feints? My money is on pot...
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by bluc »

Wouldn't esterfercation(is that a word) already have happened. Does alkaline break down esters? I thought it only prevented them...
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Re: What'd ya'll make today?

Post by CoogeeBoy »

NZChris wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:13 pm I've been adding slaked lime, daily, into a collection of nasty feints that I'd accumulated over the past couple of years, until the pH got to 7.5. I filtered precipitate out once, then, when it reached 7.5, filtered it again and ran it in a Bokakob.
Now this is timely. My wash is going slowly and I checked the pH, it was 7.4.

Looking at Bluc's post, is that too high for a wash?
bluc wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 3:34 am Wouldn't esterfercation(is that a word) already have happened. Does alkaline break down esters? I thought it only prevented them...
Of course I normally have the opposite problem with pH crash but I am using oyster shells (it is a TTFV wash by the way)

Any thoughts?
Taking a break while I get a new still completed....
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