Midwest Contingent

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DSM Loki
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DSM Loki »

My still hand and I will be heading up when we get out of work at 5, should be there by 9ish. I'll bring a some ziptop bags gallon storage bags, a sample of my neutral, and a sample of my uj that's been in a barrel for a while. Safe travels to all, see ya soon.
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ydoih8u
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by ydoih8u »

Not going to get a chance to cook up the soft pretzels. Lye didn't come until late tonight (think it was delivered to my neighbor or something)

I should be there ~6-7pm Friday. I'll have a few versions of apple brandy, blackstrap rum, cane sugar rum, bourbon, some apple pie made with the apple brandy, I think I have some English strong bitter and some Xmas ale as well.

I'm bringing a couple 5 gallon buckets for the 45lbs so if you want you can keep the extra 5's in one of the bags if you want.
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Truckinbutch
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Truckinbutch »

Sounds like a great gathering . Wish we could have made it .
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DSM Loki
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DSM Loki »

Butch, would have been great for you to join. I'm surprised at how many of us look to be heading up considering this was kind of a short notice deal haha
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Manc
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Manc »

Always great to read about these meet ups I'm jealous of you all wish you all a great time and look forward to hearing any stories.

Lee
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Truckinbutch
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Truckinbutch »

DSM Loki wrote:Butch, would have been great for you to join. I'm surprised at how many of us look to be heading up considering this was kind of a short notice deal haha
Would have been great to see all of you again . The bonds these gatherings inspire is beyond imagination .
I been pouting so much like a stepped on baby that SOH might let me host another in a year or so . Time will tell .
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Longhairedcountryboy
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Longhairedcountryboy »

I've finally got everything sorted out. I'll be headed up first thing tomorrow morning. I hope some of you will still be around.
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ydoih8u
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by ydoih8u »

Should still be here. 5 of us staying the night here.
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ydoih8u
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by ydoih8u »

We'll probably all split around 11-12pm I'm guessing though.
Longhairedcountryboy
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Longhairedcountryboy »

On my way. Eta 9:45am
Big Stogie
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Big Stogie »

I just got home. What a great time. Just want to thank everyone for coming, sharing stories, sharing processes, sharing the results of our various beverages and sharing our knowledge teaching each other. I walked away with a new world of possibilities, lots of new projects to build, recipie to try and most importantly some great new friends. My only complaint is Michigan Cornhusker left a jar of something behind and I think he needs a new jar supplier cause every time I look at it it appears that more has leaked out. :D
Can’t wait till we meet again and hopefully more of you will attend

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Nokum Stiff
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Nokum Stiff »

Evening Gents!

Apologies for not making this, I had apparatus driving certification training this weekend for my local fire department.
The next time another get together is planned, I look forward to joining in!

Cheers!

---Stiff
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StillerBoy
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by StillerBoy »

Will friends I made it home at 6 pm, safe and sound, no tire issue.. all it was, was the tire stem valve had started to work itself loose, no wonder we couldn't find any hole DSM, and I wonder if it may.. naa.. it didn't have anything to do with the sampling's, we were just not mindful to check the valve.. lol

Just want to express my thanks to DetroitDIY for the courage to initiate this meetup, and making the panela buy possible for all.. also want to express my thanks to Big Stogie for allowing the use of his place, what a super place it was, and for those guys cooking abilities..

Also want to express a special thank you to all the new friend I made in those three days.. you are all super guys, with each one of you bring your experiences to the meet and sharing them...

To all again, thank you, and hope I can make it down again..

Mars
Last edited by StillerBoy on Mon Nov 05, 2018 10:34 am, edited 2 times in total.
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StillerBoy
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by StillerBoy »

Manc wrote:Always great to read about these meet ups
You will just have to get on a plane and join us..

Mars
" I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent. Curiosity, Obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my knowledge and understanding "

– Albert Einstein
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Oldvine Zin
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Oldvine Zin »

Big Stogie wrote: I think he needs a new jar supplier cause every time I look at it it appears that more has leaked out. :D


B.S.
Hard to find good glass, I have been having the same problem :wink:

OVZ
DSM Loki
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DSM Loki »

Thanks again to you all and it was a pleasure to meet and spend time with you guys. I should be up and running with my new arrangement shortly trying my hand at making rum. I look forward to hearing about your guys' progress.
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ydoih8u
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by ydoih8u »

Yes, thanks you guys for putting this together and hosting. I had a great time and really enjoyed trying your products and comparing techniques. Can't wait for the next one.

I got home, ate, and promptly feel asleep lol. Going to put some of that panela to work tomorrow.
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Manc
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Manc »

StillerBoy wrote:
Manc wrote:Always great to read about these meet ups
You will just have to get on a plane and join us..

Mars
I might just surprise you some time and do that.

Glad to hear you all had a great time

Lee
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Well met, gents! I sure had a great time meeting you guys and sampling your products.
I was again struck by the easy camaraderie amongst us distillers.

Also, I was impressed with the many and widely varied spirits on the table.
I believe I tasted 'em all and there's not one of them that I didn't enjoy.
A real tribute to the knowledge gained and work spent learning our craft.

And outside the spirits, there was excellent ale, top notch mead, ice wine, and great food!
Turns out Big Stogie is a master meat-weaver!!

Thank you to Detroit for getting this rolling, and a big thanks to Big Stogie for hosting.
Northern Michigan is a wonderful beautiful place, and Stogie's place is right in the heart of it.

I enjoyed meeting everyone who made the trip up to the meet, and would look forward to the next one.
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DetroitDIY
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DetroitDIY »

Yep, it was a really nice weekend with you guys. Lot's of good discussion topics: thumpers for brandies, steam heating from MichiganCornhusker, running flutes slowly, proper fermentation techniques, how to mash corn well by Big Stogie, how to produce a neutral as fine as StillerBoy's, the ease of making cuts on a rig as large as he-who-shall-not-be-named, and what are the differences between sweet potatoes and yams.

Excellent food, great camaraderie, late nights with good discussions and a multitude of beverages. Bottles to send home with folks, as well as a variety of White Lab yeasts that Ydoih8u brought to share. Carloads full of panela (and heirloom corn that a few picked up during their travels). I think everyone went home happy.
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MichiganCornhusker wrote:I believe I tasted 'em all and there's not one of them that I didn't enjoy.
I do believe you either passed over that new make rum I pulled out of my sulphury barrel, or you're lying Cornhusker. :econfused: I'me going to drop a bit of clean copper into that bottle to see if that'll remedy it... and if so, drop more into my barrel.

We all thought that more meetings were in order, sooner than next fall. Likely with some shared learning opportunities that we discussed around the table We'll get the word out with more advanced notice so folks can plan, get permission form the various bosses in your life :P , and prepare a new spirit or two. We'll also see about finding a more "Southern" venue (in Michigan) to attract some more of you other fly-over states to join. But I must agree, Big Stogie's place was just the ticket as far as the amenities for our gathering. I'm sure we'll be back there again...

Thanks for making it a great weekend guys. Glad you made it for a cameo appearance Longhairedcountryboy. It was great meeting all of you. If all you other Midwesterners (and Canadians) (and people willing to travel a ways) that didn't make the meeting are as nice a bunch of people as those who did, I hope you can find your way to a future event.

Cheers everyone!
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Truckinbutch
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Truckinbutch »

I think MCH will back me up . I have attended 4 of these events . Hosted two of them . Never found a better behaved and reserved professional group from all walks of life at any of them .
It 'got drunk out there' many evenings without anyone getting out of line .
We self police our own behavior at such gatherings like we do here at home on HD .
Goes a long way toward spouses becoming more friendly toward our hobby .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
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DetroitDIY
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DetroitDIY »

StillerBoy, I'm trying the neutral recipe you suggested. Running it hot at the temp you recommended in my little (well, 7 cu.ft) fermenteezer. Not sure why, but this ferment did create a lot of sulfur smell, as I'll get on occasion with some yeasts. I hadn't noticed this so much on baker's yeast ferments before, but those were always rum washes, so perhaps that masked the smell.

Anyways, it's been a healthy ferment. My wife who's a super sniffer finally commented on it this morning, telling me I'll have to get that fixed before our family comes for Thanksgiving. I think the aggressive ferment has subsided, and it may be close to done... Hoping to run it this weekend as I'm all out of neutral and I need some for a different project I'm looking to do.

On another front, I'm thinking to start looking into options for Midwest gathering round two... There are a two of you who've offered up your place (Big Stogie and Mack10). I'll reach out to you two this weekend via PM to get the ball rolling and see if we can settle on a location and a couple of options for dates.
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by Big Stogie »

I just got a new neutral yeast to try and 50 pounds of rice plus some distillers malt as soon as I can make room in the fermenters I’ll try that, what yeast did you use some lager type yeasts put out sulfur, so do some bacterial infections
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DetroitDIY
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DetroitDIY »

Just used regular old bread yeast (Red Star), per my notes from talking to StillerBoy. I've used some ale yeasts on ciders in the past that did this, and just recently had it with a Cotes des Blancs in a cider. Just hadn't noticed it nearly so much with bakers until this pitch. We'll see... Only done one neutral before, a tomato wash which several seem to claim leaves some off flavors. I'm not too discriminating yet... I was happy with the tomato, but I'm always open to better.
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by StillerBoy »

DetroitDIY wrote:Not sure why, but this ferment did create a lot of sulfur smell, as I'll get on occasion with some yeasts. I hadn't noticed this so much on baker's yeast ferments before, but those were always rum washes, so perhaps that masked the smell.
Not sure what the smell coming off the fermentation is like, but, you could be smelling the yeasty smell, and no sulfur.. the yeasty smell comes cross quite strongly on sugar washes.. and by the way this sugar wash is much the same as Wineo's and Shady's recipe formula...

Using bread yeast on other wash such as rum or grain mash, the wash/mash smell over powers the yeast smell, so you are correct in not having notice it before..

Mars
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ydoih8u
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by ydoih8u »

Well first panela washes in the boiler... 2 more going... 1 bag down.
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DetroitDIY
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DetroitDIY »

ydoih8u wrote:Well first panela washes in the boiler... 2 more going... 1 bag down.
Damn, I haven't done anything with mine yet but bake a couple of pecan pies. New recipe, so I'm not sure if it was the panela or not, but they were intense. :shock:

I have a number of other washes to run and a few other things to attend to, so it'll likely be the Spring before mine sees any real action.

Talking to Big Stogie about the next meeting again. We'll see if we can get some more info out to everyone over the next month or so.

Cheers!
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ydoih8u
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by ydoih8u »

Nice! Looking forward to it.

Yeah I had to get a jump on it to get the dunder pit started lol.
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DetroitDIY
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by DetroitDIY »

Hoping I can get things resuscitated on this thread in anticipation of a meet up about May or April.

There had been a new perspective meeting venue which Mack10 has a lead on, but that will likely be later in the year if it happens. In the meantime, Big Stogie had indicated his place about Lake Houghton, MI could be made available again.
There is no settled date for our second meeting but I thought if we put out a few suggestions people can provide feedback if there are any preferences. Dates in the consideration hopper include:

April 12-14
April 26-28
May 3-5
May 10-12

Can’t recall who was still present when we got to talking about plans at the last meeting, but there was discussion of one or more of us bringing a set or two of jars with distillate to work through techniques on making cuts, and where and why we would make the cuts.

There was also discussion on people bringing their alcoholmeters so we could all compare to a known ABV at drinking strength and possibly at “as distilled strength” to sort out the errors in our different meters.

And last time a organized a panela buy… which honestly I have yet to dig into. :shock: But I’m undeterred, and thinking that another group buy of something interesting may be in order. Last time StillerBoy was picking up some nice corn from https://dancingstarfarmsseed.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow , and coincidently Michigan Cornhusker had also picked up some on his way over. Once I knew what they had, I was jealous… and I was wondering if there would be interest in a group order of some of these heirloom corns… and then I thought that it may be better to do that this fall (when a new crop and more varieties are available). So… I put it to the rest of you who may attend, is there a good group buy that you’re interested in? A brick or two of some special yeast to break up? Another nice fermentable that someone has a line on? Botanicals? Something else… Toss out an idea if you have one.

So…
Who’s thinking to attend?
What dates are workable for you?
What do you think for a group buy?
What else is on your mind?

If this meet up is anything like the one last fall, it’ll be a good time, with good friends, sharing lots of knowledge and beverages… plus some good food.

Cheers!
DetroitDIY
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: Midwest Contingent

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

I’ll be driving past Dancing Star a few times in February and could pick up an heirloom corn order if folks are interested in a group buy. As far as I know he still has red, blue, and white corn dried and ready to go. I think he also has Wapsie Valley, which I think Widow Jane distillery has experimented with. If I pick it up direct we would save the shipping/freight costs.
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