What'd ya'll make today?

[violentblue]

I started this hobby interested in fuel, but after realizing how much work it was just to get a gallon I switched to the goal of producing a good bourbon.

Ya I told myself that lie too. it just seems a shame to put rum in the car.

speaking of which, I got a strip run of Rum on right now.
might do a spirit run this evening

[rangitang]

I am running a ten gallons of mollasses and brown sugar this evening. The wash started at 1.07 and finished at .002 and I now have some dunder to go with and I have started with collecting the rum oils according to Pugi. As a rank novice I am having difficulty keeping the still head temp at 78-82C. Yes it climbs fast from55C and settles at 86-88C for the long term and then climbs into tails. Is it desirable to hold the temp at a lower reading? My rum smells fine and tastes great in the middle coming off at 88C. I have a 30L stock pot with a 20L doubler and a worm. I built the still after Walter's paint can grommet stills featured on the parent site. I have subbed in soft silver soldered (this last, what a boon to the mechanically challenged) copper fittings for the grommets and have changed Lyne arm and doubler lines to half inch. I am doing this largely by imitating the designs and concepts that seem to be well thought of by other forumeers ans so far I am encouraged by my results thanx to all at distillers .com. Ta very much to all.

[Mud]

Temp is a function of the percentage of alcohol to water in the boiler. It slowly changes over the course of a run.

[blind drunk]

Had to make something today so this is what I did -

!3 pounds cornmeal
3 pounds sugar
6 pounds diastatic malt syrup
4 pounds of old sourdough bread, preservative free
4 gallons backset
water to bring it down to 8 % abv

Mashed the cornmeal in the backset with the malt for 12 hours @ 140
threw it in the pail
the next morning, mashed the bread with some malt just to break it down, held for a bit and threw it in the pail
made a jug of starter with previous lees the night before and pitched it
bubbling away nicely

It was a casual affair, measurements are approximate, except for the abv which I took before I added the liquidy bread, so it might be higher? I hope to get 10 gallons of beer and a couple of tablespoons of hooch

[pHneutral]

Picked me up 65 lbs of amber molasses bulk, 60+% sugars (man that stuff is tasty!) and decided to make rum. Made up 4 fermenters with 20L of well water.

Followed the competition recipe (Black strap vs Fancy Molasses in recipe development) to the letter, except:

I used baker's yeast as well on three of the batches. I've done combo before and it seems to run a bit faster to dry than just plain EC-1118, plus I like the flavor better.

No tomato paste

Added Epsom Salt

Acidified with Lactic instead of ctric acid to measured pH of 4.5 or so.

One of the four I only pitched EC-1118 as well, to see how it fared.

Used manual agitation (a big spoon) instead of the drill and paint stirrer.

As expected, the three with baker's yeast are bubbling away furiously one day later.. the EC-1118 only batch is lagging, but still bubbling. I intend on stirring it once a day to make sure the molasses has not settled out. I used a bit more water than the recipe so the SG came out to only 1.07x in each batch, which means its about 12% potential alcohol so the baker's yeast alone would have done just fine.

So far so good!

[I-GOR]

I see lotsa people doin molasses. Well, tis the season.

I had an experimental batch of beer didn't turn out quite like I was hoping so I threw it in the pot last night. Much of the hoppines came out in the foreshot, the rest of the run was not bad. I remember UJ stating that when he tried beer schnapps it was too bitter for him, but my batch wasn't so bitter. Very malty tasting when cut to 80 proof, but a little hazy, I think because of the hop oils. Over rocks with a squeeze of lime seem to compliment the bitters. I'll give it another taste tonight, see if I still likes it.

[WILDBILL2873]

i just moved and haven't had the time till now. put 24 gallons on 4days ago. 5 gallons of corn, 1gallon of barley, and 29lbs of sugar. after 12 hours it was going crazy and it was hardly sending a bubble this morning. i added the epsom salt, and yeast neutrient i've read about in other posts. 1.070sg and now 1.000. think i'll cook it off this week. i saw a faster turnaround this time by adding the salt, but haven't got my head around what differance it makes. i haven't ever used the ph paper till this time and it looked in the 4-5 range. i think by leaving the corn on water for 4-5 days prior helps with this. it will be nice to start again and retain my yeast and backset. that makes all the differance for flavor and keeps the glass out of the jar.

[JohnnyBGoode]

I made a simple corn mash. I do it a little different and I don't think I've seen this recipe on the site. (I haven't read them all yet) But I put 5lbs of plain corn meal and probably about 5.25lbs of sugar and mix it with 3 gallons of water and heat it on the stove, making sure all of the sugar is dissolved. This then goes into a 5 gallon bucket and i pour another gallon of cool water on top of the heated wash. I then pitched one packet of activated active-dry yeast. On the second day I racked the wash into a 5 gallon plastic water jug and 4 days later the wash cleared and was dry.

The cleared wash added up to a less than 3 gallons (the other gallon was mixed with all the solids that I did not want in my still)

After running it through my beer-keg pot still, I ended up with four very strong pints of whiskey.

To be honest, I did not think I would get so much from the little amount of wash.

I hadn't made corn whiskey in a while and had been sticking to brandy.

[blanikdog]

Yesterday - or was it the day before?? - I ran 50 litres of my barley/oat sugarhead which made up my aging spirit to five gallons. It took seven ferments using backset from previous run to get there. Currently sitting on oak, peppercorns and some vanilla pod. Smells good already.

Today I started a 50 litre molasses wash, which is a modified Harry's gggp/pugi rum. I've always done 25 litre runs in the past but managed to score a 50 litre BOP which doubles as a fermenter. The larger BOP seemed to work ok for the Barley/oat mash so I hope it works as well as my 25 litre rum runs did.

blanik

[Dnderhead]

I did a single malt this year almost done, barrels are full , got a grate buy just payed shipping!. do not know what ill be doing next?
I'm 5 years ahead ,last me the rest of my life ,,,, maybe stop???????? but I do not know what I do??????
maybe mow my lawn? but cant fiend mower it is out in the weeds sumwhere.

[HookLine]

Keep passing your knowledge on.

[blind drunk]

Keep passing your knowledge on.

Right on.

And keep on shining. bd.

[kiwistiller]

mixed bag today. got in to looking at whats been aging while I stripped a rum wash tonight. as I'm not that far into my distilling career I'm still experimenting with things to see what I like.

Sampled some spiced rum that i'm not really happy with. It was a VERY heavy rum to start with, and with the spices as well its just too much. back into the rum feints jar it goes, but I'm wiser for it. I think I'm starting to settle on what I like to do with rums: oak the heavy, spice and caramel the mediums, and leave the light stuff in the white (although the coconut experiment on the light stuff smells realllllly good).

My (heavy) rum on charred apple wood has taken on a wonderful aroma and colour, but the taste isn't quite there. hoping it will improve, its only had a month and a half and the sticks aren't very thin.

my DWWG on toasted manuka is looking and smelling really good as well. mmmm manuka. I'm thinking I might finish it off with a touch of manuka honey, its really really dry at the moment.

Then I went to leave the shed, and tripped up, knocking over a 5l glass jar filled with nice vodka that was destined for schnapps and panty dropper experiments

Bugger. That'll teach me for using extension cords.

KS

[rad14701]

Then I went to leave the shed, and tripped up, knocking over a 5l glass jar filled with nice vodka that was destined for schnapps and panty dropper experiments

That's one for "tell us about your mistakes"... Major bummer, kiwistiller...

[I-GOR]

Had a nice spirit run on 4.5 gals of sugar wash low wines, cut down to 25%, in my pot still. Came out smelling a little floral and very smooth. Netted 2 gal’s, got ½ gal tails @ 50%. Perfect for vodker & tonics w/ a friend.

Funny thing, the tails on my spirit runs on the sugar wash low wines taste different from any other, they have a very cloying, kinduv perfumy yet plasticky taste. Only occurs in the spirit run, not the singlin’s. Once it starts coming over in the run, I have to cut it fast. Wish I knew what the chemical was that made them taste that way, and if there was a way to beak it down.
I remember someone, maybe it was schnell, writing that, with sucrose, the pentanes come over early in the tails, but I can't find that post now.

Oh, one more thing. Finally got the "circumstances" to cook with natural gas. I now admit, hot plates suck hind teat.

[Kill-Devil]

9.5 lb black rice (aka Forbidden Rice) cooked into submission
tap water to make up 21L
3 packs EC-1118 (started night before on mild sugar solution)
Conversion was done using 2 Tbls each of Alpha and Gluco Amylase (came out at 8% potential).
No ph adjustment was needed as the cooked rice was pH 4.0.

Bubbling away now. It's a deep purple color - kind of looks like cabernet. I plan to add more converted rice as the SG drops. targeting 15% ABV under slow ferment at 60-65F.
If it doesn't pass the taste test, I'll be sending it to a better place

Kill Devil

[Kill-Devil]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eVLc8wAClE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[blanikdog]

... but cant fiend mower it is out in the weeds sumwhere.

A man after my own heart.

blanik

[I-GOR]

Took a gallon of tails, threw it in the pot with a gallon of boiling water, added half a chopped lime and half a chopped lemon. The first liter came over surprisingly very nice, about 120 proof, with a distinctive lemon-lime flavor, a bit of quinine on the finish. I was really surprised at how little citrus it took for the flavor to come through. After a litre it started getting skanky again.

[tinboat]

Barley, corn shredded wheat ,
cook corn and shredded wheat and sugar a lot until it is like creamed corn. Cool to 150 deg add malted barley. Add yeast
very niiice.After distilling of course.

[violentblue]

malted 50lbs of barley.
of which 5 lbs was given a dark toast, 5 lbs smoked and the rest air dried.
ground and mashed, fermenting away.
if it tastes nice I may keep some back for beer, the rest is going to make a fine single malt.

[scotty]

im starting the first of 3 separate 6 gallon mashes for irish whiskey



This is my rube mash pot with a 1 kw hot plate and electronic temp controll

i heating th water to 180-- then reseting the stat to 145-- just before pitting the grain bag in.
The 10 gallon pot has 4 1/2 gallons of water in it and i have another 1 1/2 gallons that will be heated to 145 for sparging. The starter bottle is going since about 9 am--i fed it once already--

i also went out for some tincture of iodine this morning--i think i'm set

thats it so far

[Dnderhead]

What you using for grain? it makes a difference on how you cook.

[scotty]

What you using for grain? it makes a difference on how you cook.

First i didnt go to 180-- i stopped at 170--- next batch i will put th grains in at 165..

I have a mix of 10 parts malted barley, 7 parts unmalted barley and one part each of rye, wheat and oats.
It also looks like i might start wit 5 1/2 gallons of water and sparge with one gallon of clear water.

I am hoping i get it right

[Dnderhead]

Grind /crush and cook unmalted grain with a hand full of malt for about 1 hour at or about 180f..
when cooled to 150-155f add crushed malted grain,, stir,, let set at that temperature for about 1 hour. (in cooler or rap in blanket is ok)
when cooled to 80 f 0r less add yeast, or drain and add yeast, over 160f will start to deactivate malt.

[scotty]

i MASHED THE SECOND6 GALLON BATCH TODAY.. 16% abv--THE FIRST BATCH IS FERMENTING SINCE LAST NIGHT..
tHE WINE STORE IS CLOSED SO I COULDNT GET ANY MORE YEAST NUTRIENT-aLL I HAVE LEFT IS ENERGIZER..

ILL JUST DO WITHOUT IT. I ALWAYS MAKE A STRONG STARTER BOTTLE oops caps-- i have a bad left hand--sorry

[Dnderhead]

should not need nutrients with grain.

[scotty]

should not need nutrients with grain.

oh ok

[rad14701]

dAMNED cAPS lOCK kEY, aNYWAY...

[I-GOR]

Made sour cherry wine a few weeks ago. 3 gallons fresh pie cherries, 12 lbs sugar.
Let the cherries macerate in the must for a week, racked off the wine and squeezed out the cherries. Threw the cherries back in the primary fermenter, tossed in another 4 galllons water and 8 lbs sugar. Much slower ferment 2nd time around. Let it go for 10 days.

Ran it off last night in the pot still. After foreshot and head shot, came out at 175% proof. Was a little bit hazy. After cuts and a little water, got 2/3's gallon at 105 proof. Tastes like cherries & vodka and a little sweet, but not as strong as true Kirschwassen. This morning, the haziness had gone away. I'll still filter with coffee filters when tonight. Still, has a nice sour cherryflavor and smell. I'm definitely going to try this with the fruit I use to make other fruit wines.