Hallo from the Depressed Uper Mid-West

[Vulture]

Hallo evryone ... especially Wineo, Hucs, LWCS, Hook, and so many other of you that I have come to grow and luv over the past 6 months!!!
Yes a noob in practice but a well educated one (Read a good portion of the entire forum over the past 6 months.)

I have but only one question at the present, as my perusal over the last 6 months have provided 95% of the answers to my noob questions.
Can anyone link me a pdf to the set-up instructions for the EE PS II High Capasity complete kit from Brewhause?
I have one coming in the post in a few days and would like to get a head start on setting it up.

OK now for the boaring part... my background....(Skip if you just want to link me the PDF...lol)
I have fermented many things over the past 20 years... beers (I made a Mackasen that can't be distingished for the commercial one..my favorite But labor intensive) wines (I tryed to perfect cabernet solvioun 'sry about spelling' but could never get it to what I like).... and my most successful endever MEAD (Honey wine)..
So successful that I started a small commecial Meadery with my nephew, (We won 2nd place at the first International Mead Fest in Chicago 2002 for our Hybiscus Methegen)... Always wanted to distill some of that but never got around to it.

So I'm no noob to fermintation and know much about the 'Theory" of distillation (From this forum)

What I want to do:
1. Distill neutruls (WSSW) for clean vodka (Ok Rum but you know what I mean) (A clean 'no hangover every day drink that mixes with everything)
ATM I have three 5 gallon batches of WSSW fermenting (on third day) waiting for the still to arive.
2. Easy (Read low maintence like UJSSM) Whisky washes to produce something close to: (I know alot has to do with ageing afterwards for final taste of product)
a. A good scotch (Perhaps UJSSM but use Malted barly insted?)
b. something close to Crown Royal
c. somthing close to Gentleman Jack (A Better Jack Daniels..)

Well there you have it...Just some real simple objectives...not a lot of "What if...(I did this or that...)
I have already learned a lot from this forum and will gladly share what I learn to anyone who asks...
Thank you all for sharing your expierences with me.... and pleasent times to all.

At your service and your families too!!!

Vulture

[rednose]

Welcome vulture

Maybe one day you can open a topic for your mead receipt, I'm born closed to Schleswig (Haithabu - today called Haddeby), the early age trading capital of vikings and am interested to make a traditional honey wine one day.

I drank it many times in Germany (it's just great) but never intended to do it myself.

distill save.

Joe

[MuleKicker]

Welcome to the forums. Just one one question. Why the "depressed upper mid-west"? We could be closer neighbors than you think, being a midwesterner myself. I dont find it to be too depressing, It is what you make of it. Cheers. MK

[Vulture]

Hallo Rednose

The secrete to my success in makining mead was using the best honey in the world.
It is only produced 6 weeks out of the year by transporting portable bee hives into the swamps of the panhandle of Flordia, USA, specificlly late april to early may.
It is called Tupolo Honey and is 3 to 5 times the price of clover honey.
any basic mead recipe will do you just have to get the Tupolo..

Try it out and start your own topic and I will pop in there to help you out..
Some starters.... Honey needs less nutrient but more acid...we used an acid blend of citric malec and tartaric and some grape tannin..(sry about spelling)
V...

[Vulture]

Welcome to the forums. Just one one question. Why the "depressed upper mid-west"? We could be closer neighbors than you think, being a midwesterner myself. I dont find it to be too depressing, It is what you make of it. Cheers. MK

Hallo Mule..
As I said I'm not depressed.... just our economy...housing prices...jobs...unemployment...
Thankfuly I have a good reliable job, a loving wife, (Who dose not share my enthusiasum for spirits ..oh well look at my sig...lol) and 3 very..... well enjoyable sons (all teenagers)....
so PM me and I'll share how 'close' we are...lol
if close enough we'll get together I would enjoy some sympathatic company...
V...

[MuleKicker]

I hear ya vuture, just poking fun. I dont think there are many of us here that have wives that share our enthusiasm in this hobby. Cheers MK

[exotica59]

Ha ha. I live in the midwest as well and have a husband that doesn't care a bit about any of my beverage making hobbies. Thanks for the tip about the honey!

[blanikdog]

...we used an acid blend of citric malec and tartaric and some grape tannin..(sry about spelling)

Yup, I've allus added these when making fine mead many years ago.

blanik

[Fastill]

Another midwesterner here, and yes, the current "depression" has hit here in full force.

Ha ha. I live in the midwest as well and have a husband that doesn't care a bit about any of my beverage making hobbies. Thanks for the tip about the honey!

Your Hubby gets a taste of some high quality home brew and you might not be able to keep him out of the kitchen when you're "cookin'"

[Lubavitcher]

if you wanna talk about depressed i grew up in Michigan. OY! my parent are successful, thank G-d, but they tell me a lot of horror stories about whats going on there. now that the big three are basically gone michigan has become well known for having the highest emigrant rate in america

[MuleKicker]

now that the big three are basically gone

Really?????? Have you checked on Ford Motor Company lately???? Maybe you can say Chrysler is down for the count, and I aint much for GM, aka "government motors". But last I checked, Ford was posting some nice profits, and has a damn nice line of vehicles.

[Lubavitcher]

ur right that ford is not sunk like the others but still its not what it use to be! ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover! and will be selling volvo later this year! that leaves them with just ford, lincoln, mercury cars. Mercury is selling fewer than 200,000 units a year, which is less than both Plymouth and Oldsmobile right before ford scraped them. i dont know any one that drives a lincoln, so for has been reduced from a big party to a party of one really. thats in terms of what cars they make when it comes to debts ford only has a debt of 23 billion and make around 1 bill a year, america will get out of debt first !!!

ps im sorry for stealing your post

[Sbeghan]

Glad to have you with us. Going to try for that mead brandy? I just made 3 liters that are oaking from a spiced cyser today. Mead brandies when done right are amazing things.

[MuleKicker]

america will get out of debt first !!!:(

Your pretty optimistic!

[blanikdog]

Glad to have you with us. Going to try for that mead brandy? I just made 3 liters that are oaking from a spiced cyser today. Mead brandies when done right are amazing things.

Honey does indeed make a fine brandy and the best thing is that one doesn't have to wait for years like is required for mead. I have a gallon sitting in the shed waiting for the right moment to try it.

blanik

[Vulture]

now that the big three are basically gone

Really?????? Have you checked on Ford Motor Company lately???? Maybe you can say Chrysler is down for the count, and I aint much for GM, aka "government motors". But last I checked, Ford was posting some nice profits, and has a damn nice line of vehicles.

You're right Autos are recovering but only because they exported manufacturing to Mexico..only 40% of auto workers remain employed in Mich....Fault the unions..they demanded too much.... and had much less productivity than they did 20 to 30 years ago.... but I digress and lets take our Auto debate off line to PM's if we can.....
Here is my update.........
After waiting 4 and 1/2 weeks for dilivery of my still...(and having eleven 22 liter washes to strip) I took 3 days off work to process it all.... PSII HC 7.2 GAL Still from Brewhaus
Tues..5/11 4:00 pm....assemble stil in pot mode Test with water ...insure all welds are holding....Good to go..
Tues..5/11 7:00 pm....load first cleared mash (WPOSW @9% ABV) run it hot and heavy... not a problem achieve 4/5 (0.80) gal @ 65%)
Wed..5/12 7:00am .. run 4 more stripping runs same as yesterday total is now at 5 gal @ 65%...finished at 1:30am
Thurs..5/13 8:30am (I was tired)...run 3 more stripping runs.... total is now at 7 gal @ 65%....
Fri ..5/14 6:30 start spirit run.... 6 gals diluted to 48%.....
Will have to detail this tomorrow...its late here and 5:00am comes early...promise to continue tomorrow.

[Lubavitcher]

eleven 22 liter washes to strip) I took 3 days off work to process it all.... PSII HC 7.2 GAL Still from Brewhaus

Oy we need to get you a bigger pot like a 55 gal so you can do it all in one run.

[SwampRat]

There sure are alot of people here from the Midwest! Does anyone do any meets??? I would be interested in going or hosting one in my neck of the woods!