Howdy

[klondike]

Hi,
My name is klondike, I'm an aquarius, and I've been distilling for about 2 months now. I been brewing just about everything imaginable since I was about 9 yrs. old (my old Daddy got me started), and I am well-versed with brewing with malt, grains, fruits, starch sources, etc.

Distilling was kind of the next frontier for me. Also, I think of it as a form of very entertaining civil disobedience. I have prowled around this forum and the main site for 2 months and I really appreciate the info available.

Started out with a piece of shit ebay still w/ copper column and condenser, got decent abv around 80%. Have worked with malt/sugar and pure sugar washes. I'm working on a home-made, copper 3' x 2" column w/ cooling jacket and condenser, mounted on a stainless steel milk can from Mile Hi. Hopefully, I can post some pics before and after.

I enjoy the hobby/craft and look forward to sharing ideas w/ fellow spiritmakers.

klondike

[Kentucky shinner]

Great man, Welcome to the forum. We can always use more all grain guys. you can help out some of us with all grain mash. we have a few all grainers but I dont think there are really that many compared to the number of members.
Glad to have ya. Let us know if we can help. If you can post a pic of what your building we may be able to help you make it the best it can be.
KS

[blind drunk]

Welcome Klondike, sounds like you're ahead of the game. I'm a Gemini bd.

[klondike]

Great man, Welcome to the forum. We can always use more all grain guys. you can help out some of us with all grain mash. we have a few all grainers but I dont think there are really that many compared to the number of members.
Glad to have ya. Let us know if we can help. If you can post a pic of what your building we may be able to help you make it the best it can be.
KS

I'll tell you, the first thing I notice about the grain talk is the absence of amylase enzyme. Anytime I use grains for brewing, I add at least a little spray-dried malt (or you can sprout the grain and malt it yerself). This really helps convert starches and other compounds to digestible sugar for the yeast. A lot of the discussion I've seen here indicates people are getting some flavor from grains, but not much contribution to alcohol content in the end. My two cents is, boil yer grains with some malt extract or amylase enzyme from the brew store to convert starches to sugar and you'll have a better product.

[madmonk]

Howdy and welcome, klondike. "...very entertaining form of civil disobedience." I like that! I am pretty new here myself; there is so much good information on this site... btw, do you really mean to boil the enzyme with the grain? I think that would de-activate it

[klondike]

You can add it after you boil the grains.