New to distillation, or simply new to the HD forums.
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Let me start by saying that I'm excited to actively learn a little more about this whole process. I come from a long line of backwoods distillers. Half of my family lives in Serbia and I have been involved in making some of the best slivovitz around. My uncle is well known in his parts. Granted, I didn't really learn what was going on. I just followed instructions and loaded the stuff into suitcases (if you get my drift). Ever bribe an airport security guard with booze and meat? It can be done...not that I've done it.
My great-grandfather (who is still alive and well at 92) is of Hungarian decent but grew up in Southern Ohio. Some of his earliest memories are collecting dandelion leaves in little glass jars for "the old man". When he was old enough to see over the steering wheel he started moving shine in a Model A for some nice Italian fellows in suits. He can actually remember having to hide the stuff in the river bed when the boys in blue were after his boss.
Now as for me, I'm a chemist. I learned to distill in a classroom. It was boring and I learned nothing about liquor...obviously. I built my first still out of a crock pot and some 1/4 tubing. I used some so-so basement wine as a mash and got so-so brandy. Most recently, I built a new one out of a 16 quart stock pot. I made a ton of hard cider and got excited for some good apple brandy. WRONG. The stuff tastes like rocket full and people can barely keep it down. I put all my eggs in one basket and spent a lot of time and energy on a complete failure. It was like a whole batch of heads. I think I was running too hot. Right now I got two gallons of apple molasses match brewing. I'm expecting another failure but we'll see. This hobby is as frustrating as it is fun...but if it wasn't it wouldn't be worth doing.
Screw the Pepsi, screw the pizza, all we need is slivovica.
Make sure you dilute your "rocket fuel" before serving... If you dilute it to the point where it no longer burns you will be in the 80 proof or lower range and folks will have a better time consuming it... Drinking excessively high proof alcohol can cause permanent damage, as you should know from your chemistry background...
I made a ton of hard cider and got excited for some good apple brandy. WRONG. The stuff tastes like rocket full and people can barely keep it down. I put all my eggs in one basket and spent a lot of time and energy on a complete failure.
Did you make any cuts? Either way, you can always dilute to 40%, or lower, and run it again, collect in small glass container and judiciously re blend ...
glad to have you aboard,,, its a great site here,, look in the new distillers reading lounge and i believe theirs a few posts on making the cuts and its pretty understandable,,,
death is inevitable ,,, but its also only the beginning..
Yeah, I tried to cut the stuff. I collected it evenly in mason jars, found what I thought was the hearts, then cautiously tried to blend it. The problem was even the smoothest jar was way too rough, even after I diluted some for tasting. I think I can attribute some of this to bad mash. I made the apple wine from store bought apple cider. The jug read "100% pure apple cider not from concentrate". Even though there were no added ingredients, I'm guessing the quality of the apples was poor. After a second run there was a drinkable portion so I diluted it and added some honey to smooth it out a little. I didn't want to feel like this batch was a total loss. I'll tell you one thing though, I'm going to stay away from apples until I get a little more experience and a rig I like. From everything I've read, they're not easy to work with.
I think I'll try a rum or a sweet feed whiskey next time. Brown sugar was on sale this week and my dad will be at the feed store this weekend so I should have the ingredients to make either.
I have a question about my condenser, but I'll run it through the Q&A forum. Thanks again for the welcome.
Screw the Pepsi, screw the pizza, all we need is slivovica.
Don't be so hard on your self.
Just dilute it and run again. Not gonna be what you intended but you'll get to fine tune your stilling skills and get more familiar with things....
