Got my Sugar wash going... suggestions on diluting/drinking?

[302w]

First off, I am sorry if this is in a wrong section. I am a bit new here

Anyway, I have two, three liter carbuoys bubbling at the moment that have 8oz's sugar, 3l water, half a packet of Red Star yeast, a vitamin C tablet (I forgot yeast nutrient), and a multivitamin in each. They should be halfway done fermenting about now.

Anyway, once it is all distilled I will have pure ethanol which will likely kill me if I drink it. Or at least kick my butt anyway. I am interested in diluting it somehow but don't know what to do, and would like to flavor it as well. I could mix it with 50/50 or 60/40 with Gatorade but I am not some frat boy looking to get destroyed on the stuff. I would like something classyish, and enjoyable

The only ideas I had were:

60/40 apple juice to alcohol and leave two cinnamon sticks sitting in the mix in a mason jar, but the juice would likely make it go bad.
60/40 water to alcohol and leave two cinnamon sticks and a half apple sitting in the mix, but I dont want the apple to rot either.
60/40 peach or mango juice to alcohol.

Thing is, I am certainly no expert and I dont want to have to refrigerate this stuff, I would like to keep it room temperature in a mason jar. Advice?

[Dnderhead]

you can use any fruit,or juice,,take a look at "pantie dropper" in tried and true"

[rad14701]

Anyway, I have two, three liter carbuoys bubbling at the moment that have 8oz's sugar, 3l water, half a packet of Red Star yeast, a vitamin C tablet (I forgot yeast nutrient), and a multivitamin in each.

4.4% ABV...

[RumBrewer]

... half a packet of Red Star yeast, a vitamin C tablet (I forgot yeast nutrient), and a multivitamin in each...

Yeast is cheap.
Healthy and bountiful yeast is your friend.
Don't skimp! Use a whole pack....

[302w]

Cut me some slack, Im new!

Should I add more sugar, and suggestions on post-distillation like I mentioned at the beginning.

My next wash will be a 5lb bag of sugar, a packet of yeast, real nutrient, in 3 gallons of water in a 5 gallon jug. Unless you guys have another suggestion. I like simplicity.

[RumBrewer]

Cut me some slack, Im new! .

We know. And Welcome!

My next wash will be a 5lb bag of sugar, a packet of yeast, real nutrient, in 3 gallons of water in a 5 gallon jug. Unless you guys have another suggestion. I like simplicity.

Just stop!
Repeat after me! "I will not ferment anything until I've looked through the tried and true recipes!"
One More. "I will not distill anything until I've read the entire Distiller's FAQ"

I only say this because you're gonna build some crap that's going to put you off of this hobby for a long time. Ask around. You'll find 20 people in 20 minutes that have "Tried" homebrewing beer but it was bad and they don't want to do it any more.

Not unlike homebrew, you can make GREAT spirits at home. But you gotta know what's going on or you'll end up making nasty shit or killing yourself..... or both.

Read up, ask questions when you're stuck and enjoy! It's a great bit of fun!

[RumBrewer]

OH... and if you're making neutral, just get some recipe ideas and try them with vodka.... You can make some fruity sugary crazy good stuff! and that way you have something to sip while you're reading!

[302w]

Thanks for your patience. I am sure you get a lot of pests lately with that TV show. This is also my second attempt, my first I tried to make cider. I made apple sauce.

Anyway... What did I botch up? I have done a lot of lurking, read many FAQs, but I don't know everything. I know not to make methanol and drink it, that's for sure. I skipped a lot of things people use since I read that once yeast start eating, they will grow and eat until the alcohol kills them. I figured why bother with tomato paste, DAP, and the like when a simple vitamin would work. I am attempting "pure" ethanol anyway.

Really, I wanted to make some dirt simple hooch just to get started. I plan on making nice things when I have expirence. Everyone gets a beater for a first car.

[Dnderhead]

""once yeast start eating, they will grow and eat until the alcohol kills them. I figured why bother with tomato paste, DAP, "

it dont quite work like that.yeast just like you need nutrients to grow big and strong.if its is going to
pull its weight . with 5lb in 3gal=10% alcohol? with out nutrients the ferment can stall. at the least you will have off taste do to stressing the yeast.

(there is a method to our madness)

[302w]

You know.... I am going to make things easy on myself and make a 5 gallon sized Birdwatchers wash next. I need to run to the supply store and get a hydrometer too.

Anyway, for this current batch, whatever Ethanol I do get from it, what should I do with it? My original question is how and what should I dilute it with. I imagine if I just dilute it with water I will have some sort of redneck vodka, but I want something tastier than that.

EDIT: Now I have done more homework, and decided I am going to make some Apple Pie Moonshine! I am excited, I love this place!

[forrestgump]

If you don't want to drink it as vodka then just buy a spirit essence from your brew shop and add it to your ethanol diluted down to 40% with water. You will be surprised at the result. Quite reasonable. In my limited experience, the gin essences produce excellent results (which is not surprising when you look at how shop bought gin is made).

[302w]

The other thing I was wondering...

If I get something 190 proof and dilute it with H2O to 40% alcohol, will it be "vodka".

[forrestgump]

The other thing I was wondering...

If I get something 190 proof and dilute it with H2O to 40% alcohol, will it be "vodka".

As far as I have been able to understand, that is a matter of definition.

In my head I see it like this:

In the USA that would be called vodka.
In Europe it would not.
In Australia we don't care what it's called - we just drink it.

Btw. I note that your question uses mixed terms - proof and abv%. Be careful not to mix them up. In the best case it can give disappointing outcomes, in the worst case a dangerous outcome.

Go to the parent site and click on the calcs section to get some handy calculators to assist in getting your dilutions right.

[maheel]

what kind of still do you have ?

nothing you will make is "vodka" by definition

your making (or trying to make) neutral spirit
if you flavor it with anything you have "flavored spirit"

you can call it whatever you want but

[302w]

I will be using a pot still made from a saucepan and lid. I will not modify the saucepan, but will drill two holes in the lid, one for a copper pipe and one for a probe thermometer. I imagine I will RTV them in place, as the red RTV will be rated higher than the temps it will see.

[fullhouse]

please find a diff way other than red RTV its not safe with the high temp vapors...there will be bad unsafe nastys leached from the RTV

[302w]

I figured red RTV was good enough for my V8, but hey, I never distilled before.

BTW, nice Browning avatar. Although I prefer Remington myself.

[fullhouse]

great for the V8 but ur not gonna drink motor oil lol....just be safe bro

[RumBrewer]

BTW, nice Browning avatar. Although I prefer Remington myself.

Die Hard Remington guy here! But I gotta say that the newer" Japp" Browning Citori's are about as fine as you'll find!

[GuyFawkes]

I will be using a pot still made from a saucepan and lid. I will not modify the saucepan, but will drill two holes in the lid, one for a copper pipe and one for a probe thermometer. I imagine I will RTV them in place, as the red RTV will be rated higher than the temps it will see.

NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I hope you haven't done it yet..... you don't need a thermometer, I don't know where there thread for this is, I'll go look for it, but remember once you drill a hole you can't undrill it, and you will have to plug that hole (likely with flour paste) every time you want to distill, and it may end up forcing you to a new boiler/still unnecessarily. A temp gauge on the boiler will do little to nothing for you, if you seriously want to put one in it will eventually become a burden, so just remember that.

If you have done it already, then just look at it as a blowoff valve in case you ever unknowingly build up pressure in thar

[BigPa]

OK tell me if I am the only one that has a problem here. We have a question by an OP. It is obvious by his wording that he should be doing more research instead of experimenting. (For his own safety)..

Now we have 69% of the posts that are guiding this person are by people that have been members of this forum for less than 2 months.



Now please do not try to tell me this is healthy for anyone including our beloved Forum.

[GuyFawkes]

OK tell me if I am the only one that has a problem here. We have a question by an OP. It is obvious by his wording that he should be doing more research instead of experimenting. (For his own safety)..

Now we have 69% of the posts that are guiding this person are by people that have been members of this forum for less than 2 months.



Now please do not try to tell me this is healthy for anyone including our beloved Forum.

I'm certainly not guiding him, my only advice was that a thermometer on the pot is a bad idea as per the experienced users on this site. If you disagree with anything we're saying, why not comment with your objections instead of making general observations? The OP can quite clearly see we're as new as he is, so he should take our advice cautiously.

[302w]

I have not distilled yet.

Why no thermometer? I dont want to sit there and guess "Hmm.... these are heads, this might be metanol, oh, golly, I will just take this batch right here".

[RumBrewer]

I have not distilled yet.

Why no thermometer? I don't want to sit there and guess "Hmm.... these are heads, this might be metanol, oh, golly, I will just take this batch right here".

A thermometer is just going to confuse you. A pot still does not work like a reflux, and the temp is going to be what it's going to be. And Methanol will be the first to come out, the thermometer is not going to tell you anything about it.
When she starts to drip, lower the heat, it really doesn't take much to keep it going. get yourself a LOT of jars... pint mason jars work well. Collect 100- 200 ml in each one and save it for a day or so. Then use your nose to blend... or in my case, have your wife do it for you because apparently I think that fingernail polish smells like something I want to drink. (Long story from another thread)

~Cheers!

[302w]

I am not trying to argue with you, just figure things out.

Everything I have read tells you to use a thermometer. Everything before 173 farenheight or thereabouts dump out, and on the safe side dump the first 100ml or so anyway. Everything else is koser until the temperature rises. (as per the parent site).

What I am likely to do, is (temperature aside), dump out the first ounce or two then keep everything else until it stops, clean the still, and distill again.

[RumBrewer]

I am not trying to argue with you, just figure things out.

Your're good. Not giving you any attitude here.

What I am likely to do, is (temperature aside), dump out the first ounce or two then keep everything else until it stops, clean the still, and distill again.

Good Plan!
In my experience, the temp raises slowly in a pot still, and never really stabilizes for long. When I run 10 gallons of wash with a lot of feints added back, it will stabilize for a while, but it takes a LOT of booze to hold it at any given temp, so I've decided that a thermometer is more frustrating than useful. I keep mine in just so i know when it's about to start dripping and I can back off the heat, then I shut it off for the rest of the run.
When I started, I kinda thought that the temp would work like you're expecting it to. I think that may be a misleading bit of info from the parent site. Now if you've got a fractioning column... Yup, Temps are the key to the whole deal. But Pot stills are more "seat of the pants" than "fly by wire"

[rad14701]

302w, you are being given good advice here so soak it in... Remember, those temperatures you have read are for boiling points of ideal solutions rather than dynamic extractions during distillation... For our purposes, when pot stilling, the temperatures are only a rough reference and don't remain constant for any extended period of time unless you are running a far larger boiler charge than what we would consider hobby scale... There is absolutely no way to make proper cuts by temperature on a pot still... Using smell, taste, and feel, is the only real way to get close... Collecting in small amounts will allow you to further discern your choices after airing, at which point you can blend only the jars that pass the muster...

Stick with it and you'll get there... No matter how much we type at you the only real way to learn is through practical experience... All that said, get busy...

[302w]

Grr.

After assembling supplies, I hear my 3l wash boiling in my stockpot turned pot still. The stockpot lid leaks some vapor, so I might make a gasket out of automotive thin gasket material unless you guys say otherwise. After maybe 20 minutes I have maybe 10 drops. Hmm...

[Prairiepiss]

No on the gasket material. Flour paste will do you good.

[302w]

Well... After about an hour, I am quite disappointed. I got all of the heads done, then my lid leaked non stop and I quit. I'll try tomorrow using a flour gasket and a better coil design. Maybe check the salvation army for an old pressure cooker. Gotta say, I'm bummed. Thank you again for the advice.

Tomorrow I'll try distilling tomorrow. Maybe using the turkey fryer and I'll tailgate.