saffirewilly1954 wrote: I am new to this project and I have asked about using yeast. An older gentleman told me he did not like to use yeast because it causes a bad headache the next day. What is causing the headache the next day? Is it really the use of yeast or is the fermentation process not fully passed. Like I said I am new so bear with me if this is a stupid question.
Yeast make alcohol. It's not the yeast.
Greed; feeding your yeast too much sugar will give headaches as they produce more off products.
Cuts: Not making cuts and keeping all (or nearly all) that comes off the still will give you headaches. Search: "A novice guide to cuts"
Where has all the rum gone? . . .
Every new member should read this before doing anything else:
Truckinbutch wrote:Jury is in in my holler . First gen sweet feed batch , 30 gallon wash . Ran 3 runs in 15.5 keg pot . 2 strips and final spirit run . 5 out of 5 people that have tried it fresh off the still think it is fantastic . Second gen should be ready to run next week . Life is good .
Gives hope to a second run of all my "hot" 'shine. Hate to lose too much flavor, but at the cost of an enjoyable drink I think it will be worth it.
just finished my first run of Sweet feed and must say that I couldn't be more pleased. After making cuts and keeping only the hearts my final volume was 2 1/2 gallons with an average proof of 135. Once I made the cuts, I have a nice drinkable liqour at 105 proof.
I did have one issue while distilling my mash. I sampled each jar as it came out of the worm and by the end of the run, I could have labled "Tickle".
firewater706 wrote:just finished my first run of Sweet feed and must say that I couldn't be more pleased. After making cuts and keeping only the hearts my final volume was 2 1/2 gallons with an average proof of 135. Once I made the cuts, I have a nice drinkable liqour at 105 proof.
I did have one issue while distilling my mash. I sampled each jar as it came out of the worm and by the end of the run, I could have labled "Tickle".
LMAO Post drunk and edit sober . Don't distill drunk or you may not last long enough to post .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
Squattingcoyote wrote:Howdy everyone,
After several weeks of stripping runs I wound up with & gallons of low wines and readied myself for my first spirit run of sf whiskey. I used some leftover beer from the last fermentation to dilute low wined to 40% and charged the still. (I am running a 15.5 keg with a short necked pot still head, hoping for maximum flavor).
I ran nice and slow, tossed 200 ml as fores and then collected in 250ml jars. The whiskey started @ 88% off the still and came down to 83.5% then hung there for a long while. Then i broke my spirit hydrometer . Oh well, kept collecting and relied on my nose and taste.
Tails came on strong after about 3 gallons collected. I wound up with about 2 gallons of what I'm calling hearts but I gotta say, even after airing out a day I'm not as Impressed as some on this thred have been. It's not aweful, just a little on the hot side and not near as much flavor as I was hoping for. Pretty much tastes like spicy vodka. Anyone else felt this way or am I expecting too much? I have some 20l barrels that I'm going to age some in starting today regardless. I was just hoping for more flavor.....
I am curious what grain %ages were in your original SFeed. I got mine from the only place around and it didn't even have a contents label but the proffesional salesman asured me it had the three grains we want. I later found that it had soybean oil . Samohon wrote that a third of each was good. Can't imagine what would make it "hot/spicy" other than something added that had those properties.
2" x 5' Boka, 3/8" coil on 3/4" cold finger, SS 15gal 240v 5.5kw sand element, Tincup's NE555 controller.
I am trying my first run ever of anything and the still shot up to 210 deg.... is this normal. I am taking my reading at the top of the neck on a pot still with a built in thumper. I was understanding that the mash temp would level off around 178 and you knew to stop pulling when it started to rise. Man I thought this was going to be alot easier. Its still alot of fun and any advise would be advised. I had 2 gallons of was left so I turned off the heat and added the remainder to my pot. turned on the heat and am going to just sit and wait...maybe I just had the flame up to high.
"the still shot up to 210 deg.... is this normal. "
yes the ABV of the vapors determines what the temperature is,
and the ABV of wash determines what the vapors are.
I didn't understand how to use my beer hydrometer rather didn't take a reading before adding the yeast. So I didn't have a reference. I have no idea what the abv of my wash was. If the temp is determined by the abv then how can everybody say to keep the products you pull between 172-178. I couldn't get my still to produce anything unless my culumn temp was over 200. I know these may seem like dumb questions but I am a newb and just trying to figure this all out.
jarheadJoker wrote:I didn't understand how to use my beer hydrometer rather didn't take a reading before adding the yeast. So I didn't have a reference. I have no idea what the abv of my wash was. If the temp is determined by the abv then how can everybody say to keep the products you pull between 172-178. I couldn't get my still to produce anything unless my culumn temp was over 200. I know these may seem like dumb questions but I am a newb and just trying to figure this all out.
the 172-178 is for a reflux still. on a pot still you heat till you get product out of the condenser then adjust the flow of the stream. cover the thermometer and forget about it in a pot still it does you no good just confuses you
I am getting alcohol but there must be other stuff in my product because my first jar was around 110 proof but included the first 100 ml and my second jar dropped to 80 proof. I thought out of 3 gallons I would get a little more before the steep drop in abv. Does this mean it got to hot and had additional esters in my run. The still has a built in thumper in the column before the condenser, and my thermometer is in the first column before the thumper.
just went threw this,,the ABV of wash determines the temperature at witch the wash vaporizes at.then those vapors determines the temperature at the top of still.
as you boil off alcohol from the wash ,the wash now does not have as much alcohol in it,so now the temperature goes up and the vapor temperature also goes up and the ABV of vapors go down.how fast this happens depends on how much alcohol is in the wash and how big of charge.more alcohol it takes longer to boil off,as does a lager charge.this mite happen in a matter of minutes with a small still and mite hours with a big still.
Well I didn't end up with as much as I had hoped but I will mark it up to air leaks in the still, and inexperience. but I did end up with 1 1/2 pints of 80 proof that isn't too bad. It does have a unique flavor but I took a swig of it and then a swig of 80 proof vodka and it is considerably smoother than the vodka. I think next time I will siphon off the mash instead of trying to poor through a filter. Thanks for all the advice, this was my first batch ever and I now have more knowledge for my next try
Squattingcoyote wrote:Howdy everyone,
After several weeks of stripping runs I wound up with & gallons of low wines and readied myself for my first spirit run of sf whiskey. I used some leftover beer from the last fermentation to dilute low wined to 40% and charged the still. (I am running a 15.5 keg with a short necked pot still head, hoping for maximum flavor).
I ran nice and slow, tossed 200 ml as fores and then collected in 250ml jars. The whiskey started @ 88% off the still and came down to 83.5% then hung there for a long while. Then i broke my spirit hydrometer . Oh well, kept collecting and relied on my nose and taste.
Tails came on strong after about 3 gallons collected. I wound up with about 2 gallons of what I'm calling hearts but I gotta say, even after airing out a day I'm not as Impressed as some on this thred have been. It's not aweful, just a little on the hot side and not near as much flavor as I was hoping for. Pretty much tastes like spicy vodka. Anyone else felt this way or am I expecting too much? I have some 20l barrels that I'm going to age some in starting today regardless. I was just hoping for more flavor.....
I am curious what grain %ages were in your original SFeed. I got mine from the only place around and it didn't even have a contents label but the proffesional salesman asured me it had the three grains we want. I later found that it had soybean oil . Samohon wrote that a third of each was good. Can't imagine what would make it "hot/spicy" other than something added that had those properties.
Actually I wound up mixing my own feed as the local TS brand had pellets. I went to another feed store, walked in and asked for sweetfeed with NO pellets and the lady looked at me and said "You're makin' beer." So, I just say "yeah sure I'm makin' beer!". Long story short, she didn't have any so I just bought a sack each of cracked corn, rolled barley and crimped oats. Also got a jug of feed grade molasses. Went with 9lbs oats, 3lbs barley and 3lbs corn then abouth 1/2 gal molasses. Over 6 generations I added more and more corn in search of better/more flavor and am still unsatisfied. I have 3 gallons oaking now so i'm hoping for good things in a couple months.
He who controls the light need not fear the darkness....
I'm thinking that the simple cause for the "occaisonal" dissatisfaction with this recipe is simply not using the correct sweetfeed. when a good one is found it's exact "brand name" should be posted in a different font color or bold italics so it is easier for a reader to find. Might eliminate a lot of confusion and a few hundred useless questions. It is pretty obvious KS has listed a good recipe here. If it is followed to the letter we should finish with a good product. Thus the title "Tried and True". All the alterations / experiments should really be posted under another indexed title like "Recipe Development" or "My First".
2" x 5' Boka, 3/8" coil on 3/4" cold finger, SS 15gal 240v 5.5kw sand element, Tincup's NE555 controller.
seaguy wrote:I'm thinking that the simple cause for the "occaisonal" dissatisfaction with this recipe is simply not using the correct sweetfeed. when a good one is found it's exact "brand name" should be posted in a different font color or bold italics so it is easier for a reader to find. Might eliminate a lot of confusion and a few hundred useless questions. It is pretty obvious KS has listed a good recipe here. If it is followed to the letter we should finish with a good product. Thus the title "Tried and True". All the alterations / experiments should really be posted under another indexed title like "Recipe Development" or "My First".
Brand names is a good idea and I will start. The first recipe in the Tried and True section should be the original and for beginners that is the one I would suggest new members should start with. Others have added and experimented with the original and posted what they like (lately we have hammered in other threads about individual tastes) and should be taken that way. Unfortunately with brands they vary from state to state and country to country but for my SF all I have used is Nature Wise it's made by Nutrena and is a premium grain feed that comes in a 50 lb. bag.
seaguy wrote:I'm thinking that the simple cause for the "occaisonal" dissatisfaction with this recipe is simply not using the correct sweetfeed. when a good one is found it's exact "brand name" should be posted in a different font color or bold italics so it is easier for a reader to find. Might eliminate a lot of confusion and a few hundred useless questions. It is pretty obvious KS has listed a good recipe here. If it is followed to the letter we should finish with a good product. Thus the title "Tried and True". All the alterations / experiments should really be posted under another indexed title like "Recipe Development" or "My First".
Jimbo wrote:Wow, Corn, Oats and Barley with a touch of molasses and low in protein. Looks like the perfect whiskey fixens.
Damn it Rad, now you got me wanting to do a sweetfeed! Ever mash this up with malt and no sugar?
No, I've never tried mashing sweet feed... In fact I don't recall ever doing more than bringing some to a boil prior to adding sugar but that was years ago and not in line with the methods posted here...
Same as I used, and I had the same question. Malt rather than sugar? What would be the ingredient list for a (using round #'s for ease of 2x, 3x, 1/2x) 10 gal ferment?
Shiner, shooting for a 12 gallon ferment (10 gallons squeezed out to still in a 15.5), I would go for 25 lbs total grain to get a nice AG style SG. So to get a DP of >30, use 7 lbs malt and 18 lbs sweetfeed, conservatively. Or if you have 6 row (160-180DP) , or use a wheat malt (180-190DP) you could get away with 5 lbs malt and 20 lbs sweetfeed.
My next concern is putting this stuff through the malt mill. The molassses might gum up the works?
since my temp in the head of my still was around 205 that would imply my abv was less than 5 percent. what could I have done wrong or is that normal for this wash
jarheadJoker wrote:since my temp in the head of my still was around 205 that would imply my abv was less than 5 percent. what could I have done wrong or is that normal for this wash
That would depend as much on your still as the wash but that sounds a bit low... What kind of still, etc... The more we know, the better we can help...
it is a 4 gal stainless pot with 1" column which turns down at the top to make a integrated thumper. after the thumper it rises back up and down the condensing arm. So basically it is a pot still with about a 32" tall kneck. I plan on redoing the kneck with 2" and not making it so small. Now that I have ran it once I think it would just be easier to take out the thumper and run the wash twice instead of trying to get everything balanced out just right.
The only way my still would affect the temp is if it is not a pot still....Correct? Dnderhead stated on the last page that the temp is determined by the vapor which is determined by the abv of the wash.
the temperature is determined by the alcohol in wash and that determines the amount of alcohol in the vapors and the amount of alcohol determines the temperature of either.
the difference between a reflux and a pot,is that the reflux separates out the alcohol and brings all up up the column and maintains it there until it starts to run out.there for the head temperature stays steady threw out most of the run.but the boiler temperature will rise as the alcohol is depleted.
now a pot still does not reflux or separate alcohol out as well,so the alcohol in the vapor will be determined by how much is in the wash,so the temperature of both will creep up as the alcohol in the wash is depleted.
If your thermo is at the top of the head, where the vapor makes the bend into the condensor then this chart in RAD's thread tells you everything going on, takeoff ABV, wash ABV remaining. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 4#p6787756
I have my thermo in the top of the boiler, so its not exact but no matter, cause for me I know from measurements when the thermo beeps at 210 Im drawing 19-20%, and its not worth the propane anymore.
Good morning everyone!!
Has anyone converted this to a full 50# bag? I would if I knew how much " 4" of sweet feed in a 5 gallon bucket" weighed. Just seems to me that a 50# recipe would simplify things- unless it worked out to more then one run through a 14 gallon keg I have this nifty 30 gallon stainless steel barrel to ferment with........
metalsmith wrote:Good morning everyone!!
Has anyone converted this to a full 50# bag? I would if I knew how much " 4" of sweet feed in a 5 gallon bucket" weighed. Just seems to me that a 50# recipe would simplify things- unless it worked out to more then one run through a 14 gallon keg I have this nifty 30 gallon stainless steel barrel to ferment with........
A weighed 15 pounds for 30 gallons worked for me on the first run and I added 2 gallons for what the grain soaked up on the second . That all fit well in a 44 gallon ferment vessel with plenty of room for a cap . Used 50 pounds of sugar . Hope that helps .
If you ain't the lead dog in the team , the scenery never changes . Ga Flatwoods made my avatar and I want to thank him for that .
Don't drink water , fish fornicate in it .
I am new to this project and I have asked about using yeast. An older gentleman told me he did not like to use yeast because it causes a bad headache the next day. What is causing the headache the next day? Is it really the use of yeast or is the fermentation process not fully passed. Like I said I am new so bear with me if this is a stupid question.
Post drunk and edit sober . Don't distill drunk or you may not last long enough to post .
. Oh well, kept collecting and relied on my nose and taste.
