As the title says, wife bought 14-16 or whatever it was of 1.89L cranberry/pomegranit juice. 100%, no sugar added. The kids are going to LOVE it she said... First sip and they both went ...uh...no...
So I got it and quickly poured it in my 30L fermenter, threw in 6kg's of sugar for almost 12%, small can of tomato paste and some bread yeast.
Nothing great to report, finished mixing etc about 30 seconds before logging on, I just wanted to say WHOOHOO, Cran/pom brandy!
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
I think I'll just keep it at 999, that's kinda....DOH!
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
When I went to work this morning I looked in and it had a thick head of yeast foam going on, so that looked (and smelled) good!
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
CRAP! Saturday it was slowed down so I thought it was done. (used to making whisky, 3-4 day ferment) stuck it outside to cool/settle as it was -19 over night. In the morning, nice and clear and no ice! Yippee, must have lots of alcohol in it...tasted...sweet? Checked with a hydometer and it's still showing about 1.07 from a SG of 1.10 or 1.12 or whatever it was.
So, brought it in and put it downstairs to warm up then I'm thinking maybe I'll pitch yeast and maybe (something) to help a stuck ferment. I'm also thinking maybe it wasn't stuck, I just pulled it too quick...rookie mistake, I'll live...tonight it should be warm enough to rack into another carboy to ferment again.
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
Racked it, added yeast, very fine bubbles but it's working again...or still....
I think I'll leave it a few weeks now before I test again.
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
I know when I run a sugar wash in the cold I say hat it being 50 degrees it takes about a week or moreto ferment out .I always make it a point to also write my SG on fermenter so I know how much I started with so I know when its done
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new-Albert Einstein
notrub wrote:I know when I run a sugar wash in the cold I say hat it being 50 degrees it takes about a week or moreto ferment out .I always make it a point to also write my SG on fermenter so I know how much I started with so I know when its done
Good points,I used to record everything from the SG and temp to baro pressure and weather outside. After a fews I slowly droppedoff as all I ever make now is whiskey so same recipe over and over and over....
Getting complacent I think it's called! LOL!
Pretty much anything other than whiskey is 30L water and 6kg of sugar plus whatever it is. (and tomato paste and a squirt of lemon juice to lower ph if required...even that's not measured, just alittle squirt.
So...that said, had a day off of work due to snow so I ran it. Got a little over 8L. Startedat 58% and took it to 20%. It's airing out downstairs and tomorrow I'll do my cuts. (collectedin 500ml mason jars)
I'll tell you tomorrow how it taste but coming off the still it's really smooth with a light berry flavour. I have a bottle of brandy from a loal micro (which I wasn't impressed with anyway) and it's more paletable than that already.
Tell ya tomorrow.
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
Well, I had success!
25-30L in the still came out to about 8-8 1/2L which seems a bit low and the heart was small as well. I'm quite tight on cuts so I only took 1.1L but I screwed up and mixed the first 2 500ml jars together thinking they would obviously be heads..well the second might not of been. Regardless I only took 1.1L of 51% which was only run through the still once. I added 240ml of RO water which brought it to about 41% and let it air another day. Tonight I tried it and wow, it's not bad at all! No burning, but a sip you can feel as it slides down and warms your throat and chest. I can't figure the smell/flavour though, it's definately a berry smell, but i can't quite place it. Maybe the pom is screwing up the cranberry? It's smells good, just hard to place.
So, very satisfied! (now I have yet ANOTHER bottle of "one off" stuff in the basement hehe)
Numerous 57L kegs, some propane, one 220v electric with stilldragon controller. Keggle for all-Grain, two pot still tops for whisky, a 3" reflux with deflag for vodka. Coming up, a 4" perf plate column. Life is short, make whisky and drag race!
First sip and they both went ...uh...no...
Checked with a hydometer and it's still showing about 1.07 from a SG of 1.10 or 1.12 or whatever it was.
