My Journey

Other discussions for folks new to the wonderful craft of home distilling.

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HDNB
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Re: My Journey

Post by HDNB »

Don't keep the corn too long it will go rancid fairly quickly. I try to use my milled batches I. 6 weeks or less. 500 lb should net you about 150 bottles or so after cuts. You gonna need a nice barrel :thumbup:
I finally quit drinking for good.

now i drink for evil.
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Re: My Journey

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Care to share the corn supplier with me I know I'm not that far from you. He'll could split and easily use it up in a short summer season. Let me know. I'm firing back up in a few weeks.

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Re: My Journey

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HDNB wrote:Don't keep the corn too long it will go rancid fairly quickly. I try to use my milled batches I. 6 weeks or less. 500 lb should net you about 150 bottles or so after cuts. You gonna need a nice barrel :thumbup:
Six weeks? Damn, I have 10 batches worth, not counting Gumballs, no way I’m gonna make it.
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Re: My Journey

Post by Antler24 »

raketemensch wrote:
HDNB wrote:Don't keep the corn too long it will go rancid fairly quickly. I try to use my milled batches I. 6 weeks or less. 500 lb should net you about 150 bottles or so after cuts. You gonna need a nice barrel :thumbup:
Six weeks? Damn, I have 10 batches worth, not counting Gumballs, no way I’m gonna make it.
I've been using cracked corn that's been sitting in my basement at room temp for over a year, I can't find anything wrong with it.
Swedish Pride wrote:
get a brix reading on said ball bearings and then you can find out how much fermentables are in there
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Re: My Journey

Post by acfixer69 »

raketemensch wrote:
HDNB wrote:Don't keep the corn too long it will go rancid fairly quickly. I try to use my milled batches I. 6 weeks or less. 500 lb should net you about 150 bottles or so after cuts. You gonna need a nice barrel :thumbup:
Six weeks? Damn, I have 10 batches worth, not counting Gumballs, no way I’m gonna make it.
But for the money invested if ya loose some WTF feed the flock herd or mob good comes out to all.

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Re: My Journey

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Well, it's been an interesting weekend. I solved the final leak issue with the electrified BOP, and picked up a cheap barrel to test the large bash mashing technique.

Note the word "cheap" up there? Well, during the overnight rest it let go, dumping 30 gallons of mash all over the floor in the basement. I know it had converted some sugars, because the floor is sticky as hell. Very frustrating, but I refused to give up.

I went out and grabbed another Brute barrel, and stepped through the process again. It was a good thing, really, because I could use the practice and also the gear was all ready to go, so I could get real timings on how long it took. So, how bad is it to make 30 gallons of AG mash?

I was done in less than 90 minutes, and an hour of that was sitting around waiting for water to boil. I'm still in awe of how easy it was. Granted, I didn't have to mill anything because I bought all that fine-milled corn flour, but still... That was honestly easier to me than UJ. A lot of that is because of the electrified BOP, it's a 16 gallon Bayou Classic clambake pot that came with a nice spigot built-in. I cut a hole in the opposite side from the spigot to mount the 5500w camco, but it took me forever (over a year) to get it connected, leak-free and wired up. I wish I had done it sooner, it's probably the best thing I've done so far. Even if I was making UJ, I could just boil everything right there in the pot and dump it in the barrel, but there's no reason to when I can just boil, dump, stir, boil, dump, stir and have all-grain mash.
IMG_0424.jpg
Boil water in pot, open spigot into barrel. So simple.

Well, it was 90 minutes for the first day. When I got up this morning it was down to 140, so I added the low-temp enzymes, stirred it again, wrapped it up, and drove across the state with my 9 year old to pick up his first mini bike, a little used Honda XR50. Sweet little machine.

That took 3 hours, and when I got home the temp had dropped enough, so I pulled the "bucket of ice" out of the freezer and dumped it, waited an hour, the temp was down, so I pitched and stirred again. Done and done.

First (ok, second) try and I hit 1.065, which was my goal. I really, really love this method. It's so dead simple, and should come out super tasty. I always thought that UJ was easy, but this is just as non-work-intensive, and I don't have to buy/melt sugar anymore. Win-win.
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Re: My Journey

Post by HDNB »

Antler24 wrote:
raketemensch wrote:
HDNB wrote:Don't keep the corn too long it will go rancid fairly quickly. I try to use my milled batches I. 6 weeks or less. 500 lb should net you about 150 bottles or so after cuts. You gonna need a nice barrel :thumbup:
Six weeks? Damn, I have 10 batches worth, not counting Gumballs, no way I’m gonna make it.
I've been using cracked corn that's been sitting in my basement at room temp for over a year, I can't find anything wrong with it.
cracked lasts longer than milled. dunno why. maybe has less moisture?
cool and dry helps too...my still shack is warm and the humidity gets high from time to time when i'm boiling stuff and things.

try a wrap of reflectix insulation on that BOP and your wait time will drop significantly. ('specially on the lid)
I finally quit drinking for good.

now i drink for evil.
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Re: My Journey

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HDNB wrote: try a wrap of reflectix insulation on that BOP and your wait time will drop significantly. ('specially on the lid)
Thanks, i’m picking up a roll this week for one of the barrels anyway, and should have enough left over. That’s perfect.
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Re: My Journey

Post by Sourwood »

Did you ever do anything with those sourdough starters?
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Re: My Journey

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So far, just making sourdough... I used up all my dunder, but I have a rum ferment finishing up this week
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My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get through all 30 gallons of the all-corn. I've got some paint strainer bags and I picked up a mop squeezer with a 6-gallon bucket on Amazon, which I haven't tried using yet.

Since I have a big bag of 6-row here, and I stumbled onto a big bag of bulk oats that my wife bought but doesn't use much, I think the next batch is going to be:

42lbs corn
4lbs oats
4lbs 6-row

I don't have any specialty malts around, but with the corn being so cheap my cost per gallon has dropped by half, and I'm thinking about getting into them. I've been dying to try Corsaire's Oatrage, but I can't find it anywhere locally, so I'm going to try making my own -- it's made with oat and coffee malts.

I'm also tempted to try oat and chocolate malts.

I spent most of today teaching my 9 year old to ride a minibike. It was his third time out, and he's getting pretty good. But tomorrow morning both boys and my wife are off to NJ until Tuesday, so I'm going to spend some quality time in the basement tending to the yeast. A friend who helped me build my first stock pot still is going to come by for the runs, and hopefully help me grind all those oats and barley. Having the corn pre-ground means that I can just grind up <10lbs of other malts for a whole 30-gallon batch, which is a lot easier.
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Re: My Journey

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So, I burst a second Brute barrel (by brushing the side with the paint mixer on my drill), and dumped another 30 gallons of corn sugar water all over the basement floor. I didn't realize it until the next morning, when I was going to check the temp to add the low-temp enzyme. What a mess, that's 60 gallons that have hit the poor cement floor now. I've bleach-mopped it 4 or 5 times now, and there are still spots that need help.

But I won't be deterred, as that first batch of all corn is SO delicious. We finally did cuts on it last weekend (my wife gets offended now if I do cuts without her), and I put 2 1.75 liter bottles into long-term storage with oak in them (I charred for the first time, I've only done toasted so far), and we kept 2 quarts white, which are almost gone already. It's just so tasty.

Once again this time I replaced 10 pounds of the corn with 5 pounds of 6-row and 5 pounds of rolled oats. I'm probably in the last 30 minutes of waiting for it to drop down to 135 before dropping in the frozen backset to crash the temp for yeast. The starter's plugging away on the stove now. It smells SO good, I can't deal. I only made the sugarhead COB once, and wasn't a huge fan, but the AG COB ferment just smells ridiculously good.

These days I've been on the hunt for a 40-gallon steam kettle. I found one at an auction, but it leaped out of my price range pretty quickly. Any sort of stainless vessel that big would make me feel better, as I'm not a huge fan of the smell of the Brute when it gets hit with boiling water, and I have to wonder if that's related to the failures I've been having lately.

The corn flour has been a massive success, I'll definitely be picking up more once this runs out. It gelatinizes incredibly easily, but that's also because of the enzymes. Which, again, are also a massive success and turn making AG ferments into a piece of cake. Sometimes it even smells like cake. I'm way lower on high-temp than low, because of the two barrels that failed me. I'd love to see what it would entail to make your own.

Then again, I may be getting out of hand with DIY projects in general. Beyond the distilling equipment that has taken over the basement, I'm starting to get into growing my own gourmet mushrooms. I've ordered a kit of Lion's Mane mushrooms to mess around with while I finish reading a couple of Paul Stamets' books on them. They're really intriguing.

So, ~2 gallons of all-corn AG (only my second AG ever) are aging away, while my fourth batch (my 2nd and 3rd being wasted by fermenter barrel failures) is about to kick off. This large-batch method is awesome.
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Re: My Journey

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raketemensch wrote: So, I burst a second Brute barrel (by brushing the side with the paint mixer on my drill), and dumped another 30 gallons of corn sugar water all over the basement floor. I didn't realize it until the next morning, when I was going to check the temp to add the low-temp enzyme. What a mess, that's 60 gallons that have hit the poor cement floor now. I've bleach-mopped it 4 or 5 times now, and there are still spots that need help.
Good thing you just bought a new mop bucket and wringer huh? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

LOL... aahhahahahahah..

Sorry man. Pretty funny though. At least you are in good spirits(literally and figuratively!!!), and sound hell bound and damn determined not to let it beat you or get you down. Shit, doesn't even sound like it's slowing you down.. producing gallons and gallons. Having nice equipment is great isn't it? The only problem... it spurs you to want more and more nice equipment. Like.. it's inspiringly awesome to see how much and how many times you've upgraded your gear. From the flute to the boil pot.. you sir, are a serious DIY Handy man. That is one thing i am loving about this hobby. The satisfaction of setting out to build something, even something simple (Like my wooden lid for my 10G igloo mash tun, for when the wort chiller/heater is in it, it has a slice i cut out so it fits) can bring immense satisfaction. Makes me feel like a real man's man, you know? Love building and working with my hands. Did my first successful copper soldering, doing a little wood working, accumulating some nice tools. Just got a drill press, so i'll have to come up with a project to use that for. I'm even starting to get a little less terrified of the jig saw. I'm still fucking scared of it though. Probably a good thing. Fear keeps us on our toes, it's when we get comfortable and complacent, mistakes get made, fingers get lost. =)
I think my next big project is to build a work bench. I could buy one, but their damn expensive, and how much fun and satisfaction will that bring!? and i'll have somewhere to install a vice, which is the main reason i want a bench. Makes for a safer more practical spot for using the jigsaw too.
Congrats though, pal, glad to hear you are diving into AG head first. I was so damn happy my first AG turned out the other day. I was at it all day, but it's not like it's hard work the whole time. Just paying attention, making sure to catch those temps, and making sure to THINK twice, then act once. Kinda like measure twice cut once. Although, some mistakes can be a good thing. As long as you make sure to learn from those mistakes, and don't make them again, and they aren't costly or dangerous mistakes.
truly, you are an inspiration, sir!! Keep at it, and keep us updated!!!

CC
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Re: My Journey

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Thanks, CC, it's good to hear. Fear is definitely necessary, it's saved my life many, many times over the years of doing random DIY projects. It's that last second pause to consider that keeps us alive sometimes. I've been dying to build a nice workbench for ages, but other projects just take up too much time.

Like yesterday I spent about an hour getting my 9 year old comfortable on his minibike on trails for the first time, cutting clearer paths and just hanging out in the woods so he'd feel more comfortable. Little bugger got tired WAY too fast, which I thought was strange, but then he spent all day today in bed with a fever of 102. Then I spent an hour or so working on an ATV, just trying to get it to run for longer than 30 seconds at a time, before I finally discovered that the carb was actually coming loose from the cylinder head. I gave up at that point, maybe I'll get back to it next weekend.

I finally got a run in today with the COB, it smells amazing and I can't wait to taste it. Yesterday I got the family out into the woods around the house to tap a few trees. We only have 6 buckets out, but they produced 4 gallons of sap over the last 24 hours, so I had AG COB boiling downstairs and 4 gallons of sap boiling upstairs.

That's what I call a Sunday.

This is the second time that I came away from the first half of the 32-gallon brute with less product than expected. Then I squeeze the grains and get a second boil going with what's left, and last time I ended up with more product from that half. Maybe the booze is hiding in the grains? We'll find out next weekend, if I don't get back to the ATV. Weather looks to be pretty nasty, which is less good for outdoor motor work, but good for sugaring. Hedging my bets, I guess.

Now I've started a daily check on a bunch of auction sites and Craigslist to find a 30-40 gallon steamkettle so I can set up a single-vessel solution. Cook in the kettle, ferment on the grain in the kettle, distill on the grain in the kettle, tilt into a wheelbarrow, haul into woods, repeat. It sounds awesome. I want to find one with a good, thick lid that I can weld a 6" ferrule onto so I can also mount a stirrer on it. Sounds like heaven.
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Re: My Journey

Post by Antler24 »

Hey racketmensch, got a question for ya. Can you play with your heat input and dephleg flow to get a certain ABV out of the Parrott with those flutes? I love that I can adjust the ABV of low wines to get my hearts to come off my pot still at 60-62% after cuts/blending. Perfect for oak.

Can this be done with the plated columns too?
Swedish Pride wrote:
get a brix reading on said ball bearings and then you can find out how much fermentables are in there
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

You definitely can. Less reflux will let you drop to what you’re aiming for, and once you stabilize it will stay there for a good long time.
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Re: My Journey

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Well, I've been silent for a while because I really, really hate squeezing grains. Really hate. A lot. Deep, deep hate.

Whole lotta hate.

Anyway, yesterday I won an auction for an electric steam kettle, into which I can fit 25 gallons, so hopefully I'm done squeezing corn! I'm going to bring the lid to my welder with a 4" ferrule, so I can just mount the flute right on it, and be able to mash, ferment and distill all in one sweet bucket of stainless steel. The things I still need to solve are:

1) How I'm going to seal the lid, and
2) I forget what number 2 was.

I was supposed to pick it up today, but it's going to be torrential rain all day with flash flood warnings. Same tomorrow, and Monday, and Tuesday, and... Well, every day straight through the next 9 days. That's as far as the forecast goes, but I guess I can use this interim time by building an ark.

I had a mishap about a month ago when I went into the basement and found the floor covered in corn sludge, so I thought maybe the drain valve had valved, although that seemed like a long shot. I cleaned it up as well as I could, but the floor's a little stained and still needs some work. When I went down there this morning to clean up and make room for the kettle I moved the boiler and discovered that the heating element had come loose somehow -- I'm worried that it actually rusted, until there weren't enough threads to hold on. That's my working theory, I haven't dug into it too deeply, but I'm using Camco elements, and a little googling shows that they can rust. Bleh.

So today will be spent cleaning up a few months of neglect and getting the whole area up to snuff for the next round of this adventure, single-vessel! I've been watching auctions and craigslist and ebay for almost a year now trying to find a good deal, and in this case I paid $408 for a kettle that goes for over $12k new. Distilling on the grain! Gonna be interesting.

Now, back to work... That 30 gallons of rum vinegar isn't going to bottle itself.
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Re: My Journey

Post by bilgriss »

30 gallons. Lifetime supply.
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Re: My Journey

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So, I've been out for a while again, eh? There's been a lot going on, and getting the steam kettle going has been kind of daunting, with the 3 -> 2 phase conversion and the MASSIVE power draw that it'll have. At full bore it'd be pretty much all my amps. Every amp.

It also recently hit me that the stirring motor isn't just for efficiency -- you probably need it to prevent scalding when distilling on the grain... I just got the lid back with a 4" ferrule on it, and now I think I need to add another.

When I hauled it into the basement I displaced the keg boiler, so I've been doing nothing since it got here. It's still going to take me some time to figure out, so today I finally gave in and just fired up a batch of Evolved Molasses rum again. I hated it when I made it last year, but holy shit does it age well. At this point it's possibly my favorite thing I've made so far, and my wife agrees, despite not normally being a huge rum person.

The old Camco 5500 watt element that i had in the keg rusted, so I cleaned up the mount and picked up a stainless steel element, which I'll be installing next weekend.

I can also dispel one fear -- that corn flower is a year old now, with no noticeable degradation or mold or anything. Still in great shape.
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Re: My Journey

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So, it hit me that rum is the perfect thing to do while I work on the steam kettle, as there's no grain at all to squeeze. A big bucket of pure liquid to run? Sign me up. Siphon that sucker all the way to the bottom!

Also, we've been sipping on the other rum batch I made, and it's one of my favorite things I've made so far, if not my actual favorite. I thought it was nasty when I ran it, and cuts were a little hard to make because it was all so harsh, and I was really disappointed, But after just 6 months on oak it was amazing. At a year it's even better, so I need to get some stashed.

I'm doing a more molasses-heavy recipe than I've seen elsewhere here, and it's going pretty well. Here's the full recipe:
[tr][td]3gal[/td][td]Evolved Habitats molasses[/td][/tr] [tr][td]8lb[/td][td]organic brown sugar (I was low on white, and my wife had some stashed from the co-op)[/td][/tr] [tr][td]10lb[/td][td]white sugar[/td][/tr] [tr][td]~18gal[/td][td]water (it's a 32-gallon brute, and I left a bunch of headspace because :rum:[/td][/tr] [tr][td]30g[/td][td]fleischmanns yeast, started in a mix of water, molasses and fermax[/td][/tr]
It started out at 24 brix, and is down to 12 now, which leaves me at 11.3% alcohol, which is pretty good IMHO. Super easy to make, no grain mess, and delicious. Eventually.

I plan to pick up as many overripe bananas as I can at the grocery store and throw them into the boiler when I run it.

First, though, I have to pop the new element into the boiler and wire it up. Good thing I had lots of coffee this morning.


Also, I was wrong about the stirrer, it's a convenience thing, not an anti-scalding thing. I'll probably build one eventually anyway, but at least it isn't ONE MORE THING that I have to do before using the kettle.

Now to get outside and clear 3 inches of snow and an inch of ice off the driveway...
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Re: My Journey

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So, after almost a year of dormancy I pulled the plates out of the flute and ran them through the dishwasher -- which proved to be pointless, they came out just as green as they went in. So I scrubbed the green off with some scotch-brite pads.

Some of the hoses had disconnected while the column was moved around the basement several times, and some had come loose, but after a little tweaking and tightening I managed to get the thing drip-free again. It's so much nicer to work barefoot on a New England basement floor in winter when things aren't dripping...

I ran vinegar through it for a couple of hours today, which basically showed me that I hadn't needed to hand-clean the plates at all -- steaming vinegar does the job beautifully. They're almost eerily clean now.

So, this week I'll stop at the grocery store and picked up a few bunches of overripe bananas, and next weekend I'll get this rum run, and maybe the next wash going.

My father-in-law arrives on Saturday, and then on Tuesday night my wife and I head off to Belize for our first real vacation without the kids in 12 years. We went to Nola for a long weekend 8 years ago, other than that it's been one-nighters in NYC or Providence once or twice a year. Ten days with no kids and no shoes and hot weather and clear water -- I can't wait.
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Re: My Journey

Post by bilgriss »

Have fun.
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

HDNB wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:22 pm Don't keep the corn too long it will go rancid fairly quickly. I try to use my milled batches I. 6 weeks or less. 500 lb should net you about 150 bottles or so after cuts. You gonna need a nice barrel :thumbup:
Just for the record, it's 2.5 years later and the corn is still in good shape :]
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Re: My Journey

Post by Bushman »

I have corn stored in a airtight lid for over a year, probably wouldn’t hurt to check it out. Haven’t made bourbon in a few years probably should get to it!
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Re: My Journey

Post by HDNB »

awesome! you must have a fairly dry climate. milled corn don't last in my still shack it's to warm and wet. lumps up into nice warm and mouldy green balls.
I need some of that airtight storage you got bushman. or a silo outside with an auger to the mash tun :idea: :shifty:
I finally quit drinking for good.

now i drink for evil.
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

My money's on the silo. I mean, if you build it with your money.
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