well good news a still

[OffTheCob]

We potentially have access to be a used still setup, A guy with some money and retired and bought it to his retirement house, well he passed and wife and children are selling so we thing we can get it pretty affordable and learn how to practice well making anything that could taste like whiskey. (Yes I know we Need licenses and need to pass legal hurdles). Since we only have hands off experience we have somewhere to work from. I have no pictures of yet or know its size but least we can experiment with basic basic stuff and Learn how to do it. Be nice to find a local distiller or a student with experience. Put us on the right path. Just wanted to let the group know.
Regg

[Ben]

Your making it more complicated than it needs to be Start with something simple, UJSSM (viewtopic.php?t=725) makes a fine whiskey for learning to distill. Once you have a few runs of that under your belt you can start dabbling in more grain based spirits, grab something from the tried and true section and start working it. Eventually you will be able to develop your own recipes with the knowledge you gain.

All of the info you need (viewforum.php?f=46) and a whole lot more is available on this site, all you have to do is read and absorb it.

[still_stirrin]

Formal training in the industry would be recommended for a commercial producer. And the “clown show” on the Discovery channel (the Moonshiners series) is NOT considered as legitimate education.

I recommend joining a homebrew (beer & wine) web forum to learn about the brewing and fermentation processes. Those skills are basic to this hobby as well. So, learn it well and it’ll help you here.

Also, bare in mind that an expensive still does not necessarily make a good product. Conversely, a lot of excellent liquor has been made with homemade and otherwise very inexpensive equipment. What makes the difference are the skills of the technician/artist who champions his skills, ie - EXPERIENCE.

You haven’t described the still you’ve acquired or your experience in the hobby. So, it is difficult to help with relevant recommendations other than “read, read, and read some more”. Then, “start small” and “grow with experience”.

Be safe, responsible, and discrete.
ss