Home Distiller

Today i'm cooking 5 gallons generation VI sweetfeed.....coming out nicely...
New project mixed 72 ozs agave nectar into WPOSW with white sugar to a SG of 1.08 to see what happens.
Hope it works cause i miss drinking tequila and i have become a snob in that i won't drink store bought spirits.

Jimdo, good to see you having success with this. Now, if you want to take it another step further ... go Maillard Reaction.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 34&t=36241

Odin.

Rum: 6lbs cane sugar, 2lbs brown sugar (the proper kind from molasses). Inverted (or at least attempted-first time) with low heat and lime juice, since i had just finished reading about the Mallard Reaction... Yeast: Premier Cuvee (dry yeast, used a starter). Couldn't find my hydrometer so IDK my SG or FG, but should be settled by tuesday.

P.S. first post, been a reader for a while. Figure its time to get active.

ran 8th gen ujssm made with chicken scratch grain(corn oats and barley). Started 6 gal dwwg and a 5gal special k cereal wash with fennel seed (they were in the cabnet not gettin used) wash has a yeager like taste.

just put in some charred Oak into 64oz of clear... sit and wait now....

Spirit run of my plum sugar-head brandy as we speak; about 8L wash, 8 stripped spirit and 4ish L of water to bring the ABV down.
If it's anything like the last 1.5 run i did on plum wine then it will be great, especially since i only went to about 12% abv on the initial wash

Ran the spirit run of a gallon of honey shine that I made from the dehydrated honey cans from "stuff mart". The initial run was not pleasant. I ran it very slowly, but from the harshness, I considered it a stripping run. I re ran it tonight to half the quantity. so I ended up with 1/2 gallon of 180 proof. Cut most of it to about 80 proof with spring water and a little orange blossom honey mixed in. That will age "in the white" for a month or so, unless I get impatient (this stuff is awesome). I took a pint and put it on toasted cherry chips to age at full strength. I'll cut it to 55% in a week and put it on new chips for another month, then filter and tuck away. Updates as it comes.... also ran a gallon of crushed lemon heads candy and sugar wash. got a pint of 80 proof that is amazing. I'll give that a few weeks and possibly toss a lemon peel in there. Should be great with some sprite....

Started a new gen of UJSSM this weekend and trying out the "easy peach brandy" recipe for the first time but modified it to be super easy ...

5 gallon batch -

1 - 6lb can of peaches
1/2 cup of yellow corn meal
5 lbs of white sugar
2 lbs of brown sugar

Blended the peaches into a nice puree', melted sugars added water and corn meal - whipped into a fury, cooled and pitched yeast - it was slow to take off but its thumping along now. Will see if any of the peach flavor comes across.

Had some banana wine that doesn't smell right. Running it through the still with a gallon of mead that I'm not fond of. Just started a new rum wash, and getting ready to bottle three separate gallons of mead. It's a good day to be off work, I tell ya.

Busy weekend, did a panela rum and 3 different fruit brandys, eau de vie's. Pissed through a lot of propane. Really gotta get this nat gas conversion going!

Ran 5 gallons of All Bran, 5 gallons of rum, and bottled 5 gallons of my own recipe metheglin in preparation for next year's Mazer Cup. Been a very productive day. Even made time to get a video game in there somewhere.

I mashed my standard corn, rye, & barley malt yesterday. What I have determined is the last three batches I ran, the corn had some small bugs in it. I didn't think that would be a problem because after I grind the corn up, I boil it for about 30 minutes. I didn't get as much real good product when I ran those batches and there was something different about the mashes that I can't quite put my finger on yet. The batch I did yesterday was fresh corn and the mash results and now the fermentation is really looking good. I ferment on the grain and I have a nice cap on it after 24 hours. I suspect when I run it later on this week, I will see some good product. Sure hope so.

RS

Just stripping my first generation of maillardized red wheat. Distilling on the grain with my small 10 liters alambic. Three runs just to strip. Will be ready tomorrow. Interested to find out what taste will be like. Mash looked thick, almost gelly like. Smells good though. Tons of flavor.

Rye bread whiskey is still going strong. Expect to run that next weekend!

Odin.

Nice Odin, do you use a double boiler to distill on the grain?

Nope. I have a 50 liters boiler with internal electrical element. Won't do. And I have a purdy little all copper alambic of about 10 liters. On a hotplate. Since the hotplate pretty much covers the whole bottom of the boiler part of my alambic, and because the copper conducts very well, distilling on the grain is no problem. Apart from that the grain is thrown around pretty violently. Even when distilling slow. Some contamination of my low wines with some grain is not to be avoided. But, hey, that's no problem. Spirit run will clean that up! And it will even get me a spirit run with a little bit of grains in there!

Odin.

Strawberry banana eau de vie i suppose. 9lbs banana, 2 lbs strawberry, 3lbs sugar. couldn't find my hydrometer so i'm just waiting until it quits bubbling... should probably find that thing. either way, it smells delicious

I did a batch of sweet feed whisky yesterday and a sugar wash almost done, I did mix up some strawberry panty droper , the sister n law loved it.. she's a lush

Been cooking off the last of my sweet feed, made 10 gals. about 10 days ago. All together Ive ran about 50 or so gals. of sweet feed wash now in the last few months. Going to give UJSM a try and see how that is.

Doing my first batch of N Carolina Bourbon from the Tried and True recipes..Fingers crossed!! just pitched the yeast this morning...

I start a new batch of scotch tomorrow-- heavy peat smoked barley---Laphroaig style.........and have a new still to fabricate- I have a buddy in the dairy business ( and he was about to not be in the dairy business) that dropped off a nice stainless 10 gallon milk can with lid today!!!


My old copper 5 gallon post still will be jealous...for a while..

Blended down a batch of NC Bourbon ran over the weekend, put it on oak. Sampled the previous run that's been aging, might have to pour some off for something more than a sample- it's good stuff!

Got a batch of UJSSM to run, maybe tomorrow. It's at .998, but it's still working, albeit slowly.

Was The other Day.... ran off a 50 gallon sugar wash.

Hey maltsters. From experience "current experience" be prudent if not cautious of using an over abundance of Peated Barleygrain...I mean I love Laphraoig/Ardbeg and the like but they get that delightful flavour from peat thru maturation...years of it!

I mashed up for a 5gal wash, a combination grain, a peated/malted/unmalted version- ala Irish Whiskey and with just the addition of 1.5lb lightly peated barley it was over-the-top and Not Good.
I wanted a Connemarra type Irish peated whiskey, but the pound and a half was WAY too much. I've use this peated grain alot w/great success but only to give another added dimention to the spirit @0.5-0.7lbPBarley w/TERRIFIC Results.
This time, I wanted to see how far I could go w/PB as I had heard even the lightly peated barley was a strong grain!!
So people of the malt, be careful with the peat unless you indeed plan on maturing your spirit in 1st/2nd filled Bourban casks or a nice PX Sherry Butt from our friends over in Spain. Either way folks ...Enjoy!!
R.J.

Did a spirit run last night on about 5 gallons of bird watchers low wines. Finally ran out of jars and had to stop at 75%. Gonna use it for some strawberry panty dropper and to mix with orange juice. Waitin on 15 gal of UJSSM to finish up

RJ, thanks for the tip. Doing up a scotch is on the short list. Will heed your warnings.

Rng4 wrote:Did a spirit run last night on about 5 gallons of bird watchers low wines. Finally ran out of jars and had to stop at 75%. Gonna use it for some strawberry panty dropper and to mix with orange juice. Waitin on 15 gal of UJSSM to finish up

When I'm running out of jars I try to find what I think is center hearts and combine a few jars in a larger vessel and use those empty jars... And if I get close again, I repeat... Then I make sure I have X number of extra jars ready before the next run... I have a lifetime supply of jars...

rad14701 wrote: When I'm running out of jars I try to find what I think is center hearts and combine a few jars in a larger vessel and use those empty jars... And if I get close again, I repeat... Then I make sure I have X number of extra jars ready before the next run... I have a lifetime supply of jars...

If your familiar with your run that is a great idea. On runs where I know I'm in hearts I use my larger jars to collect, and the smaller jars are for stuff that I think will be heads or tails. I tend to be harder on my heads cuts than my tails, but that's just me....

Richard7 wrote:

rad14701 wrote: When I'm running out of jars I try to find what I think is center hearts and combine a few jars in a larger vessel and use those empty jars... And if I get close again, I repeat... Then I make sure I have X number of extra jars ready before the next run... I have a lifetime supply of jars...

If your familiar with your run that is a great idea. On runs where I know I'm in hearts I use my larger jars to collect, and the smaller jars are for stuff that I think will be heads or tails. I tend to be harder on my heads cuts than my tails, but that's just me....

I've done that as well... But recently I have been running lots of small collection jars as I am experimenting with my hybrid concentric still head...

That's a good idea, thx. I was running my pot still just about as slow as I could get it to run and I was surprised at how much I got. I had been making some fruit blends earlier, and lost track of how many jars I had left. It got so bad I poured out half a bottle of captain Morgan just so I could have the bottle. One thing that surprised me is that most people who sample my apple pie recipe prefer it made with UJSSM than neutral

Buy the way Bayou-Ruler, The video of your run was great. Best of luck to ya!

100% Malted Wheat
20lbs Matled Red Wheat/10lbs of Matled White Wheat.
I got about 12 gallons of wash fermenting and will run off on the weekend.