Home Distiller

Posted: **Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:15 pm**

Jimbo wrote:Nice. If you staple some insulation around it to drape down over your keg you can improve your run time and energy efficiency.

Not a bad idea... To stick with the rustic theme, I was kind of exploring an idea. Wrapping a column with all natural rope, to use as insulation. Some 3/8" sisal rope. Any opinions? Like I said, it was just a spur of the moment idea.

Posted: **Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:46 pm**

A thumper

Posted: **Wed Mar 04, 2015 5:22 am**

Here's what I did; whilst chores went undone....

Posted: **Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:35 pm**

Pretty cool! Is that brass?

Posted: **Wed Mar 04, 2015 6:45 pm**

Cooked up a corn/oat/wheat/smoked barley malt whiskey this morning. I'm really interested to see what this comes out like.

Posted: **Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:20 pm**

Greetings humbledore. Yes, it is brass. Thin stuff that I bought at Home Depot. I cut out the "H" then soldered on. I figure when all is done and properly polished, it should look purty.

Posted: **Thu Mar 05, 2015 1:42 pm**

I filtered and sweetened my orange bitters and Jamaican coffee liquere that had been mascerating for a week or so. I was at a bar not that long ago and ordered a Revolver off their signature cocktail list. Damn good and the bartender flamed the orange rind which I had never seen before.

When I got home I looked up the cocktail ingredients: bourbon or rye, Tia Maria, Orange bitters. Next thing I googled was "How to make Orange Bitters" and "What's in Tia Maria"

Took me a week to realize I guess I could have just gone and bought those things by themselves. Probably would have cost less than the everclear and Kraken rum I DID buy in order to make them. lol

Posted: **Thu Mar 05, 2015 6:50 pm**

The KYChemist wrote:
Jimbo wrote:Nice. If you staple some insulation around it to drape down over your keg you can improve your run time and energy efficiency.
Not a bad idea... To stick with the rustic theme, I was kind of exploring an idea. Wrapping a column with all natural rope, to use as insulation. Some 3/8" sisal rope. Any opinions? Like I said, it was just a spur of the moment idea.

KY, thats a great idea. Outside the box for sure. Pretty dissapointed when I wrapped my pretty copper up with reflectix. would like to see the finished project

Posted: **Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:13 pm**

Haven't thought about wrapping the column with natural rope.
I didn't make anything today, but I did test the germination rate of 50 Lbs of wheat that I'm going to malt.

Posted: **Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:54 am**

It was a good morning. I dropped my son off at school and had the morning to do some chores.
It smells ike a rummery in here

I bottled:
2 x 375ml Hook Rum Gen 2 White
1 x 375ml Hook Rum Gen 2 RESERVE Jack Daniels barrel sticked
2 x Nips Hook Rum Gen 2 RESERVE Jack Daniels barrel sticked
1 x 375ml Hook Rum Gen 2 Barrel Aged (gibbbs)
2 x Nips Hook Rum Gen 2 Barrel Aged (gibbbs)
1 x 375ml Hook Rum Gen 2 Spiced/blended

I'll post some pics of the awesome coloring I got through barrel aging and soaking with a JD oak stick charred.

Posted: **Sat Mar 07, 2015 10:02 am**

Made my first full gallon after cuts. Sweet feed.

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2015 6:37 am**

I refluxed 3.5 gallons of 30% feints last night. I keep forgetting how long a spirit run in reflux takes. I started around 7pm and had to shut it down at 1:30am. I only collected 2100ml of 93% so I still have a little more in the tank. I'm thinking about about sticking a gin basket in the column and making some gin with the balance.

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2015 7:30 am**

smoCha wrote:Made my first full gallon after cuts. Sweet feed.

How'd it go?

tp

Posted: **Mon Mar 09, 2015 4:39 pm**

T-Pee wrote:
smoCha wrote:Made my first full gallon after cuts. Sweet feed.
How'd it go?

tp

Went really well IMO! averaged 70% abv after cuts and blending. Put half of it on oak and the other half into a gallon of apple pie.

Also made 3 quarts of strawberry/raspberry sugar head. Got 60% abv on this one. I plan on making a 2 gallon or so of strawberry lemonade this week.

Thanks for asking.

Posted: **Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:40 pm**

I was just throwing a little Liebig together..some pipe i had and some cheap fittings..
Felt good having the torch in hand again..

Posted: **Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:56 pm**

Brewing an American Wheat beer at the moment. I have a big fishing trip next week and it will deplete the 2 full corny kegs I made. By the time I get back, it should be almost ready to keg.

Posted: **Tue Mar 10, 2015 9:04 pm**

The KYChemist wrote:
Jimbo wrote:Nice. If you staple some insulation around it to drape down over your keg you can improve your run time and energy efficiency.
Not a bad idea... To stick with the rustic theme, I was kind of exploring an idea. Wrapping a column with all natural rope, to use as insulation. Some 3/8" sisal rope. Any opinions? Like I said, it was just a spur of the moment idea.

Posted: **Wed Mar 11, 2015 12:07 am**

The KYChemist wrote:
Jimbo wrote:Nice. If you staple some insulation around it to drape down over your keg you can improve your run time and energy efficiency.
Not a bad idea... To stick with the rustic theme, I was kind of exploring an idea. Wrapping a column with all natural rope, to use as insulation. Some 3/8" sisal rope. Any opinions? Like I said, it was just a spur of the moment idea.

KY Chemist..it should work. Only issue is..you will only get a limited insulation out it. I currently have some wood that i am playing with, for same purpose.
Inside the wood however, there will be insulation from a sleeping pad (the one campers use).
As i run electric, it will be safe to use..not recommended when running gas.
I'll put up some photos of the finished insulation cap in a few days.
The idea with the rope, will give you a very pretty boiler.

Posted: **Thu Mar 12, 2015 12:25 pm**

I just finished bottling some rum to put away as Christmas gifts. Spiced Run, Dark Rum and Light Rum (L-R).

They're pretty good right now (2 months old). Cant' wait to see what they're like in December!

Posted: **Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:05 pm**

Finally got around to getting my rad worked out for cooling my condenser and liebig. Will save me some water and having to change my res half way through a run. Not that the water was wasted as I would throw it in the washing machine for a load.

Posted: **Sat Mar 14, 2015 10:54 am**

Squeezed out 24.5gal Corn wash from 28g water and 75lbs corn done with enzymes. Stripping first 13 gallon now. Using the spent corn meal, with 15 lbs wheat malt to do up a bourbon. Putting 14 gal boiling water on the corn first to knock back everything and then mash in for 148 degrees with the wheat malt. Also kegged another Bourbon Barrel IPA.

Posted: **Sat Mar 14, 2015 11:18 am**

I did a 12 gallon, corn, wheat & malted barley mash & started a 6 gal rum ferment with a gallon of dunder from my pit.

Posted: **Sat Mar 14, 2015 11:32 am**

Running my panela today. 27# Sugar Daddy in 20 gallons water. 3 day fermentation, my first to drop under 1.000. Stripped the first 10 gallons and added all those low wines to the second 10 gallon strip.
Maybe the easiest thing I've ever done, dump, stir, ferment, distill. And the low wines tasted great.

Edit: finished up the run. This stuff is amazing right off the pipe, no need to age this at all. I'm going to put some toasted oak in one jar just to see what it does.
Ended up with 1-1/2 gallons after easy cuts, with another gallon of feints to go in with my next rum run. I wouldn't normally make cuts right off the still, but this product is a no-brainer. Love this stuff!

Posted: **Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:39 am**

Tokoroa_Shiner wrote:Also picked 4L of dandelion petals for a go at dandelion wine.

How'd that dandelion wine work out for you?
I made some up last spring, on a whim, and had very low expectations. The recipe was just sugar water, a couple oranges and a bucketload of dandelion petals.
It looked horrible when I boiled it up. Looked even worse when I strained it off and pitched yeast. It never seemed to ferment. I just wound up sticking the carboy in corner in the basement.
Months later I saw that it had cleared somewhat, so I racked it and put it into 12 oz beer bottles and capped it. Today I noticed they had settled out again, so I opened all the bottles, decanted carefully to get mostly clear liquid.
I gotta say, this stuff is not bad. Beautiful golden yellow color, semi-dry, lightly carbonated... Really not bad at all. I might actually do another batch this spring.

Posted: **Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:56 am**

MichiganCornhusker wrote:
Tokoroa_Shiner wrote:Also picked 4L of dandelion petals for a go at dandelion wine.
How'd that dandelion wine work out for you?
I made some up last spring, on a whim, and had very low expectations. The recipe was just sugar water, a couple oranges and a bucketload of dandelion petals.
It looked horrible when I boiled it up. Looked even worse when I strained it off and pitched yeast. It never seemed to ferment. I just wound up sticking the carboy in corner in the basement.
Months later I saw that it had cleared somewhat, so I racked it and put it into 12 oz beer bottles and capped it. Today I noticed they had settled out again, so I opened all the bottles, decanted carefully to get mostly clear liquid.
I gotta say, this stuff is not bad. Beautiful golden yellow color, semi-dry, lightly carbonated... Really not bad at all. I might actually do another batch this spring.

Didn't go so well. I realised after picking, boil on and steeping. That I had no yeast. So I pulled a bit of trub out of my UJ. Found out a few days later both had a mean lacto infection. Ended up good for my UJ. Not for the wine. Haha

Posted: **Sun Mar 15, 2015 5:37 pm**

Made 10 gallons of birdwatchers, added capers and garlic this time just to see if it makes a decent martini. ( I know how y'all love it when i Fuck with a good recipe)

Posted: **Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:42 pm**

So, lifes been a little stressful and I havent been able to be stillin as much as I wanted. Over spring break, I started up this recipe: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=14586
Just a simple corn mash/sugarhead. It fermented to .99 in about three days. Started bubbling in about an hour of getting it all put together, had it wrapped in a blanket to keep it nice and warm the entire time. Im stilling that now...

Then i kinda went the UJSSM route, but I only had about 1 pound of sugar from my coffee sugar supply, so I added some corn syrup solids ive acquired a while ago. Got that going and its bubbling away happier than a clam.

Ill let you know how it all turns out at the end of the night.

Nothing special here, im just excited cause its about the first thing ive stilled in about 3 months.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:38 pm**

Finally got around to running my corn whiskey this last weekend, after looking at that perfectly cleared fermenter for about two weeks. I ran 2.5 gallons of 10% charge in my three gallon still, and collected 1 gallon of 38-40% low wines. I combined that with another gallon of 35% feints from my last whiskey, plus another almost gallon from what was left of the wash, and ran it again.

Took off ~150 ml foreshots and put them into my bottle of "Poison" under the sink
collected 19 little jars all around 100-200 ml (less on the heads and tails, more on the hearts)
Ran off another half gallon of tails until the proof coming out hit about 10, then I ran out of ice to add to my recirc water so I shut it down.

Next day I made pretty tight cuts, jars 5-9, as well as jars 11 and 12, ending up with a little more than a quart and a half at 140 proof. I pulled out enough to make one quart at 90proof, and jarred that up to drink white in a few months. Will probably save that for my bachelor party in August (sorry ladies lol)

With what I was left I kept tasting the collection jars a little wider for aging on some oak. I found that jar 4 was acceptable. Jars 10 and 11 went in even though they had a little bit of tailsyness to them. I did not like the smell of jars 13-16 when mixed with a small sample were not good. Jar 17 was sweet and rich and added some interesting complexity that the other jars of tails lacked. From these I got about a quart and a half at 110 proof. Into one quart jar went a 3.5" long charred white oak domino and one 1" sphere made from a used wine barrel stave. Into the pint jar went some toasted 1/2" Hungarian oak cubes that my buddy had used once to make whiskey, as well as one 3" cigar of Mexican cinnamon. Gonna make some fireball!

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:47 pm**

dstaines wrote:...and one 1" sphere made from a used wine barrel stave.

Lol, a sphere?? You just checking to see if we're paying attention?
I finished drying my 50# of wheat malt today. Such a satisfying feeling to have a couple of buckets of wheat malt ready to go!
And, I boiled down my first ever BOP of maple sap. I took it down to about SG 1.06. Not sure yet how much I will use for brandy, and how much I will take down to syrup.

Posted: **Tue Mar 24, 2015 2:03 pm**

MichiganCornhusker wrote:Lol, a sphere?? You just checking to see if we're paying attention?

Well are you?? EYES FRONT CLASS, NO TALKING!!

haha yup, a 1" oak sphere. I didn't make it, I got them from a winemaker I know in Sonoma County CA, he adds them to his multiple-use French oak barrels once they start to lose their efficacy a little. Then he sells them in 1lb bags for smoking meat. So the whole outside of the sphere is dark purple from steeping in the wine. I think it adds something really interesting to the whiskey so I usually just toss one in. I'll mail you a couple if you want, got plenty. I got the idea from scotch makers that finish their whisky in sherry casks.

If you're a wine drinking man, try this next time you finish a glass of red wine. I like it best with wines that have a lot of dark fruit notes and some pepperiness. After you finish the glass, don't rinse it! Add a finger or so of mature bourbon or rye, and swirl it around to pick up the wine of the inside of the glass. It's a subtle difference but it's good IMO, If you don't like wine (or bourbon!) YMMV

Home Distiller

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