What'd ya'll make today?

[S-Cackalacky]

In the first stages of making an AG SF. I must say, it's difficult to make 16 gallons of wort in 4 five gallon buckets with nothing to boil water in but a 5 gallon pot still boiler - 4 gallons, 1 hour for each heatup, 4 times. Also no running water in the basement, so the water was carried down from the kitchen in 1 gallon jugs. I started this morning at around 9:30 and I'm still waiting for the last bucket to cool down enough to add the SEB-amyl. Looks like I got good conversion on the first 3. I'll pitch yeast tomorrow morning.

I used 2.5 lbs. each of milled barley, milled corn, and Quaker Old Fashioned Oats in each of the 4 buckets. I'll be adding the molasses to the wort before pitching the yeast.

I wish I had a 20 gallon electric heated BOP - I surely do.

[jedneck]

In the first stages of making an AG SF. I must say, it's difficult to make 16 gallons of wort in 4 five gallon buckets with nothing to boil water in but a 5 gallon pot still boiler - 4 gallons, 1 hour for each heatup, 4 times. Also no running water in the basement, so the water was carried down from the kitchen in 1 gallon jugs. I started this morning at around 9:30 and I'm still waiting for the last bucket to cool down enough to add the SEB-amyl. Looks like I got good conversion on the first 3. I'll pitch yeast tomorrow morning.

I used 2.5 lbs. each of milled barley, milled corn, and Quaker Old Fashioned Oats in each of the 4 buckets. I'll be adding the molasses to the wort before pitching the yeast.

I wish I had a 20 gallon electric heated BOP - I surely do.

You just need a fermentor big enuf and a steam wand for your boiler.

[S-Cackalacky]

In the first stages of making an AG SF. I must say, it's difficult to make 16 gallons of wort in 4 five gallon buckets with nothing to boil water in but a 5 gallon pot still boiler - 4 gallons, 1 hour for each heatup, 4 times. Also no running water in the basement, so the water was carried down from the kitchen in 1 gallon jugs. I started this morning at around 9:30 and I'm still waiting for the last bucket to cool down enough to add the SEB-amyl. Looks like I got good conversion on the first 3. I'll pitch yeast tomorrow morning.

I used 2.5 lbs. each of milled barley, milled corn, and Quaker Old Fashioned Oats in each of the 4 buckets. I'll be adding the molasses to the wort before pitching the yeast.

I wish I had a 20 gallon electric heated BOP - I surely do.

You just need a fermentor big enuf and a steam wand for your boiler.

I have a 20 gal. Brute Seed-Feed storage bin, but it's LDPE and I'm not sure it could take the heat. The no boil steeping method seems to work well, but It would be better to do it in one big batch. I DO like the idea of stillin' on the grain with a big thumper. Anyway, after this experience, I think I'll just stick with sugarheads until I can get some upgrades done.

[ranger_ric]

Well I made cuts today on my feints run and I learned an important lesson...
Heads I lose, Tails you win....
Since a feints run is all stuff you didn't like to start with your "hopes" of converting that to something enjoyable are slim, especially if you don't dilute it way down. I ran mine at (I know it is not advised or condoned but) 45%. I will try one more feints run and I think I will dilute it down into the 25%-30% range and see if that cleans it up and makes any hearts out of it. I figured since I am running a little 5 gal pot still that there was enough of a smear that I would get a little bit of hearts out of it. I collected in 250ml jars and had 2 jars that were possibly hearts but still had that headsy bite on the tip of my tongue. Then it went straight to tails... Blecccch. The tails had one jar that was sweet but I added just a little too much to the 500 mL of "hearts" and botched it up. This stuff is greater than 60% ABV so I feel bad chucking it but I really don't feel like it is worth the energy to reboil it when I have 3 fermenters runnin some great UJSSM that keep me busy..
I guess they call that experience HUH??

[yakattack]

Well I made cuts today on my feints run and I learned an important lesson...
Heads I lose, Tails you win....
Since a feints run is all stuff you didn't like to start with your "hopes" of converting that to something enjoyable are slim, especially if you don't dilute it way down. I ran mine at (I know it is not advised or condoned but) 45%. I will try one more feints run and I think I will dilute it down into the 25%-30% range and see if that cleans it up and makes any hearts out of it. I figured since I am running a little 5 gal pot still that there was enough of a smear that I would get a little bit of hearts out of it. I collected in 250ml jars and had 2 jars that were possibly hearts but still had that headsy bite on the tip of my tongue. Then it went straight to tails... Blecccch. The tails had one jar that was sweet but I added just a little too much to the 500 mL of "hearts" and botched it up. This stuff is greater than 60% ABV so I feel bad chucking it but I really don't feel like it is worth the energy to reboil it when I have 3 fermenters runnin some great UJSSM that keep me busy..
I guess they call that experience HUH??

Are you running your feints through a pot still or reflux?

[Kegg_jam]

Same question as yak.

I've never pot stilled feints so can't speak from experience. Through a CCVM I've made passable vodka from feints though.

[yakattack]

Ya, I potstilled feints once. Never again. But get so.e amazing AG vodka ( combo of rice corn wheat, ect) that dont make my blends for whiskey. My biab (big ass boka cannon) makes some amazing vodka from feints.

[Swedish Pride]

Just did a spirit run, 10l oat, rye, barley and cornlflake sugar head, just over 2 hours.
Tretigng myself to a drink for my efforts, cheers!

[yakattack]

Just ran my maple shine that I cooked up well over a month ago. 24 hours to air out then blend. Time to see how well it worked.

[jedneck]

A starter for a 30 gallon ag. Using a wild yeast that I caught. Currantly sitting at 1/2 gallon gonna grow it up to 5 gallons using malted corn and white wheat malt.

[Kegg_jam]

Some malted barley.

And a lonely piece of corn.

[still_stirrin]

Macerated on the 27th, distilled on the 28th, and bottled yesterday (the 29th). See description in T&T Odin's Easy Gin thread.
ss

[humbledore]

Today I made an abstract picture.

And I'm pulling 85% from a single plate and a 15" section packed with scrubbies... Cleaning run.

[NZChris]

I will try one more feints run and I think I will dilute it down into the 25%-30% range and see if that cleans it up and makes any hearts out of it.

Try diluting it with fresh wash.

[S-Cackalacky]

RR, with all due respect, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. You can't "make" hearts from it. You CAN extract hearts from it if there are any present. The idea is that you collect feints during the course of several spirit runs and carefully run the feints as a spirit run and try to cut out as much of the remaining hearts as you possibly can. I've done it once in my 5 gallon still and got about 2 pints of drinkable hearts. It was very nice, but don't expect to get what ain't there.

Many do what NZChris said and run it along with the next gen of wash.

[yakattack]

RR, with all due respect, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. You can't "make" hearts from it. You CAN extract hearts from it if there are any present. The idea is that you collect feints during the course of several spirit runs and carefully run the feints as a spirit run and try to cut out as much of the remaining hearts as you possibly can. I've done it once in my 5 gallon still and got about 2 pints of drinkable hearts. It was very nice, but don't expect to get what ain't there.

Many do what NZChris said and run it along with the next gen of wash.

+1. Paying it forward is paying yourself (figuratively of course)

[S-Cackalacky]

RR, with all due respect, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. You can't "make" hearts from it. You CAN extract hearts from it if there are any present. The idea is that you collect feints during the course of several spirit runs and carefully run the feints as a spirit run and try to cut out as much of the remaining hearts as you possibly can. I've done it once in my 5 gallon still and got about 2 pints of drinkable hearts. It was very nice, but don't expect to get what ain't there.

Many do what NZChris said and run it along with the next gen of wash.

+1. Paying it forward is paying yourself (figuratively of course)

Correction - I got 2 half-pint jars, NOT 2 pints.

[ranger_ric]

S-Cack I run a 5 gal pot also. I had visions of next time diluting the heads down in water for a few weeks of the heating and cooling phase of my garage and see if the ethanol would assimilate with the water and then maybe the headsy crap would reconcentrate again on the next distillation giving me a few more hearts.. It is just a theory..

NZ Chris, would your process of diluting them with some wash work with a simple pot still? Would it give me more hearts?

[Swedish Pride]

Did cuts ,had 4.6 L before cuts, ended up with 2.1 l at 60% after cuts, going trough the nuke cycles.
Aging it 3 ways, heavy toast oak, medium toast oak, and apple wood.

[S-Cackalacky]

S-Cack I run a 5 gal pot also. I had visions of next time diluting the heads down in water for a few weeks of the heating and cooling phase of my garage and see if the ethanol would assimilate with the water and then maybe the headsy crap would reconcentrate again on the next distillation giving me a few more hearts.. It is just a theory..

NZ Chris, would your process of diluting them with some wash work with a simple pot still? Would it give me more hearts?

Well, sometimes some of the best discoveries are made based on simple theories. I know there is some gradual change in the way ethanol and water molecules mix with each other. Please let us know the results of your experiment.

[StillLearning1]

Getting ready to make a trip to get some new trash cans to store grains in. ....stupid sweet feed loving mice.

It wouldn't bother me if the closet place to get sweet feed was less than a two hour trip away.

Oh well, I got one good run before they got into the bags. Lesson learned and back to UJ for now....but gonna store the corn in a trash can now..

[freshwaterjellyfish]

Did cuts ,had 4.6 L before cuts, ended up with 2.1 l at 60% after cuts, going trough the nuke cycles.
Aging it 3 ways, heavy toast oak, medium toast oak, and apple wood.

..i was pondering apple chips the other day. whats it like? what does it go best with



..im starting to feel like a cave man w my five g pot still

[thecroweater]

Apple wood is well suited to fruit brandy

[frozenthunderbolt]

Getting ready to make a trip to get some new trash cans to store grains in. ....stupid sweet feed loving mice.

It wouldn't bother me if the closet place to get sweet feed was less than a two hour trip away.

Oh well, I got one good run before they got into the bags. Lesson learned and back to UJ for now....but gonna store the corn in a trash can now..

Nah, you're still good to go StillLearning; mice count as nutrients! Haven't you heard of 'cock-ale' (Cock as in cockerel - a rooster)

[StillLearning1]

Getting ready to make a trip to get some new trash cans to store grains in. ....stupid sweet feed loving mice.

It wouldn't bother me if the closet place to get sweet feed was less than a two hour trip away.

Oh well, I got one good run before they got into the bags. Lesson learned and back to UJ for now....but gonna store the corn in a trash can now..

Nah, you're still good to go StillLearning; mice count as nutrients! Haven't you heard of 'cock-ale' (Cock as in cockerel - a rooster)

Well I'm all good with the rooster shine. Chicken taste great!


But what would I call shine with rat shit in it?

[cranky]

But what would I call shine with rat shit in it?

McShine I have cats so rodents are a non issue myself but I still keep things like that in air tight containers that mice and ants can't get to.

[StillLearning1]

Yea I got a cat too...looks like me and Mr. Kitty gotta have a sit down and discuss his responsibility within the household. He's doing a good job of keeping the fleas off his crotch but can't keep rats outta the sweet feed! That's just not right.

[cranky]

Yea I got a cat too...looks like me and Mr. Kitty gotta have a sit down and discuss his responsibility within the household. He's doing a good job of keeping the fleas off his crotch but can't keep rats outta the sweet feed! That's just not right.

I find there are 2 types of cats - mousers and birders and although birders might be interested in mice if they see one a mouser will spend part of every day actually looking for them and if they even suspect a mouse is around they will find it. I have one of each, the birder could care less about mice because they don't fly but the mouser makes regular patrols of the garage smelling and looking for them. I once had one spend 2 days hardly moving away from a hole in the floor where I was remodeling a bathroom. Then a dead mouse was proudly brought to our bedroom to show us what she had accomplished. Your cat is probably a birder.

[Swedish Pride]

..i was pondering apple chips the other day. whats it like? what does it go best with



..im starting to feel like a cave man w my five g pot still

Well my apple tree fell down last Aug so I have loads of sticks made up the "TP way"

I could not really tell you to much on how it compares to oak, still only learning the ropes in this hobby and wouldn't say I have a great pallet and only running a 10l still so any difference from the last batch is prob down to how I run it (who is the caveman now).
Had a little sip out of the three jars yesterday, and the heavy toasted oak chips were harsher than the other two, may have been as I sampled at 60% though.
Apple may have been a slight bit smother that the medium toast oak chips, but that may just be in my head, anyhow early days it has only been a few days.

[S-Cackalacky]

Made a butt press (AKA, ass press) in preparation for squeezing an AG SF wash next week. It's basically 3 buckets that fit inside each other. The first bucket is a beer bottling bucket with a drain at the bottom. The next bucket is a food grade 5 gallon bucket with many many holes drilled in it which fits inside the bottling bucket and holds the wet wash grains which will also be inside a 5 gallon mesh paint strainer. The third bucket is a regular food grade 5 gallon bucket w/lid that I will fill with water and place on top of the grains to squeeze out the wash. I think OBX Phantom was the creator of this apparatus. Took about 20 minutes to drill all the holes. Didn't even work up a sweat.

Oh, and a fourth bucket to catch the wash that comes from the bottling bucket drain. Can't wait to try it.