Home Distiller

Oh look Dem Braader's are at it again currently attempting a conversion using "Peated Malt" for my garage scotch project. So far not as much clear fluid as i'm used to using 6-row. The beer guy said i should get nearly as much from the peated. Time will tell..in the morning i'll take a reading..smells heavenly so far.

Some kinda fun!!

I finally collected 5 gallons of low wines (~37%) and did a spirit run. Did my cuts and ended up with just under 2 gallons of 62.5% product (after cutting with a little water).
1 gallon will be straight bourbon on new toasted and charred American White Oak that I cut myself last year. The other gallon will be whiskey that was filtered over charred maple wood chunks for 2 days and stored with 1 piece of JD Barrel Stave smoking block.

Can't wait to taste this in a year (or 2 or 3).

Soon as wife is done with dryer i'm gonna mash 20# and 7# wheat malt that was lacto infected.

did my cuts on Odins cornflakes wash , fist impressions, it' s lovely.

Did my first run of sweet feed since S3, today got 2 qts at 90 proof. Will do second run tommorow.

Finally had a chance to do a stripping run of 6 gallons of fortified TPW (Birdwatchers)... First run with the new lid made from a trimmed down heavy duty SS pizza pan... Also my first run using PTFE tape exclusively instead of flour paste... Ended up with 2 gallons of 50%/100 proof low wines... Have another 6 gallons of wash to strip before doing a spirit run using my tall reflux column... I did hold out a pint of 120 proof for libations this evening...

The two thermometers are in place to plug existing holes but I did collect some statistical data for future reference...

I made 12 gallons of Wineos sugar wash. Fermenting like crazy!!! to the point I had to remove some wash as it was going so good it was bubbling over. First time I have had a wash start this hard this fast!

B

I made a run of panella rum last night. When I got up today the backset was still hot so I used it to start a sweet feed ferment. Let the backset soak into the sweet feed for awhile before I added sugar and water. Added yeast and it took off

rad14701 wrote:Finally had a chance to do a stripping run of 6 gallons of fortified TPW (Birdwatchers)... First run with the new lid made from a trimmed down heavy duty SS pizza pan... Also my first run using PTFE tape exclusively instead of flour paste... Ended up with 2 gallons of 50%/100 proof low wines... Have another 6 gallons of wash to strip before doing a spirit run using my tall reflux column... I did hold out a pint of 120 proof for libations this evening...

Nice, I ran 2 stripping runs of 5 gals of Buccaneer Bob's Rum and the wifey insisted I keep some of the first run for the full on blackstrap flavor. I negotiated down to 700ml at 80p and ended up with 6 quarts of product to throw in a spirit run tomorrow.

I'm on my second PTFE gasket. I ended up doubling the cardboard then wrapping it with PTFE as the first one was too flimsy with just one layer of cardboard.

Finished second stripping run of pugi rum, mixed up 12 more gallons of ferment (2nd generation). Now have enough low wines for a spirit run.

IamWort wrote: I'm on my second PTFE gasket. I ended up doubling the cardboard then wrapping it with PTFE as the first one was too flimsy with just one layer of cardboard.

I actually scrapped the whole gasket after 20 plus runs, kept loosing its shape and the tape it self was not getting flat and dirty and I had to use flour paste to paste on every run to patch it to I thought i might as well go only paste.

I also noticed that my take off in stripping improved with paste so I must have had small leaks i never noticed

Swedish Pride wrote:

IamWort wrote: I'm on my second PTFE gasket. I ended up doubling the cardboard then wrapping it with PTFE as the first one was too flimsy with just one layer of cardboard.

I actually scrapped the whole gasket after 20 plus runs, kept loosing its shape and the tape it self was not getting flat and dirty and I had to use flour paste to paste on every run to patch it to I thought i might as well go only paste.

I also noticed that my take off in stripping improved with paste so I must have had small leaks i never noticed

Yeah I'm working on securing a small stainless beer keg so I can ditch the whole mess. It's funny how quickly my contraption is evolving.

And on topic, I made 3 quarts of 120P product from my black strap wash and started another round using feed molasses with 1 gal of backset.

Made 5 gallons of Mackinac Island Red Ale today. Just aerated and pitched an Irish Ale yeast.

Next, I'll bottle up a gallon of vodka I filtered and cut to 40%. That'll give me a nice supply of vodka to go with the 3 bottles of Bombay gin I bottled the other day.

Bottoms up!

A frosty cold Daiquiri. I zested a bunch of limes for a lime-cello, had all the juice left over, whipped up a little simple syrup, grabbed a bottle of my Buckaneer Bob Rum, and presto, summertime treat! I'll have another.

12 gallons of 1.076 corn grit wash, 5 gallons pale ale, and 3 slabs of ribs still in the smoker. Great weather today.

Just back from 4 days tent camping at Devils Lake Wisconsin. Cool place, lots of granite cliffs and canyons to hike through. Nice clean lake for swimming. Checked last weeks mash of Triple Smoke for next years S3 and its at 1.003 and 8.03% ABV, perfect. Squeezing it out to run tomorrow. Did this one on the grain, last 2 batches were sparged and only the wort fermented. This one will make two 12g runs thru the flute and should fill the barrel. Then I need to get busy on another barrel of bourbon since I emptied 2012's apple brandy from another barrel last week.

WOW! You guys are busy, busy, busy. All I did is finish up 2 gallons of lemoncello. So I should be good for a couple more months. I like the idea of using limes like Cornhusker did. Have to give it a try. Oh I did get another copper still started for a friend. Old style. So I wasn't completely lazy.

Spirit run for my branflake vodka, planning a stripping run for my Birdwatchers.

Pickin cherries till my eyes are about to roll back in my head.

Ran some triple smoke yesterday and added 5 quarts at 61% to the barrel. Second half of the mash tank is squeezed and settling for a couple days, will run it tomorrow. Lookin like tomorrows run will top up this 5g barrel, with some spares for toppin up after losses. Its taken me 2 months to fill this barrel. Not too bad for spring time when Im usually batshit crazy busy.

Nuff chattin, back to this damn cherry tree, its loaded.

Going to try my first single malt scotch, I could only source out 20 lbs of thomas fawcett peated malt that arrived on the weekend & have it mashing along with 35 lbs of 2 row for a ~ 25 gallon batch right now.

Heated 16 gallons of water to 150° & poured it on the grain in the cooler, dropped it to just above 140°, stirred up & let that sit a while then added a few more gallons at ~ 155 to get it all around 145. I'll let that sit with some occasional stirring & top up with some cold water in the fermenter before pitching. Going with red star bakers yeast, hopefully I can keep it under 100° in the fermenting room. The heat wave is a killer, much easier to deal with winter...

Think the next project will be a cold smoker so I can smoke barley myself, didn't realize it would be so hard to find peated around here, places list it for sale, but no place has stock.

Jimbo wrote:...back to this damn cherry tree, its loaded.

:envy: :envy: How nice to have your own personal hooch orchard! My cherry supplier of days gone by has closed up shop and moved away. I hope all of your other fruit trees will be just as productive this year.

put 50# of malted corn and 7# of malted wheat in a throw together smoker. smokin with corn cobs.

Jimbo wrote:Pickin cherries till my eyes are about to roll back in my head.

Wish I had that problem, My cherry trees did produce 6 times as many cherries as last year. I got 12 total.

Picked 5 gallons so far. 35 lbs of cherries, squished by hand (to avoid breaking pits) made 4 gallons of slop at 12 brix (1.049) and 3.3 pH (sour stuff). These are Montmorency cherries, very similar to the Morello's used in Germany for a true Kirsh. Nothing added but sugar..... BAHAHA, kidding. Just cherries and yeast. WHen this gets going Ill use it as a starter for a pile of cherries I have frozen from last year, and also need to finish picking this tree clean. Tree gives about 100lbs a year.

These are Montmorency cherries, very similar to the Morello's used in Germany for a true Kirsh. Nothing added but sugar.....

well that made my eyes boggle if only for a second

haha, I figgered TPee would be all over that.... He's fun to mess with.

in my childhood my family had a large cherry tree...im missing it right now

....because it's Canada day, im starting an all rye batch of whiskey..im milling the grain and excited....

I really want to do something with cherries but even though this is a major cherry producing region the best I can get them for is about $2 a pound. Right now there are about 10- 747s a day flying out of Seatac full of nothing but cherries bound for China. Kind of mind boggling really.

Chinese have more money than they know what to do with. Theyve already loaned us trillions. Now they are buying up everything, the best golf courses, piles of our best whiskey, and apparently our cherries too.

I been picking again today, Got about half the tree done. No small work this.

Also ran the last of the Triple Smoke for next years S3. Its a damn nice feeling when the barrel is full.....

is that 20qts?
That is a sizable batch to bring to S316 fair play to ya