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Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:13 am**

zouthernborne wrote:
onecrazyredneck wrote:I should have left out the 33qts remark. For the apple component it's just the 22 cans of concentrate - 12oz each, so right at 2gal of concentrate. Only added enough water to bring up to a total of 4.5gal (was worried about foaming over).
I know this is a little late considering how far along this thread is, but you do know that ALL the sugar that would be in those two gallons is still in those 22 cans, right? That's a LOT of sugar right there. Have you done any other washes before this?

Yes, i know all the sugar went in (0.5lb eqivalent per can of AJ Conc.) It was diluted after a couple days to 13 gallons or so to keep the ABV down. SG was 1.01 on Saturday, havent checked since. Bubbles are very slow now. Gotta book time on a still soon. Only other washes have been corn, sugar & yeast. Boring.

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:18 pm**

SG was 1.01 on Saturday, havent checked since

Sounds like she's finishing up nicely. Well done!

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:07 pm**

Corn, sugar and yeast. Boring? I think Uncle Jesse would probably pimp-slap you for that one. But bravo on getting the abv on track and hopefully you have a tasty result in the end. I look forward to the results!

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2012 10:36 pm**

I agree with the crazyredneck.... Corn, yeast, sugar can be boring, in as much as it's very predictable. Follow UJ's recipe, and you'll get great results, every time. Fun the first couple tries, but after a while, it's a yawner. Foolproof. Tried and True. Excellent! But exciting?

Besides, it's not the most complex-tasting whiskey. A fine drink, sure 'nuff! But exciting? Yawn....

Posted: **Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:43 pm**

Probably so, but still better than drinking Bud Light.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:13 am**

Isn't the general feeling that warm horse pi$$ is better than Bud Lighcht?

I mean no disrespect to UJSM shine. wouldn't turn down a drop of it, but i have no need to make that, a buddy does that.

I racked off a bottle last night to see visually how it was clearing - looks like a nice deep amber cider at this point, but when tasting the "beer" i taste no obvious alcohol. Is this normal? SG is down to 1.005 and i started with no less than 16lbs of sugar equivalent in 13 gals water (eventually, after dilution). Should be 5-6%ABV in there, i figure.

A couple thing to make sure i'm not missing:

I did not boil either the brown sugar or the AJ concentrate. Is this a problem?
One night i left the lid off the fermenter one night and there's a dehumidifier in the room. There's no reasonable way that all my precious alcohol got sucked off by a fan and a dehumidifier is there?

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:13 am**

You'll taste the alcohol when the still squeezes it out. It's there, and it hasn't gone anywhere. Quit tastin' the wash! Yuck...

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:40 am**

Barney Fife wrote:...Quit tastin' the wash! Yuck...

Well, i'm a little justified in this - I started out thinking i'd make a nice complex cider since there's not really anything (IMHO) good on the commercial market here. It's all WAY too sweet. Decided that all in all i'd rather drink whisky than cider any day, so boosted the potenial ABV (too far initially) and decided i'd cook it off. So right now i basically have ultra-dry oated apple cider with raisin and turbinado.

I look forward to the cooked version. A lot.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:58 am**

Sounds like it's gonna be good. This thread hasn't been boring.

Posted: **Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:31 am**

Well, now the appearance in the fermenter has changed. Obviously it's still bubbling alittle, becuase there are a number of little balloon looking jobbies on the surface. I'm hoping this is noting more nefarious than gluten from the oats making a thick enough layer on the surface to trap the CO2. Anyone ever seen this before?

Posted: **Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:34 am**

What's the SpGr? Might be done. Most ferments keep on bubbling a little after they're finished.

Posted: **Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:56 am**

Still showing 1.05 but there a fair amount of dissolved solids due to the amount of Brown Sugar in the bucket which makes me think that yes, it's done. Problem is, i can't get on a still for a week to 10 days. Would it be advisable to pull the clear(ish) beer off the lees and get it in the fridge for the time being or can i just leave it alone and sit until i can get to it? I'm in a keg still so i guess i can't distill on the lees (as they do in commercial ops) lest it burn.

Posted: **Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:30 am**

10 days it'll be fine on the lees. Rack it before running it, of course.

Posted: **Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:46 am**

At times due to other commitments I have left a finished ferment set for more than a month before I got it to the still

Never had a problem

Coyote

Posted: **Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:22 am**

Really interested in this one, waiting for the outcome!

Posted: **Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:28 am**

I'm chomping at the bit here! I can't wait to here how this turned out! Also, if this turns out well, an updated recipe would be in order? Right?

Posted: **Tue May 01, 2012 6:46 pm**

Well, at long last i got time on the community still (while im still designing My still).

Started good enough - we fixed one leak only to find another smaller one. Whatever.

So i managed to get about 10 gallons of wash reasonably clean with no yeast or other lees. The oats really soaked up a bunch (dammit). Got the boiler (reflux keg still, 2" column ~ 36"h) going with lots of propane. Came up to temp in 20-30minutes and immediately started putting out a nice stream of crystal clear heads. Took 4oz off and started collecting the middle. Well there was a goodly leak fron the tube fitting splitting relux flow from collection, so my buddy got a BFW (think BFH but 'wrench') and gave it a snug - well he didnt HOLD the fitting and twisted it right out of the crappy solder joint. So now we are in pot still mode. Kept running but had to hold the jars under the condenser for 2 hours.

Final tally (could have surely kept going but it was getting late):

1pt crystal clear @ 100proof (reflux)
4pt light blue @ 40 proof (pot)

So, the question is - do i re-run 2qts of strip? Also why THE HELL is it blue?

No taste test yet - too damn hot.

Posted: **Tue May 01, 2012 8:27 pm**

onecrazyredneck wrote:Well, at long last i got time on the community still (while im still designing My still).

Started good enough - we fixed one leak only to find another smaller one. Whatever.

So i managed to get about 10 gallons of wash reasonably clean with no yeast or other lees. The oats really soaked up a bunch (dammit). Got the boiler (reflux keg still, 2" column ~ 36"h) going with lots of propane. Came up to temp in 20-30minutes and immediately started putting out a nice stream of crystal clear heads. Took 4oz off and started collecting the middle. Well there was a goodly leak fron the tube fitting splitting relux flow from collection, so my buddy got a BFW (think BFH but 'wrench') and gave it a snug - well he didnt HOLD the fitting and twisted it right out of the crappy solder joint. So now we are in pot still mode. Kept running but had to hold the jars under the condenser for 2 hours.

Final tally (could have surely kept going but it was getting late):

1pt crystal clear @ 100proof (reflux)
4pt light blue @ 40 proof (pot)

So, the question is - do i re-run 2qts of strip? Also why THE HELL is it blue?

Wait a minute, wait a minute, woaaa!!!! Somebody put this in a new thread er somethin sowez can help this boy....

No taste test yet - too damn hot.

Posted: **Wed May 02, 2012 3:47 am**

SO... I found this doing a forum search for "blue distillate":

From Kiwi Bruce (thanks mate):

You need to passivate your copper the first few times you use it, or if it has sat for a while without use. Wash all the parts that are exposed to the distillate with a mild food acid, 10% citric acid is a good one. Mix by volume not weight you'll need about a cup, so mix 2 Tbs of citric to 18 Tbs of WARM(not boiling) water. The acid lets the copper surface loss its electrical charge and become "passive" to what it comes in contact with. In your case its probably amines from the yeast nutrient if you were running a thin wash or from your grain if your running a whiskey. The blue color is copper-amine not toxic but not good for you, and it can't come over when you re-distill it, as its a salt

Anyone else care to comment? I had crushed multivitamin as nutrient and was, indeed, using grain.

Sounds like i need to wash the still in 10% citric and then do a spirit run with the wine and THAT should cook the blue out - yeah?

Posted: **Wed May 09, 2012 6:42 am**

OK, even more reading done and it appears maybe i had too much nutrient in the wash. Hard to believe that a couple multivitamins and two bananas is too much in 15 gallons, but it's blue. Yay - glad i wasted all that effort. So, starting over. Guess i should do a real simple corn/sugar batch and slowly replace ingredients with stuff i want to try, OR can someone help my recipe? Should i have just NOT put in the extra nutrients? Used acid to balance the wash at some point?

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