Home Distiller

Down_Home52 wrote:masonsjax that is way beyond my current level of accomplishment!! I will need to get the dictionary out just to understand your process. Aging/oaking process? I am working on a small electric set up for this winter to do my first AG so that is driving questions around processes and results.
Conan/Pacman?
Partigyle style second running?

Update.....Got the partigyle sparging. You must come from a beer making background. Me...just farm style fruit wines.To do the water profile are you having your supply tested by a lab first, then making your amendments? I need to do that as all my water is coming from a spring that evolves through limestone on my property.

Yup you guessed it, I'm a long time beer brewer! I haven't done a ton of wine, but a friend runs a successful vineyard/winery and gives me loads of wine when I visit, which I turn into some exceptional brandy. I'd like to try distilling some other fruit wines at some point.

I periodically send a sample of my water to Ward labs for testing. I then calculate my mineral/acid additions using the brunwater spreadsheet. There are other similar tools out there such as brewers friend and ez water, but I think brunwater is more extensive and it's predictions have been very accurate for my process and system.

Conan is the yeast strain used by The Alchemist brewery on their flagship beer Heady Topper. It has high attenuation while leaving a good bit of body and produces peach like esters. It's great for American IPAs.

Pacman is the house yeast at the Rogue brewery in Oregon. It's similar to Safale US-05, but leaves a slightly more mineral taste. Great yeast.

I age on wood (usually heavy toast/heavy charred white oak sticks cut from barrel staves) either in mason jars or 5 gallon corny kegs.

I've been using various roasted grains in my whiskeys for a while and really like the end product. The taste difference is pretty subtle at the ratios I'm using, but I do notice the difference.

Sloes brandy.
And I try out two new details:
-A coldfinger for my reflux liebig condenser. So I can run it with less water.
-A shorter column for more entrainment. 50cm instead of 1m SPP, 2". Of course I don't reach azeo. Stabilization temp is about 1°C higher than with the long column.

Just had a wee drop of the new Crown Royal rye. Got to do me an AG rye blend. The spice and clean taste is what I am after.

masonsjax wrote:

Down_Home52 wrote:masonsjax that is way beyond my current level of accomplishment!! I will need to get the dictionary out just to understand your process. Aging/oaking process? I am working on a small electric set up for this winter to do my first AG so that is driving questions around processes and results.
Conan/Pacman?
Partigyle style second running?

Update.....Got the partigyle sparging. You must come from a beer making background. Me...just farm style fruit wines.To do the water profile are you having your supply tested by a lab first, then making your amendments? I need to do that as all my water is coming from a spring that evolves through limestone on my property.

Yup you guessed it, I'm a long time beer brewer! I haven't done a ton of wine, but a friend runs a successful vineyard/winery and gives me loads of wine when I visit, which I turn into some exceptional brandy. I'd like to try distilling some other fruit wines at some point.

I periodically send a sample of my water to Ward labs for testing. I then calculate my mineral/acid additions using the brunwater spreadsheet. There are other similar tools out there such as brewers friend and ez water, but I think brunwater is more extensive and it's predictions have been very accurate for my process and system.

Conan is the yeast strain used by The Alchemist brewery on their flagship beer Heady Topper. It has high attenuation while leaving a good bit of body and produces peach like esters. It's great for American IPAs.

Pacman is the house yeast at the Rogue brewery in Oregon. It's similar to Safale US-05, but leaves a slightly more mineral taste. Great yeast.

I age on wood (usually heavy toast/heavy charred white oak sticks cut from barrel staves) either in mason jars or 5 gallon corny kegs.

I've been using various roasted grains in my whiskeys for a while and really like the end product. The taste difference is pretty subtle at the ratios I'm using, but I do notice the difference.

Appalachia covers a lot of territory but if you are ever in the area of the Tail of the Dragon give me a shout. Your response is much appreciated and gives me a bench mark on where I am. My AG set up is my winter project and I am looking forward to some scotch recipes. What a great hobby!!!

Down_Home52 wrote:...Tail of the Dragon...

Been there...1 year ago, almost to the day...

Down_Home52 wrote:

Appalachia covers a lot of territory but if you are ever in the area of the Tail of the Dragon give me a shout. Your response is much appreciated and gives me a bench mark on where I am. My AG set up is my winter project and I am looking forward to some scotch recipes. What a great hobby!!!

Riding the bikes down to the tail is on my todo list for sure. I'll shoot you a head's up when that happens for sure.

SS and masonsjax I live 5 miles from the Park line and 2 miles from the intersection of US 411 and US 129. Now you know why the aka Thunder Road!!! 15 acres of God's country and you are welcome at any time.

Ran a 14g batch of whiskey through the boka on the grain with my new element guard courtesy of larry (again many many thanks) unfortunately had to cap the jars till next Sunday when I'll be home again. Also ran a 12--13 gallon strip on my rum and started anot her ferment. Total of 4.6 gallons of low wines for rum so far. One more strip will bring me to 7 and then I will add the rest of the fresh wash for the spirit run in 2 to 3 weeks times.

Running small 5 gallon batch of peach brandy. 26 pounds ripe peaches and 12 pounds cane sugar. OG was 1.060 and FG was 1.020. Could not get anymore out of it. Using EC-1118. Running unpacked column on pot still. First quart across, after 200 ml fores, was 80%abv. Second quart was at 70% abv and third right running at 57-58% abv. Guessing I should have made tighter cuts? After running SF wash the higher abv surprised me. Tastes and smells really good. How critical are cuts with a brandy if full flavor is what you are after? Take the best jar as is and make Peach Pie out of the rest?

Down_Home52 wrote:Running small 5 gallon batch of peach brandy. 26 pounds ripe peaches and 12 pounds cane sugar. OG was 1.060 and FG was 1.020. Could not get anymore out of it. Using EC-1118. Running unpacked column on pot still. First quart across, after 200 ml fores, was 80%abv. Second quart was at 70% abv and third right running at 57-58% abv. Guessing I should have made tighter cuts? After running SF wash the higher abv surprised me. Tastes and smells really good. How critical are cuts with a brandy if full flavor is what you are after? Take the best jar as is and make Peach Pie out of the rest?

Your numbers sound off... That 12 pounds of sugar in a 5 gallon wash would be over 1.100 without the sugars provided by the peaches... 12 pounds of sugar alone would equate to a SG of 1.110 if added to water for a 5 gallon total volume, and a potential yield of 16.9% ABV which is way too high for decent flavored spirits...

Let me re-check my notes. Recipe called for 13 pounds of peaches and 10 pounds of sugar for five. I had notes written down that doubled peaches.i have 5 gallons still fermenting as wine. Might have missed the split. I left all the wine-making ingredients out of the 5 gallons I distilled. Just sugar, peaches and yeast.

Peach Wine
(Makes 5 Gallons)
Ingredients
13 lbs. of peaches
10 lbs. of sugar
1 tbsp. Yeast Energizer
1 tsp. Pectic Enzyme
2 ½ tbsp. Acid Blend
1 tsp. Wine Tannin
1 Packet of Wine Yeast: EC-1118
10 Campden Tablets (5 prior to fermentation and 5 at bottling time)

This was the wine recipe. I used just the peaches, sugar and yeast for the wash. Also added some raisins and B12 complex

Took 2nd and 3rd quarts of peach brandy at 130-135 proof and cut them to 95 proof using homemade peach wine. Chilled in the refrigerator it makes a tasty drop.

Just filled a 5 gal oak barrel with Hook Rum. Did 8 10 gal strip runs and ran a spirit run of 13 gals low wines. Running the last of the spirit run now. 12 hours yesterday and started again today. Got 500 lbs Panela on it's way......can't wait to try the Panela Rum.

Took a brief break for a month or so, but back at it with a honey shine and a sweet feed.

C.O.B. (brewed 8-24-2016)
10 lb cracked corn
8 lb malted 2-row barley
2-3/4 lb flaked (quick) oats
12 gallons water
9-1/2 gallons net
OG 1.068

This is in process of lautering the mash. After sparging, there wasn't much starch/sugars left in the spent grains as they were quite powdery, not sticky. The runoff took a long time (2-1/2 hours), but that usually improve extraction efficiency. This is what the spent grains look like inside the lauter tun after rinsing all the goodness out. Notice the protein sludge on top of the corn hulls. After aerating the wort, I pitched the rehydrated yeast (1-1/2 package of dry bread yeast per vessel). Although it looks a little cloudy, that is just the oxygen in solution. The wort after lautering was surprisingly clear, as any beer runoff would be....because that's how I do it. This is the activity level a few hours after pitching. Notice how the ferment is "milky" as the yeast population has multiplied. The activity was vigorous. As of yesterday (48-50 hours after pitching) the activity has slowed significantly. It is not done yet, so I haven't ventured a gravity check. But I do notice that the yeast is beginning to flocculate/stratify (settle in layers) inside the carboys. So it won't be long. In any case, I'll wait a couple more days before racking to a secondary vessel to clear.

I typically make 9-1/2 to 10 gallon batches 3 times in a row, stripping the wash between ferments. When I've stripped 3 batches, then I'll combine the low wines for a spirit run, in this case also in the potstill. I'll make the cuts after the spirit run, keeping the hearts for aging. When done, it'll go into my oak barrel until I can't stand to wait any longer.
ss

SS are you using a cooler for a lauter tun? If so what size? I am still in the process of gathering parts and pieces for my first AG attempt. Bought a ss bazooka filter and have a round Gott 5 gallon lauter tun with a false bottom but it is only about 4-5 gallons in volume. Was thinking maybe a big cooler with the bazooka filter would be better? Do you recycle your first few gallons back through the grain bed?

Down_Home52 wrote:SS are you using a cooler for a lauter tun? If so what size? I am still in the process of gathering parts and pieces for my first AG attempt. Bought a ss bazooka filter and have a round Gott 5 gallon lauter tun with a false bottom but it is only about 4-5 gallons in volume. Was thinking maybe a big cooler with the bazooka filter would be better? Do you recycle your first few gallons back through the grain bed?

I have two 10 gallon Coleman beverage coolers; one is the mash tun with SS screen false bottom and a pickup grid in the bottom (1/2" ID copper), and the other is used for a "hot liquor" tank, that is, for holding the hot sparge water while I runoff into the boiler (for beer). The hot liquor (water) drains into a sparging sprayer above the grain bed in the lauter tun. Inlet and outlet flows are matched so the liquid level stays steady inside the tun.

I also use a "grant" which is a small stainless vessel that catches the runoff from the tun and provides the recirculating pump with a steady suction head. It therefore, doesn't suck on the grain bed, rather it is a gravity flow out of the tun. The recirculation flows back into the lauter tun above the grain bed. I learned to do it this way in the local micro brewery that I used to work at.
ss

I bought a guy out that was making beer. I got a 12 v dc transfer pump and a nice 110v ProCon pump that looks like it might be set up to do exactly what you are speaking of. The Gott cooler has a two holes in the top to stick a 1/2' piece of tubing down into it. Guessing he was using that to recirculate into and to add the sparge water. When I get closer to using it I will look you up. Working on an electric 8 gallon boiler with 2" column to do some smaller batches. Wanting to try Carolina bourbon, a honey whiskey, agave whiskey and an all barley scotch with peated malt.

I haven't been on for a while....I feel like I'm out of the loop! I haven't had the opportunity to do anything since the beginning of the year...near February...
I friend gave me about 80 pounds of apples, so I've mashed that down and added some sugar to it. Threw down some yeast and let it go...so far, so good.

A day prior to that, I tried to make a rye... it boiled and cooled...and I pitched the yeast... it went well so far... Next weekend is labour day, so I won't be doing anything pertaining to distilling although I'd like to.
I guess two weeks in the carboy won't damage anything.... but that's what I'm up to!
gg

Ping pong plonk, white.

MichiganCornhusker wrote:Ping pong plonk, white.

And a lot of it. funny stuff.

MichiganCornhusker wrote:Ping pong plonk, white.

How'd it taste?

I'm doing an all feints run on the pot still today.

Just finished a run of Unicorn Sweat, first one of a 45-50 gallon ferment, this will provide my whiskeyish and vodka stock for the next year. I started this back in June I think and haven't touched it since starting it. When I opened the lid to my big fermenter I found a raging lacto infection. There seems to be one loose in my garage because they are becoming a regular thing with certain ferments and even show up in my cooling reservoir, not that I really mind. I also had some little problems with a leaking seal mid run which left me finishing in pot mode instead of flute but as usual a lot of flavor carried over. I'm hoping to get all of the Unicorn Sweat and Cheez-it washes run off this week and maybe even a batch of rum that has also been sitting since June.

OK so it's only vaguely stilling related but since my apple picking truck has a bad case of the may as wells and is sitting in the driveway waiting for the engine to come back from the shop I figured I may as well move the electric fan to the front of the radiator instead of behind. So I made these brackets to mount it and hold it just slightly off the 45 year old radiator. I think I might do the same someday to my recalculation system for my condenser cooling water

Flaked Corn and Flaked Rye

4 1/2gal spring water
1/2 gal backset from previous corn run
9lbs of flaked corn
1lb of flaked rye
2tsp yeast nutrient

Heated 3 1/2 gallons of the water to 170 and turned down the heat. Then I added 3.5 ml alpha enzyme and slowly added all of the grain all the while stirring with a paint mixer until it was all in and the temp was at 160. I shut off the heat and covered and let sit 2 hours or so then added the backset to lower the ph some and the rest of the liquids. When the temp was around 150ish I added the gluco enzyme and stirred it in real good then let it sit covered in a comforter all night.It was a nice sweet taste so I added the yeast and nutrients first thing in the am and shez bubbling away nicely! (No sg measurments this time)

Dry cob. Not sure the blend, but Im thinking it was 50% corn, 25 oats, 25 barley. Looked about right anyway.

Mash with Pintoshine's enzymes. Fermenting on the grain.

if I was maken something it would be 5#rice (mix of white and brown) 6# oats, 2# chocolate cystal rye malt and 10#rye malt

I'm finally mashing some of the beechwood smoked barley malt I've been sitting on. It smells amazing!