Home Distiller

zed255 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2023 4:58 pm Low wines can be cloudy. Depends on what it is and how deep you go. Don't worry and all will be well on the spirit run.

ShineonCrazyDiamond wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2023 9:08 am I disagree. First 500ml of heads cleans or all the previous oils. Zed255 is giving good advice.

Teddysad wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:27 pm For those looking for a fast ferment, a little time spent during the preparation stage pays huge dividends in shortening the time for a ferment.
Here is my routine for a fast Vodka at very low cost with no carbon filtering or added clearing compounds.
The secret is in the DAP - di-ammonium phosphate which should be available at a HBS or winemaker supply store along with the Multivitamin.

Ingredients ( for a 23l wash)
4kg Sugar
250g wheat bran
1 Multivitamin tablet
Pinch Epsom salts
½ tsp DAP
Citric acid
50g bakers yeast

I source the bran from the local Stockfood Co ( 5kg bag for $6.50) however most supermarkets will have it as baking bran or miller's bran. This is not the All-Bran breakfast cereal but works out so much less expensive. at a few cents per wash.

In a large pot (5 litre or bigger) bring 2 to 3 litres of water to the boil (I boil it in the jug first to save time)
Add the 250g of bran, stir, bring back to the boil then simmer for 30 minutes stirring from time to time. It becomes a thin porridge
Dissolve the sugar in warm water and add to the fermenter with cool water to bring quantity up to 20 litres.
Add the crushed MV tab, Epsom salts and DAP.
Once the bran has simmered for 30 mins, add it to the fermenter.
I then adjust the pH to around 5 with the citric acid usually takes about ½ a tsp.
Rehydrate the yeast in 100ml water and add to the mix. Making sure the start temp is below 30C
Stir well ( I use a stick blender to thoroughly aerate it.)
Leave plenty of headroom as this takes off like a rocket. I use a 30l fermenter
Do NOT seal for at least 24 hours as a thick foamy cap will form within an hour. I put it under an airlock only after 36 hrs so I can monitor progress.
This produces a fast ferment ( normally dry to .990 within 3 to 4 days). The start SG is around 1060 so the yeast is not pushed hard to produce off-flavours
Rack off and allow to stand for a couple of days to clear before distilling.
I find this has a nice slightly wheaty taste and is much nicer than the tomato paste based wash and twice as fast to ferment.
Can also be oaked.
I have also tried multi generations with a drop in results. It is so low cost that I have found it not worth saving and reusing the trub, - that goes onto the compost.

Update: After stripping and then a spirit run I have had several litres of this sitting on uncharred oak dominos at 65% for 6 weeks.
Watered down a litre to test and it came through very nicely with a good flavour

I consistently get speeds of 84 to 96 hours from start to dry.

Mk II Version

As above but 200g of bran and 100g kibbled rye
This have turned out to be even better - just as fast but with a little more bite/flavour in the end result. It depends on the finish you want in your vodka.

Note: I always strip several ferments through the pot still column and add them together for a slow spirit run through the reflux column

guest5234 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 2:49 am… must try this, is it common to for vodka to age 6 weeks on oak chips, if so how much per gallon.

guest5234 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 9:29 am Sorry it is a daft question, Is the multivitamin tablet a special home-brew tablet or just the ones humans take.

Garouda wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 7:37 pm

guest5234 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 9:29 am Sorry it is a daft question, Is the multivitamin tablet a special home-brew tablet or just the ones humans take.

In fact, there are already B vitamins in your bran, what yeasts mainly need are group B vitamins. B1 is the most important one, take the cheapest B vitamins complex at your pharmacist's.
I always make 70-litre batches with success and I crush three tablets, one tablet contains B1 (Thiamine Disulphide) 100 mg; B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) 200 mg; B12 (Cyanocobalamin) 200 mcg (micrograms !). Do not make pseudo rocket science calculations, it's not necessary...

kennstminet wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2023 9:39 pm You are using slightly more than 4 mg B1 per litre. I do not think that an overdosage will hurt.
Thanks for the suggestion, I will look for tablets with 100 mg B1. I could not find it in my local shop.

madmace wrote: ↑Sun Jun 18, 2023 10:14 am Just wondering if bakers yeast would be the only yeast that works well for this.
I have distillers yeast, thinkin that might do the trick as well
Am I mistaken
Have a brain fart
Or just missing something
Also have yellow bird angel on hand as well
Any input is appreciated

buchrob wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:07 pm To streamline things, cook the "porridge" ahead of time: bran, nutrients... all the dry stuff except for the yeast and sugar plus a little water. For example: if you regularly use ~20 l/~ 5 gal brew buckets, make up enough to do 4 (or #) of them. Let cool then freeze in 4 (or #) individual containers.

Come time for mashing, water + sugar + thawed porridge + yeast is really easy.

Advantage: only one messy, sticky pot to clean up for several batches. Bonus: feeezing and thawing the porridge probably breaks up the fibre cells, making things easier for the yeast, since my last batch fermented from 1.06 in 2 days using DADY.

Using a brew bag and racking from between the bag and bucket wall leaves wash that will cold crash very quickly.

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 2:22 pm Recipes like this are really intended to be run through a Reflux still . Also because they are relatively clean washes , they don’t produce too much heads and tails as “flavoured “ washes and mashes like Rums or Whiskeys do .

As a good reflux still can really compress the fractions , the hearts cut is actually quite large .

From a 180 litre wash , I can expect around 12-13 litres @ 95% abv …….. thats about 30litres of 40%

Although you could double or triple distill this wash in a Pot still , the yield of “clean “ hearts will be relatively small compared to what you’d get using a reflux still .

Bradster68 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 2:23 pm +1. Iv been pot stilling my Ted's and is a huge pain in the A.....