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Yes, this is vapor infusion.

I would prefer to have the false bottom in the boiler instead of in the thumper. You can read here in the thread my opinion about abv for vapor infusion. In the boiler the abv would be lower. But other member have other opinions.

Which fruit and how much? The rum in the boiler is low wines or wash?

I'm thinking of raisens and bananas and vanilla bean.
I'll have sweet feed 9% wash in the boiler and rum low wines in the thumper with some dunder to lower the abv.

I can't get anything in my boiler since I haven't altered it at all. Adding to the wash with fruits from what I've read so far states it will foam like hell. I do however have the thumper to avoid that from entering my collection jars.

I will lower the rum low wines to 20%

Be careful with the vanilla bean. Very small amounts will be enough.
Raisins match well to rum, but normally with spirits and oak, there is already some raisin flavor without adding raisins. So I think you don't need much.
Banana is interesting. Pineapple would be nice too perhaps. And a small amount lemon or orange zest.

I'm thinking of the addition of raisins because I as a rule do not oak much of anything. I may at some point in the future give it a go but I'm not the biggest fan of dark likkers.

As for the other fruits, I'm doing alot of reading to see what tickles my fancy. I like alot of some recipes but not all of it and I have enough experience to play and adjust accordingly to my liking.
I have almost 8 gallons of rum low wines and right now I used 2 gallons in the thumper for a sf run as we speek.

Back on topic, I like the thought of pineapple and raisins together and that might be the way I go for the next rum with a little of vanilla bean all in the false bottom and see what happens.
FYI my thumper is 14" wide and 20" high and the false bottom sits 6" from the top to allow boiling without boiling the fruit plus I can adjust the amount of fluid in there. I usually fill half way, on that note, should I pack the top part full of fruit? I have no idea how many lbs that would be but I'm thinking 2 pineapple cubed, 2 lbs of raisins and 1 vanilla bean centered in the middle.

I forgot to mention I may add some orange zest to the boiler or thumper. Which would be best for the zest in your opinion?

I am not sure. I would try it in the thumper.

Thank you der wo, I going back now to read some more and come up with a few more ideas.

You can use that thumper as a Carter Head by loading the basket and not charging it with any liquid.

Consider doing the spirit run without additions, then using some of the finished rum and the Carter Head to make essence to blend back with the rum. That gives you control of the flavors at the blending stage and means you are not throwing out flavors while making cuts on the rum.

That's a good idea chris, that thought crossed my mind when doing my peach brandy in Aug. But I didnt
Damn fine idea!
This has so much potential to flavor more than vodka and rums. I appreciate that

Well I pitched my lemon wash with yeast yesterday. At the same time I had an Apple Wash that I pitched. I went down and the Apple is just bubbling away but the Lemon is working, just a bit slow. Good crust on top just not much action CO2 wise yet. I am presuming that with the amount of lemon in there the PH is kinda low so the yeast is slow taking off. I have never fermented lemons before. Any Guidance here?

My Daughter seen my Reflux Still
Now she wants to be a Pole Dancer.

For fermenting lemons, search for skeeter pee. it's not something I'd do myself, even when the lemons are falling off the tree faster than we use them. I would suggest adjusting the pH with slaked lime when putting the ferment down, then putting large whole sea shells in to keep the pH right.

Posting just to be able to find this thread in the future. I enjoyed what has been written here immensely so far.

NZChris wrote:For fermenting lemons, search for skeeter pee. it's not something I'd do myself, even when the lemons are falling off the tree faster than we use them. I would suggest adjusting the pH with slaked lime when putting the ferment down, then putting large whole sea shells in to keep the pH right.

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... r#p7400101

http://skeeterpee.com/recipe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Did the search in and out of the forum and came up with two links for anybody interested. Does relate.

city shiner wrote:Posting just to be able to find this thread in the future. I enjoyed what has been written here immensely so far.

Have you investigated the use of bookmarks, both in your browser and here in the forums...??? phpBB has bookmarks built-in... No need to use your method of adding an off-topic post... Look at the top of the page where it says "Subscribe topic" and "Bookmark topic"...

I will figure it out Rad.

rad14701 wrote:

city shiner wrote:Posting just to be able to find this thread in the future. I enjoyed what has been written here immensely so far.

Have you investigated the use of bookmarks, both in your browser and here in the forums...??? phpBB has bookmarks built-in... No need to use your method of adding an off-topic post... Look at the top of the page where it says "Subscribe topic" and "Bookmark topic"...

Relax. He also took the moment to express gratitude for the information. You can let the knuckles go on this one. It is a community, first.

ShineonCrazyDiamond wrote:

rad14701 wrote:

city shiner wrote:Posting just to be able to find this thread in the future. I enjoyed what has been written here immensely so far.

Have you investigated the use of bookmarks, both in your browser and here in the forums...??? phpBB has bookmarks built-in... No need to use your method of adding an off-topic post... Look at the top of the page where it says "Subscribe topic" and "Bookmark topic"...

Relax. He also took the moment to express gratitude for the information. You can let the knuckles go on this one. It is a community, first.

No need defending him... Helpful advice is helpful advice, no matter how "you" may interpret it... I don't see him having a problem with the advice given... So, I guess it is "you" who should relax...

Who knows. Perhaps I am just socially awkward and don't pick up on cues.

No need to bicker folks. I wasn't offended by Rad's advice. SCD I appreciate what you said. This is a community. Just for reference I like Lemoncello but have always found it way too sweet. I never knew about Geist. It sounds like something I would like. So...back on Giest:)

An update on my lemon wash. It is still not working very well. I decided yesterday to put a spoonful of baking soda into each one and that seems to have helped a bit but I think the Ph is still way to low. I did 60 litres with three bags of lemons but I think there still might be too much lemon in the wash. I found sugar on sale this week, 10 Kilo for $9.99 Canadian. What I am thinking of doing is making a straight white sugar wash and splitting the lemon in half so instead of 60 litres I will end up with 120 litres. Is this a good way to get the Ph up so things will begin to work. I really think my yeast is really stressed.

Don't guess and don't throw random chemicals from your pantry at it. Get some pH strips and measure it, then use slaked lime to adjust it if needed, or double it as you were thinking. Any form of calcium carbonate you can add may help once you have the pH right .... shells, marble, whatever you have handy.

I have been using Calcium Carbonate (Baking Soda) to adjust Ph for like a lifetime. It is food safe and it works. As for testing Ph I use a Ph Meter instead of strips. I get a more accurate reading. The Ph right now is 3.4. Essentially Acid.
I have decided on the doubling. It's Old Fogy Pogy day so I am headed to town to do some shopping.

have you guys investigated passive vapour infusion, if time is on your side this is a very simple method that results in a very clean robustly flavoured spirit particularly with citrus.
You get your High ABV hearts in a large jar or pot and suspend the fruit above the spirit in the sealed jar. You can either hang it from the lid somehow or sit it on say a stainless steel stand, as long as the fruit can not touch the spirit as this causes bittering. This method takes a couple of weeks to several months depending on temperature head space volume etc but the result is quite amazing and you simply sweeten to taste after you are satisfied with the amount of flavour sweated out of the fruit into your spirit. Of all the methods I've tried or tasted this one is my all time favourite.

FranklinNewhart wrote:I have been using Calcium Carbonate (Baking Soda) to adjust Ph for like a lifetime. It is food safe and it works. As for testing Ph I use a Ph Meter instead of strips. I get a more accurate reading. The Ph right now is 3.4. Essentially Acid.
I have decided on the doubling. It's Old Fogy Pogy day so I am headed to town to do some shopping.

Baking Soda is actually Sodium Bi-Carbonite... Arm and Hammer Washing Soda is Sodium Carbonite and is roughly 3X more potent than baking soda... However, as you can see, neither is calcium based...

Slaked Lime, from your local garden center, is Calcium Hydroxide, which is more potent than Calcium Carbonite...

Just some helpful information for you to digest...

I stand corrected on the Baking Soda. But it is Food Safe and it does work. Maybe not as effectively as other materials but it is always ready at hand. As for what I am doing now concerning getting this batch to start working better is to cut the lemon in half with a straight sugar wash and end up with six carboys instead of three. I was to town today and bought 6 ten kilo bags of sugar for $9.99 a bag Canadian at the Weyburn CO-OP. I guess Cuba had a good crop this year. Going to go to the Radville CO-OP store tomorrow and get six more. Limit 3 per customer so I take my son along.

FranklinNewhart wrote:I stand corrected on the Baking Soda. But it is Food Safe and it does work. Maybe not as effectively as other materials but it is always ready at hand. As for what I am doing now concerning getting this batch to start working better is to cut the lemon in half with a straight sugar wash and end up with six carboys instead of three. I was to town today and bought 6 ten kilo bags of sugar for $9.99 a bag Canadian at the Weyburn CO-OP. I guess Cuba had a good crop this year. Going to go to the Radville CO-OP store tomorrow and get six more. Limit 3 per customer so I take my son along.

Also remember that it's salt which can cause its own adverse effects... I've used both baking soda and washing soda on and off over the years... And I've also used slaked lime... Recent washes have used none of them, however...

Another update on the Lemon Wash. The Baking Soda got it working a little better but it was still going to take forever to work. I could make Lager Beer in less time. So I resorted to my other alternative. Increase the volume with a sugar wash. My volume is now at 100 litres and it is finally going full guns. This stuff is just boiling now.

Use calcium bases instead, sodium inhibits yeast activity and favors bacteria.

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share my first experience in Geist-like spirit. This thread has been a huge inspiration for me and I wanted to try something with clementine for so long. After much reading, I finally settle on a receipe and i'm really proud of it. So, here it comes!

In Quebec, we get clementines (a tangerine hybridation) mostly during december and january. It comes from Algerie and Maroc, mostly. I suppose it's the same in the USA. We buy it in crate and my girls love them. I rapidly got a loooot of skins on hand (i kept them in a bag in the refrigerator) and i started to expermient with them: infuse in homemade sugar syrup (sirop-simple), boiling them a bit to rip the pith and finally, what worked well for me; cutting the pith with a reallly thin blade and dry them. I collected more than 60 gr of dried , no-pith skin in a week using this method.

So, i took 1L of clean almost-neutral (i have a pot) heart at 70%-75%, i added 1,5 L water to dilute to 30% (mesured it).
I macerated 20gr of dried skins in it for 4 hours
I took those skins and put them in a basket like Der Wo's one.
Collected the first 450 ml, distilling like i would do for a spirit run (non-dripping but almost, continuous small stream)
The 450 ml was at 72%
Dilute to 43% (under that, it got cloudy)
I splitted it in two 375ml bottle that i topped with a little bit of neutral to completely full them and get them to 43%
I kept some of my 450ml to test a liquor receipe: instead of cutting with water, i cut with a solution of 1 part golden sugar in 2 parts of water.

The smell is fantastic and i can't wait to taste it once aged. Directly after dilution, the clementine taste was absolutely stunning and it was already very good. Can't wait!

Thanks for the inspiration guys!

Well the Lemon Wash is starting to slow down but there is still a lot of gas rising. Before it was just boiling and the bubbler was going full steam but now it is down to the bubbler popping a bubble every five or six seconds. I am beginning to wonder when it is finally going to be done. No clearing yet so it still has a way to go. I am getting impatient as I am starting on Three and a Half cases of bananas tomorrow and I have to fix up a place to put 200 Litres of wort to ferment. On top of that I also have two carboys of Apple wash that is just about done and not to mention the fact that I also have a 100 litres of Beer that is coming along. I am running out of space.