Home Distiller

Hello all. I am a new distiller. Im running one of my first batches right now. I built a still a few months ago but it turned out like shit so I was crusing craigslist one day and noticed a guy had a home built 22qrt pressure cooker still he made for trade. Traded one of my remote controlled helicopters for it (another hobby of mine) and here I am. I make my own beer and wine and thought what the hell might as well save even more money and make my own hooch. The still its self is a 22 quart older pressure cooker with a 1/2 inch compression fitting screwed into the top going into about 3ft of 1/2 inch copper pipe to another compression fitting going into about a 5-6ft 1/2 inch copper coil into a 22 quart pot for condenser and coming out another compression fitting at the bottom. My question is I start burning bad stuff off at 146 degrees on the dot and at 172-173 I start getting the good stuff but only about a drop every 20 seconds or so. But when I let the heat hit 183-190 the good stuff starts flowing freely. Now I did 13.3 pounds of white granulated sugar in 5 1/2 gallons of water and used the 24 hour turbo yeast and by my regular hydrometer reading I had about a 20% abv mash at the end of fermentation. Now I spent all day yesterday running a few gallons through and am running the rest of the batch through today. Its starting to slow down drip wise and I only have a little over a half gallon of the stuff. I filtered it through my water filter pitcher I use for my drinking water and I can tolerate the taste of it now. I am a little hesitant to triple distill because I dont want to lose any of it. I guess my main question would be does anybody know why my pot still doesnt get going until over 180 degrees? Also, how much final product should I expect from a 5 gallon batch of 20%abv on only one distill? Also, I wanted to age a quart with some fruit in it. I was thinking a couple slices of peaches. Does anybody have any advice on doing so?

Thanks and looking forward to learning everything I can about my kick ass new hobby

Clearcut23

Welcome Clearcut.

Here are some tips:

Most people here don't watch the temperature control or even have on on a pot still like yours. Monitor the ABV coming out and the rate.

Your wash recipe sounds like it could use some work. Look in here for the tried and trued... lots of good stuff there.

If you want better product, stop using turbos. Period.

Don't use a plastic water pitcher if your output is high abv (although I'm not sure if it was).

You shouldnt need to carbon filter or tripple distill if you use a good recipe, do a stripping run and go nice and slow (1 drop per second) on your second (Spirit) run.

why my pot still doesnt get going until over 180 degrees? - Don't worry about temp in a pot still.

As for the fruit, post that one in the 'recipe development' and you'll get more luck.

Again welcome, appologies for being so direct, not much time this morning. Spend as much time as you can reading on this forum and things will work out well for you.

Be safe.

Brew.

that is why there is stickies ,,like http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=11640
as stated you will never git "good stuff" from turbos ,well I should not say never but there is so much
"off flavors" that by the time you clean it up you do not have much left and not worth the price.
using a pot still and making a "vodka", and there will be some flavor carried over, so you need something
that has more or less good flavor to start with.""garbage in garbage out" this is especially true with a pot still.
as the alcohol increases in the wash the yeast at some point starts producing off flavors (fusel oil etc)
and this can /will come across in your product. so for a conclusion with a pot still making vodka you want
a good clean wash that mite taste similar to SAKE as being "bland" there are several recipes on tried and true
that will work.

Thanks for the feedback Dnderhead and newbrewer. Dont worry about being too direct, I can take it. I started another batch last night with 2 pounds of cornmeal about 6 pounds of sugar and some of my wine yeast and this morning my airlock is bubbling away in my bathroom. I drank some of my first run last night mixed with some juice and it wasnt bad for a first timer. During distillation I check the distillate with the flame test every half hour or so until my drips slow down to basically nothing.

Welcome to HD Clearcut23...

+3, go to the Tried and True Recipes... section of the site...
Way better than turbos... My washes are allways around 10%abv - 11%abv, I rarely go over that. Unless Birdwatchers or Wineos Sugar Wash...

My current wash is an all-grain barley (7%abv), I'm after quality rather than quantity...

Like most top brand US/UK/Irish whiskeys, the wash fermenting in the washback is usually between 5% - 7%...
Some vodkas have a sugar solution added after an all-grain mash, but the ferment never comes out larger than 8% - 10%...

So I've read...

Anyway, glad to have ya, have fun and stay safe friend...

Welcome, Clearcut23...

As for your pressure cooker... First, I hope it isn't made from aluminum... Second, I hope you aren't using the rubber seal that it came with... Neither aluminum or rubber seals can withstand high temperature high proof alcohol vapor... They will contribute to off flavors even if you switch away from using turbo yeast... An aluminum pressure cooker can pit and fail, due to caustic alcohol vapors, potentially causing a fire or explosion...

It sounds like you have plenty of research ahead of you if you truly plan on doing things safely and correctly... Reading is the only way to get a grasp of the basics...

Good luck...

Welcome Clearcut23,

+1 on advice given so far

1/2 vapor take is never going to be quick but it will do the job if your ok to take your time.

As mentioned stop punishing your defenseless tastebuds and pick what suits from the tried & true section.

Sounds like you may have another up scaled build in the future....that's when you'll truly press ahead in large leaps.

Enjoy, be safe

cheers
dave

Welcome man. You need to do some reading. Did you make any cuts on that run you did?

I am a little hesitant to triple distill because I dont want to lose any of it.

Get used to loosing a little, its part of making good booze. Dont be greedy, it gets you nothing but swill.

You really do need to go into the reading lounge and do a lot of research. Also check all the stickies, and finally get rid of that bloody thermometer and learn to use you natural 'god' given senses. The thermometer will only slow down you learning processes as you'll see when you visit said reading lounge.

Stay Safe

The Pressure cooker is not aluminum but it does have a rubber gasket. Should I swap it out for a water flour mixture and just change every time? My next batch should be ready to steam through next weekend. Its 7 pounds sugar and 2 pounds cornmeal boiled for about half hour mostly for taste and some Wine yeast. Thanks for all the feedback everybody

Definitely remove the rubber seal... You may need to use either cotton or jute string/twine/rope and flour paste to sale the wide gap between the pot and lid... You might need to experiment to find what works best... I wouldn't suggest attempting to fill the gap with dough, but that's just me...

Thanks for the info Rad. I'll try some jute this weekend and see how it works out. This pot still is just something to get me by until I can get something better so hopefully in a few weeks time i'll have a real one