Home Distiller

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/dirty-jobs/

should be pretty neat...i've seen a few episodes...pretty entertaining...

Shit..... I never thought of distilling as a dirty job.....

...yeah, i've made some pretty big messes, but...

i'll still check it out!!

I had a rum wash puke from my detuned 3" boka, now that was real dirty....

Couldn't go past the preamble in the link but I think it's the difference between walking around inside the boiler or fermentor; an barely being able to get yer into it.

A bucketfull ain't dirt. A truckload is another story

condensificator wrote:...yeah, i've made some pretty big messes, but...

i'll still check it out!!

no doubt. if it has to do with stillin, im there.

tonight!!!

count me in!!!
apooky

pretty funny. just what i was expecting after having seen the show a few times. the "tear" test for heads was pretty interesting...gonna have to try that.

Anyone else notice the white, soft plastic funnel between the condenser and the parrot's beak? And then they take the carefully aged rum from the oak barrel and pump it into a pair of plastic barrels to dilute it all before bottling. Oh, and the graduated cylinder used to test the ABV is also plastic, as is the wine thief. And all the seals on the still appeared to be rubber. Mechanical pumps? Rubber seals..

And this is high end rum?

I'll never drink store bought spirits again!

I wont even get into their sending ALL the dunder to the drain.... that's bad enough, but the rest of it, they're fucking with out health and well being. I love the show; never miss it, but this was a major eye opener!

I did like the eye test for heads, too. Gonna try that one!

I caught the "replay" of that episode tonight. I found it very interesting! That is the first time I have ever seen or heard of the eye test....gonna have to try that sometime. Was pretty surprised by all the plastic they used!! I have always read and been told NO PLASTIC!! Over all it was cool to watch!

Just found their rum for $40.00....wonder if the resaler will ship out of R. I. I always like to taste (and drink) RUM!!!
http://www.vickersliquors.com/wine.asp

indeed. looks like the plastic police need to start up a R.I. precinct.

i'll still try a bottle if i come across one.

I got yelled at for continuously correcting the show and adding substance to the dialog...

Quite a list of questionable practices, to say the least... Very lax record keeping... No spirit safe... Plastic galore... And not all that dirty of a job...

OK...,,,,, its a day later sooooooo howmanyhaveburntretnas??????????????? LOL
spook

Bump. For those of us who don't have cable could someone please explain this "tear" test. It doesn't sound pleasant but I'm curious.

They said if you pout some spirit in a glass, hold the glass over your eye...if the fumes make your eye burn you are still drawing heads, if the sample does not burn your eye they say you are now collecting hearts. please correct me if my memory is impaired......

Dyce51 wrote:They said if you pout some spirit in a glass, hold the glass over your eye...if the fumes make your eye burn you are still drawing heads, if the sample does not burn your eye they say you are now collecting hearts. please correct me if my memory is impaired......

Thanks Dyce. Don't know how reliable that would be but I'll try it for shits and giggles.

Mr.Spooky wrote:OK...,,,,, its a day later sooooooo howmanyhaveburntretnas??????????????? LOL
spook

hah! i sure as sh*t would've if i'd been running today. can't wait to try it out.

i just did a quick test. put about 1/2oz from my private reserve rum barrel in a shot glass...stuffed the open eye into it for about 30 seconds...no burn, no tear. then i tried 1/2oz of foreshots that i keep around for utilities and did the 30 second open eye test. no tears, but it definitely burned, and it's still a little stingy a couple/few minutes later. this might have some merit?

..and yeah, dyce is right about what they were saying...said they also do the usual smell/taste testing as well.

i guess there is no government standard on rubber gaskets cuz we went to the local distiller round here and there was a fat rubber gasket so my guess is the government dont care what leaches out or even what the end porduct is lol sad that people dont care what their end product tastes like

copperspoon wrote:i guess there is no government standard on rubber gaskets cuz we went to the local distiller round here and there was a fat rubber gasket so my guess is the government dont care what leaches out or even what the end porduct is lol sad that people dont care what their end product tastes like

ofcorse the gooberment dont care.. there getting paid eigther way.... BTW havent you seen the birds falling fron the sky????
there trying to tell me that it was fireworks.
spooky

Just did the eye test on two convenient jugs and as I suspected (knew) it was quite pointless as all my cuts are perfect. Well, these two were anyway. It could be a very handy tip.

I'll have to try more if the frigging rain ever stops!!!!! My toes have grown a web between them, and we aren't threatened at all and several thousand kilometres from the serious floods.

Was watching that show with the family.
When they did the "eye test" I said "that's a new one for me".
My sons both told me "thats what poppa used to do".
Funny this is I never noticed him doing it.
They were only 10 and 8 last time he stilled. Now 22 and 20.
Went by my parent house and checked out my dads stilling shack.
Sure nuff there were a half dozen jars that shrimp cocktail come in.
Thats what my boys remember him using.

Have to try this out now.

I tried the 'tear' test last night. It works! And.. my left eye is much more sensitive than my right eye. My eyes didn't tear up at all, though, but there was a distinct "sting" that was much stronger and appeared more quickly in the early heads than in the later heads. No sting or burn at all in the hearts and in the tails.

I still can't get over all the plastics and rubber.... What pisses me off most is that 99% of people still think we'll kill ourselves with "homemade booze", and at the least, they think we'll go blind. Bullshit.... I haven't had a hangover(other than the instant hangover I get when I drink store-bought at a friend's place or at a public gathering) since becoming an Artisan Distiller years ago, and take great pride in the fact that I -know- everything in my drink was made as safely and cleanly as possible. If I ever get busted, I'm using examples like that distillery as my defense. No law should force us to choose between a product of questionable quality versus something we can make, 100% safely, ourselves. How many times have the Feds given a product/chemical/drug the "safe for human consumption" label, only to take it off the market years later when it has proven to be dangerous!

Barney Fife wrote:My eyes didn't tear up at all,

condensificator wrote:no tears, but it definitely burned,

That's because you're real men and real men don't cry...

Safer and, most likely, more experienced distillers, too...

I'm a newbie so maybe I misunderstood, but on Dirty Jobs the guys running the still noted that it was a pot still. Um, it sure looked like a column still with the ability to add plates, though I'm sure they removed the plates and were running in pot-still mode. But identifying their still as a "pot still" technically accurate? I was thinking they use that term because it sounds artisan and lets the justify higher prices.

The plates were in place, as they saw them bubble....

Television shows aren't all that accurate. Surprised? It's entertainment, not educational.

calhounTX wrote:I'm a newbie so maybe I misunderstood, but on Dirty Jobs the guys running the still noted that it was a pot still. Um, it sure looked like a column still with the ability to add plates, though I'm sure they removed the plates and were running in pot-still mode. But identifying their still as a "pot still" technically accurate? I was thinking they use that term because it sounds artisan and lets the justify higher prices.

In this instance the term "pot still" was meant to mean "batch distillation mode" as opposed to "continuous distillation mode"... Essentially, distilling a pot full of wash or low wines...

To be honest, our common terminology with regard to what we consider a "pot still" may not be totally accurate considering how with even our reflux columns being mounted on and fed by a "pot" they are a "pot still"... There will always be gray areas unless we all start talking like nerdy physicists that everyone hates... Yuck...!!!

replay on discovery 4:00 pacific today

i dident notice them diluting the spirit run. recon it just wasent mentioned,,,, or they dident do it?
spooky

They diluted it in the plastic barrels. Yup, you weren't paying attention