Home Distiller

hey guys,

i've been distilling for about 3 months now,

I live in Invercargill, New Zealand,
(so i dont get as much of a rush as it is legal over here)

this also means I get to deal with the legendary Pete Sayers from the Brew Barn,
Very knowledgeable guy, has helped me alot,

anyway, I have done alot of batches (i'm up to my 9th batch already!!)

I run an early still spirits 20 (5gal) early reflux still, which has been a great wee thing to me,

Lately I have been having problems with not getting all my alcohol i should be,
(i would ferment 6kgs of suger in 20L, and would only get 1L of alcohol including head and tails!!)

this has been resolved now (my yeast kept dying to early)

anyway thought I would come say hi and tell you a story of my first batch,


my first batch was 4kg's of suger in 20L, fermented in 3 days (yes i used the turbo stuff, I dont anymore though)
Chucked it into my still (yeast and all), boiled her up and started collecting, at this point i had no marble or column packing,

I got 1.5litres in total, I filtered it for a week, then flavored it (citrus flavored yum), all i can says is she was pallatable, only just!!

went well with coke, manage to finish it off eventually, but dam she was nasty, i keep some of it still for comparisons, and man i have come along way!!!, always learning from here and through practise

oh im 21 so teach me almighty ones , im making candy shot vodka next week,

My mates are starting to really like my stuff, they are my taste testers, they dont mind lol, they have stopped buying alcahol from the liquor store now and they wait on mine!!!, hell yeah

Welcome to HD pounsfos...

I moved this post here to the Welcome Center, seemed more appropriate somehow...

If its high class booze your looking for, then your at the right place...

Have fun, but do it safely...

cheers bro

im going to try this sodium bicarbonate trick this week

1L with it
1L without it

see what happens

Welcome aboard.
Sounds like you trying to push your yeasties to hard. If they ate dieing off something is wrong. Like to much sugar. You said 6 kg sugar to 20 lt water? Is that your adding 6kg of sugar to 20 lt of water? Or 6 kg of sugar and water to make it 20 lts? Big difference on is around 14% and the other is 17%. 14% is pushing the yeasties to about their max. Are you adding nutrients? The yeast can't survive on sugar alone.

You should look through the tried and true recipe section. Lots of good recipes that work.

yeah 6Kgs to make up 20L, and its with the turbo crap,

They mainly keep dying due to lack of heat (its cold down here)

I am investing in some Pink batts (house insulation stuff) to wrap around it to keep it warm,

I am currently using a blanket to keep her warm, and she is almost done fully fermenting so that is the most likely cause, yeah I was reading them last night, there are some winning ones in their i want to try

Prairiepiss wrote:Welcome aboard.
Sounds like you trying to push your yeasties to hard. If they ate dieing off something is wrong. Like to much sugar. You said 6 kg sugar to 20 lt water? Is that your adding 6kg of sugar to 20 lt of water? Or 6 kg of sugar and water to make it 20 lts? Big difference on is around 14% and the other is 17%. 14% is pushing the yeasties to about their max. Are you adding nutrients? The yeast can't survive on sugar alone.

You should look through the tried and true recipe section. Lots of good recipes that work.

I cut the original birdwatchers recipe down to 1/4th and probably had 3 batches before I realized it was a 17% wash, since have adjusted the sugar - water ratio!

That's why I always check it with a hydrometer. I'm always double checking my self. I can't be trusted.

yeah my wash has just finished, its around 17%,

am letting it "rack" so to speak, am doing a test at the moment

one half of my wash is in bottles in the freezer, other half is sitting on the shelf in the garage, lets see which one will finish first,

and place bets, im just curious to see what the difference in time is,

yeah am trying to track down some bakers yeast, thought i might as well do some higher quality stuff,

I don't know about putting them in the freezer. I would say the fridge would be better. It will freeze in the freezer. Not enough alcohol in it to keep it from freezing.

You should be able to get bakers yeast at any grocery store.

Prairiepiss wrote:
You should be able to get bakers yeast at any grocery store.

I dont know about that, our stores arent like the ones over their, but i will have a look, is their any brankds or any particular type i should buy or is it just called bakers yeast???,

and so far the freezers winning , well see tomorrow

Ah ok NZ gotcha. Man I'm not real sure of what to tell you on that yeast. Where's Kiwi at when you need him. You just need to look for a yeast for making bread. There are many brands and I don't know what is available to you?

well il have a look around and see what i can find,

freezer is still winning by the way

Prairiepiss wrote:I don't know about putting them in the freezer. I would say the fridge would be better. It will freeze in the freezer. Not enough alcohol in it to keep it from freezing.

You should be able to get bakers yeast at any grocery store.

We have a lot of stores that don't carry the bakers yeast because of the shelf life, they will get it for you however if you ask them to order it.

Bushman wrote:

Prariepiss wrote:You should be able to get bakers yeast at any grocery store.

We have a lot of stores that don't carry the bakers yeast because of the shelf life, they will get it for you however if you ask them to order it.

You don't say... I guess if you live where the Bigfoot population exceeds humans that might be an issue... I live in a relatively small town/city and even the small outlying communities have yeast in the stores... But, then again, we have a high Amish population around here that might be a contributing factor... More Amish than Bigfoot, to the best of my knowledge...

I can see Sam's Club from where I'm sitting...

rad14701 wrote:

Bushman wrote:

Prariepiss wrote:You should be able to get bakers yeast at any grocery store.

We have a lot of stores that don't carry the bakers yeast because of the shelf life, they will get it for you however if you ask them to order it.

You don't say... I guess if you live where the Bigfoot population exceeds humans that might be an issue... I live in a relatively small town/city and even the small outlying communities have yeast in the stores... But, then again, we have a high Amish population around here that might be a contributing factor... More Amish than Bigfoot, to the best of my knowledge...

I can see Sam's Club from where I'm sitting...

hahaha yeah my town has a population of 55,000!!!!
like i said, will see what i can find, Pete Sayers will order some i guess, if i want him to

I guess we are just spoiled Rad. Every food store around me has at least 2 brands of baking yeast on the shelf. Walmart still has the best price. Unless you go to Sam's. Even the little gas station down the street sells it. I would never buy it from there. But they have it.

I've not seen a supermarket in NZ without bakers yeast. shouldn't be an issue.

kiwistiller wrote:I've not seen a supermarket in NZ without bakers yeast. shouldn't be an issue.

Cheers mate, sweet, just got backi from queenstown, my current batch is "racking", but thought i could get abatch on its way while im waiting,

will have a look tomorrow, at the old countdown

kiwistiller wrote:I've not seen a supermarket in NZ without bakers yeast. shouldn't be an issue.

I just went to countdown, & pak.n,save (the 2 biggest supermarkets in new zealand for you foreigners)

newither of them have it, but i girl did say that Binn inn have it!!, so going to go their,

Seriously? you're not looking for liquid stuff are you? It come in 100-200g sort of size jars in the baking section. Edmonds or Tasti branded. might be called "active dried yeast" as well. it looks like this

I'd bet you a pound to a penny it's there.

here it is listed on countdown's website: http://shop.countdown.co.nz/Shop/Produc ... tive-dried" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
here is the other one http://shop.countdown.co.nz/Shop/Produc ... tive-dried" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

don't get the "breadmaker" or "sure rise" versions they have less yeast and more goodies for them in it - you'll be providing enough nutrients for the yeast as it is.

It's there I promise you

thanks for that kiwistiller,

went in again today,

you owe me a pound (or a penny)
they no longer sell it down in invercargill,
talked to the manager and all,

but as i said, Binn Inn sell it

also why we are on the subject of yeast, whats this i have heard about vegemite or marmite having everything yeast needs