Home Distiller

I have been doing research for a long time looking at various still designs, recipes and tips and hints. I have now my first still!!! Yay!! Now i am looking for a very easy first recipe to try out. I am looking for a simple sugar recipe to start out. Thank you for any responses to this.
I want to say thank you to all who have posted on this website for all of you information is great reading and an excellent source of info. props to you all for your skills.

Heres some links
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5018
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4909
http://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Uncle_Jes ... ash_Method" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
My dad was navy.USS Saratoga{the old one}

really?? i was on the USS George Washington in Virginia. Then went in country and fought in Iraq.
Thanks for the links I am going to give them a shot.
Thanks man

I was refering to the old CV-3 Saratoga during WW2.They dropped a atomic bomb on it after the war,and it still took 30 minutes to sink.My dad got to watch from a distance.

very interesting he is lucky man to get to see something like that. Not many people can say they have seen anything of that magnitude in there lifetime. especially something that shaped the future of every living persons life to this day and into the future by the discovery of atomic weapons. My ship was a CVN (conventional nucleur) powered air craft carrier.

He was lucky to make it through iwo jima.He was a AA gunner.They fought fires for 3 weeks afterwards.They lost 1/3 of there crew in 3 days.
Most of the country has no Idea what you guys face on a daily basis.

tell me about it i started out as a fireman on a carrier then got orders to go to iraq. which was weird to me cause i was just a regular fireman, then all of a sudden get sent to san diego for small arms training then to iraq for war. wow... could not beleive it. just glad i'm here today. saw alot of friends go home alive without limbs or home in boxes.. it sucked but it was something that you had to just buck up to and deal with and know that what you signed up could possibly lead you into a situation you did not want to be in.
but i give these older generation men and woman props for ww2 for that was a harder war than the one we fight right now mainly due to technology as our ally. We relied on a lot of manpower out in the field than we do now. thankfully. you should tell your dad thanks for me, trust me you never hear it enough and you would be surprised how much it means to those guys no matter how hard they try to "shut it out" it means a great deal to them. It shows all of them a great deal of accomplishment to them even though it was some of the hardest times of their lives.

While you're passing out the thanks to him wineo, you can pass on a big thanks from me and mine, all the way from Australia.

Also thanks, and welcome, to you schleusnernavy.

We owe the servicemen from around the world (the good guys anyway) a debt that can never be repaid, only acknowledged.

Military folk have to clean up the mess when politicians fail to do their job.

If we are going to talk about the miliatary....say a prayer for them.

I served my time and I now have my 2 youngest in the Army. One in Iraq and the other in South Korea getting ready to deploy to Iraq.

I am very proud of them and of everybody who has served their country.

you all are great. thank you. we all just need to be thankful. not towards me but towards the ones who are still in the mess of it all right now.
now back to what we are all here for.... making shine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My kid just got back from Iraq.e6 corpsman. My dad 22 years in navy 14 on the water.

In my eyes....they are all Heores..... God bless them

As-Ol-Joe...you should be proud.....
Our hearts are with all of them and may the Lord keep them safe.....

Thank you for your service Navy.

The best starting recipe I know is UJSM (Uncle Jessie's Sour Mash).

I'ts the mainstay for this place. Its really hard to screw it up and it makes good shine.

thank you do you happen to have a link over to UJSM recipe by chance. you can call me kyle.

http://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Uncle_Jes ... ash_Method" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Kyle,
I would add, to keep about a gallon of original water amount back on your first run to use to dissolve your sugar (since you won't have hot left over backset to use). In other words, put "4" gals of water in the fermenter with the corn. Heat 1 gallon and melt your sugar in it. Cool that to room temp. Pour that in just before you pitch the yeast in and give everything a good stir.

I use WD distillers yeast with AG. It gives good results for this recipe. You can get it at brewhaus.com. (along with a other supplies you may need). You would use one packet of this yeast pitched dry for this recipe (ie..5 gal wash). Takes about 12-24hrs to get going. It doesn't "boil" like some other yeasts do, but it gives good results as far as yields (abv) and flavor. After that, you will not need to use any more yeast as long as you keep the cycle of sourmashing going.

After many cycles, if you have to take a break or stall out for any reason, save a jar full of the white liquid in the bottom of the fermenter (live yeast) in a sterilized jar and put it in the fridge. Save a gallon of backset from your last run and freeze it. That way, whenever you start it up again, you'll be rarin' to go. Just bring both back to room temp before use (keep them covered and away from any possible infection/bacteria source.

Its the third one I gave you.

ok yeah i understand. i did not know how to save the yeast at the bottom i know i have heard of it but did not understand the process of saving part of the mash til now. thank you for that information!!

I played around with recipes when I first started. Really had nothing to go by other than you needed corn, sugar, yeast and water, adding molasses made rum. 10 gallons water: 10 cups corn then 20 cups, 30… Sugar, we kept dumping in little by little every couple days until it wouldn’t work anymore. Try smashing and tossing in a couple pieces of fruit also, whatever is around and going into compost soon. Maybe a jar or two of molasses… They all made a difference to the final product. Yeast? I used the store bought bakers yeast until a nice wild strain found me. Came in on some strawberries and great results, high alcohol content and flavor. Kept it around for a couple years until I was a moron and killed it off.

Keep a journal of what you did each batch, observations and results. You’ll be able to re-create another time and know just how much of everything went into it. I do have to say that after all was said and done, I ended up using a recipe that is mighty close to Jessie’s with the addition of a little molasses. Actually a bit scary when I first read it and compared to what I know as Old #3.

for you what really is the bes way to be cooking the sugar to make a brown syrup? are you using like a simple syrup recipe and then reducing it then adding it in to ferment? and how much mollasses are you adding to a 10 gallon batch would you say? I did not realize you were safely able to add bakers yeast i was planning on ordering some online, haha, well walmart here i come.

I didn’t pre-cook anything, just dumped it all in and stirred. Well, water was tap warm when I did the initial mix to dissolve the sugar and get the yeast going. Molasses, play around till you find what you like, you may like it with none. Start with one jar, then two, 3… Just make sure it is unsulphered. I didn’t know there were different yeasts when I started, only bakers. It was only after I started making wine using natural (wild strains) fermentation I discovered not all yeast strains are alike.

Do some searches: recipe, wash, mash … You will find a wealth of information here. Folks here seem to have a ton of experience using different methods. Me… I was a back woods maker just using what was available and making what I enjoyed to drink.

yeah i will give it a shot i am going to get some things from the store tomorrow and get my first batch started up and in a few days throw it in the still and see what we have for a final product. I am just going to be using the UJSM recipe for my first one and then see what happens from there and just use this batch as my trial run and play with it as many ways as i possibly can. thanks to all to helped out its greatly appreciated.

question has anybody made just one topic in the forum just so that everyone can show off pics of their stills. just one long forum of just stills? I think it would be cool to just have all pics in one spot besides at the top of the homepage and only get a few. ya know what i mean haha.

schleusnernavy
Are you by any chance advertising your name, rank and serial number as well as your home address in a country where distilling is a federal offence?
I wouldn't be.

I PM'd him about that too tracker, but he seems to think that it's OK. One very brave lad.

blanik

i am prior navy i have no connection to them what so ever anymore. where i live it is ok to distill spirits as long as it is for home consumption use only and not for sale purposes. I think it is funny cause my father in law is one of the commanding officers of a nearby large city and he wants to do this with me this next year as a thing for him and i to do together. so i feel its ok. hahaha. I guess i'm just brave hahaha.

My bad, I was under the assumption that there was a blanket ban on home distilling drinking alcohol for the whole USofA.
Cheers

no its all good man no hard feelings. over here we do have to be careful though. its funny cause you can have a still outside of your home in plain sight.... not running, thats legal. Now take that same still throw whatever inside of it in hopes of making spirits, with some sort of heating element under it... illegal!!! funny how that works huh? Now take that same still put it in your home.. legal. Put it in the stove add whatever inside of it add flame (inside home of course) and start making spirits.. legal?!? Its weird to understand but whatever i guess right? As long as its for you to consume in the comforts of your own home and not to sell at the local farmer's market or anywhere else for that matter your all good.

cheers!

!