My Journey

Other discussions for folks new to the wonderful craft of home distilling.

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Re: My Journey

Post by HDNB »

he's an awesome looking dog! whatcha gonna call him?
I finally quit drinking for good.

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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

Edgar! We still have to wait 2 more weeks, it's killing me.

Funnily, we lost our last dog about 3 or 4 years ago, and I really didn't feel the need for another one. There were so many reasons *not* to get a dog that we decided we just weren't going to get one.

Then I started stilling... I can vividly recall sitting in a chair in the garage, watching the pot heat up for the 2nd or 3rd time, and thinking that it was really weird that there wasn't a dog curled up on the floor. I could practically see him laying there.
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Re: My Journey

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I don't care who you are....every man needs a dog.
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

After spending longer than expected running errands today, I finally got home with the parts I needed to plumb in the hot and cold water for the new utility sink in the basement. The drain pump arrives on Monday, and the new puppy arrives next weekend, and tomorrow's just packed (we're going to see Wilco), so today was the only chance to get it done for a while. I was hoping that getting the feeds done would make getting the drain pump plumbed in a single-day job, and then I can start using it.

So I soldered together all the bits that I would be attaching once I cut into the house plumbing in the basement before making those actual cuts -- tees, bends, etc. leading to the faucet valves. I finally cut into the existing plumbing and got the cold patched in very quickly. The hot, though...

When putting together the fittings for that one, I'd apparently dribbled some solder down inside, which kept the tee from connecting properly. Being the idiot that I am, I tried to just piece it together, which failed miserably and water shot everywhere. So now I not only had to somehow fix the problem, the pipes were wet again. It was getting past dinner time, and others in the house weren't too happy about being without water. I had to cut right up against a series of complex joints that I did *not* want to mess with.

In the end I had to use couplers on either end of it all, and ended up putting 8 joints within a span of probably 8 inches. I also remembered the old trick of using bread plugs to keep water from dripping into the joints, which probably is what saved my butt in the end. I fluxed and pieced it all together and just soldered it right in place, which is what I probably should have done in the first place. It was pretty stressful, since it was a Hail Mary move and if it failed I'd be without water and no real hope of fixing it, but... it worked.

I started out thinking how nice it was to just be soldering 1/2 inch again, then went and completely screwed it up.

I'm taking a 4-day weekend next weekend with the new puppy arriving, so hopefully I can also plumb in the drain and finally get a real run in with the flute. I have a smaller pump arriving (with more than enough head lift) which will sit right in the sink so I can drain out and refill with cold water whenever I need to. I also picked up some smaller hose clamps, which will hopefully help with some of the drips at my dephleg. I really need to buy better hoses, as these tend to bend and kink when they get warm, and I'd also like to get a needle valve instead of the ball for the dephleg. While thinking of ways to properly mount the new hot/cold feed lines to the wall I came up with a plan to properly mount the valves for the still, which will be much nicer than the in-line valves on the flexible tubing that i have now.

The faucet that I installed will connect right to a garden hose, so I'm planning to make a fitting that will go right into the end of the dephleg for cleaning after a run. Just plug the hose in and fire up the water... I'm also going to mount the drain pump as low as possible in the hope that I'll be able to eventually hook the (currently non-existent) drain on the keg into the plumbing. That would be pretty sweet.
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

Man, a puppy eats up a lot of time. And shoes.

Not making a lot of forward progress due to a lack of time in the basement, but I've snuck down a few times when the little bastard was sleeping to get a few things done.

I finally got that circlip out of the "new" keg today, I had to drill it out and wrangle it a bit, but it's removed and I pulled the keg spear. I can't seem to find contact info for the guy who welded the stainless nut on my current keg, which is a bummer, because he did a great job and was really cheap. So I'm digging around Craigslist to try to find somebody else, but damn, it's not cheap. I had a gig last weekend, so I've got a bit of funding for this right now, and with this huge-ass column I can't wait to have fill/drain ports.

I also removed some excess tubing from my plumbing today, which seemed to help with the flow from this smaller pump. When adding up your head lift, don't forget to add in the length of your coil, I guess.

I got Gen 10 going in the brute today, and charged the keg, fired it up, and got to the point of collecting fores before my wife decided it'd been enough time in the basement and the dog needed some attention. We still can't leave him alone for long or he'll wreck stuff and pee.

Oh, and for replacing the spent corn -- I've got an equal amount in a crock pot on low, I'm going to let it ride for a good 16 hours to see what it'll turn into, then I'll drop that into the fermenter in the morning.

I also finished getting the cherry pepper stank out of the 60-gallon barrel. I had let it sit for ~2 weeks full of water and a gallon of bleach, which got me most of the way there. Then I left it outside to air out uncovered in the sun for 4 or 5 days, which I might've been able to get away with in the beginning -- it worked really well.

Next up is the new keg boiler, some braided tubing for the plumbing, and a few bits to get a valve set up so I can use the big, powerful pump without blowing stuff out.
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Re: My Journey

Post by freaky_cutout »

Wow, this is such a cool thread, well done Rq, keep it up :-)
Getting back into stilling after a few years off.
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Re: My Journey

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freaky_cutout wrote:Wow, this is such a cool thread, well done Rq, keep it up :-)
Thanks, man. Sometimes I feel like I'm just writing for myself, and then this weekend I noticed that this is almost up to 4,000 reads... :crazy:
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Re: My Journey

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My wife and the boys took the puppy out for some socialization today, which meant I actually had the house to myself for a couple of hours. So I got a few things done today.

First I got another 5-gallon batch of peels-on bananas going. I'm still not getting anywhere near the brix I was hoping for naturally, even letting them brown up really well and keeping them at 155 for 3 hours. I let the temp drop a bit and added some powdered amylase, but it's still not gotten any higher after a couple of hours. I was hoping for ~12, but I'm stuck at 6. Ah, well, if I have to add sugar, I have to add sugar. I'm going to order some liquid enzymes this week, I'll try those for the next go-round.

I also got my first sweet feed wash going, it's the first wash to go into the hot cherry pepper barrel that I picked up from Craigslist. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get the pepper/vinegar stank out, but 2 weeks full of bleach water and then a week out in the sun did the trick. It swallowed up 30 gallons no problem, I could probably do 60 easily. Since it's my first batch, I figured I'd play it a little safe. I'm using Blue Seal Pacer feed, which has no pellets in it and seems pretty clean. I also added about a gallon of gen 6 UJ backset to it, since I had some stashed in the freezer. Unfortunately what I thought was a full jar of Fleischmanns yeast in the fridge turned out to have less than a teaspoon left... So I had to go with the EC-1118 that I had stashed, which seems like it should work out pretty well anyway. Especially since it seems to be happy down into the 50s, and it'll be in the 60s in that barrel for a while because I don't have another aquarium heater.

Then I also got my second full run in with the flute, which is a blast. I'm getting comfortable with how many turns on the needle valve have the effect that I need, and each run I get a little more used to how to run it. I think that for the next run I'm going to try just running the faucet instead of using a pump, just to see how the temp stability of the cooling water effects it. In a couple more weeks I'll be pumping water in/out of the pool anyway, I love the idea of not wasting the heat.

I still need to order up some braided tubing to avoid the crimps, but it's waiting for more budget. I also tried to get ahold of the guy who welded my last keg, but he's not responding, so it's back to craigslist. The only guy I've tried so far wants $135 to do the fill/element/drain ports, which is a little out of my price range right now, so I'm still digging and saving for it.

At only ~2 hours (scientifically timed by getting through 4 episodes of That 70s Show) to get to drinkable whiskey now, the idea of having fill/drain ports is reeeeeally tempting, especially with a 60-gallon fermenter.
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Re: My Journey

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Wow, it's been over a month and a half since my last post. It's been that long since my last run as well, although I've gotten some other things done in the meantime.

I got the plumbing for the flute rigged up so that I can run it directly from the tap, and into a sink drain. It'll be nice to see what a steady temperature can do for a run, instead of draining/filling a couple of times. I'm about a month or so away from opening the pool, at which point my still can also become a pool heater....

I also got a 16-gallon stockpot for my birthday. I'm going to install a heating element in it for mashing, and control the temp with my raspberry pi, thermo probes and a wireless power controller that I rigged up. I'm hoping that using a 5500watt ULWD element at 110 (1750 watts) will prevent scorching, but we'll see. I see experiences both with and without scorching as I search the interwebs.

I also finally got my second keg boiler built out, this time with proper fill and drain ports. The guy who did my first keg did very nice work very cheaply, but I'd lost his contact info, so I left a note in his mailbox one day, and a month later I still hadn't heard from him.... So I started calling around to price the job with other welders and found them to be way out of my price range. As it turned out, the guy's wife had found the note and forgotten to tell him about it -- he texted me, I dropped it off, and this is the result:
IMG_7016.jpg
IMG_7017.jpg
The effect is much cooler in person, it looks like it's just floating in the air. I used those stainless 1"NPT nuts for the element mount on the back and one on the very bottom of the keg for a drain. I'm just going to thread a 1"NPT coupler into the bottom and elbow it out for a drain. I might even be able to plumb it right into the house plumbing, which would be awesome. He did the whole thing, including the stand, which he provided the materials for (those vertical pipes are stainless, and the cross members are from a garage door mount) for $70, so I gave him a little extra, after pricing out the other guys.

Meanwhile, my second 5 gallons of banana wine are nice and dry now, so I can put a full 10 gallons in the boiler for a run through the flute. Plus there are 30 gallons of UJ and 30 gallons sweet feed ready to run... I may need to get the fill/drain ports all rigged up and take a few days off work :think:
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

So, today I finally took the time to write up the temperature controller for mashing and aging.

Basically, it's a Raspberry Pi, a DS18B20 temperature sensor, an etekcity wireless power outlet and an RF transmitter.

I wrote the code in Python, I have:

1) A module that gets the current temp
2) A module that turns the power on/off
3) Logic that lets me set the target temperature
4) Logic that lets me set how long it should maintain that temperature (after warmup to that temp)

It also has a couple of thresholds set where it should email/text me, like if it swings more than 3 degrees above or below the target temp.

I'm doing a test run right now with just water for 30 minutes. I think next I'll try keeping a gallon or so of aging booze at 150 for 4 or so hours to see what kind of difference it makes. The lid is placed loosely on top, and I'll keep a fan aimed at the lid for reflux/evaporation.

Then the next step will be to mount a Camco 5500 ULWD element in my 16-gallon stockpot for mashing -- I'll be wiring it for 110, so I can plug either the hot plate or the heating element into this controller.

I'd also like to put together a web front end for it, right now it's all run at the command line.

After writing code all day every day for The Man, it feels SO good to do it for some practical reasons of my own, especially when they result in tasty, tasty booze.
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

Woo, two successful test runs under my belt, and I can keep it within 2-degrees the whole time. :think:

Here it is, in all its glory:
thumb_IMG_7035_1024.jpg
Exciting, eh? Heart-pumping, sexy shit right there. And inside? HOT WATER.

So hot.
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Re: My Journey

Post by bilgriss »

I too write code for the man and this looks like a fun project. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: My Journey

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I'm behind on posting, but I've gotten a lot done.

A brewer friend of mine came over a couple of weeks ago to sit in on a run, and it was really nice to have the company. Almost 4 liters of Gen 10 UJ as a result, I just love this stuff. It's honestly my favorite liquor, especially with either apple cider or this strawberry/guava juice that they carry at Stop and Shop. He's going to brew up two 10-gallon batches of AG, and we're going to distill one and bottle the other as beer.

I also finally finished building out the new boiler, with a 4" fill port and a 1" drain:
IMG_7147.jpg
There are no words for how much easier those 2 ports make life as a distiller. Today I picked up a 16-gallon sterilite fermenter and just poured straight out of it into the fill port. And when the run was over I could easily pull 2 gallons of boiling backset for melting sugar -- man, I don't miss dragging a half-full keg out into the back yard to drain it. The way my stand old stand was set up, there are 4 sharp corners, and I manage to make one of my ankles bleed pretty much every time -- NO MORE.

There's an odd 2x2 in that shot -- someone suggested mounting a pipe off that side of the stand to set the collection jar on -- this was testing that theory. I think it'll work, even with the PC at a pretty steep angle to get there. I did a vinegar run (to clean out the new keg) at that angle, and it worked out well.

In my infinite wisdom I ordered a 1" ball valve with solder connections on both sides, so I can't hook a hose up yet, but for now I'm draining it into buckets. I guess I'll just solder a hose connector into it eventually. Obviously, it's also awesome not to have to remove that big, heavy 4" flute and all of its plumbing every time as well.

Then my wife went out to OR for a week to say goodbye to her mother and help her dad transition after the loss. This left me in charge of the house and my 8 and 9 year old boys, so of course I decided it was time to try all-grain.

I went with Jimbo's wheated bourbon recipe, gumballhead included, and it was an adventure. I don't own a mill (I just ordered one today, $20 with Amazon Prime), so I ended up grinding everything up in the Ninja blender. It worked fairly well, and I sifted it all out 3 or 4 times and kept adding the less-cracked bits back into the blender, but reached a point where I think they were just too much for the blender to deal with. End result was less-than-perfect conversion, unfortunately. I ended up at 1.04.

I have a 16-gallon BAP (standard Bayou Classic) with spigot, but no thermometer and I haven't yet added the 5500 watt element to it, so I had to cram it onto the gas stovetop. It would only fit under the hood vent with the lid removed, and I had to pull the control knobs to slide it around. Far less than ideal, but it worked. Again, only possible because my wife wasn't there :]

One thing I somehow hadn't thought about was how 22 pounds of corn plus 8 pounds of grain plus 13 gallons of water would add up to ~125 pounds. The morning after my overnight steep it actually got ~10 degrees too cold for the grain (throw in 2 failed Walmart thermometer probes for good measure -- I had to run out for a candy thermometer, and picked up a Taylor now), so I had to get that fucker back up onto the stovetop by myself -- it took 3 or 4 tries and a chair to rest halfway up, but I eventually got it up there. Next time it'll have a heating element and Reflectix for better insulation. It fermented out right in the family room. Again, only possible.... You get it.

I had to let it sit too long before running, as my wife came home early and life has just been insane (3 or 4 parties, I earned my blue belt in tang soo do, plus two gigs with the band), but it tasted great today when I finally got to run it. My jars are resting overnight for a cuts party tomorrow, and the gumballhead is fermenting away in the basement. I was worried about scorching, as I didn't get to do a rest and rack, but the ULWD element made it through beautifully.

Next steps will be to mount the 5500 watt element in the BAP and elevate it above the keg so that charging will be easier, and quad-wrap it with Reflectix for overnight steeping. I also have a bazooka filter for the BAP, but I'm not sure if that'll just be a horrible idea with corn... I guess time will tell. I also want to try a Booner's to have a wider selection of flavors to make my decisions based on. More data, gooder decisions.

Oh, and I also need to build a wort chiller. Lord, this just never ends.

Meanwhile, this guy hit 6 months old today:
IMG_7085 (1).jpg
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Re: My Journey

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So, today I took a "retirement day," in which I stay home from work and putter around like I hope to when I'm 65.

I mulched the apple trees and picked the blossoms, did some work on the pool, hauled some piles of rocks away from where I planted the apple/pear trees...

Oh yeah, I didn't mention those here. I planted 2 Novamac and 1 Roxbury Russet apple trees, and also a multi-graft pear tree with 5 different types of pears on it. They're out in the side yard, where they'll get plenty of sun in some easy-draining soil. In 3 years, hopefully I'll have some apples to press.

I also finally ran the bananas! I did a 2-gallon experimental ferment eons ago that I bottled as "wine," then I did a 5-gallon ferment off the fruit, and later a 5-gallon ferment on the fruit/peels. Honestly, I think fermenting off the fruit gave me more flavor, but either way, I ended up combining the two 5-gallon ferments in the boiler today and ran it all off. I probably should have cut back to two plates, but it's too late now... It smells pretty good already, and should get more banana nose/flavor with time. Right now it's resting with coffee filters on it.

We also had a cuts party on the all grain -- oh man is that stuff tasty. Somehow it ended up being pretty headsy, I'm still not sure why yet. Maybe related to the poor conversion? Anyway, it's very tasty, and the tails jars are especially so. My wife was saying she would drink a glass of just the last jar, and she usually hates tails on the UJ and SF.

I also lifted the keg stand up a bit so that I could get a bucket under it, which was good because I drained out about 6 gallons of AG backset (4 gallons of which is now in the freezer). I can easily remove my PC with a 2" tri-clamp, so I just stuff a hose up in there and wash out the column into the boiler. It's kinda cool to see the downcomers flooding like sprinklers.

Then I ran the banana brandy (my first brandy), and drained 6 gallons of that backset as well, rinse, repeat.

I kept a gallon of the banana backset because I have a really healthy vinegar mother growing here, so I'm going to make some vinegar from it and see how it tastes. Could be horrible, could be interesting, but it's free, and only took about 10 minutes, so we'll see how it goes.
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Re: My Journey

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raketemensch wrote:So, today I took a "retirement day," in which I stay home from work and putter around like I hope to when I'm 65.

I mulched the apple trees and picked the blossoms, did some work on the pool, hauled some piles of rocks away from where I planted the apple/pear trees...

Oh yeah, I didn't mention those here. I planted 2 Novamac and 1 Roxbury Russet apple trees, and also a multi-graft pear tree with 5 different types of pears on it. They're out in the side yard, where they'll get plenty of sun in some easy-draining soil. In 3 years, hopefully I'll have some apples to press.

I also finally ran the bananas! I did a 2-gallon experimental ferment eons ago that I bottled as "wine," then I did a 5-gallon ferment off the fruit, and later a 5-gallon ferment on the fruit/peels. Honestly, I think fermenting off the fruit gave me more flavor, but either way, I ended up combining the two 5-gallon ferments in the boiler today and ran it all off. I probably should have cut back to two plates, but it's too late now... It smells pretty good already, and should get more banana nose/flavor with time. Right now it's resting with coffee filters on it.

We also had a cuts party on the all grain -- oh man is that stuff tasty. Somehow it ended up being pretty headsy, I'm still not sure why yet. Maybe related to the poor conversion? Anyway, it's very tasty, and the tails jars are especially so. My wife was saying she would drink a glass of just the last jar, and she usually hates tails on the UJ and SF.

I also lifted the keg stand up a bit so that I could get a bucket under it, which was good because I drained out about 6 gallons of AG backset (4 gallons of which is now in the freezer). I can easily remove my PC with a 2" tri-clamp, so I just stuff a hose up in there and wash out the column into the boiler. It's kinda cool to see the downcomers flooding like sprinklers.

Then I ran the banana brandy (my first brandy), and drained 6 gallons of that backset as well, rinse, repeat.

I kept a gallon of the banana backset because I have a really healthy vinegar mother growing here, so I'm going to make some vinegar from it and see how it tastes. Could be horrible, could be interesting, but it's free, and only took about 10 minutes, so we'll see how it goes.
Damn! You plan on doing that much crap each day that you are retired? I'd be going back to work!
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Re: My Journey

Post by jedneck »

Hound Dog wrote:
raketemensch wrote:So, today I took a "retirement day," in which I stay home from work and putter around like I hope to when I'm 65.

I mulched the apple trees and picked the blossoms, did some work on the pool, hauled some piles of rocks away from where I planted the apple/pear trees...

Oh yeah, I didn't mention those here. I planted 2 Novamac and 1 Roxbury Russet apple trees, and also a multi-graft pear tree with 5 different types of pears on it. They're out in the side yard, where they'll get plenty of sun in some easy-draining soil. In 3 years, hopefully I'll have some apples to press.

I also finally ran the bananas! I did a 2-gallon experimental ferment eons ago that I bottled as "wine," then I did a 5-gallon ferment off the fruit, and later a 5-gallon ferment on the fruit/peels. Honestly, I think fermenting off the fruit gave me more flavor, but either way, I ended up combining the two 5-gallon ferments in the boiler today and ran it all off. I probably should have cut back to two plates, but it's too late now... It smells pretty good already, and should get more banana nose/flavor with time. Right now it's resting with coffee filters on it.

We also had a cuts party on the all grain -- oh man is that stuff tasty. Somehow it ended up being pretty headsy, I'm still not sure why yet. Maybe related to the poor conversion? Anyway, it's very tasty, and the tails jars are especially so. My wife was saying she would drink a glass of just the last jar, and she usually hates tails on the UJ and SF.

I also lifted the keg stand up a bit so that I could get a bucket under it, which was good because I drained out about 6 gallons of AG backset (4 gallons of which is now in the freezer). I can easily remove my PC with a 2" tri-clamp, so I just stuff a hose up in there and wash out the column into the boiler. It's kinda cool to see the downcomers flooding like sprinklers.

Then I ran the banana brandy (my first brandy), and drained 6 gallons of that backset as well, rinse, repeat.

I kept a gallon of the banana backset because I have a really healthy vinegar mother growing here, so I'm going to make some vinegar from it and see how it tastes. Could be horrible, could be interesting, but it's free, and only took about 10 minutes, so we'll see how it goes.
Damn! You plan on doing that much crap each day that you are retired? I'd be going back to work!
Me three. But if your Hanna work that hard I vote a wood pile that is still to small.
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

Hound Dog wrote:Damn! You plan on doing that much crap each day that you are retired? I'd be going back to work!
Heh, well, I only had one day :] And I still have the back of a 45 year old, not yet a 65 year old.

I was hoping to get a second run in, but completely ran out of energy. When I am actually retired, that'll probably happen after any one of the things I got done that day.

I went to my niece's high school graduation last night and got home too late to do the cuts party, so I'm dying to get out of work today.

Oh, and my Hanna does mow the lawn, and stacks firewood, plus she loves a good cuts party. I think I'm gonna keep her.
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Re: My Journey

Post by raketemensch »

Today was an odd day, with some seemingly bad things that led to some good things...

I emptied out the rest of my UJ Brute into my boiler, to discover that it was *maybe* 6 gallons. There's one hell of a grain bed going in there now... I've gotten ~18 gallons out of a 32-gallon fermenter. Granted, I'm not draining deep into the bed, but still...

I also recently found some higher-quality cracked corn in a local feed store, and want to try making my UJ with Safale US-05 instead of Fleischmanns, so I figured I'd drain out the rest of my 60-gallon sweet feed fermenter (I'm not a huge fan of the product from the Pacer sweet feed that I've been using -- no pellets or any fermenting issues, I just don't like the taste) and fire up a new, huge-ass UJ barrel.

Except that with 12 gallons in the keg, 6 from the SF barrel, there were still probably 4 or 5 more gallons of Sweet Feed left.... Oy.

Then I had the pump in the sink pumping out clean water while switching between the two fermenters, and discovered that I hadn't pulled the hose out of the keg, so I was pumping water into it for a bit... I ended up dumping in a gallon of blended SF/UJ feints that I had laying around to bring the ABV back up again.

So, long story short, I ran a blend of Sweet Feed and gen 12-ish UJ, and it came out delicious. I can't wait for this cuts party.

Tomorrow or Tuesday I'm going to save off some of the yeast bed from the UJ (it's still perfectly healthy, I'll have to do some googling to see if I can freeze it), and start up a new UJ with backset from my first AG, the new corn, and the US-05.

While running the flute today I figured it was a good time to set up the corona mill and try milling a few pounds of cracked corn, which worked out well, as it has for hundreds or thousands of other people over the years.

Since I had the corn milled (about 3 pounds), I figured it'd be a good time to test out the raspberry pi controlled hotplate to cook it up a little. I scorched, but the long-term plan is to use it to control an immersed heating element under either a basket or a BIAB with a false bottom. It worked really well temp-wise, and now I've got 3 pounds of cooked corn to throw into my new batch of UJ for some extra flavor.

Then at the end I was draining the keg and cleaning it out, when one of the PVC pipes on the drain pump I'd installed popped off and hot backset went *everywhere*. Not fun. I'm guessing the heat softened the PVC cement, combined with maybe not using enough? Anyway, that's at least a quick and easy fix once I have the energy again.

In the end, I've got ~18 300ml jars to do cuts on tomorrow night, I'm down to 1.5 full fermenters, and a bit of plumbing work to do.

Oh, and I figure that I'll get the UJ going in the 60-gallon fermenter, so I have something constant going while I work on my AG stuff with the 16-gallon stockpot, and maybe repurpose the 32-gallon brute for rum, since I think I might finally have a line on bulk molasses.
Last edited by raketemensch on Sun Jun 26, 2016 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: My Journey

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Oh, I almost forgot, I dumped out the 22 pounds of corn from the AG experiment out in the woods, and spent the rest of the day listening to my family complain about the horrible smell... Since they all have friends coming over tomorrow I ended up rinsing it out really well, then finally burying it.

I really need to work out a good composting location.
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Re: My Journey

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raketemensch wrote:Oh, I almost forgot, I dumped out the 22 pounds of corn from the AG experiment out in the woods, and spent the rest of the day listening to my family complain about the horrible smell... Since they all have friends coming over tomorrow I ended up rinsing it out really well, then finally burying it.

I really need to work out a good composting location.
Dude, I gotta figure out something here too. Months ago I dumped about that amount out in my woods and my hound snacked on it for a few weeks. It was obvious because of the "evidence" he leaves on the lawn. More recently I dug a trench and filled it with boozy spent corn and then covered it with the spoils. My goddamned hound dug up every last bit and ate it. I found the whole trench re-excavated and completely empty of corn.

Just look at the smug bastard:
IMG_1894.jpg
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Re: My Journey

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Did he seem inebriated at all? That's too funny.
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Re: My Journey

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raketemensch wrote:Did he seem inebriated at all? That's too funny.
Never noticed any drunkenness, but then, how would I? Slurred howling? Getting in trouble with the dogcatcher? Making poor choices with the bitch next door? :)
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Re: My Journey

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My my! That sure is a nice hound ya got there son! Damned if I didn't know better I'd say he was cornfed!
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Re: My Journey

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raketemensch wrote:Did he seem inebriated at all? That's too funny.
My Walker coon hound jumped onto my kubota and drank half of my mixed drink. Got hyper as hell, even agressive when SOH tried to bathe him. Then, he laid down and passed out. When I went inside soh was going on and on about how crazy he was acting. I hadnt put it together immediately and wwhen I did she didn't believe me. A quarter of a drink later we went through it all again!
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Re: My Journey

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Badmotivator wrote:
raketemensch wrote:Oh, I almost forgot, I dumped out the 22 pounds of corn from the AG experiment out in the woods, and spent the rest of the day listening to my family complain about the horrible smell... Since they all have friends coming over tomorrow I ended up rinsing it out really well, then finally burying it.

I really need to work out a good composting location.
Dude, I gotta figure out something here too. Months ago I dumped about that amount out in my woods and my hound snacked on it for a few weeks. It was obvious because of the "evidence" he leaves on the lawn. More recently I dug a trench and filled it with boozy spent corn and then covered it with the spoils. My goddamned hound dug up every last bit and ate it. I found the whole trench re-excavated and completely empty of corn.

Just look at the smug bastard:
IMG_1894.jpg
You can't hide anything edible from a beagle. If you plan on burying it, you better go down 6 feet or he will smell it, dig it up and eat it dirt and all.
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Re: My Journey

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Hound Dog wrote:You can't hide anything edible from a beagle. If you plan on burying it, you better go down 6 feet or he will smell it, dig it up and eat it dirt and all.
Some days I think it would be easier to put him down 6 feet instead of the corn, but he's kinda cute so I guess we'll keep him. And I guess in a sense he's kind of like a composter, right? Maybe all raketemensch needs is a Booze Hound.
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My hound avoids the booze, but has a bad sock habit.

Last Sunday at this time I was at the emergency vet, and they told me one was stuck in his small intestine, and that he needed surgery.

This Sunday, you'd think it never happened. Sad thing is he's too dumb to figure out what happened, and he'll devour the first sock he comes across.
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Mine decided he wanted to chew off a corner of my wall once. No, twice! The second time was after I'd plastered it back up and repainted it. No wait, three times! The third was after I put some cayenne on the chewed spot, waited for him to not chew it, cleaned the cayenne off, replastered and repainted. Eventually he decided he doesn't want to chew that spot on the wall since the plaster now has a half cup of cayenne mixed into it. Yes, because of my dog I have spicy walls.

Dogs, man.
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Re: My Journey

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Sweet! I had a beagle with a sock fetish but he would just hide them, not eat them. Had another one that was not acting right so we took her to the vet and got an xray. You could see where she went on a rampage eating moles. Yep, you could see the little skulls and bodies blocking her up. A laxative did the trick. Back to digging the damn things up a couple weeks later.
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Re: My Journey

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Badmotivator wrote:Yes, because of my dog I have spicy walls.

Dogs, man.
If you'd ever been with 10 yards of my feet, you'd think I wouldn't need cayenne pepper. :shock:
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