Home Distiller

as the title says,any of you do it just for fun
not for the booze
i enjoy the hobby but don`t need all the booze
but i enjoy the science of the process
been thinking of doing smaller batches just to keep up the craft
but not building much stock as i don`t really wish to any ahead
just whiedog for the occasional mojito or whatever
if i had a litre ahead it would be way enough

Yeah I drink a fairly small amount.

Geoff

I was a functional daily alky when I started this, and now drink only on weekends --if that.
Equate it to the cook who whips up a great meal, then isn't hungry when it's all served up.

I got into the hobby just so I could make alcohol cheaper than at the liquor store for making heabal tincture and herbal liniment.. along the way have expanded into make / playing around making speciality whiskey's such the buckwheat etc and some apple pie (which is quite nice as an after dinner drink)..

As for the total weekly consumption, maybe 6 - 8 ozs and many times none..

Mars

I'm not much of a drinker but I'm working at fixing that. Maybe an average of 1 drink a night right now. For me, it's about the craft, but with some of my first barrels coming of age I know my consumption will go up a bit. Otis

I don't drink a whole lot. Honestly a bottle a month probably. Rarely get drunk. It's more of a way to unwind. 4-5 nights a month I'll have 2-3, 2oz pours. Most of what I make gets given away.

didn't miss a day for over 30 years. (i'd say close to 40 but i quit for a year on my 18 bday.)

haven't had a drop since mid 2016. (other than taste/spit for blending)

i'd be embarrassed to put into print my inventory...it builds MUCH faster when you don't drink it.

Been having acid reflux so slowed way down on alcohol and coffee.

Bushman wrote: and coffee.

my heart goes out to you bushman. i quit coffee for 10 years due to belly gripe...turned out to be wheat. worst decade of my life! can't believe i missed out on all that coffee.

maybe with less booze and some Pantoloc you can get back on the good stuff!

Three glasses of three finger honeybear last night. I stopped coffee and drink tea now. Have not bought commercial in the past year - except for when “out” and ordering drinks.

Cheers!
-j

I drink, but very little compared to what I make; perhaps once or twice a month, sometimes more.

Similar to others, I really enjoy the process and consider it a great stress release activity. Inventory builds.

Depends on what you mean by drink very little.

This is my distilling career until now:

step 1 ) Make booze on the cheap. Booze is incredibly expensive where I live. I couldn't be bothered to drink because of the price. Cool cheap booze makes me drunk. (and hungover)
step 2 ) I discovered that it was possible to make GOOD booze on the cheap, It just took some more research, care and time. After initial tests, stopped drinking my swill.
step 3 ) Equipment mania - you know. Couldn' afford to make any yet, but I am starting to collect really good gear. So no drinking.
step 4 ) Equipment is working like a charm. Stuff coming out is really good - comparatively to my swill. So I do some test drinking, but end up hungover and continue studying.
step 5 ) OK, so it's the work you put in before stilling that decides how well the product comes out. The old product is put away until I can make something worth drinking.

This is where I am now. This took me about a year.

I may be good material for a dipso. I have emptied a bottle of gin in the course of a week four times over the last year. It starts off as a nice nightcap, ends up a week later on saturday with emptying the last of the bottle and a bad hangover that puts me off drinking for a couple of months.

I only drink until I squinting don't help when you try to focus on stuff

I don't remember the last time I was really really drunk.

It turns out that was not so much of an issue because they had CCTV footage.

Not a drinker that much.
Stillin for the skill, the taste, the joy/pride of making good stuff.

I enjoy draft beer quite a bit and recently got into flavored spirits after making basic 'shine for many years but now I rarely touch the stuff. Always some on hand for those that stop by the house. Heck, I give the stuff away.

Don't tell. Don't sell.

cede wrote:Not a drinker that much.
Stillin for the skill, the taste, the joy/pride of making good stuff.

We need to get together some Time
Talk stillin over à Beer in Sher

1 day a week I drink whatever and however much I want. Other days, bone dry.

Thanks Duke, this is an interesting thread.

fizzix wrote:I was a functional daily alky when I started this, and now drink only on weekends --if that.
Equate it to the cook who whips up a great meal, then isn't hungry when it's all served up.

That's great news Fizz! That seriously could be a great therapy for Alcoholics.

Swedish Pride wrote:I only drink until I squinting don't help when you try to focus on stuff

At my "best" the left eye would slam shut, signalling that I had about 20 minutes to get home before they both went dark.

Short version - Used to be a SERIOUS social drinker. Kids put the brakes on that except for cold Miller Lights when grilling.
Since beginning this, tasting straight up for research rarely.
And in the last month or so, a single nightcap.

I only drink until I squinting don't help when you try to focus on stuff

At my "best" the left eye would slam shut, signalling that I had about 20 minutes to get home before they both went dark.

That’s enough time for two more drinks!

Cheers,
-j

jonnys_spirit wrote:Three glasses of three finger honeybear last night. I stopped coffee and drink tea now. Have not bought commercial in the past year - except for when “out” and ordering drinks.

Cheers!
-j

Big hands, wide fingers....

Geoff

I wrote about this ages ago on another thread...about the smug faced, little shit headed MD's, that give you that crap eating grin and then tell your SOH that your drinking may have to be curtailed. The little pricks are barely out of nappies, hateful little bastards. So yes...and by the way this is actually a very sad little thread, when you think of it. I didn't think of myself as being a member of the "Fat Boys Club" I was just under three hundred lbs...you know fat and happy...then came my run in with the smug faced, little shit headed MD's, barely out of nappies, hateful little bastards. So that was four years ago...I "allow myself" one night a week to have a "few". This is never more than three beers and a two finger glass of MY single malt and two cigars. This morning on the scale I'm 185. I have to reach between 170 and 175 and stop...until then it's one night a week, Fridays...yep, good ol' "Free Fridays" no diet and some sippin' in my glass. I thought I'd truly miss drinking, and I probably would if it wasn't for free Fridays. My stillin' slowed down out of shear disgust...I was putting away five gal of homebrew and two fifths of homestilled every two weeks...maybe a little less, and I was wearing it around my middle. So when I reach my goal weight will I go back to drinking the way I was four or five years ago........thinks.......thinks some more.....HELL YES!!!

and it's Friday night...Kiwi Bruce's Happy Time...cheers to you all! ! !

Done well, Bruce.

Geoff

Not stilling yet, but experimenting on various feed stocks and processes for alcohol fuel. Still in the application cycle for and alcohol fuel license in the US.

kiwi Bruce wrote:I wrote about this ages ago on another thread...about the smug faced, little shit headed MD's, that give you that crap eating grin and then tell your SOH that your drinking may have to be curtailed. The little pricks are barely out of nappies, hateful little bastards. So yes...and by the way this is actually a very sad little thread, when you think of it. I didn't think of myself as being a member of the "Fat Boys Club" I was just under three hundred lbs...you know fat and happy...then came my run in with the smug faced, little shit headed MD's, barely out of nappies, hateful little bastards. So that was four years ago...I "allow myself" one night a week to have a "few". This is never more than three beers and a two finger glass of MY single malt and two cigars. This morning on the scale I'm 185. I have to reach between 170 and 175 and stop...until then it's one night a week, Fridays...yep, good ol' "Free Fridays" no diet and some sippin' in my glass. I thought I'd truly miss drinking, and I probably would if it wasn't for free Fridays. My stillin' slowed down out of shear disgust...I was putting away five gal of homebrew and two fifths of homestilled every two weeks...maybe a little less, and I was wearing it around my middle. So when I reach my goal weight will I go back to drinking the way I was four or five years ago........thinks.......thinks some more.....HELL YES!!!

and it's Friday night...Kiwi Bruce's Happy Time...cheers to you all! ! !

Jesus, kiwi. I hope I'm never in your way! Peace, my friend.

jonnys_spirit wrote:Three glasses of three finger honeybear last night. I stopped coffee and drink tea now. Have not bought commercial in the past year - except for when “out” and ordering drinks.

Cheers!
-j

I can't wait to get to this point. I'm siding myself over with mid shelf bourbon but I should have plenty in echelon starting on about Christmas

Im not good enough at this craft yet to say this run is worthy of an 18-20 year soak on oak, yet.
Till then i just keep maken and tastin till i get it right.