No clue what I'm doing.

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

Hey everyone, so I'm new to this home distilling process and well so far it's been down hill.

I have a 50L Vevo SS still.

I mashed in 8lbs cracked corn, 1lb crystallized malt, 1lb chocolet malt, 1lb sugar, 15L/4.6gal

Boil water 160F turn off.

Add corn/sugar steep till temperature drops to 120F, mixing regularly.

Add both malts, steep till pitching Temps 90F
Standard baking yeast.
1tbsp yeast, 500ml water boiled, 2tsp of sugar.

Did this x2.

Left one on mash, and strained one.

SG 1.05 Really low I felt but didn't want to add more sugar.

FG 1.01 after 8 days, was excited. *should have waited*

Ran it hot, I'm outside on propane burner. 5C outside.
Ran it with thumper first run.

Simple to say it puked all sorts of garbage up ran brown and cloudy yellow.

Learned run slower, possibly don't use thumper next time?

I made simple corn mash with what I have left if corn... figured sugar heavy corn mash.
10lbs corn 8lbs sugar 6 gal water
Same yeast mixture.

Can I throw what I initially made back into the corn mash?

[Deplorable]

Well your post title is fitting.
Fear not, you are in the right spot to learn.

160F is not boiling, so your corn didn't get hot enough to gelatinize and make the starches available for the malts.
Cracked corn needs to be milled finer to really get the efficiency we need, so mill it to a course flour. then cook the shit out of it. Make Polenta, then when it cools to 150 start stirring in your malts and it will thin out.
There is a lot of information here on dealing with corn and how to get the most out of it. Have fun and stay safe. Its a marathon to good spirits, not a sprint.

[still_stirrin]

… Can I throw what I initially made back into the corn mash?

Do you mean, “into the boiler” when you strip the corn mash? Yes.

That would make what we call, “a 1-1/2 distillation”. It’s a way to get a product with more flavor from the still while getting a product at “cask entry proof”, ie - around 55 - 65 %ABV.

But if you mean “into the fermenter” with your “corn mash”, then No.

Yeast have an alcohol tolerance and diluting the corn mash with low wines from the sugar wash strip would adversely affect the yeast’s activity in the corn mash.
ss

[Yummyrum]

Soapbubbles

Be careful . If it’s the Vevor with the flexible corrugated SS hoses , they have a very small sized bore in the connection points . They could easily plug up especially since you are running a cracked corn beer and it has already puked . A plug causes the boiler to build dangerous pressure as the vapour can no longer flow out

If you intend to run that sort of beer , you seriously should consider upgrading everything to a larger diameter .

I personally would never run anything other than a sugar wash in one of them .

[Scratm3]

As mentioned you need to
Mill the corn to smaller amounts. Then you needed to cook it at a higher temperature around 170°. Temperature is so important on many ways. The corn needs to be at a higher temp to breakdown the sugars. The malted barley needs to be added at around 150. Old timers would say rolling boil your corn. Then let it cool down. When you can put your finger in it without burning add your barley. When it’s around room temp or a tad higher add your yeast. If you add yeast to a hot boil your killing the yeast. The best temperature for yeast is from around 70° to around 100°. Above that the yeast gives off flavors. Can also kill the yeast. Below that and your yeast slow down become dormant. In the old days before AC and heaters Alcohol was made from March to May then from September to November when consistent temperatures were available. Though you could make it at any time of year it was harder when it was too cold or hot to hot.

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

Thanks all!

Yea still learning the still, I made modifications to the gaskets to make sure they were not so tight! That was the first thing I noticed and disliked myself.

I did run it hot, when I was done I looked in the thumper and it was dry and clean.

So I can add all my crap run into my pot the next run, good too know have like 2L. They have been sitting for 2 weeks and they have stuff floating on the bottom.


Usually making 2x 5gal batch to put into the still.

13 gal still is 10 gal mash too much?

[Yummyrum]

Don’t worry about the floaty stuff

[Homebrewer11777]

I mashed in 8lbs cracked corn, 1lb crystallized malt, 1lb chocolet malt, 1lb sugar, 15L/4.6gal

Boil water 160F turn off.

Add corn/sugar steep till temperature drops to 120F, mixing regularly.

Add both malts, steep till pitching Temps 90F
Standard baking yeast.
1tbsp yeast, 500ml water boiled, 2tsp of sugar.

This recipe provides (almost) no enzymes for conversion. Both chocolate and crystal malt are assumed to have zero diastatic power. I believe in practice that light crystal can have a bit of enzymes but really not enough to convert their own starches let alone enough to convert the starch from the corn. Since you did see conversion (mentioned SG 1.050) must have used something to get the corn to convert. But what did you use and at what temperature?

Also as previously mentioned the temp looks too low for gelatinization of cracked corn. Any chance you used Brewer's Flaked Corn/Maize and not cracked corn? Don't think I have ever seen cracked corn for sale in a homebrew store so if your corn came from a homebrewing shop it was probably not cracked corn.

[subbrew]

You should give this a try viewtopic.php?t=725 It is almost the same as you second wash with the corn, sugar and water. It is a great recipe to use to learn your equipment. It also produces a good spirit.

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

I mashed in 8lbs cracked corn, 1lb crystallized malt, 1lb chocolet malt, 1lb sugar, 15L/4.6gal

Boil water 160F turn off.

Add corn/sugar steep till temperature drops to 120F, mixing regularly.

Add both malts, steep till pitching Temps 90F
Standard baking yeast.
1tbsp yeast, 500ml water boiled, 2tsp of sugar.

Also as previously mentioned the temp looks too low for gelatinization of cracked corn. Any chance you used Brewer's Flaked Corn/Maize and not cracked corn? Don't think I have ever seen cracked corn for sale in a homebrew store so if your corn came from a homebrewing shop it was probably not cracked corn.

Cracked corn was not from a homebrew store.
All the homebrew locations near me are wine.
I got it from an animal feed store, no pellets or additives know the owner really well got the right stuff.

During the boil and soak I'm constantly crushing the the solids at the bottom. It's the consistency is like a watery rice pudding, even on the corn/sugar with no malts is a cloudy yellow.

[Homebrewer11777]

yep sounds like that is cracked corn.

Your process explanation is still confusing. Did you actually bring the corn to a boil? Up in original post you mentioned boiling it at 160F which is nowhere near boiling and seems unlikely to gelatinize the corn in any reasonable amount of time.

And did you use enzymes? No mention in the description...confused how you got any sugar to ferment other than the 1lb table sugar added to the recipe.

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

I'll take pictures next mash I make.

[Yonder]

God, I hate to be “that guy” but damned near every question you asked has been answered in the beginner’s forum or elsewhere. Tried and true recipes are called that because they work. A search for “diastatic power” will tell you why you are not getting anywhere, there are dozens of articles. There are 400 articles in the beginner’s forum and 14,000 in the intermediate. Please help yourself by enjoying the posted knowledge this site provides. Sorry, but the answers are out there (cue the sci-fi music). ’ll go away now.

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

God, I hate to be “that guy” but damned near every question you asked has been answered in the beginner’s forum or elsewhere. Tried and true recipes are called that because they work. A search for “diastatic power” will tell you why you are not getting anywhere, there are dozens of articles. There are 400 articles in the beginner’s forum and 14,000 in the intermediate. Please help yourself by enjoying the posted knowledge this site provides. Sorry, but the answers are out there (cue the sci-fi music). ’ll go away now.

No worries man every site needs people like this.
Unfortunately the encyclopedia of information on here is extremely useful and vast and would take a long time to figure out what I can ask in 5 minutes.

Without an open and active form regardless of if the information is posted, means this whole website would collapse.

I'm asking because yes there may be some information posted somewhere on here, but to figure out individually that applys to me and my situation as a beginner is already complex.

Reading 400 forms to search for what I may be doing wrong or just throwing a question out there.

If I had to read 400 posts and their treads I'd never be able to make moonshine.

You don't have to post, I know there is alot of information. I've also read alot of them.

[Saltbush Bill]

If I had to read 400 posts and their treads I'd never be able to make moonshine.

Simple fact.
Reading every new post here every day , even the introductions in the welcome area will teach you more than asking a hundred questions.
Within a month you will know the answers to hundreds of things that you don't even know that you would have questions about yet.
A lot of people here read nearly every new post , as well as learning from old posts, they then have the time to answer questions to help people........those same people still have time to distill their own booze.
The other thing that will save time , effort and frustration is using Tried and True Recipes from the forum rather than using half arsed recipes found on Youtube or in other places spread around the net.

[shadylane]

Both chocolate and crystal malt are assumed to have zero diastatic power. I believe in practice that light crystal can have a bit of enzymes but really not enough to convert their own starches let alone enough to convert the starch from the corn. Since you did see conversion (mentioned SG 1.050) must have used something to get the corn to convert. But what did you use and at what temperature?

Yep, no enzymes also just because the SG was 1.050 doesn't mean it's fermentable.

[jonnys_spirit]

God, I hate to be “that guy” but damned near every question you asked has been answered in the beginner’s forum or elsewhere. Tried and true recipes are called that because they work. A search for “diastatic power” will tell you why you are not getting anywhere, there are dozens of articles. There are 400 articles in the beginner’s forum and 14,000 in the intermediate. Please help yourself by enjoying the posted knowledge this site provides. Sorry, but the answers are out there (cue the sci-fi music). ’ll go away now.

No worries man every site needs people like this.
Unfortunately the encyclopedia of information on here is extremely useful and vast and would take a long time to figure out what I can ask in 5 minutes.

Without an open and active form regardless of if the information is posted, means this whole website would collapse.

I'm asking because yes there may be some information posted somewhere on here, but to figure out individually that applys to me and my situation as a beginner is already complex.

Reading 400 forms to search for what I may be doing wrong or just throwing a question out there.

If I had to read 400 posts and their treads I'd never be able to make moonshine.

You don't have to post, I know there is alot of information. I've also read alot of them.

If you like being spoonfed this is a good thread to start with
viewtopic.php?t=52975

Cheers,
jonny

[IAmPistolPete]

No worries man every site needs people like this.
Unfortunately the encyclopedia of information on here is extremely useful and vast and would take a long time to figure out what I can ask in 5 minutes.

Without an open and active form regardless of if the information is posted, means this whole website would collapse.

I'm asking because yes there may be some information posted somewhere on here, but to figure out individually that applys to me and my situation as a beginner is already complex.

Reading 400 forms to search for what I may be doing wrong or just throwing a question out there.

If I had to read 400 posts and their treads I'd never be able to make moonshine.

You don't have to post, I know there is alot of information. I've also read alot of them.

The reason this site is littered with 400 of the same posts over & over of a subject is that previous users had the same attitude & didn't bother to put the effort in.

...and now there is 401...

[Wildcats]

The best way to get answers and help on HD is to read and research first. The search function is amazing. If I have a subject that I need information on... The very first thing I do is search it here and read just about everything that comes up.
Yesterday when I got home from work, my wife had ordered me a one gallon barrel from Thousands Oaks. So I went to the search function and typed in "Thousand Oaks"
All kinds of information came up. And I spent the next two hours reading about using oak and smaller barrels for aging spirits.
What I didn't do was come to HD and make a new thread asking for the information to be spoonfed to me... It's all here. Just a search function away.
If you put forth the effort '(members will know) than you'll reap the rewards. Cheer's

[jonnys_spirit]

Also worth noting that this site is not ad driven. Zero ads. Volunteer supported. One might observe the occasional request for donations which is in no way required. Highly recommended to do your research and contribute helpful information back to the community adding to the deep and diverse pool of knowledge.

Happy holidays to all!
Cheers,
-j

[MooseMan]

No worries man every site needs people like this.
Unfortunately the encyclopedia of information on here is extremely useful and vast and would take a long time to figure out what I can ask in 5 minutes.

Without an open and active form regardless of if the information is posted, means this whole website would collapse.

I'm asking because yes there may be some information posted somewhere on here, but to figure out individually that applys to me and my situation as a beginner is already complex.

Reading 400 forms to search for what I may be doing wrong or just throwing a question out there.

If I had to read 400 posts and their treads I'd never be able to make moonshine.

You don't have to post, I know there is alot of information. I've also read alot of them.

The reason this site is littered with 400 of the same posts over & over of a subject is that previous users had the same attitude & didn't bother to put the effort in.

...and now there is 401...

Post of the year Pete! Hahahaha!

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

Alright gentlemen, I do appreciate the hard feedback.
Also appreciate some of the tips.
I took some time to read around.

So let's try this again.


This is the cracked corn I used.

Reasonable size

Used 16lbs with 8lbs of white sugar. 10 gal mash.

This was heavy sugar. Because I had no malt left.
Took everyone's advice and boiled water before adding corn to break it down a bit more.

Over 200F and made sure to break it down a bit more, even tho 99% of it will come from the sugar.

Standard yeast pitch.

1.7 SG
12 days down to 1.000 FG

Tasted great, ran it outside on same still. But this time I removed the thumper since it was 3 C outside alot of additional things to heat up.

Added my old run that was cloudy but NOT moldy.

Ran clear, I was so excited!!! Only took 6 hours and it stated to rain. So I stood outside with my patio table umbrella over it.

Nothing was going to stop me, the run was going so well.

After getting though the whole run I ended up getting 2L shine. After my 150ml of ethanol, 500ml heads, 2L of hearts right down to 500ml of tails before I cut it off. Tails started to taste like crap.


I'd say it's 80-100 proof need to buy the tools to check.

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

Probably a waste of time but I wanted to continue to see what I could produce.

So I bought crown royal barrel staves and put a nice char on them.

3/4 x 3/4 x 3

Tossed them in the 1L jar.

I didn't like the idea of nukeular aging using a microwave seems dangerous.

But Im also impatient like you all know.

So I used the instapot outside, placed the insert on the bottom of the pot to give it a lift off the bottom. Used the simmer option.

Brought it back up to 150F

[Infectedsoapbubbles]

WOW it was like a magic trick.

Left under vacuume for 3 days.

Left it open for a few hours and then decided to have a sip.

WOW is all I got, it smoothed out so much.

If this is what some good moonshine tastes like even tho it's practically an aged sugar wash.

I can see why people drink.

I don't drink often if at all, but I've been wanting to make moonshine for years, and now that I have I can't stop.

[jonnys_spirit]

Congrats on the successful run ISB!

You should ready through the UJSSM Tried and True recipe thread which is basically what you made since you didn't actually mash the corn (you would need enzymes or malt to mash the corn).

UJ makes a good drop and multiple generations with recycled backset and perhaps a feints cut also bring it up a notch.

10g of water should use about 15# of sugar in a UJ style wash. The corn and backset are just for flavor in a UJ so you don't need to actually mash it. Keep the backset addition to around 10% of total volume and you can keep going indefinitely. Higher amounts of backset will stall the ferment sooner rather than later.. But I do recommend reviewing that UJSSM thread for tons of info

Cheers!
-jonny