Home Distiller

I had been looking at the tried and true recipes for while and went with the SCD Crow Bourbon and had a blast. I had only done a few sugar washes up to this point and really enjoyed working with grain.

75lb Cracked Corn (What they had a Tractor Supply)
3lb Flaked Toasted Oats (Everything else from Morebeer)
9lb Rye
9lb White Wheat
9lb Red Wheat
40 Gallons tapwater +10 gallons ice to cool

I'm a long time brewer and have a 3 vessel electric herms system with 20 gallon kettles, so was able to get 40 gallons of water heating at the same time. Pumped 20 gallons in a 57 gallon blue barrel wrapped in insulation, added half corn stirred, remaining water and rest of corn and oats. Added 18tsp HT enzyme and was easy to stir and not really thick. Even at a hard boil by the time I pumped all the water to the barrel and it mixed with grain I could only get to a temp of 180.

5/16 1pm: Corn/Oats cooking at 180 degrees (wrapped insulated barrel with several blankets)
5/17 8am: 150 degrees added rye and wheat, hit temp of 147 after mixing (took off blankets)
5/17 10pm: Still above 130 degrees, wrapped in blankets in fear of hitting pitching temps while asleep
5/18 4pm: Temp still high at 120 degrees, added 10 gallons of ice to get temp to 88 degrees, aerate with pure O2 2 mins, pitch 1 cup bakers yeast, 2 cups oyster shell in muslin bag, 8tsp DAP, 8tsp low temp enzymes, PH was 5.7 SG 1.070. Started active fermentation in 30 minutes, heavily bubbling in two hours
5/19 8am: Temp had soared to 105 degrees overnight! Removed insulated lid and covered with towel hoping to remove some heat. 2pm still 105 and starting to produce some unhappy yeast smells, slight sulfur. Brought out my chiller setup and hung the coil in the mash, was able to get down to 88 degrees within a couple of hours. Began smelling better
5/20 6pm: Gravity reading 1.000

I think overall it was pretty successful. I need to work on getting higher temp in to mash barrel, I think shortening and possibly insulating hoses. I dont have any option to get my brewery higher than the barrel so I need to use a pump. Never underestimate how much heat yeast can produce, 17 degrees over pitching temp in this case! I had never experienced that in brewing, but had never fermented at this volume either. Will let the yeast do some cleanup and get FG down a little more and start collecting Thursday and start stripping runs this weekend.

I'd love to attach some photos but getting an HTTP error no matter what file size.

Great job.

Use the immersion chiller to get that temp down to pitching temp before you get a butyric infection. In your case the 10 gal of ice was actually a good thing since you were still at 1.070.

You didn't need the DAP, the grains provide all needed.

You could cut back your grain a bit. With your system and process you can count on good conversion. For a 40 gallon batch, with enzymes for conversion I use 90 lb grain, or 2.25 lb grain per gallon.

You might need to wait a bit on that run. If you plan on squeezing the grain you will get a cloudy "beer" that can scorch. Let it sit for 5 days or a week to settle and separate and then rack off to get mostly clear beer. Cold crashing will speed that up if you have the place.

Subrew- Thanks for the tips! I do have the ability to cold crash in my keg cooler, just need to make some room. Are you recommending not squeezing? Or just make sure to cold crash after? And yes I'll be using my chiller setup in the future, that took a very long time.

cold crash after squeezing to get the yeast and grain fines to fall. If you are racking/squeezing into carboys it will be 7 or 8 carboys full.

Subrew- Thanks again for the advice. Not gonna fit in the keg cooler, so think I'll try putting a mop ringer on the barrel and keep squeezing until all or most of the grain is out and crash in the barrel. The barrel holds temp so well my aquarium chiller should get it to around 40 degrees I hope, like it does with my 18 gallon fermenters.

I have a 6 plate 4" reflux column on top of a 1/2 barrel keg, 5500 element ran from my brewery controller. I had planned to remove all but the bottom bubble plate, leave the 12" section with rolled copper mesh above the plates and run with the dephlegmator off. Do you think that would be a good configuration to try and run as a pot still?

If the goal is to run it like a pot still, just leave everything off if possible. Understandably you may need the pieces to accommodate your takeoff height, i sometimes need to do the same. I personally would leave out the plate and remove the packing from the packed section. While what you proposed should work just fine, i have not run a tall 4" column so i don't have any knowledge of how much passive reflux there will be, or how much of an effect it would have on the final product.

subbrew wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 11:53 am

You could cut back your grain a bit. With your system and process you can count on good conversion. For a 40 gallon batch, with enzymes for conversion I use 90 lb grain, or 2.25 lb grain per gallon.

You might need to wait a bit on that run. If you plan on squeezing the grain you will get a cloudy "beer" that can scorch. Let it sit for 5 days or a week to settle and separate and then rack off to get mostly clear beer. Cold crashing will speed that up if you have the place.

Plus one on the above and I'll add.
If your going to let the ferment sit for a while after it's done. Keep an eye out for an infection if you didn't use a chiller to drop the temp quickly before pitching yeast or use beer brewing sanitation.

shadylane wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 6:26 pm

subbrew wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 11:53 am

You could cut back your grain a bit. With your system and process you can count on good conversion. For a 40 gallon batch, with enzymes for conversion I use 90 lb grain, or 2.25 lb grain per gallon.

You might need to wait a bit on that run. If you plan on squeezing the grain you will get a cloudy "beer" that can scorch. Let it sit for 5 days or a week to settle and separate and then rack off to get mostly clear beer. Cold crashing will speed that up if you have the place.

Plus one on the above and I'll add.
If your going to let the ferment sit for a while after it's done. Keep an eye out for an infection if you didn't use a chiller to drop the temp quickly before pitching yeast or use beer brewing sanitation.

Yep I was worried about that. I didn't really follow the sanitation process I follow for beer. My beers are pretty much on a closed loop and don't see oxygen other than what I put in with a diffusion stone before pitching. I had planned to do stripping runs right away to be safe but agree with Subbrew I should clear the beer first. Tomorrow I'll squeeze the grains back into the barrel and cold crash to around 40 degrees. Thinking that should help everything safe while I clear the beer.

BTW I have done your Sugar wash three times and has been great. Thanks

Makrull wrote: ↑Wed May 21, 2025 6:40 pm
I had planned to do stripping runs right away to be safe but agree with Subbrew I should clear the beer first. Tomorrow I'll squeeze the grains back into the barrel and cold crash to around 40 degrees. Thinking that should help everything safe while I clear the beer.

That will work.
Cold crashing will make the solids settle quicker and preserve the fermented liquid from any possible infection.
Tricks like Subbrew said makes it easier to distill a mash without scorching.

The nice part as opposed to beer is that a little lacto or aceto is no big deal. Some say it even adds extra flavors. I have had an infection but it was only about a week before I distilled. I could not tell the difference.

Well not going so great. I squeezed everything on 5/24, dropped the chiller in and was able to get temp down to 45 degrees but a week and a half later still very cloudy. Not so concerned about that as I'd bet the yeast have mostly dropped out, its the smell. When I squeezed I got the puke smell pretty strong and it's still strong now.

Think I will still run this just for the experience running the reflux still as a pot still, but doubt it will be any good.

For next time I will definitely use the chiller and shorten the whole process, also need to get a proper airtight lid for the barrel as I found gnats on top of the mash. I was only setting a lid from another fermenter on top.

Using HT enzymes how long do you think I should let the corn cook at 180-190? Thanks

You have a butric infection if it smells of puke. Never had that but reading here suggests it will go away.

A little cloudy is OK. It is not going to clear like a pale ale. But you will get a good layer of sludge on the bottom.

As for how long to cook it depends on the grind of the grain. For course cornmeal grind I hold for 90 minutes but I think that is a little overkill, an hour should do it. If the corn is just cracked I would leave it perhaps 3 hrs to allow more time to break down cell walls. But that time is just a guess, not from science or experience. If you have a feed store close that sells flaked or rolled corn, it has already been steamed and does not need the starch gelatizing time. I usually still give it an hour just to make sure and to kill any bugs, bacteria, etc.

Nice looking brewing system. Mine is definitely old school redneck compared to all the shiny stainless.

I think I'll let it go for a couple more weeks then. I wonder if the cold temp helps or hurts?

I checked and I do have rolled corn locally and it's actually the same price as cracked even a few cents cheaper. I think I will go that route.

Thanks! Here is the whole thing showing the controller, which is amazing and how I control the still as well. I brewed with (2) 10 gallon Gott coolers and a pump/kettle for nearly 20 years, this was an exciting upgrade.

Makrull wrote: ↑Tue Jun 03, 2025 2:26 pm I think I'll let it go for a couple more weeks then. I wonder if the cold temp helps or hurts?

I think that is a good question. Esterification of butyric acid is a chemical reaction and will be slower at lower temperatures.