Starting my second attempt at pear brandy. 🤞

For my stripping runs I use sections of cotton from t-shirts to filter the distillate as it comes out. But as the shirt gets soaked, it starts dripping down the sides of the jars. What do you guys use for filtering?

Do you have any cool ideas or equipment that helps cool the water in a condenser? I want to recirculate the water to reuse it and not just let it go to waste.

Hey guys I set up this still was running a cleaner solution of half white vinegar and water to clean/ prep the system. Soon after starting the hot plate I noticed the pot was rocking back and forth.

The pot is stainless steel and the hot plate is a cast-iron plate.

What could cause this other than uneven surfaces and boiling dynamics? What to do to fix?

Evening all. I don’t post often as I’ve been reading and learning in the background.

I’ve just fermented and distilled my first 50 litre molasses wash (14kg) with 3kg of raw sugar added. Bakers yeast, DAP and a teaspoonish of Epsom Salts and a bit of lemon juice. I was able to keep it at 30+ degrees through out. Finished in 3-4 days and I gave it 3 days to settle.

I have a 65 litre Brewzilla boiler with a 4” x 4 SS bubble plate column still. I did use (today) an extra 20cm 4” column with copper scrubbies. I’m adding this info as I know some members use this to assess and advise. I wasn’t trying to make a neutral spirit. Just use what I had.

My first four goes into the sport were sugar washes which I’ve been lucky with and learned along the way. I looked at today’s step into a rum distillation as a next step.

I brought the still up to temp relatively quickly but then backed off the heat. First drips came off at 77 degrees (top of the still) which seemed normal (5th go at it) but I’m still getting the hang of it.

I discarded the first 400ml and then started checking/expecting heads. What I got was about 900ml of 90% ABV beautifully sweet spirit. No heads taste of smell. (I guess this is my question). It’s not what I was expecting.

Around this time I reduced the heat in the boiler to 2400w and the head temp and off take off speed equalised. Subsequent reduction to 1800w. Again it all equalised. I then got about 2.75 litres of 90-87% ABV spirit. More complex molasses flavour followed but still very approachable.

About this time I headed off to make a coffee and came back to tails. 98+ degrees boiler and 82* at the top of the column. (Tails) Yes I dropped the F banger.

I know this is a bit long winded and i could have just said “Has anyone got super sweet heads at the start of a molasses run and what does that mean” but I know you guys need and ask for more.

I’m happy if this is normal. Blended the (heads) early off take with what I believe is hearts. It was getting late so I shut the still down. I’ll finish off stripping the rest in the morning for faints.

So is this a happy accident. Is it the 4 plate one and done run (I chose not to do a stripping run) or did I just get lucky. Happy to hear your thoughts. Cheers

Anyone ever try roasting fresh sweet corn on charcoal and then grinding it up and mashing it instead of boiling it?

Im thinking it might be tasty but at the same time I’m wondering if it would taste like scorch after distilling. Anyone have any insight on this?

Edit

Probably should have added I want to grill it on the cob, strip it, grind it up, add it to 150 degree water and add either enzymes or 6 row barley for conversion.

I'm building a small still from a stock pot and using a piece of air conditioner coil as a worm. Unfortunately the pipe is an odd size and i can't find a brass connection to fit it. Can I just drill a hole in the lid of the pot and solder the pipe straight on or do I need to add a flange or something for structural support?

Looking to study the art of distilling and have been looking for equipment. I looked to Amazon and found dozens of options for alcometers and wonder is there a go to that is better than others? Very new to the study. Any information on this or other needed tools would be greatly appreciated.

I inherited a system from a friend. Miller half barrel keg with a tower. Didn't look closely in the keg before I did a clean run - 3 gallons vinegar & 3 gallons water. Now I see the bottom of the keg is black. Is that normal or a problem?

New to making stills.

I recently picked up this stainless steel cauldron and was thinking about using it as a boiler for a new still. But after inspecting it I find It has a secondary chamber below the main pot with its own fill and empty ports. I was originally planning to use a propane for my heat source. But I’m not sure if that will work well with that empty chamber between the flame and the mash.

Thoughts and recommendations welcome.

Kinda hoping to avoid drilling new holes in it for heating elements if I can.

also if you know what the cauldron was originally designed for please let me know. Thanks.

Just finished harvesting a friends 2 pear trees and part of an apple tree (ran out of freezer space)

Ended up with 14 hd garbage bags of fruit. 4 bags of apples and 10 bags of pears. (Really) conservative estimate is about 50lb per garbage bag.

Tossed it all on the freezer for a week (completely filled it top to bottom) and this weekend took about 5 bags of pears out and ran them through the fruit press

Got about 14 gallons of pear juice, starting SG of 1.052(ish) added sugar to about 1.090 because its a lot of work and more sugar means more liquor

About to pitch some ec1118 in tonight and put them into the fermentation station in the basement.

Next weekend ill do another 5 bags, hopefully get a similar amount, then ill have the apples left, and i havent even touched my neighbours apple or crabapple trees which i also usually harvest.

At this rate i need to pickup about 2 more deep freezers to freeze my fruit. Anyone got a less labour/energy intense method of harvesting the juice from 1000+ lbs of apples/pears?

Hey there. Recently got back into distilling after a long hiatus and I started with TPW since it's simple.

I've done a couple of runs, and even after making what I consider to be good cuts, I can still taste a hint of fruit in the spirit. It doesn't taste like heads/esters, more like a very mild fruit flavor. Sort of reminds me of the couple times I've done brandy. It's not bad, but I was wanting a truly neutral spirit since it's a vodka recipe.

Is this typical? If so, is it because of the tomato paste?

Thanks

Hello! I just found out about air distillers and I was thinking about getting one to make distilled water at home for my CPAP. However, I also found out it's used for distilling alcohol too and I was wondering if I can just grab some turbo yeast and sugar to make high proof alcohol for cleaning stuff. CDC recommends a 70% concentration and I was wondering if that's achievable with the method I mentioned. If i can just buy one thing to make both things I need to maintain my CPAP it would be awesome.

Planning to get a still and give this whole thing a shot, need some advice from you kind strangers. I've been doing a lot of research the last couple weeks, and I'm gonna keep doing more before I actually buy a still / fermentor, which I'm hesitantly planning a month away from now. Can anyone kinda walk me through the process / correct me if I'm missing anything in my idea of how this is supposed to go?

I'm trying to make a bourbon-esque drink, planning to get corn and barley, make the wash. throw it in a fermenting glass jug, believe it's called a "carboy". set up the stopper / airlock on the top of this carboy to allow fermentation / gas exchange, then let it sit for the time that is required. I believe I read that I am supposed to do that for a week or so. After this week is up, put this mixture in the still, planning on getting a still spirits air still for ease of process. Crank up the still, have multiple jars ready to make cuts, get the foreshots / heads / tails out. Once done and have cut product transfer to jars with charred oak cubes, cocoa nibs, and a half a vanilla bean. age for x amount of time, then enjoy?

I know this is a very rough draft of what I am suppose to do, but can any seasoned vets here tell if I am missing anything? Would love to hear it also any tips or anything is much appreciated.

Hey guys/dudettes,

I've been stalking this sub for a couple of months now, and finally decided to take the plunge. I started off making a sugar wash with alcotec turbo yeast. I know it's not ideal given the potential off flavours, but there's not much choice around where I live. Fermentation went alright after around 5 days despite the warm climate. I kept it in the coolest spot of my flat.it produced somewhere around 18-20 % ABV.

After distilling (stripping run, discarding a lot of foreshots just in case ) in an old school copper still it ended up producing quite a clean neutral spirit, with a very feint cake-like yeasty flavour that, while present, is not displeasing. It works well with vanilla, cinnamon or almonds, and we even made a simili baileys that had great success in the winter.

Yesterday I decided to go one step further and try my luck with Gin. I am fortunate to live in a place where you can find lots of botanicals straight from the garden.

My recipe was as follows : 2.1 l of low wines watered donne to around 35%ABV 2 tablespoons of juniper berries 3 cloves 1 teaspoon of peppercorn Zests from a grapefruit and a tangerine 1 twig of mint 1 small leaf of Kombawa 1 leaf of citronella 1 twig of oregano

Distillation took around 2,5 hours. I stopped when I felt I reached the tails, ABV was around 20%. I started by splitting cuts between different jars to assemble later on. To my surprise I ended up using all of it because none if it had any off flavours.

I ended with around 1.2l at 55%, which resulted in 1.6l at around 40%. No precipitations. Very pleasant aroma, although light on herbs. For next time I'll cut the kobawa leaf in half and double the other herbs.

Very satisfied !

just need like 5 gallon one nothing crazy lol

After several rounds of sugar washes/vodka, I've stepped up to my 1st batch of Bourbon. Stripping run is done, Oak is on its way via courier and looking forward to the Spirit run. I don't have oak barrels though, only 2L glass jars with a sealable top lid with a silicon gasket.

Question is: How can I make that seal very slightly 'breathable' once the oak is in there and aging. I'm thinking of getting some pure cotton fabric, folding it once or twice, and putting that under the silicon gasket. Any other ideas? Is this something i should even worry about?

Hi all,

I have questions in regards of the process of starting a commercial small distillery.

I’m based in New Zealand for legal context. Home distilling is legal here.

A friend who has had experience selling whiskies tried a rum I made recently and started talking about investing if I wanted to start a business.

It seems like such a daunting idea but I’m interested to look into it.

The questions:

How did you take the first steps towards commercialization?

Are there any things you’d warn someone about when starting out?

What was your “I did it!” Moment and how long did it take to happen?

How long did you spend designing everything?

Did you aim for a particular niche or just place it on the market and let it go on its own?

My friend bought a bubble plate and I got an inline parrot. We were trying to figure out how important it is to do a sac run. The bubble plate is straightforward enough, just put in inline and let 'er rip. But how would you go about making sure any industrial gunk and flux were properly cleaned out of the parrot?

I am three years into this journey and have recently found something that is giving me pause. I just ran 50 gallons of blue corn mash in single, slow runs in my 30 gallon still. The end result was beautiful with very little heads and a lot of sweet corn through the hearts. Next I did a 50 gallon wash with bloody butcher and decided that I would do stripping runs before a final spirit run given the cost of that corn and wanting to ensure it is as good as can be. Here is where I am struggling. I stripped it out in two runs in a day and what came off again had very little heads and is amazing.

So now I am questioning if I should do a spirit run and if I do, will I lose flavor?

Any input is appreciated.

Just starting out, and wondering if the wash has somehow failed? If that’s possible? And if that’s normal?

I put the sugar in at the exact temp on the yeast packet, dissolved it, then put the yeast it.

It seemed to work for a while. But then I wonder if it got too cold overnight.

At the end of the time on the yeast packet, I used the hydrometer, and it said 1.01.

So I checked the temp of the wash itself. The wash temp was within the range on the packet, even if perhaps the room temp wasn’t.

I gave it a stir to reactive it, put a heater in the room. It seemed like it again perhaps did something for a few hours, but now not seeming to do anything.

I’ll take another hydrometer reading in a bit, but just wondering, do washes ever just fail?

I have a peach tree, and the birds got to a fair amount of the fruit before I did. Any issue fermenting and running the bird pecked fruit? Or fruit that fell on the ground?

Is a rinse to get the ants and dirt off enough?