Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Other Stuff => Your other hobbies => Topic started by: EL34 on January 06, 2014, 12:35:01 pm
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I am just getting set up to make some small batches of home brewed hooch. :icon_biggrin:
Anyone else here do any home brewing?
beer, wine, distilled spirits?
What do you make?
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i do quite a bit of beer brewing. no wine, mead, grog, shine or anything else.
small 5 gal runs of all kinds of stuff, all clones of commercial offerings. for example:
fullers london proter
dixie blackened voodoo
hacker pschorr dunkelweizen
north coast old rasputin
duvel gulden drak
pretty much all stuff that i can't readily find and when i do it costs me a ton. i don't brew lone star! shiner bock maybe...
i'm planning a run of ballard's trout tickler (english barleywine) very soon, can't wait to see how that turns out!
i brew entirely in glass (primary and secondary). i do force carbonation and serve from retired 5 gal corny kegs running off a 20# CO2 tank with bev-grade gas. it takes years for me to use up this tank and it's only about $15 to refill. i highly prefer this to bottling, and you can always fix your mate up with a growler to go. recycled grolsch and fisher bottles with the built-in cap work great for this.
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I like that idea instead of bottling it all up.
I would be drinking it at my house anyway so why bottle it?
And you can always take a growler, like you said
I want to do some beer
How do you make your clones?
Do you use an ingredient kit or just find a recipe and throw it all together from scratch?
I have 4 gallons of mash going right now
Some peach brandy and some corn whiskey
Just small test batches, 2 gallons each to see how they come out.
I'll be distilling the corn whiskey in a couple days
The peach won't be ready until the weekend
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You better be careful. Barney's a'lookin! :icon_biggrin:
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You better be careful. Barney's a'lookin! :icon_biggrin:
And he's bin a drink in, "Jubal, Jubal, Jubal."
http://youtu.be/9SwLgF-yYy0 (http://youtu.be/9SwLgF-yYy0)
Brad :laugh:
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I'm sure Barney is out looking for a still that only that hold 4 quarts.
4 quarts of wash would only make 400ml of spirits at the most and not all of that would be drinkable
Barney would do better heading of into the woods to find a proper still. :icon_biggrin:
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finished stillin the first corn mash last night
Came out really good
Only got a small amount, but what I got is as good as what is in the likker stores
I bought some of the Junior Johnson's NC made shine a couple weeks ago to see what it was like
They sell several flavors and plain corn shine at the stores now
His brand is called Midnight Moon
It was pretty good
Have to get together a beer making rig when I get time
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I am blessed with an outstanding! homebrew shop here in Austin that has about every beer out there available in a kit. They also said once that if you have a brew you want to clone and they don't already have a kit for it you can bring in a sixxer and they can figure out the recipe for you from taste test. WoW!! Their kits are pretty much spot-on as far as the final product and the price is good.
You can get a kit as syrup only, grain only, or "minimash" which is a combo of grain and syrup. I usually do minimash but am moving to all grain. Also I have found many websites with example recipes for clones. The shop's recipes tell you exactly what is in the kit so once you do a few like that you'll get a feel for how it goes together and can attempt improvements or new creations altogether.
Kegging solved 2 big headaches for me: 1. I didn't have to bottle. cleaning, sanitizing, filling, and capping was just too much effort, and 2. you can do force carbonation instead of relying on your priming sugar to give you CO2.
Best of luck and keep it clean!
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yeah, if I do beer, I would want to do the keg thing
I can drink beer faster than I can bottle it. :icon_biggrin:
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I can drink beer faster than I can bottle it.
Ain't that the truth! Me too! I've had an interest in making homebrew for a long time. Maybe this thread will motivate me. Gotta wait for a heat wave though.
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yeah, makes no sense to me to have to go through all the steps it takes to bottle beer
Cleaning, filling, capping them, etc
That would discourage me right off the bat
I was not aware you could keg your own
I'll have to get more details on the Co2 thing
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The main source of kegs ("corny") are retired soda syrup kegs made by cornelius. As everyone went to the "bladder-in-a-box" system for soda fountains, these kegs poured onto the market. As for the CO2, literally any size bottle will do with a decent 2 stage regulator. For a kegerator, a tiny 2.5# bottle and reg can fit in the cooler next to the keg, simplifying things. You'll need 3-5psi output for pouring, force carb can be up to 10x that while you are charging. Make sure you ask for beverage grade gas.
Another cool thing about the cornys is that you can daisy chain several kegs of the same beer for serving larger crowds if need be.
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what are the brand names on the beer kits you like?
I will find them on amazon
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The guys at the shop just whip up a kit from raw materials on the spot! They don a respirator and go in the grain room, fill that part of the order, go into the syrup room which is full of ~50gal drums of syrups, fill that, grab your hops, yeast, etc. and you're out the door. They also ship, $7 flat rate. Keep in mind the listed prices do not include yeast so figure in another ~$10 per pitch. 4-6% ABV style beers typically only single pitch, big beers need 2-3 to reach full potential.
Have a gander at their website:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/ (http://www.austinhomebrew.com/)
I am a big fan of the Wyeast activator yeast packs, never had any pitching issues with these.
Happy hunting!
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great, thanks for the info
I'll check that shop out
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The guys at the shop just whip up a kit from raw materials on the spot! They don a respirator and go in the grain room, fill that part of the order, go into the syrup room which is full of ~50gal drums of syrups, fill that, grab your hops, yeast, etc. and you're out the door. They also ship, $7 flat rate. Keep in mind the listed prices do not include yeast so figure in another ~$10 per pitch. 4-6% ABV style beers typically only single pitch, big beers need 2-3 to reach full potential.
Have a gander at their website:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/ (http://www.austinhomebrew.com/)
I am a big fan of the Wyeast activator yeast packs, never had any pitching issues with these.
Happy hunting!
I checked out the site
Looks like the kits cost almost as much as buying the beer off the shelf?
Example: One of my favorite beers is Highland Gaelic ale
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_43_441&products_id=11906 (http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_43_441&products_id=11906)
The base kit price is $40 + $7 for yeast + $7 shipping = $61
Each kit makes 5 gallons
5 gallons is 128 oz x 5 = 640 oz / 12 oz bottles = 53 bottles
$61 / 53 bottles = $1.15 per bottle
That's $7.02 a 6 pack
I can get it on sale less than that and be sure that it always is awesome
Plus having to buy all the gear to do the brewing
If my calculations are all correct that is
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Hey, you can change over to IceHouse and get a 12 pack for 8 bux. :icon_biggrin:
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LOL
I actually drink plain old American Pilsner as my everyday beer.
I does not bother me to drink Miller Lite.
I like more expensive beers, but not as an every day beer at the rate I drink beer.
Some cork sniffer beer snobs will cringe at the thought of drinking an american pilsner but not me
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I like wine with food once in a while but I don't drink much wine much at all
Maybe only a couple times a year
Wine does not agree with me
My body does not feel good at all when I drink wine
Even in small amounts
Something is just not right with wine and my body, not sure what it is.
I'm more of a beer guy
But I do like to sip on good sippin whiskey and bourbons
Just a small amount here and there
The main thing for me the last couple years has been to not ingest so much alcohol that I don't sleep well or feel bad in the morning
I find that low gravity beers still give me the satisfaction of drinking beer, but they don't make me feel bad
If I want to feel bad I head to one of the local breweries like Oscar blues which is just down the road
Just a couple of Dales beers cures me of drinking high gravity beers for a while
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I have several friends who are into beer and wine making - big time. Well, big enough for personal and friends consumption. One guy even had some stainless tanks built. He is also an electrical engineer so everything is automated and temp controlled, pretty cool. However, they all tell me about the bad batches that taste and smell good enough to drink, only to find themselves VERY regular for the next couple of days..... :icon_biggrin: But it's a hobby, right? While I know I can build an amp that sounds better than anything at my local music store, I don't think I can brew something better than the big boys, or even the smallest micro. I've tasted a lot of home brew and some was really good. I just have not tasted anything that would discourage me from just heading to my fav liquor store. My wife even bought me a brewing kit a couple of years ago - never fired it up (even after all sorts of encouragement and ribbing from my brewing buddies).
About 3 months ago I bought a bottle (last one at the store) from a local micro. It was a stout aged about 6 months in a whiskey barrel and was about 18% alcohol. It was exquisite. It was the most perfect beer I have ever tasted. Kind of like watching Jeff Beck, you want to give up guitar and become a bus conductor (what Jeff said about Hendrix). I can not imagine brewing something and even coming close to that. There is SO much out there these days - so many beers, so little time! I just bought a six pack of Kona Brewing Company (Hawaii) Pipeline Porter. I was not expecting tooooo much, as what beer resources are in Hawaii? As my daughters would say, OMG! Complex with a blend of malted barleys and local Kona coffee. It was amazing. I don't know, maybe I'm just too lazy to try home brewing.
However, every micro started out in a basement, so who am I!!! Who am I? I'm Jean Valjean!
Sorry, I couldn't help myself...
Jim
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Yep some kits are a better value than others. And figure you'll spend an entire evening of your freetime making each batch, total opportunity cost there. The beers i make run me more like $10-12 for a sixxer around here. Indeed, I've never even seen trout tickler at any pricepoint... One bonus is that your kit will come with an exact recipe describing every ingredient along with detailed instructions on cookin. Really you only need to buy the kit once, get all the info, and then source out everything on your own the next time. Agreed the accoutrements of homebrewing is a bit of outlay, i found someone getting out of it and bought them out.
Cheers!
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One bonus is that your kit will come with an exact recipe describing every ingredient along with detailed instructions on cookin. Really you only need to buy the kit once, get all the info, and then source out everything on your own the next time. Agreed the accoutrements of homebrewing is a bit of outlay, i found someone getting out of it and bought them out.
That makes sense
Problem is I already have too many hobbies and so I need some incentive to start one more. :icon_biggrin:
I'll probably hold off on beer brewing for a bit
I'll keep my eyes open for a deal on some brewing gear
I can see myself brewing up a porter or stout and not drinking it as an everyday beer.
Those beers are more like after dinner dessert beers to me.
The spirits brewing is working out great and you get way more out with little cost on the ingredients
It's easy to get $20 of good product from just $1 to $2 of ingredients
I just ordered some ingredients to make some black Sambuca which is way better than the plain old clear Sambuca you see served as an after dinner drink with coffee beans.
This would have a higher cost to make, but a 750ml bottle of back Sambuca is +$25 if you can find it at all.
You just need to start with 40% neutral alcohol and add the liquid flavorings
(http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/3a/ae/fddkSpiritsBy_NameAllRomana_Black_Sambuca_Classica_Liqueur-resized200.gif)
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I have a distiller device to make drinkable spirits
A distiller used to make fuel is different because they are trying to distill to as close to 200 proof (100% alcohol) as possible.
Think ever clear or some clear pure alcohol with no flavor
They use column stills that are able to refine the output to very high levels of pure alcohol
A still used to make drinking spirits imparts some flavor from whatever your mash is made of
So a corn mash or a fruit mash would produce lower % alcohol and it would have some of the flavor of the mash
You might only get 120 proof (60% alcohol) but it would have some flavor
Jack Daniels and other sippin whiskeys are only like 40% - 80 proof
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I thought Jack was 90 proof? Wild Turkey is 120 proof. Bacardi 151 is 151 proof rum :help:
Brad :laugh:
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I don't know about all of those
I have some Jack Daniels here
It's 40% alcohol which is 80 proof
The alcohol is 1/2 whatever the proof number is
I think I have some now cause a taste of JD sounds good :icon_biggrin:
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I thought I was remembering it right. And no I never drank Jack, I drank beer. :laugh:
Jack Daniel's black label was historically produced at 90 U.S. proof (45% alcohol by volume).[14] The lower-end green label product was 80 proof. However, starting in 1987, the other label variations were also reduced in proof. This began with black label being initially reduced to 86 proof. (Both the black label and green label are made from the same ingredients; the difference is determined by professional tasters, who decide which of the batches would be sold under the higher-priced black label, the rest being sold under the green label.)
Then, starting in 2002, all generally-available Jack Daniel's products were diluted to 80 proof (including both black label and green label).[15] The reason stated for this was that the distillery's marketing had found that customers preferred a lower proof whiskey; this also simplified the production process.[citation needed] This reduction in alcohol content was condemned by Modern Drunkard Magazine and a petition was formed for drinkers who disagreed with the change.[15]
Jack Daniel's has produced higher-proof products at times. A one-time limited run of 96 proof, the highest proof Jack Daniel's had ever bottled at that time, was bottled for the 1996 Tennessee Bicentennial in a decorative bicentennial bottle. The distillery debuted their 94 proof "Jack Daniel's Single Barrel" in February 1997. The "2011 Holiday Select" is currently the company's highest proof at 100.
Brad :occasion14:
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I'm having Old #7 jack, black label and watchin a movie
yum
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:laugh:
Brad :occasion14:
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I'm interested, how does your still produce drinkable spirits (little or no proofing needed)? I was under the impression that shiners boiled off azeotropic ethanol:water into the proofing barrel, around 95% EtOH, then cut it back with water to 40-50% either by taste or a hygrometer.
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The spirits are different from start to finish when running a batch on a still
Ethanol is what we are after which boils at 172F
Water boils at 212 F
So you boil the wash at lower temp than what water boils at and the alcohol boils off first
The steam is condense in a condenser and turned back to liquid
The distillation process is divided into 4 sections
(1) The first certain % is toxic methanol and a fingernail polish blend, say 10ml per a gallon of wash
This is where the go blind legends come from if you drink that part.
This stuff boils at a lower than ethanol temp and so comes out first
This is tossed out or used to start fires and clean things in the garage
This toxic stuff is present in all mashes
If you distill a bottle of wine, the toxic stuff is present in the wine
It's just there as part of the fermentation process
(2) The heads comes out after the nasty methanol section. - Lots of aroma, not the best drinking
(3) Then the hearts come after the heads - This is the cream of the crop, highest alcohol and best flavor
(4) Then the tails come after the heads - lots of fusal oils, lower alcohol and more water content
Eventually, the alcohol content tapers off to the point it's not worth running the still any more so you just shut it down
It becomes more and more water and less alcohol because the boiling point of what is left in the still is constantly changing
The heads and the tails are usually set aside and put into the next batch to be re-distilled
The alcohol is there but you want to get rid of all the other stuff that does not smell or taste as good as the hearts do.
It's not at all a linear process
The temp inside the still climbs as the alcohol is reduced and more water is left
You have to use your nose and taste buds to figure out how the whole batch is divided up
The hearts are all different also and can be divided up also
Many people do blends of different parts of the whole distillation
So basically, it's not just "Turn on the still, get all the alcohol and then turn off the still"
It's quite complex to do it right
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Got it...so you uncouple the wash from the worm as you're increasing temp between 173 and 212, and dump what comes out during the climb? I think the temp range in between are where propyl alcohols boil off(rubbing and its cousins).
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No, I leave the condenser hooked up the whole run
You collect the output in small batches as you go
Smelling and tasting as you go to figure out when the changes happen
I might divide the run up into 5 segments
The very first nasty bit is very small and you can smell when that is done.
Then comes the heads, hearts and tails
By the way, people who make fuel use a column still
I use a pot still
A column still produces very pure alcohol with no flavor
A pot still takes some of the wash flavor with it and it makes for some nice product if you mash and wash was any good
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I am not sure what you are asking me?
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Yes, I don't mess with that type of still
I am only interested in pot stills because they allow more flavor into the final product
I get 120 proof - 60% off what I make and lots of flavor
if I wanted to make vodka or automobile fuel I would use a different type of still
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Those column type stills look cool though
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Guys,
Check out homedistiller.org if you want to get an education on this stuff. As I realized that I had built enough amps to last a lifetime I started looking into a new hobby. I had the Still half built when the wife figured it out. Dang!
Bob
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It's mean stuff
I use a hydrometer and a test jar to see what the % is on my spirits.
I double distilled a batch and it came out at 166 proof
I poured 100ml into the plastic test jar and it cracked the plastic in 5 seconds.
I went and bought a really thick glass test jar after that
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Im not brewing but my brother is, He has a really good sytem down and has made some really good batches. Banana bread stout, chocolate stout, Franzskaner, etc........ here is his porch tap(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j72/legomaniac4040/20130615_160602_zps3764e611.jpg) (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/legomaniac4040/media/20130615_160602_zps3764e611.jpg.html)(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j72/legomaniac4040/20130615_160612_zps7c19b1bb.jpg) (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/legomaniac4040/media/20130615_160612_zps7c19b1bb.jpg.html)(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j72/legomaniac4040/20130615_160642_zps19482da5.jpg) (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/legomaniac4040/media/20130615_160642_zps19482da5.jpg.html)(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j72/legomaniac4040/20130615_153800_zps7338ae15.jpg) (http://s77.photobucket.com/user/legomaniac4040/media/20130615_153800_zps7338ae15.jpg.html)He uses bev grade nitro as well and he uses ice over the coil for now until he gets a better cooling method. Dry ice is a thought next. I am a bourbon man and love W.L.Wellerhttp://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=630027 is a :worthy1: borbon anywhere anytime. EL34 keep that brewing
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Yay Bourbon !!!!!
Love it
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An update...12 pounds of DME, a grain bag the size of a pillowcase, and 6 ounces of hops later I got the barleywine in the bucket. There wasn't much room in the pot even for water.
I did some reading on pot/ alembic stills, like what you got...I get it now.
Hey lego I dig the color scheme of your big bad blue beer brewing brother, breeding banana bread booze between breaths.
Cheers!
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Are you distilling?
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No sir!
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I make my own beer but do not do ant distilling.
I modified a commercial cooler 20 years ago and it is still working.
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Cool rig!
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I found a little gear pump and originally ran a "jacket around the outside of the kegs. It attracted mold and kept going black.
Later I took out the old two valve parts from the keg tops and fitted a bit of central heating pipe with a compression stop end on it. Solder types will ruin the beer and allow the cooling water to enter the keg.
Down the center of the pipe I fitted a length of brass car brake pipe to inject the cold water at the lower end.
It works well.
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I used lead free solder on my copper parts
It soldered just fine with the proper flux
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I found a little gear pump and originally ran a "jacket around the outside of the kegs. It attracted mold and kept going black.
Later I took out the old two valve parts from the keg tops and fitted a bit of central heating pipe with a compression stop end on it. Solder types will ruin the beer and allow the cooling water to enter the keg.
Down the center of the pipe I fitted a length of brass car brake pipe to inject the cold water at the lower end.
It works well.
Please be careful on what solder you use. braze or silver solder, no lead solder please, lead acetate is quite soluble, and poisonous to boot.
I know about the solder and would not touch unleaded solder either as that will also corrode and enter the beer.
I have used solder where the brake pipe comes out of the return pipe as this is outside the barrel.
The fitting in the barrel top is a compression fitting that has had the flange drilled out of the center so that it slides over the pipe and can be nipped on at the correct level. There is only a single compression stop end at the bottom.
I have kept the number of parts that are in contact with the beer to a minimum.
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Silver solder may well work but the compression fittings are widely used for drinking water and I also know that brass and copper do not dissolve in beer as they are used for the injector valves on barrels.
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Using a pot still your hearts will not be the most potent portion of the run. Definitely the best part, though.
Highest proof will be with the heads and will continue to decrease, not linearly, to the tails.
I started with a pot still. You might want to take a second look at column stills.
As far as flavour, using a pot still is best. But there is an art to it.
It completely depends on the quality of your mash.
Also to get any corn flavour or sweetness through to the product, means you need to stop the ferment before all the sugars are converted.
I found this was inefficient, considerably more expensive, and quite messy.
Get distiller's high alcohol yeast for the ferment. Forget using big sacks of corn or grains, and think big bags of sugar instead.
I got most of my gear and supplies from Mile High Distilling. They make top quality stainless steel gear.
You put copper mesh in your column to remove the sulphides, and little ceramic spacer type things for the refluxing.
If you don't cool the top of your column you still get a partial pot still effect. I usually didn't cool the top of the tower.
The final product is much cleaner with at least a partial reflux in the tower. Definitely less headache and stomach irritating things come through.
If you want a whiskey/bourbon flavour you buy a bag of old whiskey barrel shavings. You take your hearts and pour some shavings in and let it sit for a couple of weeks.
It pulls the brown colour, tannins, flavours/smells etc. from the wood.
My hearts runs without cooling the tower usually end up at 55% or 110 proof.
Soaked in shavings for a few weeks, it smells and looks a lot like JD.
I've had a number of people taste test mine vs. JD. They all say it is very similar.
Now the funny part. They almost all say the JD is stronger! This makes me laugh.
Mine is much smoother, so smooth that people actually think JD (20-30 proof less) is stronger.
JD is rougher because they use much more of the run than I do. It's a business for them and a pursuit of excellence for me.
Mine will also treat you much better the next day if you happen to overindulge. No headaches, and your stomach will usually recover by mid afternoon.
Mile High has a good web site and large assortment of quality products for sale at very reasonable prices, IMO.
I have always been pleased with their products and shipping, even half way around the world to S. Korea.
Oh, and mine at 55% will burn, JD won't. It needs to be >= 50% to burn.
Pour a little in a spoon and put a lighter to it.
In the sunshine the clear blue flame is imperceptible, but the heat generated isn't.
At night in the dark it is easy to see. If the flame has any yellow or orange in it, you have impurities in it.
Run it through the carbon filter until you have a clear blue flame.
It also took about 24hrs to do an 8 gallon run with my 750W electric hot plate heater.
Slow and steady heat is best, and you do not want to use any open flame heater just in case you get a vapour leak.
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I didn't want to attempt to connect to this web site at work, so here is a link.
http://www.milehidistilling.com/stainless-distillers-moonshine-still/ (http://www.milehidistilling.com/stainless-distillers-moonshine-still/)
I have both of these:
http://www.milehidistilling.com/8-gallon-with-2-dual-purpose-two-piece-tower/ (http://www.milehidistilling.com/8-gallon-with-2-dual-purpose-two-piece-tower/)
http://www.milehidistilling.com/3-gallon-mighty-mini-with-dual-purpose-moonshine-still/ (http://www.milehidistilling.com/3-gallon-mighty-mini-with-dual-purpose-moonshine-still/)
Carbon filtering is also important, I found out, so I got this:
http://www.milehidistilling.com/stainless-steel-filter-unit/ (http://www.milehidistilling.com/stainless-steel-filter-unit/)
You could age yours in barrels if you wanted. I've used both quik swish bags with great results.
http://www.milehidistilling.com/oak-barrels-oaking-agents/ (http://www.milehidistilling.com/oak-barrels-oaking-agents/)
Other additives you need are enzymes, both kinds, if you want to convert starches (corn, rice, potato) to simple sugars yeast can convert.
http://www.milehidistilling.com/additives/ (http://www.milehidistilling.com/additives/)
Corn was expensive for me to use in Korea, but we always had excess (going to go to waste unless I used it) rice in our house.
I settled on a mash made from cheap frozen fruit juice (check ingredients closely no preservatives or chemicals) 10Lbs bag of sugar, and excess rice converted with enzymes and distillers turbo yeast. This went into new 20ltr plastic fuel containers that fit the bubbler in the vent hole and made it easy to pour in the boiler with the plastic spout. Temps are critical during the ferment. In winter my fuel containers sat on a heating pad and had a tape type thermometer for me to keep the temp in the proper range. 5-10 days to complete fermentation. Convert as much sugars as possible, bubbler will give you an idea when done. Then set in a cool dark place for particles to settle as much as possible. 2 containers fill the 8 gallon boiler, boosted with the heads and tails from previous runs. Don't pour the sludge or dead yeast in the boiler. Pour in the clear stuff and stop when the milky yeast particles start flowing. I would get about 2+ltrs of heads and tails, and about 4 ltrs of hearts per run when doing 8 gallons of ferment boosted with previous heads and tails. My costs averaged about $3 per Ltr for some mighty fine sippin whiskey.
Women prefer Vodka over Whiskey, so they will drink the white dog (no oak barrel shavings used). They really like when you soak fruit (frozen/fresh strawberrys, raspberries, peaches in white dog). Add some sugar or honey to sweeten this for the girls. They really like this stuff for mixed drinks of course. You can let them try to eat the fruit after it has soaked, but they will not be able to handle that. They can put that soaked fruit on top of a bowl of ice cream, and love that.
This set up is an incredible value, IMO.
http://www.milehidistilling.com/8-gallon-hybrid-4-in-1-moonshine-distiller/ (http://www.milehidistilling.com/8-gallon-hybrid-4-in-1-moonshine-distiller/)
Cleaning stainless steel gear is much easier than all copper.
When the copper mesh deteriorates, just buy another roll.
Quick and easy to clean and operate. :icon_biggrin:
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I am a beer brewer also. Seems that a lot of us DIY types have the same hobbies!
I stick to my usual seat of the pants approach to making pale ales and IPA's. I gave up following recipes once I figured out what works well for my own tastes.
I just made my first batches this fall using my own home-grown Nugget hops. (Gardening is another of my hobbies).
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Wow, no activity in 5 years...
I have only done 1 gallon beer kits, but bought my first 5 gallon kit, which is my first LME kit instead of DME...all new equipment too.
Detoured from brewing to make some vodka infusions with commercial vodka...trying to recreate a Polish Cytrynòwka lemon vodka I had in Krakow, Poland...pretty scarce in the US.
Ordered 10 # of large Meyer lemons from US Citrus in Texas and bought 3.5 L of Swedish (Ravo) vodka. Ended up buying a 3rd 1.75 L bottle and I'm glad I got a 12-pack of 32 oz. Mason jars because 10# of lemons is a lot...5# was only 5$ more than 2# and 10# was only 5$ more than 5#, and shipping was the same for 2, 5 or 10#.
Kind of panicked about 2 AM after starting the project at 9 PM, but whatta ya do but finish?
Made lemon & honey Polish infusion, unsweetened pomegranate, unsweetened pomegranate+pink grapefruit, and a hibiscus batch that was too sour...added honey; tasted like cough syrup. Set aside and came back to blend 50/50 hibiscus/honey & the Cytrynòwka (lemon& honey)...that was good...and a good rescue.
Been trading it for hand-made face masks & shared more than I wanted until the reviews were all thumbs-up...then I thought I better save some!
The 5 gallon beer kit is an Adventure-in-Homebrewing clone of a ca. 1890 Zywiec Porter. One of the first Baltic Porters. Over 10% A.B.V., should probably be called an Imperial Porter. I ordered a 1% alcohol boost and yeast fuel because my last stout 'stalled' in fermentation. I got spooked by a reviewer from Poland saying the beer tasted like soup, which raised a lot of questions. Adding cocoa nibs & possibly espresso...TBD. doubling the yeast and going to give it three months in secondary...not rushing it.
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I'll give this corpse a kick for old times sake. I think I've been home-brewing for about 7 years now? I generally tend towards English styles (bitter, dark mild, porter, etc...), but I like to make the occasional hoppy pale, saison, or dunkel weisse as well.
I usually do small batches (around 2 gallons) as I really don't drink that much and it takes some time to go through them, but I try to have 2-3 different beers on tap if I can help it (the lady of the house like her beers dark). I made an oaked cherry cider not too long ago that was really easy and came out stunning for a first time cider brew.
I've been brewing much more of late as my work bench is a hot mess and I haven't found the motivation to clear the debris (yet). :icon_biggrin:
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My lager yeast Baltic Porter came out at 12.34% ABV after some choices and a mistake-correction of another mistake. Too high for 'style rules' and it was very stubborn about bottle carbonating probably because the alcohol was too high for the yeast to continue working on their 2nd shift. Kegs are another level of procedure and less portable (harder to share off-site).
It was excellent for about 6 months then I wasn't enjoying it anymore.
Some time we are going to repeat it, but buy a small electric pump. The manual labor for 51 bottles (0.33 liter to 12 oz.) was unpleasant. Going to try cask & keg yeast for high gravity batch carbonation that will work. Probably will not use the +1% boost and not accidentally use 10% extra liquid malt extract (took me too long to get started with the kit and it had gotten moldy...hasty shopping Sunday AM at only open supplier to replace it I had to get 3.3 # (1.5 kg) tubs instead of 3#. Maybe try to keep the ABV down to 9.5 - 10.5% & hope fully finishing the conditioning allows it to store longer. It was basically an Imperial Stout with lager yeast...Stouts store well if made well. There are a lot of places to screw up so I can't complain about the variety of success we got with first 5-gallon attempt.
If I want 4-8% brew, I'll happily buy locally-brewed stuff to explore, learn & support.
When I see the kind of things I am interested in going for $4-6 a bottle in stores, I figure it's worth the work to make my own crazy idea stuff.
I found a beer I liked that was made into a clone kit, and it did cost the same per bottle (not counting labor). That beer I buy as six-packs...no questions, no looking back.
Pretentious labels are another place to spend/waste time fussing over...one of the few places pretentiousness is tolerated & encouraged.
Going to go with 0.5 liter (16.9 oz). ale bottles because someone got me a deal on them...reduce the number of bottles to fill and just sanitize & use. I'm done de-labeling, cleaning and sanitizing saved bottles...that was one of the worst parts timewise.
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If I want 4-8% brew, I'll happily buy locally-brewed stuff to explore, learn & support.
When I see the kind of things I am interested in going for $4-6 a bottle in stores, I figure it's worth the work to make my own crazy idea stuff.
I found a beer I liked that was made into a clone kit, and it did cost the same per bottle (not counting labor). That beer I buy as six-packs...no questions, no looking back.
Going to go with 0.5 liter (16.9 oz). ale bottles because someone got me a deal on them...reduce the number of bottles to fill and just sanitize & use. I'm done de-labeling, cleaning and sanitizing saved bottles...that was one of the worst parts timewise.
All true. Back in the late '80's through mid '90's I was seriously into homebrewing. It was a much smaller market then with few retail outlets for supplies. It was fun and rewarding and a lot of work. That was the time of the first micro-brewery boom. It wasn't called craft beer back in those days. Being in a college town, there was a brewing club headed by a professor visiting from England where he had brewed for many years, so we had some good advice available. The goals back then were good porters and stouts, real lagers were virtually impossible due to the refrigeration requirements. Top fermenting ale yeast, dry, was all we could get. Munton and Fison was the primary source for most all ingredients. Eventually liquid yeasts did arrive and that was great. By then I was repitching the good stuff I had found as I was brewing weekly anyways.
Bottles were a pain, eventually I had cases of them prepped and in their own cases, Tuborg used to come in 12 bottle hard cases with flip open lids and that was the source. I produced enough at the peak that i didn't buy a commercial beer other than trying a new import or domestic micro start up for about three years. Eventually the bottles were for small batch specials, and 5 connie kegs were in rotation in a fridge with two taps in the door.
The cost was much cheaper than buying equivelant volume of imports in the styles we made. I happened to be in a local store the other day that sells supplies and man, has the costs gone way up! The gear is much nicer and he kit options are pretty sweet, but it does not look like a hobby that also paid a benefit in cost savings like it used to!
Eventually in the quest for a better beer I ditched extracts and went to full grain brewing. That combined with the new liquid yeasts sure did provide that result. By then I also had my process and gear well refined. It was mostly DIY on that front too. The flavor was far superior. Maybe now the extract taste has been worked out and removed but back then you could always tell when the beer had started as a can of malt. But after awhile spending maybe 6 or more hours on a brew day got old, and good micro's had flooded the shelf so I quit and have not been back.
We had (have still) Geary's two hours south in Portland, where Alan Pugsley had been a huge kickstarter of the craft industry in this part of the country, and Greg Noonan's Vermont Pub and Brewery in Burlington where my brother lived and we visited often. Noonan was an early author and authority on the subject. I still have that book somewhere. Jim Koch started Samuel Adams in Boston and that quickly got distribution up here.
This was pre-internet of course, so books and the magazine Zymurgy from the AHA were our primary sources. I still have my old AHA member card too, probably a very low member number :icon_biggrin: Charlie Papazian was our idol and I had both of his books as well. Then the big corporate brewers swooped in and bought up a lot of the new guys, faked their own micro's with what they called pilot breweries and generally ruined the scene.
Now we've been in a second boom and I think it's here to stay and I'm glad. The craft guys products are often outstanding and we have two beverage stores in town now that have huge selections of locals and regionals along with the big dogs. So a beer connoisseur's life is good now.
Man, that was a ot longer than I had thought...sorry about that. Now please excuse me, I have a King of Tone board to finish populating today :laugh:
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I don't have the time to brew like I used to between work, family, house projects, and way too many other hobbies! :huh:
I'm only brewing 2 gallon batches at this point as it takes me a spell to go through even that (plus I like to keep at least two brews on tap). Currently a saison (around 7%), and a dunkel weizenbock coming in around 8% are on tap (the wife prefers her beers dark like her soul).
I've gotten away from bottling for the most part. Kegging is just way too convenient and I'm super lazy. I haven't done too many BIG beers of late, but if I were... definitely would need to bottle. I usually go for the bomber bottles as I don't have the patient for anything smaller.
I'd like to do an imperial stout again at some point, but my last one took about 6 months of aging before it was about right. I bought a small 1 gallon oak barrel so I'm thinking of aging a portion on oak for a few months, blend and bottle to age for about a year.