Stills?

[Road kill]

Anybody here got a still ?.

Thinking of making my own spirits but am wondering how well home made and flavoured ethanol really stacks up against traditionally produced commercial spirits.

[Katman]

A number of years ago a mate of mine used to make his own bourbon.

My early Kiwibiker days attest to the effectiveness of it.

[Drew]

A number of years ago a mate of mine used to make his own bourbon.

My early Kiwibiker days attest to the effectiveness of it.I don't like the implication that you are any different, drunk or sober.

[Katman]

I don't like the implication that you are any different, drunk or sober.

I can type faster when sober.

[Drew]

I can type faster when sober.

Ah! Fair enough.

[scissorhands]

How hard is it to use real fruit or vegetables and grains, instead of just opening packets from a brew shop?

[oneofsix]

How hard is it to use real fruit or vegetables and grains, instead of just opening packets from a brew shop?

Methanol is a key difference, the cane sugar based mixes from the shop don't make it so you don't have to ensure you bleed it off according the nice chap at the local brew shop.
Speed would be another as you skip the mash step and just add flavour at the other end. Whiskey you first basically make a beer minus the hops then distil the spirit and store in oak wine casks for at least 10 years to give it flavour and colour. Brew shop method is to mix some yeast and sugar, distil that and add some essence for flavour.

[brendonjw]

My old man has a still, the flavours are pretty good (you can mix different whiskys to get closer to a brand name one as well as doing things like adding wood chips to get the barrel aged flavours etc, its not spot on (if your trying to duplicate originals) but still very tasty, we have found the trick is to let it age for about 9-12 months after you have bottled it and it gets a lot smoother and tastier

[slofox]

I have a still RK. I have had one since it became legal back when.

The quality of the spirit is pretty good in fact. You just have to take your time over it and do everything right. Especially the carbon treatments and filtering.

Incidentally, I wouldn't be too sure about no methanol - all the books I have ever read insist that you discard the heads to get rid of any methanol - it comes off first. For a 25 litre pot the recommendation is to chuck the first 50ml. I take off the first 100ml myself. Keep it to use for cleaning etc. After all, it is dirt cheap to produce.

I don't use flavouring essence. I found them to be a little synthetic in flavour. Instead, I use toasted oak chips to give colour and flavour. I call the end result "Mid-Atlantic Whisky" since it is somewhere between scotch and bourbon in flavour.

You wanna know anything more, just PM me.

[MIXONE]

I used to have a still and produced about 8 litres evry couple of weeks at about $7 per litre.I found that I could never get the flavour as good as the factories and that becoming an alchie is real easy...

[slofox]

...and that becoming an alchie is real easy...

I tried leaving some of my "whisky" at 60% once...every time I drank it I fell over. Must've been earthquakes or something...:o

Always break it back to 40% nowadays.

[oneofsix]

Incidentally, I wouldn't be too sure about no methanol - all the books I have ever read insist that you discard the heads to get rid of any methanol - it comes off first. For a 25 litre pot the recommendation is to chuck the first 50ml. I take off the first 100ml myself. Keep it to use for cleaning etc. After all, it is dirt cheap to produce.


Makes what I was told kind of scary. Think I would go your way for safety, eyesight is degrading enough with age as it is and some real meths is always handy, instead of that watered down purple stuff they are legally allow to sell you, (thanks Jim Anderton MP for alecies and druggies).

[MIXONE]

I tried leaving some of my "whisky" at 60% once...every time I drank it I fell over. Must've been earthquakes or something...:o

Always break it back to 40% nowadays.

I, too, experimented with various strenghts before deciding that 50% was enough.Got the desired result but not too quickly.
I used to use the first half bottle off the still as parts cleaner.:niceone:

[3umph]

Yip correct about yhe head of first fifty mills... ive had a still for many years now and enjoy naking diffrent tastes.. giing to do some experiments on bourbin soon... also best to leave a few weeks before drinking aftet mixing up

[oneofsix]

what strength does the bike run on? :innocent:

[Road kill]

Good to hear I'm not the only one interested.
I've read just about everything I can so far but also have a local book on order so that should be good reading as well.
I'm hearing what people say about running off the first 50-100 mils of the first part of the batch to get rid of the methanol and I'm quite fond of my eye sight so that's a given.
Once I get up an running I'll post the results an let you all know how it's going.

Cheers.

[Bald Eagle]

what strength does the bike run on? :innocent:

I believe Henry would run on Ratti's ratt poison. It's generally about 90% when it comes out and breaks down to about 40% when bottled as gin, whisky, bourbon etc.

[slofox]

It's generally about 90% when it comes out and breaks down to about 40% when bottled as gin, whisky, bourbon etc.

That's about what I get. The first litre is typically 92%. Then it drops a little for subsequent litres.

[Akzle]

alembic ftw.

[Akzle]

How hard is it to use real fruit or vegetables and grains, instead of just opening packets from a brew shop?

not very. puruse "all grain brewing"

you can turn pretty much anything into booze.

//and for the methanol discussion, it can be used in biodiesel, so keep that shit (it's hydroscopic, so keep it sealed) or use it as degreaser. almost any batch will have some methanol in it, it's a complex sugar thing... so always discard heads and tails. (tails is for taste, not methanol)

[Swoop]

A mate had an "air still" which he assures was easy to use and very successful.
The owner's manual is available online.

[slofox]

not very. puruse "all grain brewing"

you can turn pretty much anything into booze.

//and for the methanol discussion, it can be used in biodiesel, so keep that shit (it's hydroscopic, so keep it sealed) or use it as degreaser. almost any batch will have some methanol in it, it's a complex sugar thing... so always discard heads and tails. (tails is for taste, not methanol)

I spent some years brewing beer from all grain mashes. Got quite good after a while. Lots of fun but time consuming.

[Brett]

Great topic for discussion. As someone very passionate about my scotch whisky, I am quite keen to try making my own...the methanol thing had always put me off, but I think I'm keen to give it a shot.

[Clockwork]

I have a still RK. I have had one since it became legal back when.

The quality of the spirit is pretty good in fact. You just have to take your time over it and do everything right. Especially the carbon treatments and filtering.

Incidentally, I wouldn't be too sure about no methanol - all the books I have ever read insist that you discard the heads to get rid of any methanol - it comes off first. For a 25 litre pot the recommendation is to chuck the first 50ml. I take off the first 100ml myself. Keep it to use for cleaning etc. After all, it is dirt cheap to produce.

I don't use flavouring essence. I found them to be a little synthetic in flavour. Instead, I use toasted oak chips to give colour and flavour. I call the end result "Mid-Atlantic Whisky" since it is somewhere between scotch and bourbon in flavour.

You wanna know anything more, just PM me.


So you owned both a bottle store and a still? <_< :shifty: :innocent:

[Usarka]

I used to have a still and produced about 8 litres evry couple of weeks at about $7 per litre.I found that I could never get the flavour as good as the factories and that becoming an alchie is real easy...

This.

I flat I used to live in had a still and it was responsible for lots of cocktail parties.

The flavoured eth doesn't taste as good as good as quality store bought, but it's more than good enough as a quaffer.

Would be keen to do some full grain proper distilling, but it's nowhere near as easy as a basic homebrew still......

:niceone:

[slofox]

So you owned both a bottle store and a still? <_< :shifty: :innocent:

Yep...but I owned the still first.

[Road kill]

Yep...but I owned the still first.

Hmmmm,,well you would wouldn't you:msn-wink:

[FJRider]

I can type faster when sober.

It doesn't make your reasons for posting any clearer though ... but it would keep your hourly post count average up.

[FJRider]

you can turn pretty much anything into booze.



Watermelon wine ... <_<

But stills have been part of the Southern Heritage for ... well .. almost as long as Banjo's ... :drinknsin

[Ocean1]

Watermelon wine ... <_<

But stills have been part of the Southern Heritage for ... well .. almost as long as Banjo's ... :drinknsin

I don't recall any of the McRaes playing a banjo. Rumour has it they still do a nice drop, though.

[Dangsta]

I have a still RK. I have had one since it became legal back when.

The quality of the spirit is pretty good in fact. You just have to take your time over it and do everything right. Especially the carbon treatments and filtering.

Incidentally, I wouldn't be too sure about no methanol - all the books I have ever read insist that you discard the heads to get rid of any methanol - it comes off first. For a 25 litre pot the recommendation is to chuck the first 50ml. I take off the first 100ml myself. Keep it to use for cleaning etc. After all, it is dirt cheap to produce.

I don't use flavouring essence. I found them to be a little synthetic in flavour. Instead, I use toasted oak chips to give colour and flavour. I call the end result "Mid-Atlantic Whisky" since it is somewhere between scotch and bourbon in flavour.

You wanna know anything more, just PM me.

+1 on the above comments. I've had a still for years and always discard the first 100mls. My advice would be to invest in a good still as there are different types with the cheaper pot stills not producing a high percentage yield. Also, through a good deal of trial and error, I've switched to wood chips rather than essence. The instructions on the chips say to leave it a week to 10 days but I've found a month does nicely. I've found I can use the chips a couple of times before swapping. Just remember to run the finished product through a coffee filter to get any wood and wood dust out before you bottle it. Also a good quality carbon filter to use straight after the alcohol has come out the still is a must. Finally, one of the great things I've always found is that they guys in the brew shops are always eager to offer advice and free samples.:msn-wink:

[Akzle]

Watermelon wine ... <_<

But stills have been part of the Southern Heritage for ... well .. almost as long as Banjo's ... :drinknsin

naw.
Grab funnel, slam into watermelon, fill with vodka. Allow water melon to absorb. Repeat until it wont take any more.
Good for watching sport, or just serving as desert and watching everyone fall off their perch...

[Shortie]

Dead easy hobby and the resulting alcohol has a different taste, rather than a bad taste. Die hard whiskey drinkers will develop their own taste for it but the good brand names still taste good. I am generally only producing jaimacan rum for the family and they like it. I bought the super reflux still and it produces fine stuff as the base, the pot stills can have that meths taste. I filter it through the vertaflow filter twice and straight into the bottle, flavor, then drink - never lasts more than a few weeks here. :msn-wink:

[FJRider]

naw.
Grab funnel, slam into watermelon, fill with vodka. Allow water melon to absorb. Repeat until it wont take any more.
Good for watching sport, or just serving as desert and watching everyone fall off their perch...

I used that process when I was young <_<

Except ... I didn't bother with the watermelon part :no:

Saved time I guess ... :laugh:

[Ocean1]

I get a couple hundred kg of heritage apples from the orchard here, all good sweet fruit. I've been juicing almost half of that each autumn, so a lot of the work's already done. I'll talk to the beekeeper up the road about a joint venture, next year there'll be proper cider.

[St_Gabriel]

I used to have a still but have since sold it. I still have a few litres left from xmas 2008 that has been on oak since it was distilled.

Also in regards to methanol, just run it through a gas chromatograph to confirm purity :cool: Didnt understand jack shit about the printout but knew all the good stuff was good and the methanol level fine, didnt really need to know the alcohol percentage to two decimal places though (was good to know that my hygrometer was reasonably accurate though)

[Akzle]

I used to have a still but have since sold it. I still have a few litres left from xmas 2008 that has been on oak since it was distilled.

Also in regards to methanol, just run it through a gas chromatograph to confirm purity :cool: Didnt understand jack shit about the printout but knew all the good stuff was good and the methanol level fine, didnt really need to know the alcohol percentage to two decimal places though (was good to know that my hygrometer was reasonably accurate though)

my hygrometer is treestump in the lawn, when it's wet, i know it rained recently. When its dry, it didnt.
My brewing hydrometer, on the other hand. Well, as long as it's consistently inaccurate, it'll do me.

[Usarka]

BTW, don't pour the methanol into your bike tank drunkenly hoping that it will make it go faster.

DAMHIK.

[Brett]

Sitting enjoying a nice Johnnie Walker Double Black Label tonight (not as good as a Glenfiddich 12 year single malt though which is similar in price...) while I work...just saying! Made me think of this thread.

[328FTW]

I ran a still in my basement for a while. It was fun but I tore it down.

I'm thinking of getting an old keg and getting into beer brewing a bit. I don't drink much though, box or bottle over the course of a couple weeks every now n then but then I just go off it for a few months.

[Juzz976]

Didin't read thread but in my experience there are a few things that can make you stilling worthwhile.

1. Clean and sterilize everything when making wash.
You can never be too pedantic, you'll never have absolutely no contaminants and these will taint the flavour.

2. Use sugar (I use raw sugar), dissolve it with boiling water this will kill any bacteria or fungi that have contaminated it.
Add boiling water untill its dissolved and then add cold water. Only stir with a sanitised stirrer, do not use a wooden spoon.
Wait untill the temperature of the mix has cooled to room temp before adding yeast.
Use slightly less sugar than is recommend, this way the fermentation process is stopped by the supply of food.
2 reasons one the yeast doesn't die and decompose,
secondly when you still it there is less sugar in the wash meaning your stilled product will have less caramel.

3. Try to boost up the warm up period but be watchful of sudden temperature rise, the thermometer in the stack is indicative of vapor temp not the wash temp.
an electric blanket wrapped around the still is effective, booster gas element or an additional electric element. I use a 1500W still element with a 1000w
booster. This reduces warm up time on my 50L still from 2 hours to 15 mins and saves alot of energy and less wasted vapor during warm up..
Turn you still off when the stack temp gets to 92°C, above this you're getting alot of water and the yeast is breaking down.

4. Clean and sterilize, this means disassemble the tap on your wash barrel, have everything sitting in a sink of luke warm sterilizer. Keep your stirrer in sterilizer
each time you add more water to the sugar. This is the most important thing you can do to prevent contamination.

Happy stilling, you should be able to make 1L at 40% for $6 un-flavoured. this includes power and consumables like carbon and copper or glass for you reflux
condenser Because you should use one.