BeverageCommander
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The hot plates tend to cycle a bit– just try and find the sweet spot…. you will have some cycling though.
And on my yeast I only had lalvin 116 and I put sugar and 70s deg water and been about 20 min and only raised about 3/4″ in a typical drinking glass
Sounds good- I’d just toss it in.
Just one pack of that- it works really well.
http://www.thegrape.net/browse.cfm/distillers-yeast-whiskey/4,12684.htmlSo I want it to drip just before a stream?
yup- that is how I run mine.
And on a test run well the run that was junk that I did when I kept it there it was real inconsistent and you could hear it purging
What are you using to heat it?
Just crank the heat- don’t go by temperature.
Always go by flow-crank the heat until it starts producing- then dial back the heat until you have less than a stream.
Don’t go by temp- go by flow.
What yeast are you using?
Sounds Interesting- I think a 2 inch column would be a bit large for such a small boiler.
How would that condenser work?
This is what I normally follow:
1 gallon batch – discard the first 2/3 of a shot glass
5 gallon batch – discard the first 1/3 of a pint jar
10 gallon batch -discard the first 3/4 of a pint jarThese guys have a pretty good tutorial on making cuts:http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/12206385-making-moonshine-the-dummies-guide
You can get flaked maize online from any homebrew shop- it is more expensive but you will extract the sugar from the corn..if you use cracked corn you will have to add sugar.
I do about 1:1
7 pounds cracked corn
5 gallon water
7-8 pounds sugarHow large of batches are you making at a time?
I use flaked maize from the homebrew shop but I know folks use this with good luck as well: http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-cracked-corn-50-lb?cm_vc=IOPDP1
Folks also use this: it has 4 ingredients (Rolled Corn, Oats, and Cane molasses.) (no pellets!!)
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-all-grain-feed-50-lbThe hearts will be somewhere in the middle- there should be a few jars– they will taste smoother and usually a bit sweeter than the heads and tails.
The first jars will be heads
middle jars will be hearts
the last jars will be tails
Let your taste buds decide-How big is your still? 20 hours is a long time!! I usually run 10 gallons in about 8-10 hours depending on how fast I run.
I run my tails between 10-20% and save those and toss them into my still on the next run.
After 20 hours I would stop now as I would want to sleep!
I run my still to around 205– but I run my still until my tails are around 10% ABV or 20 proof.
Cuts take time to learn- the best way to do it is just to collect in small collection jars- label them 1-15 (or whatever the last number is) Taste each jar at the end of the run and take notes in a notebook.
You will be able to taste the heads– then the heads turn into the hearts– and then hearts turn into the tails.
On your next run you will have a better idea on what each part of the run tastes like- use small jars- take notes, put your finger under the output and taste it as you go.I don’t really pay attention to temperature except for taking notes.
I just crank the heat until it starts producing and then dial it back until I have a 3-10 drips a second. I use the temperature to take notes but I don’t rely on it for production.
Always go by flow-Smart move on turning it off when it started leaking!!!! never run a still that is leaking
How long were you running the still? Once you hit the tails the temp can jump- Where are you measuring your temperature?
I don’t do much with sugar but I know most folks that make sugar push the starting gravity. I pretty much only do single malts as that is what I prefer.
Maybe you would do a test?
a batch at 8% and a batch at 18% and see if you can notice a difference? I think that would be a cool experiment.I personally don’t like Turbo- but I also have no need for it as I don’t push above 8%
