BeverageCommander
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Do you have any pictures of the unit? Do you know what gauge copper they are using? I’d like to see some pictures.
Mike,
I also run a 10 gallon copper still. I always make 10 gallons of finished wash for the still.I make an 11 gallon batch and split between to 6 gallon fermenters- I then pitch yeast to each fermenter.
These are the fermeneters I use- I stopped using glass a while ago: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/big-mouth-bubbler-6-5-gallon-plastic-fermentorThis way after fermentation you will have 10 gallons ready for the still- you lose about 1/2 gallon to yeast/trub in each fermenter.
even including foreshots – are retained for future runs, and they add flavor and depth to the whiskey. everyone else i’ve read talks about dumping the foreshots, retaining the tails, and i’ve not read much about the heads.
Some folks save the heads and tails and do a run with those- just note it won’t be a normal spirit run. Usually these runs have quite a bit of heads as well as a lot of tails- but also will be collecting a decent amount of hearts that got lost in your previous spirit runs.
doing a stripping run with that, i’d assume i’d not use the structured packing, and just let is run hot and fast. is that right?
Correct. don’t pack on a stripping run- just run her hot and fast.
I make brandy all of the time- and you won’t be disappointed with the quality of brandy the clawhammer still produces.
From what I can gather- the wine is harvested and the solid fruit (pomace) is left behind. The solid fruit is pressed to extract the remaining alcohol and that is distilled. I would assume you would have to have quite a few batches of wine going to have enough pomace liquid to distill. It sounds like this was used to maximize the yield of the harvest- they get both wine and brandy by using everything from fermentation.
This sounds like a great thing to try- but what I would suggest doing.
Ferment the wine- and distill the wine into brandy- leaving behind the pomace in the fermenter and store. Do a number of batches of wine brandy until you have enough pomace to extract enough liquid to do a run of the pomace brandy.You only want to add liquid to still- especailly to a direct fired copper still.
I’ve never done anything like this- but that is how I would approach it (If I understand the process correctly)
when i distill, i’m left with a mix of ethanol (maybe 75%?), water, and assorted other stuff that gives the distillate its taste, yes?
Are you making cuts when you run? Or just collecting everything together?
this is why corn mash will taste different than rye, or rum, yes?
corn mash will taste different than rye,rum due to the ingredients in the mash.
if i do a stripping run, will that not strip out the unique flavors? or will enough of the cogeners remain to give it a unique taste?
I tend to always do stripping runs, if you have a copper still that is not a reflux it won’t strip a lot of the flavor out. I find doing a stripping run and then a spirit run cleans up the final product and I get better cuts.
Are you making cuts currently?
If you are just starting off- don’t worry about the PH. It will turn out fine. Once you have the process dialed in you can start playing with the PH
If you can get flaked maize this is an easy and great recipe: You can get all of the ingredients online from a homebrew shop- or from your local homebrew shop.
http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/11454449-corn-whiskey-recipe
For the first corn whiskey –
I would do corn and sugar or use flaked corn.
You can get flaked corn from any homebrew shop.
What is the recipe you are looking at?
You can skip the sprouting if you are adding yeast to the mash. If you want to use the natural yeast that attaches itself to the sprouted corn then you need to sprout it.
If you want to use natural yeast (wild yeast) you need to sprout the corn.
You will not get much sugar out of corn- it is usually used for flavor along with sugar.What is your recipe?
Cracked corn is not the same as flaked maize- cracked corn is usually added for flavor and not for sugar extraction. You can extract sugar from the cracked corn but it involved boiling and store bought enzymes. I would just use it for flavor and use the malted barley and sugar for the fermentable sugars.
140°F is a bit low for starch conversion in malted barley. You want to mash between 148-152F. At 140 the conversion is not going to fully happen.
Did you take a hydrometer reading before you added the yeast?
Have you taken a hydrometer reading after the fermentation slowed down?
I would follow the same procedure for many any fruit brandy:
Basic Brandy Recipe:
One part fruit juice or fruit puree to two parts good water.
2.5 pounds cane sugar per gallon of mash
Lalvin K1-V1116 wine yeast.
You want to obliterate the fruit in a 1000 watt blender. (with apples, you need to add good apple cider about a third of the way up the pitcher in the blender in order to loosen up the apples.) Add the sugar into the fermenter and strain the fruit jusice into it. You want to make sure all of the sugar is completely dissolved. Dump in the rest of the water, let it cool to 80°, then pitch your yeast. Do not add yeast nutrient. It speeds up the fermentation. The longer the fermentation, the better the flavor development.It should go 14 days and give you 18% ABV. Let the wine settle for five or six days, siphon it off and let it settle for a month, Run and age it in un-charred white oak chips The settling before distillation cleans up the taste of the booze because you’re not cooking the yeast during the run.
Always go by feel and taste-
write down the notes in your notebook- if you run the same batch again it should be similar. I always take notes and have a few of my recipes dialed in- I always go by feel and taste but my temps are usually pretty spot on
Make sure you do a good cleaning run in the still if you have not.
If I were in your shoes I would do 6 stripping runs- save everything from those runs and do 1 final spirit run.
You can do 6 stripping runs in an afternoon if you have the time- or split it up into two sessions.
Fill the still- crank the heat until you have a decent stream and collect down to 10-20%-
then dump the still and fill it back up and run it again- until all of the mash is done.the next session add all of the “low wines” (everything collected from the stripping runs) and do a slow spirit run.
I think that would give you the best final product and maximize time and effort.
