DonMateo

I am currently distilling at home using 50l barrels and I have them in my gallery and they are exposed to the sun. I am going for fast aging as a trade off over the angels share. The barrels I put in the sun will go from 45 deg C internal to the barrel during the day to 5 deg at night, So I can get a really good flavor in about 4 months but I will lose about 20% volume. That comes back when you dilute to bottle strength but even so I will lose about 10% in 4 months. The same barrels exposed to high temp swings but not in the sunlight will age out in about 5 months. with temp swings from +30 deg C in the barrel during the day to 5 deg. If I was in operation I would worry about but I am proving out recipes and chasing the right flavor combinations between whiskey and wood so for me its about speed not volume right now. Good luck with your startup.

Great discription. I will pull mine at between #3, Just when you think its just got too much I pull it and then let it settle down. Oxygenate and put in a bottle and in 3 months its good stuff.

Definitely a lacto to me. When making beer Lacto is bad, when making whiskey Lacto is great. Some of the best whiskeys I have ever made and a good lacto on them. When I make moonshine or a charter whiskey, 80% corn and 20% wheat I wait for the wash to get a lacto and then run it.

One of the things on my list to buy is you can get small laser engravers that can be programmed to burn onto wood and are small enough to put on top of a barrel head. This is an example. https://www.amazon.com/-/pt/65X65cm-Engraver-Machine-Milling-Desktop/dp/B07XYF82L6/ref=sr_1_4?__mk_pt_BR=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=GCX4I5FT3NTA&dchild=1&keywords=wood+engraving+laser&qid=1597931536&refinements=p_36%3A30000-&rnid=2638325011&sprefix=wood+en%2Caps%2C802&sr=8-4 Search in Amazon on wood engraving laser. Now I havent used one of these things but they look to be the best option. Mount the frame on a barrel. Program it with your logo and your away. They are about US$300 to 500 depending how much power the laser has. It might be a good idea to do this process while the barrel is not full of high proof whiskey. Just saying.

I use GNS because its gives consistent flavor. I tried a gin made with neutral made from Rum that wasnt neutral but it still had a light rum taste. If that was what the distiller was looking for they acheived it but i did like it.

I have made a pink gin with Hibiscus. You have to macerate the hibiscus and only use the flowers for a small amount of time and then take it out. If not it will turn it purple as you say.

I am in the process of building my shed for my distillery but I do fermentations at 200 l volumes and all on grain. I just did a corn90% and 10% wheat wash that the low wines are really really nice. On grain is the best in my opinion but by far the messiest and most difficult to deal with.

Hey just a quick question for those who print their own labels. I just bought an EPSON C3500 and I was curious as to what is the best label printing software to go with this printer. I am trying to do something in Word and not having great success. Matt

Odin, when I read somewhere that you wrote about actually doing cuts on a gin run I didnt understand but I did it anyway. Everything I have read that you have written about making gin has been great and spot on. I am just a beginner as I am just in the process of recipe testing but at decent volumes. But all your material has been great. If I wasnt in Argentina I would send you a bottle or two.

I am down to about 10g/l of Juniper but this is with the latest batch of Juniper which seems to be a lot stronger with higher Juniper oil content than my last batch. I bought 20kg of Juniper and the first run at 15 tasted like 30 of my previous supply of Juniper. No louching for me on the citrus but I am using a herb called Pitanga which is like lemon myrtle. And on can only get it in South America. I do vapor masceration with a gin basket. Anyway if you want to learn about making Gin search on everything that was written by Odin. He is a god when it comes to how to make Gin, in my opinion.

Why not consider making your own Oak pieces to add. Its not that hard. I am experimenting with alternative woods as I am in South American and I am trying some woods that are used with Cachaca to age whiskey and I am getting some interesting results. I havent tried it with Rum but with whiskey yes. To toast your own wood its relatively simple actually and a lot cheaper. I use a little electric oven with temperature control. IF your dose rate is between 5 to 10 grams per litre of spirit you will only need to toast about 250 to 500 grams at a time. and That will give you enough Oak for 3 x 50 l barrels of cask strength spirit. Anyway I am doing it because I am using alternative woods. Good luck.

Elixir, I used all 3 methods, No chill, counter current cooling and the immersion coil cooling like the beer brewers do. For straight corn washes I dont bother chilling it now. For barley washes the last few I have done the immersion cooling. The counter current coolers I will probably use in the future when I step up in volume when I have my distillery and I am mashing 1000l at a time. But I am just a beginner at this. I am sure there are a people with a lot more experience than me. The last couple of times I used the no chill method on a barley wash I didnt notice a huge difference in yeild but I did get a Lacto at the end. But I dont mind that as a bit of lacto gives a nice bit of flavour in whiskey.

Hey Sickfloss, No the last couple of corn mashes I did turned out quite well, albeit they were slow but it getting cold where I live and my mashtun/fermenters are in the open air in my garage. I actually have Alpha Amylayse and a Gluco amylayse, I was just asking the question to check. I did two 50l rye mashes about 9 months ago and I added both enzymes to one and it thinned up very nicely and the other one remained like porridge. I guess I didnt use enough. I am aiming for a wash that I can use to dilute some neutral that I am going to make when my vodka still his finished, which should happen in about 6 weeks. Thanks for the comment on the high rye with lot. The last time I did a bourbon wash with high rye it did foam like crazy I used a corn oil spray and that knocked it down very nicely. I hope your distillery is going well, mate.

Hey Sickfloss, No the last couple of corn mashes I did turned out quite well, albeit they were slow but it getting cold where I live and my mashtun/fermenters are in the open air in my garage. I actually have Alpha Amylayse and a Gluco amylayse, I was just asking the question to check. I did two 50l rye mashes about 9 months ago and I added both enzymes to one and it thinned up very nicely and the other one remained like porridge. I guess I didnt use enough. I am aiming for a wash that I can use to dilute some neutral that I am going to make when my vodka still his finished, which should happen in about 6 weeks. Thanks for the comment on the high rye with lot. The last time I did a bourbon wash with high rye it did foam like crazy I used a corn oil spray and that knocked it down very nicely. I hope your distillery is going well, mate.

Just a question, what is the best enzyme to use with Malt Rye ? Beta Gluconayse correct ?? Thanks

Well its like that in a lot of countries but in Argentina most things that are normal are reverse. VAT is 20%. But the excise is based upon the Value of the bottle not the alcohol inside.

The excise is around 15% but the controls on small distilleries are pretty light and the very few small distilleries that are here sell most of their stuff online. The excise was just increased from 5 to 15%. The larger micro distilleries, ie up to about 40,000 bottles track every sale but Argentina is a bit different in that about 40% of the economy is in the black or on a cash basis. The wine industry is very highly regulated but small distilleries not so much. There are only 3 medium size distilleries and two micros, in Argentina making whiskey. A couple of larger ones making all sorts of booze. And then there are the majors like Pernot Ricard and Diagio.

Back on Moonshine. In Argentina there is a guy who imports moonshine from the US and sells it online. He sells about 1400 bottles a month and charges $60 a bottle for it ( a lot of that is import duties). So moonshine is high on my product list. Actually in 3 days I will do my latest strip of moonshine.

How about wrapping the outside of the barrels in plastic or HDPE. You will still get oxygenation through the heads. Matt

There is a South African distilling products company called Distillique and they have an excellent guide to sizing systems on their webpage. Check it out.

Or another option that I have considered, buy old French oak barrels that have been used 3 or 4 times and are dead as far as taste is concerned then add wood fingers or lingots of your American oak.

Pop Larkin, I am just at the point of starting up and I am doing some production in my garage. One thing that I read about and tried was I got 50l beer barrels put on a 4" triclamp exit and I put the whiskey in that and then I add lingots of wood. Now I am not using oak but I have read on a couple of other webboards that there are some guys that do it and it gives a pretty decent product. The other thing that I do is put these barrels in the sun with the seals clamped on. Alcohol is very expansive when it heats up and so it creates a positive pressure inside the barrels. I wait for the barrel to get to about 60 deg c and then I put it in the shade. Its winter in Argentina where I am setting up so in winter I put these barrels in a place that only gets a couple of hours sun a day and so there you have your heat cycling. Once a week I put oxygen into the whiskey as some of the reactions between whiskey and wood need oxygen. Anyway my first couple of runs using these techniques were pretty successful and everyone who has drank it likes it. And I have given a couple of bottles to a couple of my mates who have a wide selection of Single malt scotches. I havent tried this with Oak as I am using alternative south American woods, which is permissable where I live. I came to this method because I cant get barrels made from the woods that I want where I live. The nearest barrel maker who makes barrels with the woods I want is in the South of Brazil and importing anything into Argentina is a pain. Anyway just an alternative. The issue you might have in old blighty is not enough sun to heat them up. Plenty of cold and rain to cool them down.

One thing that I have heard that works is you use a carter head ( Gin basket) put in your spices in that and then do your spirit run of your rum through the carter head. I havent tried it yet but I have heard from a couple of people that it works. Where i am setting up I cant get flavours and extracts but I can get the spices. The only thing I could see that would be a must is if you run Gin through your carter head its going to have to be very thoroughly cleaned otherwise you will end up with rum with a slight taste of Gin. Not very inspiring. In about 4 months I am going to make some rum and do the spirit run through my spare carter head.

Great posts southern Highlander. And AB1965 great set up in your distillery mate. When I grow up one day I want a set of boilers like that.

Have a look at Stilldragon. Great gear and very modular.