Gwydion Stone

I fixed those links, btw. Have at it.

What kind of control are you looking for? Absinthe is a pretty delicate and complex solution, so I can't imagine the bubble plate would be any good for it. Also, clean-up is going to be a bitch; unless that's all you'll be using that still for.

If you're using A. absinthium wormwood in a maceration without distilling it, it's going to be too bitter to be considered absinthe. When undistilled, wormwood is so bitter that it will easily overpower the other flavors. I'm curious which US brands you compared it to? That's why I pointed him to the historical section over at the Wormwood Society. We have the full Duplais and De Brevans manuals posted there (but now I see the link is bad, so I'll need to fix that today). Those recipes and processes are essentially definitive of the nature and characteristics of absinthe, along with the many surviving bottles that were made in the pre-ban (pre-1915) era. You can't go wrong using those recipes as a starting point.

It's definitely not absinthe; absinthe must be distilled. It doesn't taste anything at all like absinthe, which isn't that bitter. Absinthe's primary flavor should be anise, not bitter wormwood. What you have there are wormwood bitters. Pelinkovac, malört, and bäsk are examples of wormwood bitters from Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. Absinthe may still be obscure to the general populace, but there is a lot of accurate information available to those care enough to look. I suggest doing a bit of research before trying to bring a product to market as absinthe. You'll find literally everything you need to know over at the Wormwood Society, especially in the historic articles section.

For future reference, this table is handy. ALL artemisia species are permitted. I once had the specialist kick back a formula that had marjoram in it. They don't do any thinking for themselves; if it's at all unfamiliar to that particular specialist, they'll just kick it back - like your time doesn't matter.

Most of the stuff available in regular US commerce is grown and processed for the medicinal trade, not to maximize flavor and aroma characteristics. You might want to consider growing at least some. I think you'll be glad you did.

Is it really that much of a stretch to expect someone to understand that my comment about sugar cane was in reference to his mention of rum? I didn't think I'd need to spell that out here.

In my experience, home distilling guides are good for just that, and don't prepare one for the realities of commercial distilling, which is far more than just scaling up production.

That's fine, but you can't make rum from beets, which the OP indicated he was interested in making. Rum is made from sugar cane.

Pics or it didn't happen.

That's a good price for a resale wine, but a bit spendy for a distiller. The way we look at it, wine is over 85% water, and we have to remove that water. At an optimistic 14% abv, and assuming 75% recovery (loss to usual spillage, heads & tails), that translates to between ~$4.75 and ~$6.50 per 750ml bottle at 40% abv. At 12% it goes up over $7 a bottle. Add in cost of glass, labels, closures, labor and utilities and that's an expensive product.

You mean collecting directly off the still? I've seen everything used from Fusti cans to barrels to Home Depot buckets.

Stillage is whatever is left in the still at the end of a run, no matter what the product and no matter what you do with it, re-use it or discard it. Dunder is specifically rum stillage which is allowed to open-ferment and take on specific bacteria and yeasts that result in rum's high-ester profile. It works like a sourdough starter. The funkier the dunder gets over time, the more high-ester the resulting rum. Backset is specifically whiskey stillage (maybe bourbon only?) synonymous with sour mash.

Try adding rice hulls to your mash. http://www.midwestsupplies.com/rice-hulls.html

Instead of trying to harvest spent, beat-up yeast, propagate from some of the fresh stuff. It's early for me and my caffeine hasn't kicked in yet, but you can google "propagating yeast culture" and come up with a lot of good information. Good luck!

Where do you live? I'll be right over. Because of the variations in climate, you can't really pin it down to "July / August". With absinthium, it's more about harvesting at the right stage of development, in the early flowering/budding phase. I always harvest pontica twice: once about mid-season and again in late summer; here in the Pacific Northwest, that's September. Depending on your climate you might be able to do the same with absinthium. Pontica—as you've apparently discovered—is incredibly invasive in climates/soils where it thrives. It propagates mostly by spreading via rhizomes. Consider giving it its own raised beds. Seriously, though, where do you live? This is how they harvest pontica in Italy:

Citric.

"hopefully utilizing local sugar sources as much as possible" You have people growing sugar in Michigan??

Definitely know your way around the hydrometers and keep a set on hand. That said, I love using the A-P machines, especially when dealing with obscuration materials, such as with liqueurs. I tested the A-P units against my hydrometers and while the small hand-held gizmo will get you in the ballpark, the bench-top unit was always spot-on.

It's totally cool in Washington, so long as the receiving state doesn't prohibit it.

http://homedistiller.org/ What are you interested in making?

It ain't broke, but the forum software requires staying up to date for security reasons. You'll find an "Unread Content" link at the top right of every page.

The first thing that comes to mind is different ambient temp in the distillery and/or varying water temp for the condenser.

It's been a while since I looked into the issue, but as I recall there was a big fuss in California last year or earlier about not only barrel aged cocktails, but house infusions and bitters as well. Not sure how it came out in the end.

I have to say, that wood cladding is really sexy.