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indyspirits

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Everything posted by indyspirits

  1. There are two dust challenges you'll face: milling & handling. By far the best approach to dust control when milling is to build a dedicated room with special air filters. You'll weigh, mill, and load the auger hopper all in the same room. In some jurisdictions this may be a requirement. If it's not, it probably should be. As for handling, iskiebaedistillery is spot on -- look at grist hydrator. Good for preventing doughballs as well.
  2. Rather than having a flange added to our conicals to accomodate a agitator, we "pump over" our grain in ferments for about three mins -- out from the bottom drain and then into the manway on top.
  3. Can you provide your exact mashing protocol?
  4. When making liqueurs, infusions, macerations I always consider the base GNS as an ingredient. Other than the urban millennial hipsters, how many bakers do you know that make their own chocolate chips? The COGS of absinthe is obscene in comparison to nearly any other spirit, yet the cost of the GNS is about a dollar (probably less), two if your neutral base is grape. It's hard for me to tell a prospective client that "that matters".
  5. Im up for a control software / hardware thread so I can bitch about my solenoid valve controlled deph.
  6. Have you tasted it? Im thinking new barrels stuffed with spirals. The oak is not, uhhh, subtle.
  7. Now you've gotten me curious... What is the the ABV of the stripping charge and the second run? I'm quite surprised you're not hitting 190 with a third run. Also, Im not so sure I'd run with any plates on my stripping run -- just a balls-to-the wall fast run for an initial water / etoh separation.
  8. I wasn't trying to attest to the veracity of any often-exaggerated home distiller claims (although I have gotten consistent 95% on a 72" column charged at 40% with my certified CP hydro at takeoff rate of 1 LPH -- it was painful) just pointing out that packing might address the last few points they need.
  9. If you upped your reflux ratio by increasing flow to the deph (and deal with the resulting decrease in takeoff) you might be able to eek out a few more points. Bluestar has nailed it though -- you really need a few more plates. If that's not an option and you have removable sightglasses, you might want to stuff the space between the top three plates with stainless steel scrubbies which should help. There's no lack of home distillers that can pull off 95% in nothing more than a 72" column stuffed with copper or stainless mesh. Granted the takeoff rate is about 2 liters / hours but it is possible.
  10. What SilkCity said. We get our high temp alpha and gluco from specialty enzymes. $160 for 10kg
  11. I recently finished my first harvest of roman wormwood. Before I ruthlessly tear out that which is wandering into other parts of my garden I thought I'd offer a plants/runners to aspiring plant-to-spirit absinthe enthusiasts. A few notes: This is petite/roman wormwood, artemisia pontica, which is used in the coloring step of absinthe production I don't recall the origins or vendor of the original plants. I do recall it was surprisingly difficult to track down live plants. Here in USDA Zone 6a it is incredibly hardy. It likes sun. We grow it in an irrigated garden. It takes a lot of work to keep it confined. I recommend a well enclosed raised-bed or container garden I use 12 grams of this (dried) per liter of distilled spirit For $20 I will dig up a few AP plants & runners, wrap in damp paper towels, place in a ziplock and deliver via US priority mail. This has been recently harvested so their wont be much leaf growth. I cant imagine it will affect the long term health of the plant as I'm unable to kill it when actually trying. Payment via paypal or cash.me -- the latter being the company behind Square which we've used in the tasting room. Reply here, via PM, or email to eric@hoteltangowhiskey.com In the spirit of full disclosure, my cost is $13.45 for postage, the ziplock, paper towel, water, and whatever labor rate my seven year old charges for helping. Eric
  12. Oh the horrors! Why would you want to do that?? To answer your question I think you can. Malted rye is about 100 or so degrees lintner. You need somewhere in the ballpark of 30 degrees lintner to self convert which should leave you enough to convert the raw. I can't imagine (although I've not tried) a 30 min or so rest in the temp range indicated would solve the gummy/thickness problem. Why the aversion to adding beta glucanase?
  13. These guys are reasonable to work with: http://www.mcgillhose.com/ Can I talk you into camlocks rather than TCs??
  14. I'm curious as to why you don't just have the vendor pick them up. They sent the wrong item, why do you have to deal with it?
  15. Physics dictates that if you're not modulating flow to the deph your ABV will go down -- you can't get blood out of a turnip.
  16. That's exactly what you should have expected -- each plate enriches the vapor a fixed amount. As the ABV of the pot decreases the amount of etoh in the vapor, and thus the distillate, decreases as you witnessed at the parrot. There are a couple schools of thought about how to handle tails / the end of a run. You can increase flow to the dephlegmator and effectively "hold back" heavier components -- those components with a higher boiling point. You will see a corresponding decrease in takeoff rate. Alternatively, just let the run go and taste/feel/smell for the tails and take your cut there. When I first strarted I was a big proponent of running at 100% reflux for 45 mins or so and letting the heads migrate to the top plate, then slowing backing off deph flow, take my heads cut, and then maintain deph flow enough to keep the trays stacked. Same at the end of the run --- when the temp drops increase deph flow to hold back tails and accept the lower takeoff. Problem with that is (IMNSHO) it results in a fairly lifeless hearts cut -- clean yes, but without much personality. Probably good for smaller barrels you want to get out the front door ASAP. Now I run our column still more like a pot -- I run slow initially and take a smaller heads cut -- there's some good flavors in the heads. Same for tails -- I tend to go a bit deeper. I would NOT do this for a "white" product. Barrel-time does wonders for a dirtier hearts cut. More than you asked for! My distilling process has evolved over five years as I imagine will yours. Keep good notes!
  17. Nothing wrong with aquarium heaters! We use this one: http://amzn.com/B0199W751Q with this controller: http://amzn.com/B011296704 and they readily maintain fermentation temp even during winters. We use them in 1000 liter totes.
  18. Isn't that the truth! We still mash in our still. I'd love a proper mash tun but it's simply NITB at this time (not in the budget). Question for you: at on time I looked at steam rolled corn from our local farm co-op. It was quite a bit less expensive (around $11 / 50 lbs) than flaked maize from BSG. What I couldn't determine is if the steaming process had gelatinized the starch and thus wouldn't require a gel step. The gentleman at the co-op kept stating it was "pre-digested" (this was animal feed) which I assume to mean the starch had been converted. Did you ever look at anything other than flaked maize for your corn component? If you google "steam rolled corn" you'll see what I am referring to.
  19. This is where beer folks get confused (me included). Initially when I made single malt / 100% barley spirit (this was in my garage experimentation stage) I brought my wort to a boil as I would with beer. That served to sterilize the wort, a part of which was denaturing the enzymes that would continue to work even during fermentation.
  20. Bluestar... I'm curious as to why you use flaked maize as it's so much more expensive that ground. Yes, I understand that the steaming process gelitinizes the starch but I can't imagine (granted I've not run the numbers) that it's financially advantageous. How many gravity points does a pound of flaked maize in a gallon of water contribute? Do you use any enzymes at all or just barley?
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