kelbor

Hi! I mash in with half the water. I mash in under temp, about 120F, then increase heat with high temp enzymes already added. I was mashing in with real hot water but it gets way thicker way faster and I was fighting dough balls that way even with enzymes. Once my starch is converted, I add the second half of the water as cold as I can get it and this drops my temps significantly making it much easier to cool to pitching temps. This works for me with a 2lbs/1 gallon mash. My grain is ground to flour as I ferment and distill on the grain.

Lallemand RM and Red Star 50/50 blend is what I'm running.

I have access to a bunch of old wine I'd like to turn into a vodka. It was tested by the winery and has 15g/L acetic acid. Any idea how much acetic is too much to bother messing around with? Also, if it is worth messing around with, whats the best way to go about neutralizing some of that acidic acid? Baking soda? Thanks!

Hey All, Im looking for some sources for Blue Agave Syrup. BSG? Malt Products?

Still available? Sent a P.M.

Yeah- they suck. I do what we do so I don’t have to drop money regularly on parts. The only reason we have one is to hat we got it cheap from a winery. I run ours at 35 gpm ( must be larger than yours). Would love a centrifugal pump but couldn’t afford it off the beginning. Sounds like you need to sell....

So....no on all three tips basically. Ok. Sell it then for cheap. Or, at least try doing something what works for someone else in the real world. Your choice. (The tips I gave above and use came from the guys at Morewine when I was buying my third impeller and asking WTF is happening- and they worked for me...even though the pump runs both ways and goes to 10 on the dial)

I pump rum mash, grain in wheat and corn mash (2+pounds a gallon) , mixed grain (whole grains not flour) mash, low wines, wine, etc and my impeller looks like the same type as above. 1.5 inch pump. No issues following the above protocol.

Did you go forward and reverse? Did you lubricate it? Run full speed?

Hahahahah!

We ate a few $70 dollar impellers too in the beginning. The last one has lasted over a year. Here's what we do. 1) Always run the pump in the same direction (sharpie arrows to ensure everybody does this) as the blades on the impeller bend to fit the cavity and reversing directions is very rough on them. 2)Never run the pump at '10' or full speed. I only push it to about 7 on the dial. 3) Always lubricate the pump impeller with food safe silicone after each 'chore'. To do this I pump hot water (150ish F.) until the metal housing around the impeller is hot to the touch (after cleaning the pump and lines according to your level of sanitation). Once the impeller is nice and hot I remove the hoses and tip the pump up (forward) or even hold it upside down to get as much water out as possible while still running slow. Then I take a small dab (like as much as you use toothpaste) and let hot metal housing melt the silicone and let it run down into the impeller. The sound will change from a rubber squealing to a gently slopping (ha!). Invert or tip far forward again to drain any more water/silicone. if it is still angry sounding I add another dab of silicone and tip the pump forward and backward to get it to coat everything. Store the pump at the end of the day like that. Here's the lube I use: https://morewinemaking.com/products/cip-film-4-oz.html Or this if you have the bucks: https://morewinemaking.com/products/silicone-spray-12-oz.html Get a bunch of tubes to save yourself time later. Or look on Amazon for cheaper maybe (but I like those guys at MoreWine). (the key I found it is really heating the unit up to ensure the silicone melts and coats all surfaces)

Anybody Home?

Do you still have these?

And stop using sulfur tablets for Christ sake! You need to be clean but can be pretty far from sterile in the distilling world. Ha!

I am by no means claiming to be a master or even close in the distilling world so take what I say with a grain of salt..... but I do it a bit different than you. I start the same - mixing hot water (just use city water but its real good city water) with corn flour with some high temp enzyme. Bring it up to 190 and cook for several hours (adjust PH to 5.5-6). Then drop temp below 150. Adjust PH (using citric acid) to 4.5-5 and add second enzyme (no rest here). Continue to crash cool to pitching temp. When I get close I grab a gallon of mash and combine with a few gallons of water (at the right temp -just barely warm) to re-hydrate my yeast (the bit of mash adds a bit of sugar but not so much as to explode the yeast). When the yeast bucket forms a good head I knock it back and add it back to my now cooled mash. Goes to zero in three days or so. I then strip (grain in wash) in a pot still cleaned the same as you (hot PBW water, Hot water rinse, hot citric acid water, hot water rinse). I strip down to 10% or less at the parrot (with the heads and tails from last likker run). I get a 55+/- gallon drum of 30-35% low wines from 275ish gallons of distillers beer. Several strip runs later I likker run it. I do get copper crap and crud if I don't clean the still well enough (I usually rinse while hot with hot water between stripping runs and then clean real thorough before a spirit run) Good luck

Thanks team! I'm not getting what I would call haze. Its super clear after bottling and super clear after sitting on the shelf - Time in the bottle is creating a settled "cloudy/gooeyness" that rises into suspension when agitated.... So you think slow proofing rather then tighter cuts may be the issue? I do cut a bit more liberal on the tails side (not to wet dog/musty paper liberal though) as I was trying to capture a bit more flavor and figured barrel time would smooth it out a bit.... I have been toying with the idea of slow proofing and now I guess I have a reason/experiment to actually implement it.

I agree...It really does look like saponification. We distill on to two barrels at a time so hopefully this is a isolated case of pulling too much fatty acids from the tails. I do run a doubler on my still, during the rum spirit runs, in which I place the first portion of tails from my previous spirit run. This fraction is approximately 75%ish ABV down to 30%ish ABV (hearts is 83%ish down to 75%ABV). This could be increasing the amount of fatty acids in my finished spirit regardless of the cut points perhaps.....

Hmm..I tried to follow that article but it seemed outdated, antiquated, and downright inconclusive. I don't use caramel to color my rum (which it seems they focused on) and Im not sure where you get "cautionary" as they found no ill affect of the supposed organism in studies. Am I missing something?

No bottle cleaning method deployed (yet). bottles are at 40%

I cant get a good one on my cell phone...Ill grab my good camera and try to take one tomorrow. Here's what I have now...

Hello, Just had a customer return a bottle of rum that has what appears to have cultures growing in it. This rum was barreled at 125 proof and then filtered through .5 micron filter, cut to 80 proof with RO water and then bottled. I have inspected the rest of the bottles on our shelf here in the tasting room and see similar floaties (though it appears to be settled to the bottom before being jostled). They appear similar to cultures that can grow in Listerine says the customer (I have never really gotten into using that stuff so can verify this). Is this anything anybody else has experienced? Could it be dangerous to health? Thanks!

http://www.bascommaple.com/search/drums/ This is who we use. Way less expensive than Bubba's but you got to find stainless bungs separately. The ones that come on them are zinc or some shit. I use plastic drums for lows that I get for $10 bucks at the local bulk foods re-packager. I felt concerned until I got a several free plastic drums from a local limoncello maker that that contained organic NGS. They are marked with a "2" on the bottom I believe which is how the drums from the food re-packager are marked (same as the plastic handles of alcohol and even everclear in the liquor store).

I run everything through my pot still - Molasses based rum wash, strip wheat wash for vodka, ciders and wines for brandy, grain wash for whiskies. I usually (though not often enough) do a water rinse followed by a hot PBW re-circulation for 20 minutes (pumping backward through condenser and then back out of pot). This is followed by a water rinse and then followed by the same procedure with a citric acid rinse but with cold water and citric acid. Not sure on the acid concentration - I usually just shoot for "sour" tasting. Less than lemon juice sour (probably PH of 3.5ish). What P.H. should I shoot for? Pot is stainless and is pretty clean but Pot dome, cap, and lyne arm up and over to condenser (condenser is stainless) is copper. My water is just normal water (not RO). I'm thinking, from reading your response (thank you by the way) that I need to do a really good HOT (140-150 degrees F.) PBW rinse and then HOT citric acid rinse (I have always done cold citric). I don't feel like there is any 'soil' per say, but I suppose there may be a layer of organic material creating dirty copper. Not sure if I have copper sulfate issues..what do you mean by this? Thanks again!

That's right. I've been too lazy with my cleaning regime and the inside of the my pot still is way dirty. My usual PBW rinsing followed by citric acid water won't bring back the shine. Even with elbow grease and a scrubby sponge. Suggestions?

Dang, really sounds like the water is the culprit. Try bottling a few at cask strength (with the same filtering regime) and see if you still get that settling. Start eliminating variables....