CountySeat

Now that I have used bourbon barrells, I am thinking of doing a Scotch style single malt. Can anyone offer some advise on the best types of malt to use? I was planning to do about 10LB of Malted Barley ground into a flour and 6 gallons of water. Will I need to buy peated? What brands/types of barley work best?

I've used No.2 dent corn and Blue Corn both with good results. I got the best results from a cheap No. 2 dent I got off of a local farmer, ok results with an expensive organic dent corn and ok results with blue corn.

Will the conversion continue only until I add the yeast? It take me a few hours to cool the mash even using a wort chiller. Or are you saying the conversion will continue even after I add the yeast and through the fermentation period?

I used a very small barrel (5 liters) and moved it in and out of a fridge. It aged really fast. My preference would be to let the natural changing of the temperature work but the one problem that may come up is the smaller aging time with smaller barrel. I'm using a recipe book now which calls for aging in 5 gallon barrels for 6 months. Depending on when you start your six months you will get mostly all cool temps or all warm in Pennsylvania.

Thanks for the help. I added the malt at about 150 and kept it between 150-140 for about an hour while agitating periodically. I don't have an iodine test (where do I buy one) but it looks like I got great conversion this time. The fermentation vessels are bubbling strong and overflowing out of the airlock hole (I use buckets with a hole for airlocks but no longer use airlocks).

Send me a PM.

Thanks. Maybe it is the temperature. I haven't done too much with temperature control because I have been doing mostly corn and wheat mashes. I've never had an issue with them. Rye seems to be a different issue. The one issue I have with resting temperature and holding temperatures is I do not have a set up with allows for holding temperatures well. I have a 26 gallon Hillybilly still set up that I use to get to about 180F. I pregrind the grains while I heat the water up, and then drop the water on the grain at 180-190F. It drops the the temperature to around 160 which typically seems to be right for conversion. I use a distillers malt and always get pretty good conversions. After about 5-6 days or fermentation I am at roughly 7-8% ABV. Now that I am using rye, that seems to be the problem. I'm interested in holding the temperatures and resting with rye but my concern is burning the mash. My hillybilly still set up uses a heating element and a thick mash tends to burn it. I ferment on the grain and distill on the grain and if i heat it to fast I burn. This is what I am going to try tomorrow. Heat water to 180 or so with heating element. Turn heating element off. Drop in the corn and rye. Agitate and wait until it drops to about 160. Add the ground distillers malt. Turn on heating element very low to maintain heat and agitate every few minutes (I use a power drill and paint mixer) for about an hour. Then drain into fermentation buckets and use a whirlpool chiller to drop tempt to 90F. Add distillers yeast at 90F. Set space heater for 85F. Ferment for 5-6 days at 85F. Does that sound reasonable or am I still likley to burn with the element? Thanks.

I do a fairly standard whiskey mash. Right now, I am using about 51% blue corn, 16% Distillers malt, and 33 percent rye. I grind everything into a flour. This past weekend, I had a stuck fermentation which never really started. This happens to me fairly randomly. Most of the time, I have no issue whatsover and the ferment takes off in about 12 hours. I use a standard distillers yeast. But every once in a while they don't start. This leads me to a few questions which might explain what is happenning. It seems when I get stuck it may be because the mash it too thick or too hot. What is the optimal temperature of water to mash at? Should I mash the rye and corn at a hotter temp and then put the barley in later? Typically I put it all in at once with close to boiling water and have no problem. What is the optimal ratio for water to grain? I've been doing somewhere in the range of 6 gallons to 12LBs of grain. I think this weekend, the mash was more in the range of 14-15 lbs. It seemed too thick. Also, what temperature do you do your ferments at? I've been getting good results starting at 90 and letting it stay at around 75 after that. I typically let the ferment go 7 days but it is typically done by day 5. Thoughts?

$600. and I will include the hot plate and a 8 gallon mash pot with thermometer and valve.

So what happens when you blow a water line? My concern isn't so much in the concept but leaving the damn thing alone.

Photos attached. Great condition. I can sell with or without the hot plate (I can still use it or buy a new one if someone wants to buy more of a "complete set"). Thanks.

If you go to the BrewHaus.com web site, you can see pictures of everything. Everything was bought from them. If you want additional pictures of the actual items, I can take some this weekend. Are you looking to pickup/get delivered or mail?

I should mention that I am in the Philadelphia area and will deliver to anyone reasonably close at a reasonable cost. Best offer. This is a full set that is a value of over $700. The two kettles are the "premium" kettles as listed on the brewhaus web site, brewhaus.com.

For Sale: Complete distillation system (only a few months of use) purchased new from Brewhaus this year. Set includes the following: 1) one 8 Gallon Stainless Steel Kettle with locking lid and manway, 2) one 15 Gallon Stainless Steel Kettle with locking lid and manway, 3) one stainless steel potstill head with connections for water, 4) thermometer to fit in the top of the still, 5) extension column with perforated plate for reflux and ability to fill column with herbs, etc like a "gin basket" and/or pack the column with copper or rings for additional reflux, 6) 1200W hotplate Set comes with a small amount of copper for packing the column. This is all you need to distill. Set works great. I am simply upgrading to a more expensive set.

I'm making a pretty straightforward moonshine. I had been using an airlock on 8 gallon barrels. I read that is a bad idea and stopped on this last round my yield on the stripping run (I didn't check the ABV before stripping as it seemed fine and I'm always at just about 8% exactly) was about half of normal. Has anyone experimented using the airlock or not? The way I did my last round, I used the bucket, sealed the lid and left the little hole the airlock goes in empty. Thoughts?

Likely Chester County but I am open to surrounding areas.

I am starting a new distillery in the Philadelphia area and am looking for potential partners. If you are interested and in the area, please let me know. Thanks.

So, for a small distillery, until you can get to a large quantity, selling directly is a huge benefit. You would make way more per bottle selling directly. Makes sense. I'm in PA. We can sell directly now. I'm toying with the idea of opening a distillery and focusing on selling directly. Probably 4-5 years from saving the funds to start.

Hi - Can anyone give me a basic idea of what the typical net revenue is on a bottle of spirit sold A) through a distributor and direct to consumers? In other words, the amount that is paid for a bottle of alcohol back to the distillery (who then allocates that revenue to costs of production, bottling, labeling, etc and potentially profit. By way of example: If I sell a 750ML bottle of spirit for $30 to a consumer out of state, how much goes to: 1. Federal Govt. 2. State 3. Distributor 4. Revenue to Distiller I understand that the amounts will often vary but I'm trying to get a ballpark figure for how much revenue distillers ultimately realize per bottle. Thanks.

If it doesn't touch wood, it isn't whisky under the Federal Regs (See 27 CFR 5.22). That is why some white whiskeys are "briefly" stored in wood to satisfy the requirement but still be clear. Wigle Whiskey in Pittsburgh does that to sell a white rye spirit as a "whiskey": "Western Pennsylvania was once world famous for Monongehela Rye—a white whiskey that was widely exported in the 18th and 19th centuries. When our local, organic rye arrives at the door of Wigle Whiskey after harvest, we mill the grain ourselves on the same day we start a batch to ensure the freshest, fullest flavor. Using only organic grains means that the full flavor of the grains comes through, unadulterated by added chemicals. We distill the grain in our traditional pot still, to achieve the complex spice that gives our rye its character. The whiskey is briefly stored in white oak barrels before being bottled on site. This is crafted and refined to be enjoyed unadulterated. But it also works beautifully in cocktails." You can call something a whiskey or bourbon and it can still be virtually clear as long as you barrel it for any amount of time.