PeteB

You don't even have to get a "clog" to build up pressure. If there is no cooling water in the condenser for whatever reason (eg. forgot to turn on) then the vapour won't be able to escape fast enough through a 1/2 inch outlet and pressure will build. Under normal running an alembicn pot still (no plates) and without a parrot, will have an internal pressure of zero psi. It is open to atmosphere via the condenser. Recently I taped a sheet of plastic loosley over my hatch and the plastic acted like a very sensitive pressure gauge. It occasionally bulged out gently, then inwards but often it was just loose, is same pressure inside and out. With a parrot attached there could be a couple of inches of water pressure build up if the condenser is not cool enough. 2 inches of water is 0.07 psi. With a plated column with bubble caps there will be a slight increase in pressure at each plate as the vapour pushes down under the caps. If the liquid on each tray was 1/8 inch deep at the caps, then an 8 tray column would produce roughly 0.036 psi. The velocity of the vapour and the turbulence would increase this pressure slightly, but the pressure is still miniscule. UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS As a friend of mine says "1/10 th of a flufteenth of a psi"

Had a suggestion from a local distillery "Ninger Ginger" Punkin, I like the RRR, although it is a "rum" because the alcohol comes from cane sugar GingeRRRum --- in fine print Reduced volume via distillation, Re-used leftover ginger beer, Recycled cooking oil to fire the still

I did wonder the same thing before I attended last years ADI in Louisville After looking at bigger distilleries as part of the conference tour, then afterwards visiting LDI, the mysterious former Seagram’s distillery, I realised what a miniscule volume is being produced by craft distillers. The bubble WILL eventually burst, but I doubt that volume oversupply will be the cause, it will most likley be caused by too many products of inferior quality and/or poor marketing.

What is Va please? I know a distillery that used Pinot (red wine) barrels and their whisky went pink. They didn't wash the barrels before use. I have rye whisky that has been in 53 gallon pinot barrels that I didn't wash,for 13 months. When I heard about the pink whisky I checked mine and it was not pink

I just made a loaf of bread from my spent mash yesterday. Lightened it up with some very finely gristed rye and a bit of white flour. Just had a piece for my lunch. A nearby distillery is using some of their spent mash in pizza bases. As I said in a previous post, I feed spent mash to my livestock. Been fattening some lambs with it. Killed some of the lambs recently to eat, and trimmed the excess fat. Added the fat to the biofuelfuel for the hot water boiler for mashing. That is re-re-cycling

Keep them coming, they are getting better. If we get enough I will put them up to a local selection panel. What about Frankengingers Moonshine? Might have to send 2 samples to 2 winners

There was 10 Kg of chillies in the batch. A couple of bartenders visited my distillery yesterday and had a taste of it, they mentioned the chillie taste. "Red Hot Ginga" is sounding good My daughter gave me some of those spirit essences from New Zealand, sure there is a bottle of smoke there so I will give it a try.

I am not referring to obscuration here. Did you originally dilute to 92.00 proof before bottling? How long after diluting did you do the testing? A couple of years ago I did some very careful dilutions but was getting higher proof readings than expected. I came to the conclusion that the dilution takes several days to stabilise. Another local distillery observed the same. So maybe your proof readings are dropping with time because the mixture hasn't stabilised. Your DMA5000 may give the same reading as the lab one if done on the same sample on the same day! Let us know if you get it checked.

Thanks Porter, but I think that might be a bit too cryptic. I didn't watch many of the shows, but did they have a still?

I did try adding enzymes at a much higher temperature (87deg C)at pre-gelatinizing, at the suggestion of the enzyme supplier. Only did one test this way then one at 65C post cook and got a higher yield at 65. Only did one test at each temperature so it would not qualify as scientific proof that it doesn't work at the higher temperature. I assume the enzymes for this trial must be able to work at a much higher temperature than the "regular" enzymes, but not this time. Will get some more to do a repeat. What is G-amalayse? is it alpha? I have tried milling finer but I can't get rice hulls in Tasmania. Freight for a bulky item is very expensive. Have tried other hulls but found it needs very big volumes to keep the grain bed open to prevent the lauter becoming stuck. getting a little off subject, last year I did an oat mash with small amounts of barley, wheat and rye. The oats had all their husks as they were straight off my harvester. The husks assisted a very fast lauter runoff. (After 12 months in a barrel it is beginning to taste very promising) I might try a lower temperature cook to see what happens.

I don't add any malt or enzymes until after gelatinization, I put hot water in my mash tank then add crushed rye. Temperature ends up about 76 deg C ( approx 169 f) An iodine starch test is done at the start of lautering when runoff is cloudy. There is very little starch in the liquid but there are some tiny black flecks of solids that I assume are flour particles that have not converted, does anyone know if this is normal?

I have distilled several hundred litres of my alcoholic ginger beer that was left over from a festival. Very sippable when cut to about 45% abv. But I have no idea what to call it. I am not constrained by TTB so almost anything goes. I guess it is an unaged "rum" because the alcohol comes from cane sugar. It is not a normal spiced rum because it is spiced pre fermentation. The still was fired with waste cooking oil from the festival so a name that hints at recycling or sustainability would be great. I will be taking the spirit back to next year's festival which prides itself with recycling and composting. If someone comes up with a good name that I use, I will try to send you a sample bottle of the GBSpirit(the best name I have come up with so far) Activate your creative minds. Thanks Pete Bignell

I am getting inconsistent yields from my rye and was wondering if I am not cookng correctly. The information I have says gelatinization range 57 - 70 deg c = 135 - 158 f Does anyone disagree? If I cook at over 70 c does it matter? I assume this is for unmalted rye. How long do I hold it at this temperature? The rye is crushed in a roller mill so I guess it may take longer than a rye flour. Thanks Pete

In Australia I used an engraving tool "PB 001"

I would also be very interested to know the amount of error. Under Australian rules we don't need to be quite as accurate as TTB rules so hopefully your findings are within our limits. I was told verbally that we don't need to test for obscuration with whisky. I would assume new barrels would cause more obscuration than re-use, and older whiskey will also have more obscuration. John D, to measure ABV accurately you need to get rid of anything other than water and ethanol in the sample. This is often done with a "proofing still", a small glass still that is used to boil off all the liquid and leave behind the solids that "obscured" the density reading. You can find the detail in TTB regs somewhere.

Ryan, I suggest you have a read of some home brew web sites. In particular look for "potential alcohol" as Porter has suggested. Hydrometers and refractometers are only good for measuring water mixed with ONE other compound, so a hydrometer is quite accurate for distilled spirits. When trying to measure wash or beer they don't work at all well because there are all sorts of other chemicals including unfermented sugars as well as the alcohol.

Chris, thanks for the info on sweet sorghum. B100 runs well in domestic diesel gun burners, although the seals may eventually fail unless they are the correct type. WVO may need pre-heating before the pump and definately just before the nozzle. Domestic burners can be modified and are far more reliable if the nozzle is changed to a syphon type. If you have time to convert one see altfuelfurnace@yahoogroups.com A chinese company has been sending me prices for waste oil burners, very cheap. Unknown quality. http://machinery.alibaba.com/waste-oil-burner.html My still is direct fired with a modified domestic gun burner. Runs on Biodiesel and/or waste veg oil (will also run on waste motor oil but I don't use it) Water boiler runs on another gun. The guns are putting out about 30 Kw each.

I had the same question but managed to sort it Just click to download the latest version as if you are going to purchase it. It pretty well loads itself and you won't be asked to pay.

Welcome Chris You got my curiosity when you said you are next to a biodiesel plant. I originally ran 95% of my distillery on biodiesel. Now converted much of it to unconverted waste fryer oil, much cheaper. This morning I read an article about sorghum distilling. Surghum is a grain so I would assume the distilled spirit produces a whiskey, or did you just want it to rhyme http://beveragetrade...s-Trend-228.htm .......................Heartland Distillers was one of the first new distillers to open in Indiana since Prohibition. After starting out with its small-batch vodka, its founders have added spirits flavored with Chai tea, espresso and chocolate, and cherry vanilla. Hobson had dabbled in oak-aged bourbon and herb-infused gin. He teamed up with Colglazier to produce the world's first sweet sorghum spirit, called SorgRhum.

Just to be clear here, are you saying that a mash made from say 70% of the barley flakes that "bourbonstill" talks about, plus 30% gristed barley malt would not be classified as a "malt whiskey"?

A great product. Each version gets easier to use.

Good information there thanks Moe. The so-called "silver solder" I use for copper water pipes, has only 5% silver. I will ask for more information about what type of silver solder he claims is pitted by alcohol.

Firstly a question, what does HVAC mean? Also, I assume the above rods are what we call "silver solder". I have mentioned this before, a stillmaker who gave me advice said that silver solder will eventually get holes in it when used in a still. Does anyone know if this is correct?

In my opinion ----- If the water is put through a good Reverse Osmosis (RO) there is very little difference between water sources. Years ago before RO then the water source was quite important, these days I beleive it is more of a marketing gimmick. A distillery that does not need to use RO could use the water source as a marketing tool

With modern TIG welding (or MIG which I haven't used on copper) there is no need to use rivets, if they are used it is for decoration only. If the joints are soft soldered I would suggest a few rivets as extra safety. Soft solder contains lead so it is not a good choice either. Rivet heads on the inside of a still will retain moisture when the still is not being used. Copper compounds form in this moisture and you can get quite a buildup of blue/green that can't be good if it gets into the next batch. A general suggestion for those who have a still that is not being used, open it up and dry it out. I have seen idle, wet stills, mine included, that start dripping blue liquid from the condenser (probably copper sulphate)