PeteB

My fermenter holds more than twice the volume of wort produced from one mashing. (RYE) Recently I mashed then pitched yeast. The next day I did another mash and added the wort to the fermenter that had now been going for 24 hours. I added no extra yeast because I assumed the original yeast had multiplied and there would be enough for the next lot of wort. All appeared to work well. Yield was satisfactory and spirit flavor was similar to past fermentations. Are there any negatives to this technique?

Will posted the following quiz on 8 Dec 2009 but nobody has posted an answer yet "When you feel like it, conquer this one: You're diluting 350 LBS of 135 proof to 86 proof for bottling, so you figure you'll be making 73.6 gallons of finished product, which will weigh 580.6 LBS. You tare the scale, dump the stuff into the proofing tank and turn-on the water...but then you get distracted. By the time you regain consciousness, the scale reads 603.2 LBS. What's the present proof? How do you fix it? " My answer is present proof = 82.99 so we now add 34.36 lbs of 135 to bring it back up to 86 proof. Final reading on scales will be 637.56 lbs

The way "craft" is used in this forum context, to me, implies "hand craft" AND small, and a certain amount of experimentation A few larger distilleries could call themselves "craft" because they are very meticulous at producing a consistent and desirable product (check some of the dictionary meanings of craft) but as I said, as we use the term it implies hands on and small. To me it means "hands on" ALL the way. There are obviously degrees of "craft". At one end of the scale is the maker who sows his own grain and finishes by applying a hand written label. At the other end is a distiller who purchases mostly processed ingredients and uses a lot of automation and computer monitoring, but does the cuts by smell and taste, and then applies an almost generic label by machine.(assume they both produce a very good product) If in the second example the distiller did the cuts by hydrometer readings only, I would not classify that as "craft", could be a "micro distillery" but not "craft" IMHO PeteB

Thanks Jonathan and Will, I think I will go with reuse barrels for the short term at least. I know Anchor uses reuse but I thought they might be the exception. Sounds as if it is a common practice. Thanks for the info Will on small barrel ageing. What you have written is very close to the same conclusion I had had come to. There was quite a long discussion on this forum fairly recently about small barrels but I can't relocate it. Could someone paste a link to it please, and/or explain how to find it with the search button. I have trouble narrowing the searches enough! Jonathan's post influenced me to write the following; The ATO, our TTB equavilent here doesn't have any rules about what type of barrels we use In fact they don't TELL us many things we must do or not do, but we can't use the term "Whisky" until it has been in wood for at least 2 years. We can adjust products and labels within very broard boundaries without needing approval. Out toughest rule is we must pay a huge amount of excise tax I have a question about what defines Bourbon? Sorry. I am getting a bit off topic! Quoting from Jonathan's reply, "From the US TTB 5.22 The standards of identity: (1)(i) “Bourbon whisky”, ......from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent corn" But at the end of his post it says "Whisky conforming to the standard of identity for corn whisky must be designated corn whisky." Can someone please explain the difference between Bourbon and Corn Whisky? Thanks PeteB

Thanks for the suggestions. Bought myself a slightly used Enolmatic on Ebay. Forgot you have 110V in USA and had to buy a $20 transformer as well! Happy with it so far. Getting quicker with practice. Bottle fill level good enough.

I am making 100% rye and would like some advice on what type of barrels I should use to age it. I am from Australia. All the other whisky distilleries here produce a "scotch" style and age it in reuse barrels. I have put some away in used barrels but would like to know what is the more traditional way to age rye. Should I use new barrels, toasted or charred? Could I use shaved used barrels? Are reuse and/or refurbished barrels used for rye? If I need new barrels, are there any barrel makers on this forum who would like to make me a few smaller barrels and flat pack them and ship to Australia?

Jo, I can't make any comments about thumpers, I have read the theory but have no experience. What I would like to ask is how does Paul's "copper pot still distills our hearts to somewhere in the 100-115 proof range on one pass (that's the combined hearts average)" In the theory that I have read if your wash is at 9% you will get 100% proof and quickly drop from there as the alcohol in wash reduces. And in practice that is roughly what happens in my pot still. You must be starting at a very high wash %, or am I misunderstanding something?

A few questions for Poca, or anyone. Are you using 100% malted rye? If unmalted grain, at what temperature do you add malt? At what temperature do you dough in? (I assume dough in means initial water + grist mix)

Brian. I think you might have the right idea with xylanase. A lot of people say Beta glucans are causing the high viscosity in rye mash, but my research indicates the main culprits are arabinixylans which should be broken down with xylanase. But I am not sure if high viscosity necessarily means more foam. My wort has very high viscosity, almost like olive oil, but little foam. The green malt may be reducing the foam. Some of you brewers should have some ideas on this!

I clean mash tun with a pressure washer then a soft brush on a long handle. Only holds 1,000 litres so I don't think I need anything more fancy. I still don'd know what a CIP (Cleaning In Place) LOOP is. Just interested in case I expand in the future. Maybe it is pumps and hoses that recirculate cleaning liquid!

Also, is there any increase in alcohol yield with grains-in? With lautering there is always some sugar thrown out with the spent mash. In theory I assume that with grains-in, all this would all be fermented then all extracted with distillation. Does this happen in practice?

I have been thinking about building myself an agitator and seal. I have considered a shaft seal out of a dishwasher. They are designed to run at fairly high temperature. I assume they are ceramic seals and probably don't need lubricating especially at low RPM. I would get an old dishwasher and cut it up to see how the seals are mounted then fabricate similar mounts and buy a new seal. The seals are probably quite cheap. If you find a suitably priced motor and the RPM is too high, use a smaller prop.

Is there much of a difference in flavor profile? I am making 100% rye using 80% grain and 20% malted rye. Lautering is extremely slow so I am considering other options.

Have there been any threads discussing the pros and cons of fermenting mash with grains-in, compared with lautering and fermenting the wort? I have done a bit of a search on this forum, but a lot if non relevant info comes up. Maybe I don't know how to use this search button properly. If it has not been discussed before I would like to hear comments and experiences.

What is a "CIP loop" please?

To increase my efficiency I need a wash still. I currently use one pot still for 3 wash runs then one spirit run. Produces nice product but not very efficient with time. I build my own equipment and was thinking about a continuous still that would push wash up to only about 25% ABV. I still wish to use my pot still for the spirit run. I have no idea if such a thing exists. I imagine a water pot on the bottom producing steam which rises up through some type of plate column. The wash could be pumped in slowly at the top with offtakes at various levels. I currently lauter my mash because my still is direct fired. I did visit a very large continuous still in Scotland that that was run "grains in". If I could build a small grains in continuous still that would save the problems associated with stuck mashes with rye. Anyone have any plans or suggestions please.

Just letting you know the latest. I have tried several "step" mashes with different rests in an attempt to reduce viscosity, but the wort is still very slow to lauter. I think I will have to accept that it will always be slow. I have set up automatic pumps so I can leave it overnight. My alcohol yield per Kg of rye is OK I did try a batch using 20% dried malted barley just to see if I could get a lower viscosity and/or better yield than I was getting from my own "green malt". Viscosity and yield were much the same, but the fermenter produced a huge amount of foam and made a mess. "green malt" produces very little foam so I suspect the shoots and rootlets act as a natural antifoam

Firstly to answer Bradocaster's question. I have a lauter tun so I ferment and distill without grains. I have a direct fired still. Runoff through the grain bed is extremely slow with 100% rye. Up to 24 hours!! Panama Jack, good luck with your farm distillery. Sounds very similar to what I am doing. About the only thing I bring onto my farm is yeast, and waste cooking oil to fire my still. The only thing that leaves is whiskey and fat pigs and cattle.(just talking about the distillery part of my farm)

I originally posted this in "Equipment " by mistake. Here it is again for those who do not read that area. What are other peoples experience with rye and foam? I think I read somewhere it can be a problem. I have been using 20% green rye malt + 80% unmalted rye, lautering and fermenting to make whiskey. I recently decided to try 20% dried barley malt to see if I could get a higher alcohol yield. I got almost the same yield, but my fermentation produced a huge amount of foam. There was about 2 feet of wort in the fermenter and almost 3 feet of head space but the horrible sticky foam came out the top and across the floor. Fermenter did not get over about 28c (82f). With green rye malt I don't get more than about 3 inches of foam. I am wondering if "green malt" acts as an antifoam.

Absinthe Pete, I assume your tape is not self adhesive? It appears from photo wax3 that your tape splits the wax in half vertically. Is that correct? I had assumed the tape would have been wrapped horizontally along the join between the glass and the cork as Grehorst does. I have just started sealing with wax without any tape. I think I might redo the ones still at distillery. Tape over the top of cork with temporary rubber band sounds easiest. PeteB

I grow and malt my own rye. Search for a recent thread called "malting rye" Barley can be malted in a very similar manner, except the barley acrospire is hidden under the husk and so the growth stage is not quite as obvious.

Thanks Lenny, when I get a few minutes I will do a search for their contact details and give them a call.

Thanks for your safety concerns Absinthe Pete. I have been a volunteer firefighter for over 30 years so I am not going to build something unsafe. I would rather build to a tested design than invent something myself hence the request. Bastian, I have been using what I call pressure jet diesel burners. They are (were) used in Australia for central heating and swimming pool heating. I have 4 different makes and they all run well on biodiesel with a small amount of tweeking.(smaller jet, more pressure and less air) There are 2 under the still, one in the water heater, one on house heater and one on AGA cooker in house. There are Kroll burners that can use straight waste veg oil but they put out too many BTU's for my current size.

Does anyone have a design for a low pressure steam boiler that could be heated with direct flame diesel burner? I recall somewhere on this forum someone mentioning a beer keg boiler but I can't find any details. PeteB

Jonathan, If I posted you a sample bottle from Australia, do you think it would get through your customs, border security etc? I should have thought of it yesterday, there were a couple of Californians here, they could have taken a bottle home and posted it.