PeteB

In 3 days the fermintation will be complete on a batch of rye, but I have been called away on a job and won't have time to distill the wash until 5 days later I don't think I can leave it in the fermenter as it will get infected with bacteria or wild yeasts. What would happen if I distilled it before fermentation has completly stopped? Fermentation should have finished the night before I leave. Could I pump to pot still and heat enough to sterilise, then let it cool and leave in copper still for 5 days? Would there be any bad reaction between copper and wash in 5 days? Any suggestions please. PeteB

Have you tasted the liquid in the barrel or just sniffed it. Maybe it is just water in there!! PeteB

Hi Junas, this reply is a bit late but hope you still find it. In Tasmania Australia there is a malt whisky distillery that produces its barley grist with water powered french millstones. www.Nantdistillery.com.au To alter the grist size you obviously alter the gap, but also the rate if grain feed is also important, especially if the top stone is not very heavy. Faster input gives coarser grist. I restored the old milling machinery for this distillery. I am also using old French millstones for my new rye distillery. In this case the stones are driven with an electric motor. PeteB

There is a program called AlcoDens that does all the necessary calculations. www.katmarsoftware.com/alcodens.htm unfortunately it costs about $190, not $1.99 that Brandon thinks his might cost A trial version is available that can be loaded 9 times before it stops. It is really good for blending and diluting. There is an upgrade coming out early next year that makes it simpler to calculate the amount of alcohol in a mix. I have seen a formula that corrects hydrometer readings at different temperatures but I have not found one for the relationship between SG and ABV. I attempted to calculate a formula. I got close with a polynomial to the 4th order but it was still not good enough. I then discovered AlcoDens and decided that was easier. Good luck Brandon, hope you can do it for $1.99 PeteB

I wish to use 80% rye and 20% malted barley. Does anyone know how much total grain I need per gallon (or liter) of wort produced. My previous experience is with 100% malted barley. I assume rye does not yield as well. Thanks PeteB

If the leak is a along the stave joints and not just a pin hole, then tightning the hoops should fix it. It is easy to do. Use the type of wide chisel brickies use to cut blocks. Blunt it so it won't cut into the hoop. Use a hammer a bit bigger than a carpenter uses and slowly work your way around the hoops to belt them on a bit further. If you don't have a suitable chisel, a piece of steel about 3 inches wide, 3/8 thick and about 7 inches long will work nearly as well. PeteB

Just found another site that mentions 135-147F to cook rye! If that is the range then that is good news because I thought I would have to invest in a steam cooker. PeteB

I have obviously been given the wrong info about temperature for gelatinasation! This is why I joined this forum. What is the best temp? PeteB

Hi Cog I cook the grist at about 200F then drop to 145 and add 20% malted barley. As soon as I start sparge, the fines in the initial runoff settle on the bed and and it stops running off. Beta glucanase certainly thins the mash a lot. I don't have cheap access to rice hulls but I have used empty seed heads of a grass called cocksfoot. They seem to work well. They are fan shaped and I think they are acting like little lauter screens all through the mash. I am pretty sure this is going to work but I wanted to find out how others were solving the problem. How much rice hulls do you use, volume of hulls : volume of grain? Thanks PeteB

I am lautering. If I don't use enzymes and seed husks the wort is very thick and I get very little runoff. I am only using a little homebrewers mash tun for experimenting. I hope it will still work when I do a 300 Kg batch. Maybe there is another method. I don't want to put any grain into my still as it is direct fired.

I have been experimenting with Rye mash. Have tried 80% rye grain grist + 20% malted barley, and also 100% green malted rye. As expected I find the mash is hard to drain. Beta glucanase helps a lot and adding a lot of seed husks helps. My next step is to do a 300Kg of grain but I would appreciate some advice before I go ahead. I don't want to end up with a vat of unusable porridge! Thanks in advance PeteB Tasmania

I am new to forums so I hope I am in the right place!! I have almost finished building a small Rye distillery in Tasmania. Just waiting for government approvals. I am getting help from a couple of small malt distillers, but there are problems with rye mash that don't normally happen with malt mash. I hope to use 80% rye grain and 20% malted barley. The mash does not drain well so I have tried enzymes from the local brewery and that has made a big improvement. I have built a 600 litre copper pot still which is direct fired with pressure burners running on biodiesel. I would also like to try mashing 100% green malted rye! Can anyone give me some help with rye Thanks PeteB