PeteB

I have almost finished building a continuous column, to use for stripping run only, will still use pot for spirit run. Have done a few short test runs only. They are so energy and space efficient. and a big bonus they don't need cooling water or chiller for condenser.

I met Dave at an ADI conference in Louisville when I was first starting into distilling. His presentation and chat afterwards were an inspiration to me. I was particularly fascinated by his recreation and startup of Mount Vernon Distillery https://www.winemag.com/2018/11/06/master-distiller-dave-pickerell-dies-62/

Like you, I thought I was the only one doing a peated rye until I found out there is another in Denmark. Very hard to invent something totally new. Thanks all for your congrats.

Firstly my still is a simple pot, alembic, no plates. To avoid confusing people with names that vary around the world, I split my spirit run 4 ways. The first small part I use as fuel under my direct fired still, the next section is re-cycled into next spirit run. (foreshots and heads, not sure what name comes first) Next section is the heart then the feints. I run the feints right down to about 2%abv. (my still runs on fryer oil so there is very little cost running it for so long to get it that low) First cut is done on volume only, next cut into heart is by nose only (no hydrometers allowed) then cut into feints is by nose and taste, again no hydrometer. Hydrometers only indicate the amount of ethanol, I am trying to maximise the correct flavours, I treat alcohol as a by-product.

I have been posting on this forum for many years, initially asking for help, in fact still asking for help occasionally, and I hope I have helped others with their questions as well. I have attended and spoken at 2 ADI conferences and at Tails in NOLA. I am a big fan of Bill Owens and the people in the US craft distilling industry. Now for my announcements Whisky Magazine "Icons of Whisky" has awarded me Australian Craft Producer 2019 which means I am now in the World Finals. Also Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2019 has scored my Peated Rye Whisky 96.5/100 Southern Hemisphere Whisky of the Year. Very proud and humbled, and thanks for your help from forum members. PeteB = Peter Bignell

For Rye Whisky, I have re-cycled all feints for almost 8 years. Jim Murray Whisky Bible 2019 just scored one of my Rye's 95.5 and another 95, they would have almost 5 years of feints re-cycled.

If it is just for your own satisfaction (TTB may not approve) check it yourself against a certified hydrometer and thermometer. If you don't have certified ones then check some cheap ones against a friend's certified ones and use corrections if necessary.

I have had a similar problem with an alembic, ie. no plates and no parrot. If the boiling slowed for a moment then cold air would enter the still through the outlet and momentarily cool the internal vapour causing a slight vacuum which sucks in more air then the air heats and expands and rushes back out carrying extra spirit. Once the air had finished expanding the outflow would stop for a moment and a bit of cold air would enter and the cycle would repeat. Does your parrot empty itself during these pulses or is there a vacuum brake where air can get in? Install a parrot with higher volume that fixed my problem.

A lot of my barrels have staples, especially the French ones. I don't find them "a pain in the butt", just forget they are there and drive the hoop down, the staples will easily get dragged with the hoop.

You say your barrels leak like crazy at the start. Are you driving the hoops tighter before filling? I often fill very dry barrels and they occasionally seep for a short time but I tighten the hoops first. They will sometimes drive down another inch or so.

Do not rub off with regular steel wool, it will make it worse in the long run

Methanol or ethanol can be used to make biodiesel. The problem with heads is the water which causes soap formation in the biodiesel. I used to run my still on biodiesel, still do occasionally, but a much easier option is with a siphon nozzle burner that uses the waste veg oil (or sump oil) directly without the effort of converting to BD. I burn my heads under the still through a second nozzle.

Also if the temperature of your spirit being measured is a long way from the air temperature it can be hard to get a steady reading. eg If spirit is at 85f and air at 50f the spirit is cooling, density is increasing, hydrometer is glass is shrinking, hydrometer is rising, glass thermometer is shrinking and spirit inside the thermometer is also shrinking. Some components are shrinking faster than others so it really is impossible to get a true reading until spirit temperature is same as air temperature. Also you referred to Hoochware app. I have never used it but because of the name I suspect it may not be as accurate as TTB requires. Do some comparisons with TTB Table 1, downloadable from TTB website https://www.ttb.gov/foia/Gauging_Manual_Tables/Table_1.pdf Also is your hydrometer a "Hooch" type as well? Over what range does the one you used measure?

Sorry to be critical but the words "can't fail" should not be used in a potentially dangerous situation. "very unlikely to fail" would be more appropriate.

It is not the weight of the water, it is the depth. It does not matter if the tube is 1 inch or 1 mile diameter, 2 feet of water column will create the same 1 PSI pressure. Before someone thinks I have made a mistake about 1 or 2 feet per PSI. Explained: 1 foot of water in a "U" will be pushed up one side of the tube to 2 feet by 1 PSI

I saw this still in France last month. Almost turned inside out. It didn't have a vacuum release.

About 6 inches should be enough. If bubbles push through while running the still, add a little more water until it stops. Approximately 1 foot of water in the "U" will hold back 1 PSI of pressure or vacuum. As well as water depth the diameter of the pipe is very important. The larger the still the larger diameter pipe is required.

So could an officious TTB agent say you cannot make a peated whiskey because the grain is flavoured before fermentation? Or is that specifically allowed in the regs?

I occasionally proof (cut down with water) in the bottle but it is just one or 2 bottles. Add the calculated weight of water then the weight of spirit. Works OK but is quite time consuming. If you are paying yourself a wage then you would soon lose the cost of a bigger proofing tank.

Thanks for the the information. In Australia our regulations are not very specific and I was hoping that your regulations allowed for a product "Hopped Whisky" then I could use that as an argument to use that name for my product. I think if I clearly note on the front label I should still be able to use the name.

I presume you mean the holes in the front plate, the holes are slightly smaller than the grain to prevent whole grains passing. I guess with corn the holes could be much larger than for rye.

Keep the suction hose off the bottom of the barrel until the very last moment. Most of the charcoal will be settled on the bottom away from the suction if you don't disturb it.

Most of my meat grinder milling is with green malt. I have soaked the grain and when sprouted it is soft. I originally tried dry unmalted rye and added water as it entered the grinder. I found the grinder required a very fine front plate otherwise some whole grains got through. I think dry corn with water added as it entered the meat grinder would work well but would require more horsepower than pre-order soaked. That PTO grinder sounds like a heavy duty beast.

What exactly is it you want to wet mill? How many pounds per session? For wet milling I use a meat grinder, works extremely well. Different grain sizes and differing moisture work better with different sized holes in the front plate. If you are very small I see electric ones on EBay from $50 , up to commercial 3 phase. I find the water content is quite important. If milling too slowly add water down the throat, but not too much or it will slow down again .Doesn't take long to be able to judge.

Do you need to run the 2 inch column slower so get less scorch? Does the 2 inch have more "plates" that strip the colour? My copper alembic is mostly run with a small amount of grain in. It builds up a lot of brown layer on the copper, sometimes some of that strips off at the start of a run, we notice it more if we have just cleaned the inside of the condenser, which I assume was not as clean as it looked.