Hello from the whitsundays

[Br00ksy]

Hi all :wave:
New here to the forums.
Theres so much good stuff to learn about and be inspired by ^:)^
Ive got a basic t500 boiler with a pot still head made by the hbs i bought it from. Its chrome/stainless on the outside with a coppper layer on the inside. Its quite short in terms of height as well (15cm ish). Ive recently hooked up a PID to it on the main 2000W element. Inside the boiler there is also a custom 1400W element that was designed by the brew shop guy i bought it from to run at full steam. I moved away from this as it tends to flash boil the wash in contact with it towards the tails
Making a bad situation worse.
Also
The condenser isnt enough for this thing on full blast becuase some steam comes out but what can you do :think:

So far ive tried my hand at a heap of long life fruit juice ferments (with one mango one which turned out 80% ok because i forgot to strain the pulp and skins = burnt flavour in end product), some rum and a peated whisky which turned out poorly (was the first thing i tried to do as im a massive peat head :music-deathmetal: )

Ive learnt a heap from this site and on my fridays i work at a sleepy liquour store near town. Usually just fill what stock i can (usually takes less than 2 hrs) then read these very forums.


Just a quick question about a stuck ferment that i caused recently.

I got overzealous mixing (using a drill and a mashing paddle) some rum that had been going good for 4 days and now it has stopped. :shifty:

I know its because i basically slapped the yeast around waaaaayyy too much. 8-}

Do i just pitch some more yeast? Or just let them sit and wait?

Thanks for your time peeps :wave:

[RC Al]

welcome mate

Throw some pics up of your unit and we may be able to give some suggestions to get the most out of it, keen to see this copper on the inside idea

Give the wash some more time to restart, have you done SG readings, Temp? PH? dose the wash taste sweet at all? if not its done. Which recipe did you use?

[db1979]

Yeah your rum wash may have finished in 4 days but was still degassing and by stirring it up you may have displaced all the gas, leaving a finished and inactive wash. Maybe. Like RC said, taste it, check gravity and if it's not done yet, wait a bit before re-pitching.

[db1979]

Oh and welcome :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Br00ksy]

Hey peeps
Decided to pitch some new yeast
As for pH i have no idea
Dont have that bit of kit yet
Grav was at around 1.100 i think
Heres what came with the kit and photos of the box attached

cane cutter.jpg

canecutter instruct.jpg

3L food grade molasses
3kg Brown sugar
3kg Dextrose
and various other things such as anti foam agents, carbon and i think a small amount of glycerin (Boooo :snooty: cheating)


In the end ive decided to pitch more yeast
No idea what yeast was in the kit but ill be using Still spirits whisky yeast in a wash starter then ill chuck it in
also
Ive attached photos of the head and how it attached to a t500 dome

bottom.jpg

head.jpg

Cheers peeps :text-thankyoublue:

[scythe]

Wow that is a tiny pot still.
Reads like a turbo kit.
Rum can finish quite quickly with warm temps,
FG is only an indicator need to compare it to your SG, as molasses will throw off the reading due to unfermentables.

[woodduck]

Welcome mate :greetings-waveyellow:

That pot is quite small and I can't see that little condenser knocking down much over 1500 watts if that. It's not safe to have alcohol vapor floating around mate. Use a small mirror to check if vapor is coming out as you can't see alcohol vapor but the mirror will fog up.

I'd say your rum is done. 4 days is quite normal especially if it was a turbo yeast.

Good luck

[Br00ksy]

Hey peeps
so adding yeast did nothing...
Its weird
normally this kit takes at least 2 weeks for the yeast to fully munch through everything
Grav is at 1.021
Last time i ran this kit it got to sub 1.000 at te end of the two weeks

[Br00ksy]

Ive given it a gentle stir with a steilized mashing paddle
The wash tastes slightly sour but nothing extreme
I have no way to measure the pH atm
Ill have to wait and see till tonight if the mixing has helped
Appart from adding some calcium carbonate maybe tommorrow im fresh outta ideas.. :sad:

[db1979]

If it's not sweet then it's done. Run it through your still.

[woodduck]

I'd run it. If it's a first generation you shouldn't have Ph issues.

[The Stig]

I agree with the others, just run the thing.
That still has been around for years, a mate had one 6 years ago or so.
Sounds like your LHBS is feeding a bunch of stories to make himself sound good.
Next time you want rum, just buy molasses and bakers yeast and your good to go, no need for all the home brew hype

[Br00ksy]

Yea i probably will tomorrow
It still tastes kinda sweet
I have a parallel rum ferment running the cheap way
I bought a heap of molasses and sugar from woolies 2 weeks ago and its goin good
If i end up with a good yield ill be completely mystified :wtf:
ill let you all know how it goes
And yea in the future i think ill just do a woolies run for molasses and sugar
only thing i didnt add to that one was dextrose
My mix for the non kit rum (woolies rum) is MacStill's recipe http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=30

3L molasses (4kg)
3kg raw sugar
whisky yeast from still spirits
pinch epsom salts

Rum is certainly easier to make than whisky being near so much sugar cane here in airlie
Cheers :D

[Br00ksy]

Well...
I caught the dreaded man flu :cry:
Putting off my rum run till at least friday
I did get some mango peeling done at least and i have approx 8kg+ of mango flesh in the freezer and a whole bunch of skins for a 2nd attempt at some mango schnapps
This time i think ill suck the oils outta the skins with sugar and add syrup to the wash of 18L of mango nectar
Cheers again

[bluc]

Well...
I caught the dreaded man flu :cry:
Putting off my rum run till at least friday
I did get some mango peeling done at least and i have approx 8kg+ of mango flesh in the freezer and a whole bunch of skins for a 2nd attempt at some mango schnapps
This time i think ill suck the oils outta the skins with sugar and add syrup to the wash of 18L of mango nectar
Cheers again

Sucking oil outta skin with sugar sounds interesting, does that work have you done it before? Does it add off flavours?

[Br00ksy]

Nah mate i havent.
last time i put the skins in the wash and forgot to strain all the pulp and skins
Burn mango taste afterwards in the product :(
I just saw the sugar teqnique in liquier (that still it did) and cocktail videos on youtube

[bluc]

Ok if they putting straight into liquir must work ok :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Br00ksy]

ALLLLLRIGHTTYYYYY
so a good sleep in seemed to cure my man flu so i ran my rum on yesterday (22.01)
I decided to spihon of the top of the fermenter into the boiler this time to avoid yeast
New make was put it into cuts jars and by the time i cut out jars 1 and 2 i got 4L at 60%
Jars 1 and 2 were half full (250mL/500mL) and i filled to jar 11 before collecting tails

Heres my notes

Distillation
First drips 11:30
Forgot anti foaming agent :angry-banghead: mega froth over!
inserted 11:35

1. 11:50 Temp target 72. 12:05pm upped to 78.5°C

2. 12:10pm Target temp 78.5 C, 12:16pm upped temp to 80°C, 12:30pm temp target upped to 82°C
3. 12:36pm, 12:53pm Temp upped to 84°C Water flow MALFUNCTION 12:55pm
Still power terminated
4. 1:05pm water reinstated, temp target 83.5°C starting read temp 48°C
1:10pm Running out of time before work at 3:30pm
1:25pm Running on small element on PID Temp target 84°C
5. 1:33pm flow rate fast. Small element very suited to maintaining flow rate. Will fill jars 5-11 full.
6. 1:50pm temp target still 84°C holding steady at reading 84.3°C. 2:00pm Temp increased to 85°C
7. 2:07pm upped temp target to 86°C
8. 2:20pm temp upped to 88°C
9. 2:32pm
10. 2:44pm
11. 2:58pm
12. 3:15pm Tails collection Large 5.7L jar temp target 92°C
Finish run at 5:00pm

Having to stop and switch rain water tanks really sucked
However the newmake tastes very nice!
The boil over may have actually put some extra flavour into the rum
hmmmmmmm :-B

As for ageing i have put it on a 10 day sherry soaked toasted (200 centigrade) american oak
What a mouthfull :whistle:
Heres my jar

83089267_2800779426658503_3484532698393870336_n.jpg

[scythe]

Got any dominoes, 10g/L oaking is a good start.

Chips tend to give up tannins more so check frequently.

[Br00ksy]

Nope, no dominoes available to me at the moment. :sad: May have to order some from ebay or something