Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Mates old man made grappa like day do in de old country.
Great for uni students and cleaning motors.

I sure you do better job dan he.

Old Italian Neighbour and his mates:

1- fire up a massive old 44 gallon drum (no idea what it was used for originally but it had blue paint on the outside still)
2- stick the left over wine that was too awful to bottle and the fermented grape twigs and shit in it
3- put the thing on an OPEN FIRE!
4- stick a copper head still on it
5- seal it with a mix of flour and water and oats
6- keep EVERY DROP that comes out after about 2mls of foreshots.
7- rip in straight away.

What could possibly be wrong with that? :-)

BackyardBrewer wrote:Old Italian Neighbour and his mates:

1- fire up a massive old 44 gallon drum (no idea what it was used for originally but it had blue paint on the outside still)
2- stick the left over wine that was too awful to bottle and the fermented grape twigs and shit in it
3- put the thing on an OPEN FIRE!
4- stick a copper head still on it
5- seal it with a mix of flour and water and oats
6- keep EVERY DROP that comes out after about 2mls of foreshots.
7- rip in straight away.

What could possibly be wrong with that? :-)

What? you never had Grappa before? :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :puke-huge:

sam_and_liv wrote:

BackyardBrewer wrote:Old Italian Neighbour and his mates:

1- fire up a massive old 44 gallon drum (no idea what it was used for originally but it had blue paint on the outside still)
2- stick the left over wine that was too awful to bottle and the fermented grape twigs and shit in it
3- put the thing on an OPEN FIRE!
4- stick a copper head still on it
5- seal it with a mix of flour and water and oats
6- keep EVERY DROP that comes out after about 2mls of foreshots.
7- rip in straight away.

What could possibly be wrong with that? :-)

What? you never had Grappa before? :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :puke-huge:

And there ain't no plastic police in Grappa world. :happy-partydance:

Ok ppl settle down yes I will be doing cuts, no i won't be collecting in galv buckets
here's the plan : I will have to press them the old school way (stomp them) they are covered in yeast and that is what I hope to use. The grapes are Shiraz, yes I know loads of tanin but here the thing. All that tanin is in the skin, if you ferment on the mark you will get red wine, if you separate it it will be white ( of cause I will be losing a lot of yeast like that but I think it will fire just the same :handgestures-thumbupleft:

sam_and_liv wrote:What? you never had Grappa before? :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :puke-huge:

I have indeed, its what got me into the hobby. Here's my welcome post to the forum on this very topic:
viewtopic.php?t=1244#p14799

Actually wasn't too bad, it's not something you'd drink every day and knowing how much heads and fores are likely in it (the tails are the LEAST of your worries!) but its a helluva way to get the party started. 50% or so, burning like paint thinner and a buzz that let's you know you're alive. Neighbour would have a shot with his espresso - the original vodka redbull:)

Oh wow I'm about 1/2 way though . forgot what a big job this is when ya not set up for it :roll:

crow wrote:Ok ppl settle down yes I will be doing cuts, no i won't be collecting in galv buckets
here's the plan : I will have to press them the old school way (stomp them) they are covered in yeast and that is what I hope to use. The grapes are Shiraz, yes I know loads of tanin but here the thing. All that tanin is in the skin, if you ferment on the mark you will get red wine, if you separate it it will be white ( of cause I will be losing a lot of yeast like that but I think it will fire just the same :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Wouldn't all the tannins stay behind in the boiler :think:
I know that all the red wine I ever distilled always came out the still clean. You thinking it might be a negative flavor in the end product? You are going to make some brandy aren't you?

well got them pressed not overly happy with the amount of juice recovered and am tempted to go out a pick some more. So now I hope the natural yeast will soon fire as I have no wine yeast here :pray:
PS yeah well I've been told that they come through, cause I've been told lots of things that turned out untrue but I am a little cautious of testing the theory out

and the question , is there enough natural yeast to get it to fire? Yes, yes there is . gosh you'd think I'd tossed a pound of turbo 24 in there

That's great news crow, I'll bet it smells great too.

I know the plums I did with natural yeast smell a lot nicer than any of the ferments with added yeast :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yeah well the grapes are supose to be picked two months ago at least so they had yeast galore on them and very over ripe :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sounds good crow.

Mother nature provides, again.

Man oh man this is like watching a tree grow :roll: I was going to put down some more but I will be getting some EC1118 , this wild yeast deal is just to damn slow for me , near on 3 weeks and still going :angry-banghead:

right got some wine yeast and pressed more grapes this evening (nearly June for Shiraz , must be almost a record for late harvest) and pitch this yeast. I also put some in the other ferment which by the taste is less than halfway fermented, bloody unreal for a heated wash

Cool both the grape juice ferments have fired the one I put down a few weeks ago had most definitely stalled, as for the marc washes well the problem is I have no way to heat them

Gosh ppl you have to see these ferments to believe it looks more like a violent rolling boil, the yeast is that EC1118 stuff. It cost me $450 for 5gms which I thought was bloody rich but I fired 3 washes with it so what the hell and you call keep the lees and reuse anyway so :handgestures-thumbupleft:

$450???? Damn, that is expensive...

crow wrote:Gosh ppl you have to see these ferments to believe it looks more like a violent rolling boil, the yeast is that EC1118 stuff. It cost me $450 for 5gms which I thought was bloody rich but I fired 3 washes with it so what the hell and you call keep the lees and reuse anyway so :handgestures-thumbupleft:

One of them has to be a typo? I pay about $9 for 25grams and that would do 100L wash.

ok peeps obviously that is suppose to read $4.50 :O)