/ck/ - Food & Cooking

What are you making anon?

Roughly a gallon of 92.5% moonshine for $20. Fun hobby. Make a lot of friends.

Used a sugar wash for a change, normally I use dextrose. Waiting to see how it turns out.

>>12434535
Can you give us a run down of your rig, distillanon? :-)

>>12434570
Still Spirits T500 with most of the stainless steel packing replaced with copper packing. Cooling flow pump to help regulate output temp.
Lots of people dislike the T500 but I consistently get 3.4 to 3.8 litres of 92.5% per run. I use 7-8 kg of sugar or dextrose plus a Still Spirits turbo yeast.
Takes about 5-7 days to ferment, an additional 24 hours to sediment out the trub, and about 5 hours to distill.
The whole rig, including fermenter and ingredients for first run, cost me under 500 dollarydoos. Federal tax payable on the spirits from just one run would probably be $250 if I were buying commercially, so $500 for the setup wasn't a bad deal.
I don't drink as much as I used to (having copious amounts of booze on hand makes getting drunk less of a thing) so I often use the booze to trade for fresh veggies, services etc.

You might want to look into stills if you're a daredevil. They're legal to own in many places, just not to use for making spirits for human consumption. That said, the cops generally have better things to do, so as long as you keep what you make to yourself and don't tell others you're a moonshiner, you'll be fine.
There are several companies, including Still Spirits, that make booze flavorings too. You just add the flavors to a couple of liters of properly diluted neutral spirits and you get a drink that's almost exactly like the real thing.
I've served my scotches, brandies and rums to people without telling them they're home made, and nobody has ever picked up on it.

This is highly illegal. Reported

>>12434682
>>12434720
Thanks for all the info! I've always wanted to make my own, but the hardest thing is usually taking the plunge into buying the equipment. I'm sure it takes a few botched batches to understand how to fine tune things in the beginning processes.

I'll look up what you posted and start budgeting. :-)

>>12434535
Column still is best for vodka distillation. Most of the mash flavor is lost in it so i hope your not making whiskey or rum.

I've been making booze for 8 years now.

>>12434806
How dangerous is making it indoors? Any crazy stories/incidents you've experienced ?

>>12434806

There are two ways to run a a column still. In refluxing or pot still mode. Refluxing requires you to have a heat sink aggregate in the column itself. It's like distilling gasoline, you have gasoline at the top and every other distillate forms at its own temperature level.

>>12434819

Column stills run at 1 atmosphere. It's not dangerous at all as long as you don't allow the condenser to fail. If the condenser fails the area will smell like et0h. If it reaches combustion, you've failed for a very long time. It's not dangerous at all. It's like running a coffee maker.

>>12434737
only in the land of free(America)

>>12434819

The worst fails I've had over hundreds of stills is my pond pump caught an air bubble. My apartment smelled like booze for 5 minutes and a hose popped off my liebig. Water on the floor. fixed in 30 seconds.

>>12434824
what do you just pull all the packing out to make it pot style

The most fun I've had with distilling is the copper craft.

>>12434843

I have two DWV 3 inch copper tubes. One is empty, one is packed with copper.. its like a mouse deterant. It's a cheap fully copper mess.

>>12434767
I found the T500 to be virtually idiot proof (must be if I can use it).
Most important thing is temperature control, try to get the column running at about 55° centigrade at the outlet and it makes a pretty nice neutral spirit.
My first batch was done at about 65° and it was a little funky. Second run was much cleaner.
Super important things to remember: you absolutely cannot allow any yeast residue into the boiler. Having yeast residue run through your still will give the final product an off flavor. It's also not 'set and forget': you need to check the still every few minutes. Always discard the first 70-100 ml as this will contain unwanted alcohols and anything that dissolves off the column. And don't try to get all the booze, once the still output drops to 1 drop every 2-3 seconds, shut down. Oh, and the T500 instructions say to wait for it to heat before running the cooling water- this is dangerous, you have to run the cooling from the start of the distilling process.
>>12434802
I make neutral spirits and flavor them at bottling, see previous posts.

>>12434887

Seen a lot of people who like the t500 on /r/firewater. If you don't want to build your own it's a good unit. Popular in Aus. I think. If you don't buy out of the box, go to homedistiller.org.

>>12434887
how do you clarify

>>12434887

Ok, about yeast in the still, that's bullshit. Go to http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/calculator.htm

For the cheapest sugar wash that does not create fancy molecules that taste like shit. Turbo yeast is your enemy. Do it with bakers yeast and natural elements and you have a sugar wash that will distill with yeast fragments all you want. Don't create those high order fragments that yeasts make when they're stressed to hell.

>>12434895
I love homedistiller.org! Their guides and calculators are fantastic.
There's a lot of snobbery about the T500 but I'm very happy with it. I was looking at building a bokakob but it would have ended up costing me almost as much as the T500 anyway, plus with a lower capacity boiler.
I'm going to get the T500 pot and alembic arm setup and start doing proper grain/molasses mashes for rums, bourbons and whiskies before too long. Also want to get a parrot head, if only to have more copper for the spirit to run through after condensation.

Here's the recipe I've been running for about 6 years.

115L of water
30Kg Sugar
1326ml tomato paste (8.5cans)
5tsp Citric Acid
380g Yeast
1 tsp Epsom salt
2 campden tablets in water

I do that with 2 Brute food safe garbage containers. It takes 5 days for them to ferment from 1.085 to 1.000 and after that they end up at .990.

BEST BOOZE EVER. I drink the low wines. SAF Yeast. Walmart tomato paste.

>>12434926

What I meant was, I double that. 2 Brute 2 recipes. Use the.. 150L container or whatever it is.

>>12434901
The Still Spirits ferm packs I use come with a two-part clarifier that works very well.
>>12434911
Hey man, you do you. I got a T500 after an acquaintance of mine got one, he used standard brewers yeast in sugar washes and didn't clarify beyond allowing the trub to settle. His booze always tastes like something died in it. I clarify mine, rack it and leave it for another 24 hours before distilling and I always get super clean results. Not saying your way is wrong, just that mine works fine for me so I'm not about to change.

>>12434914

Yeah man. I spent about 600 bucks and I've saved 10s of thousands over the years now. Sad to say. Don't believe I even have a liver at this point. My jackson crossflow, I've never heard of anyone doing that. It was a lot of precision work

>>12434949
I've been a home brewer for years (beer and cider) but only took the distilling plunge about 18 months ago.
My most recent liver function test was in January and I passed it with flying colors so that's a good thing. But like I said, I have such easy access to booze now that I don't feel the need to smash it and make the most out of every drop. So I have actually been drinking less overall than I was drinking five years ago.

>>12434945

Well, on a second distillation your booze from birdwatchers should taste like a weak vanilla extract because of the vanillin if you're getting anywhere close to azeotropic alcohol.

>>12434988
I don't do a second pass, I do one run, dilute and charcoal filter, works fine.

Enjoy methanol poisoning

>>12435080

So, nothing traditional. Glad it works.

>>12435092
you only get methanol from fruit but everybody throws away the first few oz. anyways. Also how do you suppose they get the methanol out of beer and wine?

>>12435093
Like I said, T500 is designed to be idiot proof.
Maybe one day I'll do a second run, but for the time being it's fine.

>>12434895
>>12434887
what do you guys think the bare minimum size is 10gal /35L?

>>12435245
I just got 4 liters of 92.5% out of a 20 liter wash. This makes about 8.2 liters at 45% ABV. Unless you have a plan to on-sell or have an extended family of alcoholics, 20 litres of wash should be fine.

>>12435367
yeah but time, effort, electricity seems like anything under 10gal /35L is just a waste of time. back when i was 14yo i built a 1 gal pot still and it was a waste of time (although amazing quality)

>>12435630
You asked me what I thought the bare minimum was, I gave my opinion. If you already had your mind made up that a ten gallon still was what you wanted, why the fuck did you even ask? Faggot.

>>12434682
I got the t500 as well. The one with the copper column though. Only done one run so far. Fucked it. Thing started surging like crazy halfway through the run. Ended up spewing wash into my collection jug. So essentially I was left with 50% spirit cut with 50% wash. Measured it at 60%ish abv. Still drank it regardless.

Next run I'm gonna go super simple. Regular arse sugar, bread yeast, tomato paste. I was reading on a distilling forum the best way to get results out of the t500 is to just run the water inlet full bore from the start and let it take however long it needs to take.

Did you do heads, hearts and tails collection or just run it all into a big jug like the instructions say?

>>12434546
Noob here, how can you be positive you got the methanol and other impurities out? Do you just toss out the foreshot and heads, or do you do that AND run it through the still a second or third time?

>>12436196
methanol poisoning and exploding stills are a meme. realistically you can throw out the first 50ml and be fine. If you throw out 100ml there is practically zero chance of methanol poisoning. It's all just bullshit to scare you into paying more taxes.

>>12436196
You dump the early part of the stream and only start bottling after that. You won't get it all out, but it will be diluted enough to not matter.

>>12434845
fuck me that looks incredible. How did you make the helices?

>>12436196
the process itself is not rocket science if you are a normally intelligent human being.

https://youtu.be/LDtcRnIhzi8

ignore the fact that the guy in video may or may not be an actual rocket scientist.

>>12436159
If it’s surging, there are a few possible causes. Too much wash in the still, not enough distilling conditioner, poorly regulated water supply or (most likely) your column is too tightly packed.
Do you have ceramic ballast weights? Do you use distilling conditioner? And have you unpacked and repacked your column? You really want to not pack tightly as this will increase boiler pressure until it can push through head pressure, leading to surges.
I’d recommend you don’t go cheap on the wash, get a $16 Still Spirits ‘classic 8’ pack you can use with 8kg of sugar. Comes with turbo yeast and nutrients, charcoal solution to absorb nasties, and a two-part clarifier.
I run water from the start but I also use a water regulator to keep everything ticking along if water pressure changes (ie someone flushes a toilet).
I chuck the heads and just bottle the rest, shutting down the still when it gets to one drop every 2 seconds.

>>12436913
is there actually a difference between heads, hearts, tails on a reflux still. isn't refluxing going to mix it all together? and elaborate on this charcoal solution?

>>12436839

I twisted them around a broomstick, very carefully. You can fill the copper with sand but I didn't.

>>12436913

It's fun making a still. That liebig has a center tube that I crimped with pliers every quarter inch so the product would slosh down it, cooling it faster in a shorter length.

>>12436945

foreshots, heads, hearts and tails are VERY different in a balanced column.

You take them all off at different specific temperatures in different containers.

>>12438410

On a column still it's basically this, but with sharper cuts.

>>12436945
I used to split out my 4 litres over 5-6 collection vessels, but I found the T500 really doesn’t have much of a difference in output. I still toss the foreshots but now I just drain it into a couple of clip top jars.
The charcoal filtering is another product from the same company that makes the still. It’s a pair of stacking buckets with a charcoal filter between them. You pour your diluted spirit in the top bucket and it runs through the filter into the bottom bucket.

>>12439015

Is the column on a t500 packed?

>>12439015
i have one of those carbon /bucket setups to filter my well water for drinking, i have a fish tank air pump/air stone in the top bucket to bubble out the methane gas to get rid of that fart smell

>>12439105

It's all to bond with the conjoiners of terrible fermentation caused by turbo yeast.

>>12439105

You need to make real booze, without carbon filtering.

>>12439134
haven't made any since i was 12yo, but i had a 1gal pot still with a copper coil, used bread yeast and brown sugar and it came out absurdly good aside from the exceptional amount of work of needing to run a million batches and then rerun them 3 times. reminded me of jameson whiskey but a lot smoother and way higher proof

>>12439359

Is our still a pot still?

>>12439100
Yeah, they come with a big handful of copper saddles and a heap of stainless steel saddles. I’ve replaced almost all the stainless steel in mine with copper saddles.
>>12439111
>>12439134
Like I said earlier, you do you. This isn’t a competition, stop trying to be ‘right’ you gatekeeping dickhead.

>>12439359

Sorry, you said it was. Yeah. you'll end up with 65% max yield in an alembic pot. That's how scotch makers produce their booze.

>>12439359
>he doesn’t use thumpers
That was your first mistake.

>>12439369

If you can drink it, youve' succeeded. I just want people to have options. Best taste, cheapest booze. I'm on your side entirely.

>>12439364
it was back when i still lived in NC where i could get away with it, used a 1 gal pressure cooker and twenty foot of copper coil. it really wasn't worth the amount of work, especially since bread yeast only gets to about 5% but i was a kid and determined

>>12439369

Copper eats sulfer, so copper all the time. It normalizes all your booze.

>>12439389

Bread yeast will attenuate at 12 or 13%. Don't get tricked. It dies happy and it tastes great.

>>12439373

No one needs thumpers, they're inefficient second stage units. Do a stripping run, then do a product run. Same thing, better product.

If you're a real distiller look up yeast attenuation.

>>12439404
i used 5 tbsp of bread yeast and one pound of sugar per 5 gal so i highly doubt i got anywhere above 5%. there wasn't as good of information back then

We need someone who worked at Lagavulin or Bowmore to tell us what we're doing wrong. I haven't heard a real authority here yet.

>>12439442

I can't deconstuct but my recipe is,
115L of water
30Kg Sugar
1326ml tomato paste (8.5cans)
5tsp Citric Acid
380g Yeast
1 tsp Epsom salt
2 campden tablets in water

That ferments at about 35 degrees at an insane pace until it's finished at around 13%

>>12439465

5 days.

>>12439465
first time i saw you post that recipe, i thought it was a typical 4chan poison recipe that probably made cyanide or mustard gas but upon further research it appears you have a pretty spot on recipe

>>12439515

It's shuggo, but its amazing. It ferments like it wants to. Make it, you'll see.


http://shuggo.com/birdwatchers/calculator.htm

>>12435141
You don't. But the methanol in beer is highly diluted. The problem with methanol in spirits is that it's extremely high especially in the first few pulls because of it's much lower boiling point vs ethanol.

>>12439541

all booze has methanol, you piss it out.

>>12439557
I didn't say that it didn't, buddy.

>>12439541
the cure for methanol is more ethanol, if you ever feel a touch of the blindness coming on just drink more, it'll fix you up in no time

>>12439449
Meh, I’m happy being an amateur with results like this.

This is what a birdwatchers pitch looks like about 15 minutes after the yeast is added. It ferments out from 1.085sg to 1.000 in 5 days and then about 7 days to .990.

>>12436913
I used all the fancy still spirits stuff on that first run. Like I got the t500 in the pack with all the turbo yeast, their sugar and the clarifier and all that.

I used the ceramic saddles in the bottom of the still like it says to in the instructions and the boil enhancer or whatever it is that comes in the kit. I did it all exactly how it said to in the instructions.

I couldn't tell you if the column is packed too tight. it came pre-packed. Figured they'd know better than me, so didnt fuck with it.

>>12438377
You have basic guide you used at first?

>>12441741

Homedistiller.org have forums that are a gods gift to making anything. From there you can do anything.

>>12442126
>Homedistiller.or
cheers m8

>>12441707

Ceramic isn't the best for a fractionating column, if you can get something with a better heat transfer coefficient and specific heat capacity. It will let the column be more precise in its fractionation.

>have still
>"im gernna merk mer errn beerze "
>meanwhile land and sky are being co-opted ,stolen and raped for pic related

>>12442183

jism hockey marmalade.

Moonshine kino : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glQjCKAI4gA

>>12439364

Any still that doesn't have "things in the way" is a pot still. It can be alembic or a straight column without packing. They're all pot stills.

>>12442269

Is that Cotton McChips? Dudes a legend. Popcorn. Dude shines.

>>12442269

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE

>Sutton committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in March 2009, aged 62, rather than report to federal prison after being convicted of offenses related to moonshining and illegal firearm possession. Since his death, a new company and associated whiskey brand have been named after him.
LAND OF THE FREE

>>12442285

America is like the Soviet Union, only they're pretend free. You learn this late in life.

>>12442147
The ceramics are heat ballast for the boiler, not the column.
>>12441707
Best to unpack the column and repack it, don’t shake it down as stuff goes in. You want it lightly packed not tightly packed

>>12442269
You don't see too many thin people any more.

>>12443609

ceramic isn't heat ballast for anything. Ceramic is what they put on the space shuttle to keep it from heat. it's not a heat ballast at all.

>>12443934
You’re an idiot. Different ceramics have different functions.
When you pour hot coffee into a ceramic coffee cup, does the cup stay cool to the touch?
Moron.

>>12444072

You entirely don't understand how a factionating column works and you call me a moron. Ceramic is an insulator, copper absorbs heat. You're the fucking idiot, you understand that now right?

>>12444072

Where'd you go, dipshit? Tell me about the thermal properties of clay.

>>12444072

where'd you go, you stupid cunt?

>>12444146
No, YOU don’t have any knowledge of the specific model of still I and the other guy are discussing, and yet you keep butting in to ‘correct’ things that aren’t wrong in this specific instance.
A ceramic is a metal and a non metal bonded ionically, and as such, they have different properties depending on their constituent materials.
Metals absorb heat, so do most ceramics. And when their mass is thermally saturated above ambient, they will transmit this heat both in radiant and convective formats.

>>12444261

HAHAHAHAHAHA.. and as such? Jesus christ. You fucking kids.

>>12442285
>>12442297
>break the law
>get punished
>DUDE WTF I THOUGHT THIS WAS AMERICA
shut up Randy

>>12444261

There are two reasons copper is used in a still, it is thermally "permissable" and it eats sulfur. You idiots don't know even one of those two things. Go watch the Lagavulin video to get yourself on board.

>>12444289

Or.. fuck off, idiot? How does that work for your dumb ass? I imagine you secretly feel like a fucking idiot.

>>12434535
Not once have I been able to keep the temp stable for the whole time. At most like 20mins before it goes up.
Fucking aggravating.
>>12434544
He's making ethanol from a sugar wash. I generally just drink it as is as its a bit of a vodka taste since its similar.

>>12434895
Yeah its popular here in aus because its relatively cheap and its made next door in new zealand. Actually that reminds me I think NZ is the only country in the world where its fully legal.

>>12444355
The best thing you can do is get one of the water pumps (the blue thing in OP photo). If your output temp is all over the place it’s either because your cooling water is changing temperature (unlikely) or it’s changing flow pressure.
I also use a large soft copper coil in the base of the boiler to add thermal mass and strip sulphur, that helps keep the temp relatively stable. I can generally ‘set and forget’ and have output stay within a couple of degrees of 55 Celsius.

>>12444381
Oh I haven't thought of a water pump since the flow rate is so small, i just use an adjustable valve in the tap/faucet.
I throw a handful of marbles in the still just for peace of mind when it comes to soaking up some heat.
Might look for a cheap water pump and see, because standing around for 3 hours watching it is a pain in the arse.

>>12444402
The people that make the T500 make that flow regulator, it’s a good investment.

>>12442269
i wonder if there's any of that likker left hid in the woods or someone's pantry somewheres

>>12446112
If we're still digging up hoards of Roman gold coins, it's pretty likely that we'll start digging up some hick's moonshine cache.
That said, you're still better off making your own.

>>12446112
yes, i lived right there and you'uns wouldn't believe what you missed. i know a few guys that still have a jar, its the kind of thing you break out for a special celebration