| #57. |
| Published: 2025-05-09 [Fri] 15:25, by |
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Ran my new reflux still for the first time on 05-07, Wednesday After I took off foreshots, it stabilized at 78.3*C for nearly the entire run which means the stuff coming out was 96% ABV. Probably lost some due to evaporation, but wow. The takeoff rate was pretty slow because I'm using a hack until I buy a proper needle valve. 500ml per 2 hours. But still, 96%! I fed some old tails and heads from other runs into the boiler with most of a bucket of 12% ABV sugar wine that had breakfast cereal soaking in it for flavor. Some of the breakfast cereal notes carried through but it smells and tastes ultimately like a rum. Dilute down to the low 40%s and I ended up with 6 liters from 12 hours of operating time. Based on my math, the ~80cm of packing in a 2" pipe is achieving 13 or 14 "plates" worth of distillation when refluxing. A stripping run normally takes me 8 hours to pull out 4L of 40% that have a lot of off flavors, and running 18L of ~35% takes 9 hours to extract ~3L of "hearts" around 70%. So big picture, the reflux saves a lot of time for producing a clean, strong spirit. going to do another reflux experiment next week with the bran sugar wash, curious how it will compare to the cereal sugar wash. I suspect it will taste like a pretty good whisky. There are hints of whisky flavor in my breakfast cereal reflux (some of the heads/tails I dumped in were from my bran sugar wash spirit run) but it ultimately tastes more like rum than anything. |
| #55. 2025-05 ferments |
| Published: 2025-05-02 [Fri] 18:33, by |
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A new month, a new subthread. Made 3 liters of apple cider tonight. Usually 5.5% ABV but I added enough sugar to bump them up to 8%. I prefer the lower ABVs because they ferment and age faster, but a big thing I get out of this hobby is practicing patience and appreciating things that wait in the future, so it's not a big deal. |
| #1. Homemade alcohol |
| Published: 2024-01-08 [Mon] 15:38, by |
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Interested in making booze at home? Is saving money or making delicious drinks an appeal to you? Experimenting with new recipes or techniques? This a thread for homebrewers and distillers to ask questions, give advice, or share progress reports. (Pictures and experiences are very welcome!) |