Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Thanks Ezi, I have ordered 25kg Distillers Malt and 5kg Mild Smoked and with delivery comes to about $120, made mistakes in the past with heaps of grain so can get expensive when things go wrong.

I was thinking may be about 1/2kg smoked to about 6kg distillers to start with, will get 4 ferments from the 25kg.

Is it smoked or peated?

coffe addict wrote:Exciting times, I'll be interested to know your thoughts on how much difference being able to control the temp makes to conversion and flavour.

+1 very much looking forward to this, especially seeing what effeciency I get. Have read lots people on forum getting 80% without trying. Be fun scaling up also :D :twisted:

hi bluc, it is "Gladfield Mild Peat Smoked Malt"

Peated dang i would have suggested to get the heavy peated as you get more bang for your buck.
I did 4kg light peat and 10kg ale male it was a nice drop but I reakon for the money get heaviest peated you can get. Do 100% peated then blend with 100% un peated. At varying amounts. I think the heavy peated distillers malt is same price as light or medium peated.. is what my plan of attack is..

Good work bluc, all the info in this thread is a good read! :text-thankyoublue:
I plan on doing a mash soon, since getting my malt, mill and a very soon a mash tun sorted. For a start im gonna use a 50ltr eski and have a play before i set up a propper mashing vessel.
Ive got a buggered washing machine sitting there which i hope to use a piece of the bowl for a false bottom.
I plan to just hold my mash at around 65 deg and have a go at sparging. Ive read a few posts saying its necessary to hold initial temp at 50 deg for a start to help with puking when distilling. Do you do anything like this?
If this is important to do, would it work if i put roughly 2ltrs/kg of grain in at 50 degs and then top up with further 1ltr/kg of hotter water to get to the 65 degs.
I dont have a setup to really heat water further once in the tun thats all.

Thanks bluc, will take your advice and do the blend method, makes a lot more sense and can balance the flavors to suite taste.

Hey dan only just getting into step mashing. I have most of the stuff for a craftbeerpi controller but am starting off with a simple controller bout $50. Stc-300 i believe, and a rims tube. I think active temp control and circulation are key for good effeciency and flavour. My first attempts last year were ok but a bit grassy, maybe needs to be aged longer( i see another barrel off on the horizon :D ). Look forward to hearing of your technique's feel free to post here more detailed info the better I reakon, which is the goal of this thread. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

No worries perrigian look forward to seeing how you go also dont be shy post up ya findings :dance:

Wondering about rims tube placement. Does it matter? Thinking of putting it vertical up near top of tun so the heated wort has to travel minimal distance before getting back on top of grain bed. This be ok? Is there some reason whh people have them down below the mash tun? :-B

No test run today unfortunately decided it wants to drizzle :handgestures-thumbdown: :cry:

Couple pics of mash tun setup
False bottom


Underside of false bottom


Ball valve and thermoport fitted


Shot of false bottom in place

Looks good Bluc :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Maybe a stainless one one day like yours josh :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Looks good mate, pretty muchly the same as mine.
I doubt placement of the rims will make alot of difference but excess hose might.
I bought insulation for the outside of mine but haven't fitted it yet, might try getting it glued on for my next mash

Yea been wondering about insulation also...might look into it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:Also wondering I normally do 4l to 1kg final volume. When recirculating what happens if I add the whole 4l per kg at start recirc till conversion complete then drain. Will I get as good as efficiency as if I mashed at 3l per kg then sparged with 1l per kg? :-B

G'day Bluc,
A lot of people do full volume mashing on the Braumeister forum without getting a drop in efficiency. A Brau is a rims type system.
I've done it myself with good results but went back to sparging to to ease in my situation.

ok cool thanks tipsy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:Yea been wondering about insulation also...might look into it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I wrapped a layer of Formshield from clark rubber around my mash tun and also my boiler. It keeps the heat pretty good. I reckon it was worth it.

I might turn my stainless 200l drum into a boil kettle and get as gas burner..and maybe look at a flow kill switch to stop element in case of stuck mash..

Was checking on the Gladfields Malt site and noticed they have an app available from the app store for Android and Apple.
Seems to cover most grains/malts, not just Gladfield, you can store your recipe with most of the important data for future reference or comparison, not too complicated.
Anyone interested just search the app store for "Gladfield", it is a free app.