Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Lowie wrote:Hey Brendan,
Great tutorial mate. As I run a herms system in my AG brewery I was keen to use it on your recipe but seeing the porridge you made I don't thinks so!

Have you tried using a bazooka (if I knew how to insert a picture I would...) to strain your mash? If so , does it work since you posted this a few years ago? If this works will save a lot of hassle at the end.

Something like this:

That's the one :handgestures-thumbupleft:

80% Malted Rye and 20% Malted barley sucsessfuly fermenting away after another successful mash :happy-partydance:

I might have to invest in one of those thingys, it would make life so much easier :think:

rumdidlydum wrote:80% Malted Rye and 20% Malted barley sucsessfuly fermenting away after another successful mash :happy-partydance:

I might have to invest in one of those thingys, it would make life so much easier :think:

Flea Bay mate. under $10

I wonder if the bazooka might work if the corn solids are agitated with the paint stirrer?

I've just picked up a 100L kettle/HLT, and am hoping to try AG soon.

Has anyone tried putting the corn in a slow cooker overnight for gelatinisation before starting the mash?

Yes I did it works but you need a big slow cooker gotta watch it doesn't absorb all the liquid and stick and burn also..

Hmm..I think mine is only 7 or 8 litres, would probably have to batch it, unless I can keep topping it up with water until it's fully absorbed. Might have to give it a go, see if it burns.

When I did mine I added water about 1am and in morning there was a layer stuck to the bottom I left that there and and used the good stuff. But I was only doing a partial mash for the bwko recipe so was only a small amount of corn. An insulated tun definitely the way to go no chance of burning well insulated one will hold temp all night and you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to baby sit :-B

Thanks Bluc, that makes sense. I've still got some insulation left from when I did the boiler, so I might just use that around a open topped stainless keg with 40L boiling water and see how it goes overnight.

I'm wondering whether to put it all in a BIAB to make cleanup easy. (got the idea from a thread by usge on HD). I don't have a lid for the open top keg, should I attempt to seal it up to ferment in there or distribute out to 4x 25 litre fermenters with the grain and then pitch?

With all these questions I might have to start my own sugarfree saga....perhaps a porridgey pilgrimmage...

Hey everyone - I've been away for way too long!

Now I've moved into a new place, it's time to set up the distillery again! :happy-partydance:

Looking forward to chatting and sharing ideas with everyone :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Brendan wrote:Hey everyone - I've been away for way too long!

Now I've moved into a new place, it's time to set up the distillery again! :happy-partydance:

Looking forward to chatting and sharing ideas with everyone :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Great to have you back mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: get that beast set up

Brendan wrote:Hey everyone - I've been away for way too long!

Now I've moved into a new place, it's time to set up the distillery again! :happy-partydance:

Looking forward to chatting and sharing ideas with everyone :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Same mate, welcome back!

Welcome back mate! Don't go looking for progress on Agrajag :laughing-rolling: I do have a bubbler bubbling now though!

Zak Griffin wrote:Welcome back mate! Don't go looking for progress on Agrajag :laughing-rolling: I do have a bubbler bubbling now though!

Haha, searching Agrajag = 0 results returned. Only joking Zak!

It's a long-term hobby, and progress can be slow. Even though I drift away every now and again, I see that beautiful shiny copper in the shed and open a container of malted grain and the passion comes right back! :dance:

What % do you try get your wort to I've done a bastardised version of a few methods to accommodate for the equipment I used and it's 6% by my calculations but didn't really get much gelatinisation but just kept it going as my first experiment of all grain

Brendans origional recepie says sg of 1.060 (7.5%) so your not far off at 6%.
The rye version of this is my staple and i bump the corn up to 8kg and normally hit 10%. It gives me alittle more product for the same ammount of work. I havent noticed any adverse effects at that abv using American whisky yeast.
The corn must be milled to a flour to get a good sg.
Get a mop bucket like this as it makes squeezing grains alot easier -

https://m.ebay.com.au/itm/Mop-Bucket-Wr ... nav=SEARCH

Has anyone tried using flaked corn. I'm told it doesn't turn to a gelatinous pourage and is easier to work with.

Had a crack at a corn AG using my esky mashtun. Won't be doing that again, complete PIA transferring grains and manifold blocking/esky not draining well.

So I have a brew keggle - electric element fitted/drain valve/no false bottom, and was thinking BIAB options, for an all in one vessel heat/mash/ferment.
The process I was thinking, heat water to boiling, add corn and continue heating/boiling for some time to get corn gelatinization.
Cool down, mash in grains, wait for mash to finish, cool down, pitch yeast ferment.

Now, I suspect that BIAB is not entirely feasible
1) stirring might be problematic -> tearing the fabric, bag comes loose and everything ends up inside.
2) if the bag touches the element whilst heating, it is likely to melt/burn.

Then I thought, what if some stainless mesh was installed above the element. It would solve 2)
and might allow doing away with bag entirely as larger corn solids won't go thru the screen.

Thoughts/opinions ?

Wonder what a sheet costs:-
http://www.metalmesh.com.au/product/perforated-metal-stainless-steel

I noticed my stash was getting low. Had only 3L left with 3yrs age. So went and picked up another 20kg bag of corn with pilsner and rye malts.
Did 3x of 2x25L washes using 6.6kg corn 1.5kg rye and 1kg pils
Pot stilled it this time in lieu of bubbler - something different
Yielded 5L @65% out of all that.
So for around $100 you get 8L @ 40% :handgestures-thumbupleft:

How did it turn out spoonjab?? Mega curious :handgestures-thumbupleft: