Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I didn't want to use silicon, so I soft soldiered the stainless steel stones to copper tube to make a wand. All using the same gear as you?

I have two of them off the same pump.

Works a treat

Ive had this stuff for a long time, and got the barbed stones. Have been thiking of the best way to hold it into the carboy. The wand slides right in the hole of the cork stopper just need to drill a small vent hole and it should keep it in the centre of the carboy

almost all of us use silicone seals somewhere in our rigs

Finally all set up with my aeration system. 45l/min magnetic commercial aquarium pump with a 2 micron sanitary inline filter, 6 valve manifold to a 2 micron stainless airstone.

How gentle of an aeration would those with aeration experience recommend?

continuous aeration?

____ minutes per day on a timer?

should I aerate for the entire time it is on oak?

pics from very gentle to quite aggressive











Thanks for the input

Mine goes reasonably hard, something between your last two pics. The idea is to get the spirit moving around the oak, so I think the more the merrier.

It does speed up evaporation, so keeping it covered is important.

I leave it on 24 hours a day for 6 to 10 days, then seal and leave to age naturally for another X months. Longer the better.

To avoid over oaking, I limit the dominoes to 8g per litre.

I have made minor variations on this theme and still waiting on results, but the stuff I have done as above is coming out great.

Experiment and let us know how it goes. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

for me it is a much bigger picture than just agitating to get the flavor out of the oak.

One thing is I am interested in expediting the removal of the lighter alcohols that the angels would help take care of over time, without losing the the good alcohol in the process. Kind of like if you mix a really young spirit with sprite, how you get that "off" nose as the carbonation pulls some of the lighter alcohols into the glass.

I am assuming that gentle over longer would be preferred to accomplish both the congener/lights dissipation and expediting the oaking

Following as this is exactly what I'm looking at doing next

I've gone with a gentle bubble and have left it on 24/7. About 4 days now

Wrapped the tube in paper towel to act like bung but still let air escape

I'll see how it goes over the next week or so!!

Well I had a sample tonight.

This rum has already been on oak for about 3 months prior to starting the bubbler. Accidentally added some heads when doing the cuts but figured I'd see what would come of it.

Even that short period of time has surprisingly turned it for the better.

The initial sharpness on the tounge has almost disappeared, better body and much smoother finish. still a little off on the nose but improving quickly

Im deffinitely sold on the benefits of aeration

Did you do a side by side comparison CH3CH2OH ?

Aerated vs non aerated and how much volume did you lose to evaporation?

Yes, I kept a couple of ounces out to compare. Definitely a change in palate and the evaporation was minimal. It is also in the basement storeroom at about 16'C with a paper towel wrapped fairly tightly around the tube acting like a bung but is still able to let some air out. It must act a bit like a filter cause the paper towel definitely smells.

Unfortunately, this batch of rum is going to get rerun :sad:

Right from the start, due to taste and smell of what I put on oak, I had suspicion I accidentally added a jar of early heads when combining my cuts. After about 5 drinks last night, my headache this morning confirms my suspicions.

I have a sensitivity to many commercial alcohols, especially those with a high heads content. I have always drank higher end spirits for this reason, not always to good success but usually!!!

Wine and beer is really hit and miss as everything from the ferment is still in there. I have my couple of brands that I stick with for this reason.Thats part of the reason why I am so brutal on my cuts and why I am a fan of carbon filtering my neutrals. Also is is almost a necessity for me to make my own spirits, I can control the cuts and what is in my spirit. Thus, I can enjoy a few drinks and am not hurting my brain with the "poison" that is in many commercial spirits!!! I judge my level of poisoning by the headache I get from what I have consumed!!!

CH3CH2OH wrote:Yes, I kept a couple of ounces out to compare. Definitely a change in palate and the evaporation was minimal. It is also in the basement storeroom at about 16'C with a paper towel wrapped fairly tightly around the tube acting like a bung but is still able to let some air out. It must act a bit like a filter cause the paper towel definitely smells.

Unfortunately, this batch of rum is going to get rerun :sad:

Right from the start, due to taste and smell of what I put on oak, I had suspicion I accidentally added a jar of early heads when combining my cuts. After about 5 drinks last night, my headache this morning confirms my suspicions.

I have a sensitivity to many commercial alcohols, especially those with a high heads content. I have always drank higher end spirits for this reason, not always to good success but usually!!!

Wine and beer is really hit and miss as everything from the ferment is still in there. I have my couple of brands that I stick with for this reason.Thats part of the reason why I am so brutal on my cuts and why I am a fan of carbon filtering my neutrals. Also is is almost a necessity for me to make my own spirits, I can control the cuts and what is in my spirit. Thus, I can enjoy a few drinks and am not hurting my brain with the "poison" that is in many commercial spirits!!! I judge my level of poisoning by the headache I get from what I have consumed!!!

Amen to that

That heads component is probably why i noticed a change in only a few days.

Even basic distilling literature says ‘aerating’ is simply ‘oxygenating”. The very easiest way is what those in the painting trade call ‘boxing’ or pouring the mix from one container to another and back again, at least half a dozen times. If you have a honey gate or large dia. tap to the bottom of your container just box by opening the gate into another container is ideal. You can just box 10L this way and tip it back in again, repeating. When the mash mix is well aerated tip in the yeast and box twice more to thoroughly mix all.
If you were a boutique winery you would have a 'Must' and depending on the weather you must keep the Must warm, so in winter wrap in a woollen blanket, eider down, sleeping bag or insulation. The lid should be on but not quite sealed on one side to allow gases to escape. This should vigorously ferment as the yeast eats the sugars. Set up the Must drum where it does not need to be disturbed when you remove the must water in around 5 days time for distilling.

peter wrote:Even basic distilling literature says ‘aerating’ is simply ‘oxygenating”. The very easiest way is what those in the painting trade call ‘boxing’ or pouring the mix from one container to another and back again, at least half a dozen times. If you have a honey gate or large dia. tap to the bottom of your container just box by opening the gate into another container is ideal. You can just box 10L this way and tip it back in again, repeating. When the mash mix is well aerated tip in the yeast and box twice more to thoroughly mix all.
If you were a boutique winery you would have a 'Must' and depending on the weather you must keep the Must warm, so in winter wrap in a woollen blanket, eider down, sleeping bag or insulation. The lid should be on but not quite sealed on one side to allow gases to escape. This should vigorously ferment as the yeast eats the sugars. Set up the Must drum where it does not need to be disturbed when you remove the must water in around 5 days time for distilling.

You realize this thread is talking about aerating spirit after distilling?

While aeration will cause oxydation where chemically possible. It is the stirring and constant movement past the oak which is what I am interested in. I did some tests on whiskey white dog with oak containing wine tartrates (shiraz) the aerated whiskey was fully coloured within 4 months the un aerated took a year... It was evident that the constant movement was helping with the extraction.
Doc

the Doctor wrote:the aerated whiskey was fully coloured within 4 months the un aerated took a year... It was evident that the constant movement was helping with the extraction.
Doc

Did the aerated 4 month batch taste as good as the year aged batch doc?

I have been trying to source glass covered stir rods for my magnetic stir plate ,I can get a 5lt demi full of water moveing well with the teflon coated one's but would like glass for the high ABV oak test.cheers hillzabilly

WTDist wrote:

the Doctor wrote:the aerated whiskey was fully coloured within 4 months the un aerated took a year... It was evident that the constant movement was helping with the extraction.
Doc

Did the aerated 4 month batch taste as good as the year aged batch doc?

They were both smooth ...but the year old was better, however that was probably because it was ageing longer...we bottled off the 4 month to hold it for comparative tastings...we were comparing to using ultrasound.... In the end the best results came from a mix of aeration followed by traditional barrel ageing then a quick freshen up under bubbler before bottle...we rejected ultrasound as too aggressive.
Doc

I have just started a test with aeration, I tried the stainless airstone .05 micron and found the bubbles too heavy. I am yet to waste some more money and try the .02 micron I assume they would be better as an alternative but I got a limewood airstone as I thought it would lend itself to the task filed the hole out to fit 1/4" copper allowing me to insert it straight to the wood useing pink plumbers tape to seal.
The photo attached shows the airstone attached and working well I decided on hanging oak in muslin bags near the top,so the bubbles would circulate around oak better than on the floor of jar ( my way of thinking anyway) it started well and after an hour coloured up already look forward to taste test I have one with no aeration to see the difference

WicketNut wrote:Mine goes reasonably hard, something between your last two pics. The idea is to get the spirit moving around the oak, so I think the more the merrier.

It does speed up evaporation, so keeping it covered is important.

I leave it on 24 hours a day for 6 to 10 days, then seal and leave to age naturally for another X months. Longer the better.

To avoid over oaking, I limit the dominoes to 8g per litre.

I have made minor variations on this theme and still waiting on results, but the stuff I have done as above is coming out great.

Experiment and let us know how it goes. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Gotta ask what do you think is a better end result a lot of oak for short period or small amount for long period? :think: