Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Boomgate wrote:With a reflux still does it take out too much of the flavour for there to be any point or does it come out scotch'ish?

Depends how you run it.
I stripped my last DWWG through the pot still & then ran it through the reflux with less packing & at a faster rate to achieve ~85% and it was really nice aged on charred, toasted American Oak

when you finish cooking the mash ,,, do you strain it , or do you add everything to the fermenter ?

damn missed the edit screen,,,, do you boil it at 100% for 90min or do you step the temps like you would with a AG

Linny wrote:when you finish cooking the mash ,,, do you strain it , or do you add everything to the fermenter ?

add everything, so the yeast can really use up all the goodness.. let it clear and rack to the boiler.

Linny wrote:damn missed the edit screen,,,, do you boil it at 100% for 90min or do you step the temps like you would with a AG

even simmer for 90 mins and stir often. dwwg can boil over three times: from the boiling pot, from the fermenter and puke from the boiler. it must be watched :shock:

i think it is also better to invert the sugar separately, the nutrient extraction from the wg is supposed to be better when simmered solo.

i ended up stepping it since i added bread improver , it didnt boil over , though i did keep a close eye on temps. i read somewhere (i think HD) you know its finished when it has that oily glaze which it did, i added 500g brown sugar at the start since its hard to mix, and i added 3kg white sugar afterwards.... smells nice is thats a good indication and i havent even pitched the yeast yet since im waiting for temps to come down.

I thought you were sposed to cook the sugar to invert it. I add all the sugar, I use raw, water, juice of a lime and wheatgerm and boil/simmer it for 90 mins. My washes havent had as vigorous a ferment as what I've read about.

Cheers

Boomgate wrote:With a reflux still does it take out too much of the flavour for there to be any point or does it come out scotch'ish?

pulling flavour with your still is a tricky affair but not undoable . Run it normal to start with shut the take off off and let it get an equilibrium the bleed ya fores and heads, right now open it right up and crank the heat , geez your on electric I bet. Ok well then just run it as fast as you can in that case until you can smell/taste that wet dog . it will smear slightly doing this but you got some chance of pulling a little flavour through, will work well for white rum :handgestures-thumbupleft:

lads, i would like to give this one ago. however i cant find how much yeast for a 30lt wash (25lt), would 60grams be correct. :text-thankyoublue: g

so as I have the recipe at moment

it is

450gr wheat germ
4.5 kg sugar
2 TSP citric acid
60gr yeast

would that be right :handgestures-thumbupleft:
thanks

^ yeah looks good. i use 60-70g of lowans bakers yeast

Andy wrote:^ yeah looks good. i use 60-70g of lowans bakers yeast

Thank you


Sent via electronic carrier pigeon :)

I've got two 25L of DWWG currently fermenting away. Basically boiled up 1kg wheat germ (said stabilised on the packet which I hop is ok), 7kg white sugar and 1kg of brown sugar - what a great boil over that was. Definitely a great active ferment that's for sure - thankfully plenty of room in the fermenter, but the gladwrap over the top (don't bother with lids) is quite inflated. Stripping it on Tuesday and probably making another double batch. Looking forward to the scotch notes mentioned with this wash.

Whoops! I wonder what its like when you do 1kg wheatgerm in a 30l wash?

Still take it as neutral from the reflux? or pot still it for that cheap whiskey flavour?

Reading this thru and also the HD thread...Over on HD there's mention (but I couldn't see any conclusion), of boiling the wheat germ in a brew bag, then sparging.
Much the same as putting down a grain or BIB home brew beer.

Has anyone tried this please? Would imagine it'd make racking easier, not sure what taste effect would be though.
Cheers.

Converted from Ye Olde English
This is a very easy wash I use 10lbs (4.5KG) of sugar 16oz (450grams) of wheat germ 2 tsp of citric acid I put all of that in a 5 gallon (19L) pot fill it close to the top with rain water and let it boil for about 1 and 1/2 hours then pour it in my 6and 1/2 gallon (25L) fermenter top it off to 6 gallons (23L) total with rain water let it cool then ad my yeast. I like to use red star champiane yeast (70grams) it is only 79cents around here. it should ferment in about 3-4 days be careful i have had this recipe blow the bubbler out and put a dent in my ceiling.

I need some advice on this one guys. The missus is whinging at me for normal vodka (smirnoff) and there's not a chance in hell am I paying $35 for a 700mL bottle with my little distillery set up.
So I've got both a pot and a reflux. How should I go about this so it has a vodka taste, and not end up as a neutral?

If you want to make something that tastes like smirnoff, just leave heaps of heads in :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Zak Griffin wrote:If you want to make something that tastes like smirnoff, just leave heaps of heads in :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Haha I'm tempted, but I can't do that. What a waste it would be.

Well Smirnoff is made from wine... Tell Mrs RedBeard that she's just gunna have to get used to clean spirits!

I'm working on it! Hard to teach an old dog new tricks :laughing-rolling:
Should I run it through pot or reflux Zak?