Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Compliments of one of the local users a video on production of my FFV

https://youtu.be/G9AySqkU6L4

So this is where all the Aussie hits are coming from... :)

wolfric wrote:So this is where all the Aussie hits are coming from... :)

First posts should be in the welcome section mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

This is an amazing recipe Teddy, thanks Wolfric, your techniques prompted me to *finally* give my 160L fermenter a go, and 4 days later - 140L of distillable nectar :-)
It is almost too good to be true, I keep pinching myself to see if I wake up.

Teddy you are the Ernest Rutherford of wash recipes. Cheers mate.

Bundaboy wrote:This is an amazing recipe Teddy, thanks Wolfric, your techniques prompted me to *finally* give my 160L fermenter a go, and 4 days later - 140L of distillable nectar :-)
It is almost too good to be true, I keep pinching myself to see if I wake up.

Teddy you are the Ernest Rutherford of wash recipes. Cheers mate.

I'm sure you mean Ken Rutherford :smile:

Thanks . I am a little humbled by your comments.

I am happy to be able to share.

G'day,

I was wondering, if any of you have done this recipe on a pot still and could share some thoughts?
I only have a 2" pot still, but would like to attempt making some Gin, and would love to use this as base for it.
If I brew up 4x 25L batches, strip and then do a spirit run, followed by the botanical run, would that be doable, on a pot still?

cheers in advance :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hi Seehuusen,

Not too sure how you would go using a pot still to make gin, but this is what I would try.................

Do the fast strip of the 4 washes.

Put what you get from the strip in to the boiler at about 40% ABV.

Add some packing to the pot column, stainless or copper scrubbers, and try a slow spirit run. Keep the take off to a slow drip.

With the product from the spirit run re-distill with packing removed from column and gin botanicals placed in vapor path.

The vapor infused gin is light, for a heavier gin macerate the botanicals in the boiler.

Thanks Perigian, that was exactly what I had in mind.
My still is fairly tall, so I'd be able to add a few stainless scrubbers in there, to hopefully enhance that reflux action for the spirit run... Might do as you mentioned and add botanicals to the boiler :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers for the input!

Hi Bundaboy,

How are your FFV's going this winter, gets very chilly down your way.

I put down 4 a few weeks back and they were a little slower, took about 5 days with no insulation around the fermenters. Just about to put down another 4 and will insulate the them.

For the first time ever I used essence to make some Bourbon, never used essence before but had run out of product due to selling our house and moving, difficult to distill with open inspections. Used the FFV and essence found on ebay, made some up put it in a Mason jar with some oak and put the jar under vacuum, starting to taste not too bad. It will keep me going till I can make some more product.

Peregian wrote:Hi Bundaboy,

How are your FFV's going this winter, gets very chilly down your way.

I put down 4 a few weeks back and they were a little slower, took about 5 days with no insulation around the fermenters. Just about to put down another 4 and will insulate the them.

For the first time ever I used essence to make some Bourbon, never used essence before but had run out of product due to selling our house and moving, difficult to distill with open inspections. Used the FFV and essence found on ebay, made some up put it in a Mason jar with some oak and put the jar under vacuum, starting to taste not too bad. It will keep me going till I can make some more product.

Hi Peregian,
Sorry about the late response but, for some reason I didn't get a notification and have only just come back to the thread.

I finished a 150L batch just a couple of weeks ago.
I had a space blanket wrapped around it and was monitoring it daily for both activity. After about 2 days the temp had dropped to 22C and the activity had stopped. The hydrometer indicated it had a long way to go, fearing the worst, I dropped in one of my aquarium heaters (thanks for the advice Nino!), in what seemed like no time at all the temperature was again nudging 30C and the wash was fizzing along like a little bottler - all the way to the driest wash I have had (if the hydrometer can be believed - it was below the end of the scale!) - all within 4 days!.

Following Wolfrics method I dropped the yeast rehydration and just pitch it, I also dropped the blender step in favour of just a good stir, and I also now go the whole route with just the lid sitting on loosely (no bubbler) which makes it easy to have a thermometer, hydrometer, and the heater sitting in the wash - I just have to take a peak now and then - it's all too easy!

Keeping the FFV warm has been the trick without a doubt.

In summary, I now just do one big 150L wash, no rehydration, no blendering, no air lock, just keep it warm and cosy and it's seemingly fool proof.
The only thing I need to do is buy a bigger pot to boil up the bran - it fits now, but only just so I have to keep a very close eye on it - being the chap I am it's a good idea for me to have some head room.

I should also say I have been using the woolies natural bran which works great, I also experimented with the Coles' version - it went like porridge but seem to work ok, but I have now gone back to the stock food bran - when I got it home I found it had heaps of live weevils in it so I stuck it in the freezer for a week - we'll see how it goes.

I am still stuck on essences unfortunately, I have made Laphroaig, Glennfiddich, Irish Whiskey, Johnny Walker Black, Tullamore Dew, and my last, just to get rid of some of the unused parts of my Whiskey Profile Kit, a Bourbon which was ok... but I really am a Scotch guy ;-)

I also made some Kahlua which was very well received, my neighbours like to have it poured over ice cream as a dessert.

I would like to a) Get off the essences somehow, and b) get off the filtering - or find a more economical, high capacity system so I can do the lot in one go if possible.

Another possibility is to go bulk essence just to simplify the whole process, but also to always have something at hand if I am in a hurry. $50 for enough to flavour 30 litres is not too bad.

I am intrigued with you putting the oaking Bourbon under a vacuum - is that done with a Canning Vacuum Unit or something similar?

Cheers, and once again thanks for all your help.

Woodsy71 wrote:I'm sure you mean Ken Rutherford :smile:

The cricketer? I seem to recall the name, oh yes he captained NZ in the 90s?

No, definitely Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, FRS - why, next to Edmund Hillary, surely the most well known NZer of all time? ;-)

Earnest, by all accounts, was the sort of chap who would do a bit of moonshining on the side after a hard day's splitting of the atom. ;-)

Re weevils.
The cold will kill them alright.

Once you have cooked the bran and put into the wash they will all float to the top and can be scooped out with a fine mesh filter.

The resultant wash wont be affected at all.

(advised from experience)

Yep, the only difference now and when I started months ago, is that now the weevils will be dead before going into the boiling pot, the yeast were considering them lobster and becoming indolent ;-)

Bundaboy wrote:Yep, the only difference now and when I started months ago, is that now the weevils will be dead before going into the boiling pot, the yeast were considering them lobster and becoming indolent ;-)

...and, of course, not eating the bran and creating lots of moths lol. The last lot turned into larvae and went travelling throughout the laundry. Just a warning to newbies.

Bundaboy, thank's for the detailed update, sounds like you have things well and truly under control these days.

I put down 4 x 23 liters washes last Saturday and they are just about to finish, wash temp is down to 26 deg C, had them wrapped in a sleeping bag so the temp drop over 3 days was not too bad. The only thing I am doing a bit different is adding about 100 grams of kibbled rye, so it's 250 grams bran and 100 grams rye, seem to work OK. Mainly making Gin but did use a little for the Bourbon essence.

Pics for the Ball Mason jar vacuum set up are below, I hope.

Pic 1 is the jar with vac adapter fitted and the vac pump ready to pull a vacuum on the jar.

Pic 2 is the jar with the vac adapter fitted.

Pic 3 is the jar, vacuum cap and a cheap hand held battery vac pump that is quick and easy to use and seems to work OK.

Simple set up that works well, the oak I used has been soaked in separate jars of Madeira, Sweet Sherry and Shiraz, get the oak in bulk from a oak keg maker on the north side of Brisbane, $5 per kilo for off cuts, all odd shapes so need to trim to a standardized size before toast and char, they have American and French oak. Only tried the American so far but will try the French next time I purchase some.

Very, very interesting, I had been meaning to look up (or ask) about the concept of "macerating" the chips with sherry or port etc. It sounds like a good idea to me.

I have purchased several rough sawn offcuts of American white oak with the idea of making small barrels (of the Mighty Pint type), I really need quarter sawn (hard to get) but thought this would do for a prototype, if it leaks I can chip it up maybe.

If it works they would make great gifts.

Thanks again for the info, have found a source for the vacuum sealer, looks like you have to get the Mason jar adapter separately?

This is fairly well :text-offtopic:

Sam. wrote:This is fairly well :text-offtopic:

Hmmm discussing how to finish and serve the recipe is off topic? Ok boss, I 'spose it's generic. ;-)

This topic is the continued discussion on Teddy's Fast Fermenting Vodka, if you want to soak oak chips in vodka then maybe another thread may be in order and I can happily move these posts to it for you ;-)