Overwhelmed

[Woodsy71]

Welcome Prawnz :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yours is a familiar story china!

Anymore info you can give us?

We are here to help noobs out of the woods! As Julio Inglisias once sang...De nina a mujer

Ok, i'm too pissed to be here...tufftitties :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[warramungas]

one way doc describes how he reuses his carbon is boil the carbon for an hour then put in a preheated oven at 250 degrees for another hour to re activate.. carbon IS reusable, get a stock up and just clean and reactivate as you need.

I've heard that one. Dont really believe it though. To burn off all the fusels and reactivate the carbon you need to be up above 250 degrees Celsius. You might get a modicum of a clean in a boil and conventional oven but it wouldn't work as if it was new. Cleaning and reusing would just be a case of rapidly diminishing returns.
It might burn some of the fusels out in a pyrolytic oven which can get to 500 degrees but usually carbon is activated at much higher temperatures than that. Pyrolytic ovens usually only operate at high temp for a short time so might not be so good. Would love to give some a go in the xrf fusion machine at work at 1600 degrees but I reckon even activated carbon wouldn't survive that in the same condition it went in at. (And the shit I'd get in playing with the platinum ware!)
And yes, I even had a crack according to instructions off the web and stunk the hell out of my kitchen for hours.
For the amount of money it costs and the results fresh carbon gives I'll just stick with the fresh stuff.

If I was using massive quantities and it was quite an investment I'd invest in a high temp steam generation plant to kick it in the nuts.

[prawnz]

Orite , heres where I'm at . The first wash I put thru went pretty well (well I thought so anyway) . I got 3.8lt at % 92 . Cut to % 40 I put 4lt on bourbon chips , 2.5lt on rum barrel chips and the remainder , bit over a litre , I did with bourbon essence . The essence stuff was ok but ordictably essence like :puke-huge: . The rum chip brew is doable byt a bit sharp . The lot on bourbon chips tho is very fiiiiine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The currant wash ive got going should be ready for running on Sat so what I'm going to do is take the saddles out of my beast and do a stripping run . Then put it back together and do the spirit run .

Cupla questions before I do .

Do I take out the nasties ( nail polish, etc) on the strippng run or just leave them in till the spirit run ? Or perhaps discard the first 50 from each run ?

When I dilute for the spirit run does it matter if I go way below % 40 , say to 30 or so , or does it need to be 40 ?


Cheers Al

[scythe]

Most people and pros try to age on oak at 65% ABV as it brings out the desirable flavours faster.

Yes take cuts on both runs, ditch the first 50-100ml from both runs, heads and tails can go in the spirit run.

It does not need to be at 40%, under is fine, above 40% there is a large risk of fire as the ethanol is now flamable on its own.

[prawnz]

Welcome Prawnz :handgestures-thumbupleft:



Ok, i'm too pissed to be here...tufftitties :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thanks Woodsy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hows the head fog this morning ? :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

[prawnz]

Most people and pros try to age on oak at 65% ABV as it brings out the desirable flavours faster.
.

Hi scythe

Thanks for the input :handgestures-thumbupleft:

When you say "age on Oak" do you mean chips ? Coz (as I'm sure everyone is aware) barrels are way expensive .

Cheers Al

[scythe]

Not so much chips as dominoes, I have some from 5star, but you can make your own.
You want minimal end grain exposed to limit the amount of tannins that are pulled out.

There are a few good theads on the topic of oaking and dominoes on this forum.

[prawnz]

Jeez , they aren't bloody cheap .

Had a look today at a non turbo shop . $35 for a kg bag of dominos .

Bit rich for me .

I've got some spirit on bourbon chips that are more like shavings , tastes beaut .

I've also got a couple of lt on rum barrel chips , it's a great colour but the taste is not as smooth as the bourbon .

[Sam.]

For dominoes try these http://www.5stardistilling.net/american ... inoes-1kg/

If you think it is dear just remember that for long term aging you would only use 15g per litre of 65% ABV. 1kg will get you a long way :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[rumdidlydum]

Thats 66.666666667 litres of 65% spirit, even if you only use them once. 8-}
Their's my math skills for the year :laughing-rolling:

[Sam.]

Thats 66.666666667 litres of 65% spirit, even if you only use them once. 8-}
Their's my math skills for the year :laughing-rolling:

Yep couldn't be fucked working it out, or so much per litre, would equate to fuck all.

Then compare that to the HBS "chips" :scared-eek:

[prawnz]

Ok , well what I was Looking at weren't dominos then , more like chunks .

[Kenster]

Prawnz.. do u have any mates with fruit trees?
Seasoned/dry apple/cherry wood is really quite good... i have used cherry wood..(just pruned branches with the bark removed..no charring, works pretty good...VERY cheap) geat colour... not bad flav...
Apparently, most fruit wood is good... peach, nectarine/pear whatever... give it a try...after you have dried it out...even hickory is supposed to be OK .. the stuff they use in Webber Cookers...Bunnings..

[Sam.]

Prawnz.. do u have any mates with fruit trees?
Seasoned/dry apple/cherry wood is really quite good... i have used cherry wood..(just pruned branches with the bark removed..no charring, works pretty good...VERY cheap) geat colour... not bad flav...
Apparently, most fruit wood is good... peach, nectarine/pear whatever... give it a try...after you have dried it out...even hickory is supposed to be OK .. the stuff they use in Webber Cookers...Bunnings..

Don't just "give it a go".

Make sure you do your research to make sure that whatever you use it isn't poisonous.

Soaking alcohol in it then drinking is different to smoking chips.

I would suggest starting with American or French oak which are proven to be fine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[WTDist]

i agree with sam. If your unsure just use what majority of the distilleries use, white and french oak. it is not that expensive. check out the FSD store. or otherwise where are you situated. there may bea cooperage near you with off cuts. i bought a box from roll out the barrel 2 years ago and its still nearly full. all i had to do was toast and char it myself

[prawnz]

Thanks folks , this is all great info .

Toast and char ? :scared-eek: more bloody research needed :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Boy I seriously had no idea what I was getting into when I bought my second hand equipment off gumtree a few weeks ago . :-B

[rumdidlydum]

Thanks folks , this is all great info .

Toast and char ? :scared-eek: more bloody research needed :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Boy I seriously had no idea what I was getting into when I bought my second hand equipment off gumtree a few weeks ago . :-B

Its only as complex as you make it :handgestures-thumbupleft: some just stay with the basics and others are keen to get right into it and start living and breathing the whole thing 8-}
As for toast un toast try both and work out what you prefer :O)

[prawnz]

So , a small problem , or issue anyway .

Put the turbo clear in about midday , according to instructions and as of now 6pm it hasnt cleared properly . Still a fair bit of carbon in suspension .

Question is if it hasn't cleared by the morning do I still it of anyway and maybe do it twice ?

[Toddles]

Thanks folks , this is all great info .

Toast and char ? :scared-eek: more bloody research needed :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Boy I seriously had no idea what I was getting into when I bought my second hand equipment off gumtree a few weeks ago . :-B

Its only as complex as you make it :handgestures-thumbupleft: some just stay with the basics and others are keen to get right into it and start living and breathing the whole thing 8-}
As for toast un toast try both and work out what you prefer :O)

In regared to "living and breathing".

I have drank pretty hard over the years.

Home made alcohol seems to be the only one to cause my body no pain.

[EziTasting]

So , a small problem , or issue anyway .

Put the turbo clear in about midday , according to instructions and as of now 6pm it hasnt cleared properly . Still a fair bit of carbon in suspension .

Question is if it hasn't cleared by the morning do I still it of anyway and maybe do it twice ?

Not familiar with the turbo systems and how it works, but to me, if it is as simple as removing the carbon out of suspension then get some coffee filter paper and filter it out... If there is more to it, someone that has experience with this stuff will hopefully chime in soon!