Hi to all,
As the subject suggests, i'm new to distilling. I have been reading this forum a lot and even though i think i have learnt a fair bit (from knowing nothing), i know i haven't even scratched the surface of this hobby.
A mate and myself have been doing AG brewing for some years know. We have a pretty good 3 vessel setup, with a heat exchanger, pumps from tank to tank etc. We love drinking our beer, and get just as much enjoyment in sharing it with friends. We started with a fermenter and cans of goo.... Was horrible stuff. So jumped in very quickly to All Grain brewing. We purchased things we didn't end up needing, or was to small after awhile, a lot of money wasted. lol. But we go there in the end.
So seeming we had a big mashtun, we decided we might as well add a still so that we can make whiskey. We both drink just as much scotch as we do beer.
Didn't think we would make the same mistake again........... BUT MY GOD WE DID.
After reading this forum, we are kicking ourselves. After some google searches we found that for whiskey we needed a pot still (didn't want to make scotch flavored vodka).
So we jumped right in and got a 30ltr boiler (thought would be better to have 5 more litres), an alembic dome and the copper condenser that goes on it. Happy days.
After reading this, i wish we had of just gone straight into something from 5star.
So after reading up on this forum, we at least have done everything we can for some quality whiskey. We have substituted the rubber hose to a copper pipe, and have built a voltage controller.
So we will be starting this weekend, we have the wash ready to go (not exactly sure of the recipe, my mate ordered it, but it was distillers grain and some type of peated malt, its saved in his beersmith app).
I have read up about cuts etc, so have a whole bunch of 200ml jars ready to go.
Is there anything else we should be aware of or things we can do to ensure we get a good product?
How do yo work the voltage controller? do you try and get to the hearts temp as quick as possible then cut back power to ensure it stays in that range longer? Or just slowly go through the temps?
Also, the 5star website doesn;t seem to be working. One of the websites says it is under construction, the other one when i go to the store it goes to a wazam? website with random other stuff in it. Am i doing something wrong?
Is the FSW recipe very smokey? like Lapghroig or Lagavulin ? i don't mind that style, but its not my go to. Any recipes that people would recommend?
Cheers
Adam