Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I bought a SS keg. It had about 15 L beer in it. It is a little cloudy but still smells like beer. No sludge or floating stuff. Alcohol refractometer shows 15%. Not sure how that is possible. It was still carbonated. Was thinking of adding it to a feints run.

Thoughts….?

Just be ready to give ya still a bloody good clean after it as the hops will make a sticky mess :angry-banghead: and yes I did try it ONCE after a homebrew beer tasted like a fosters :laughing-rolling: and had to spend ages cleaning out my pot still.

Refrac is only good for gravity readings, not to give an ABV...

RuddyCrazy wrote:Just be ready to give ya still a bloody good clean after it as the hops will make a sticky mess :angry-banghead: and yes I did try it ONCE after a homebrew beer tasted like a fosters :laughing-rolling: and had to spend ages cleaning out my pot still.

Hmmm. I don’t get any hops when I smell it and it is an unhopped brand of beer…. But that is good to know. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sam. wrote:Refrac is only good for gravity readings, not to give an ABV...

Using a Spirit Refratometer.

Dancing4dan wrote:

Sam. wrote:Refrac is only good for gravity readings, not to give an ABV...

Using a Spirit Refratometer.

Well that will be good once it's distilled, the obscuration from everything else in the beer will not give you a proper reading.

Either way I really wouldn't bother distilling the beer personally...

Sam. wrote:

Dancing4dan wrote:

Sam. wrote:Refrac is only good for gravity readings, not to give an ABV...

Using a Spirit Refratometer.

Well that will be good once it's distilled, the obscuration from everything else in the beer will not give you a proper reading.

Either way I really wouldn't bother distilling the beer personally...

:violence-smack: I deserve one! :text-lol: good point!

There is a run that will amount to yuk-a-flux. Mix mash of feints and rejects. If the beer still smells like beer it’s going in. Can’t make what I already rejected worse…. Maybe

By all means give it a crack, just let us know how you go :handgestures-thumbupleft:

if your sure it unhoped run it, you will get whisky. I have heard from numerous places that hopped whiskey is not great and not worth the effort..

I ran it last night mixed with a few other things. 2/3 of a 375 ml Jose Cuervo Especial, some sweet feed whisky that tasted like fresh cow pies…. Don’t ask, and left over rejects from a few spirit runs.

Will do cuts next few days and see how flavors turn out. Might get whisky, might get gas line antifreeze. :)) seemed OK coming off the still though.

Seems to have turned out alright. Tastes better than whisky rejects that went into the still. Almost 5L at 140 proof. On oak and some tincture of time.

Looking good after almost 36 hours. The long stave is French oak heavy toast. The half staves are American oak that have been infused with “flavor” as seen in my flavoring thread. The color comes through early and oak essence takes usual amount of time.

In a gallon jar. Parchment paper to prevent contact with the lid seems to work well.

I assume the still cleaned out OK?

JeremyF wrote:I assume the still cleaned out OK?

Hey Jeremy, the still is good. Leaned the copper scrubbies and the pot. Not much really.

ive done some hopped home brew extracts before really horrible but a year later and thirsty i thought was great

bluc wrote:if your sure it unhoped run it, you will get whisky. I have heard from numerous places that hopped whiskey is not great and not worth the effort..

Depends on the style of beer. Darker beers are going to give you a much different spirit to an IPA or a hoppy pale. I've found stouts make particularly delicious spirits, but they're expensive ferments to be distilling compared to a dedicated whisky wash.

BSC_Kilby wrote:

bluc wrote:if your sure it unhoped run it, you will get whisky. I have heard from numerous places that hopped whiskey is not great and not worth the effort..

Depends on the style of beer. Darker beers are going to give you a much different spirit to an IPA or a hoppy pale. I've found stouts make particularly delicious spirits, but they're expensive ferments to be distilling compared to a dedicated whisky wash.

Ive got an All Grain Chocolate Coffee Stout wort in a cube that has been waiting to be fermented and kegged. As is,it would ferment out with an Abv of around 6.8% if i dumped it in the fermenter and added say 2 kg of dextrose and fermented it, could i do a run with that. And would i use the t500 or copper alembic dome and condensor?

Hello Matt
The simplistic answer is if you want high ABV neutral to add essences too, or to add botanicals too for gin etc, then reflux is the way to go on your spirit run. As part of the reflux process that gets the ABV high also strips out flavour.
If you want to keep the flavour then it is pot still mode on your spirit run.
Given you are starting with such a lovely base flavour it seems a shame to strip it back to the same output as a tomato paste wash but using a reflux spirit run. I would be using the pot still mode.
I hope that makes sense

Wellsy wrote:Hello Matt
The simplistic answer is if you want high ABV neutral to add essences too, or to add botanicals too for gin etc, then reflux is the way to go on your spirit run. As part of the reflux process that gets the ABV high also strips out flavour.
If you want to keep the flavour then it is pot still mode on your spirit run.
Given you are starting with such a lovely base flavour it seems a shame to strip it back to the same output as a tomato paste wash but using a reflux spirit run. I would be using the pot still mode.
I hope that makes sense

Yeah mate cheers hey! I also watched a couple more vids, YouTube is a wonderful thing!!
But as I learnt with AG, nothing beats hands on experience. I will ferment that Stout but tell me Wellsy, if I was making beer I would use 1 satchel of yeast. Assuming I’m using US-04 would one be sufficient or more. I’m thinking with the added dextrose 1 satchel would stress trying to chew up that much sugar?

McMoonshineMatt wrote:

Wellsy wrote:Hello Matt
The simplistic answer is if you want high ABV neutral to add essences too, or to add botanicals too for gin etc, then reflux is the way to go on your spirit run. As part of the reflux process that gets the ABV high also strips out flavour.
If you want to keep the flavour then it is pot still mode on your spirit run.
Given you are starting with such a lovely base flavour it seems a shame to strip it back to the same output as a tomato paste wash but using a reflux spirit run. I would be using the pot still mode.
I hope that makes sense

Yeah mate cheers hey! I also watched a couple more vids, YouTube is a wonderful thing!!
But as I learnt with AG, nothing beats hands on experience. I will ferment that Stout but tell me Wellsy, if I was making beer I would use 1 satchel of yeast. Assuming I’m using US-04 would one be sufficient or more. I’m thinking with the added dextrose 1 satchel would stress trying to chew up that much sugar?

Can always make a starter if you are worried about underpitching the yeast.

Also just be careful with you tube and distilling, there is a lot of misinformation out there ranging from bad practice to downright dangerous.