Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Yeah, thanks for that. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

McStill wrote:Wonder if the garden centres get them sprayed ?

I doubt it very much Mac, most that Ive seen in nurseries that have been cut in half still smell of wine and have the red/purple crystalised residue inside. I think you would smell poison if they had been sprayed....that white ant gear stinks when fresh. On top of that I reckon most nurseries would be to tight to spray them and only two happy to have the white ants eat your new half barrel pot plant holder........they then get to sell you another one.
Id be more worried about older barrels that had an unknown or questionable past such as the ones I almost took from my white ant spraying mate.

These are still around and seem legit. I bought some but have not been able to make the product yet to benefit from them :angry-banghead:

Pretty sure they would post for fuck all too

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/380301872706 ... 1423.l2649

Even though I got it wrong, I am glad I posted, just to make you aware of the chemical thingo,
It made me realise how easy it could be overlooked, and then end up crook as a dog.... even worse ....poison ya hooch :crying-blue:

So I now have left 2 litres of rum at 55%....been aging for nearly 6 weeks on oak chips. I started with 4 litres but we won't go into that... :mrgreen: Had a taste of it this morning. First time I have tasted it in 2 weeks. My god this stuff just gets better and better. It is so delicious right now. Even if it doesn't get any better (which I suspect it will)...I will be happy if I can turn out a drink like that each time.

About to run my 2nd generation through the still this arvo and the missus is down the produce store as we speak getting me some more mollasses and some more oak chips from the HBS so I will be putting on the 3rd gen tomorrow. I really can't see this stuff making 7 weeks now LOL....Might have to put on a tomato paste wash for some HBS flavoured rum to tide me over and try to stretch a few more weeks out of the aging. Going camping in a couple weeks so I will need some drinking stock. :text-lol:

So the missus bought home some mollasses in some dodgy container and I was trying to lift it onto the bench without spilling it and SMASH....she is now on the way back to the HBS for a new alcometer. DAMN

I picked up a 25 liter bucket of blackstrap direct from the plant manager from the mill.
Couldn't hardly spill this bucket if ya tried.. Fact you could likely glue a human to the wall if ya had too.
They do a good job of striking the sucrose.
Gonna whip a batch today and augment with panela and some " b " strike sugar.

Just stripped 60 odd litres of my first lot of rum today using this recipe style.

I ended up using:-
6kg raw sugar
10litres (equals around 7.1 kg fermentable sugar) feed mollases
nutrient bomb (1/2 cup bakers yeast boiled up with 2 cups water, tablespoon epsom salts, 6 weetbix)
juice of a lemon
3/4 cup red star premium cuvee wine yeast
water up to 80 litre mark
ABV of wash around 9.6%
Took around 10 days to ferment with no temp control. Shed smelt a lot like licorice, yum.

Added around 20 litres of backset from the stripped run to the fermenter once it cooled a bit for generation 2 and have made it up to around 100 litres so I can get around 70 litres of wash into my 80litre boiler and leave around 30 litres in the drum for the next gen...I am keen to smell and taste the difference the backset makes to the mix...

I reckon you'll be a very happy camper in a couple of months, this stuff is so nice I have it on my corn flakes :laughing-rolling:

Yeah but you've got issues Mac :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

I have got my first molasses wash in the fermenters now. my question is - will this wash leave a residue in my boiler and column when I run it?

kiwikeg wrote:I have got my first molasses wash in the fermenters now. my question is - will this wash leave a residue in my boiler and column when I run it?

More than likely, i always wash my gear after every use anyway (its good practice) ;-)

Kimbo wrote:

kiwikeg wrote:I have got my first molasses wash in the fermenters now. my question is - will this wash leave a residue in my boiler and column when I run it?

More than likely, i always wash my gear after every use anyway (its good practice) ;-)

Ran my first molasses wash in my mates still today foamed like crazy and left a scuzzy ring round the boiler :laughing-rolling: . then we started a dunder pit in a 20 litre pail with the backset.
got much higher yeild than we expected :dance: - only one problem is that the low wines tastes like a swig on on a stubby thats been used as an ashtray....

i started my first gen! 2kg molasses+2kg raw sugar+both safale s-04 and bakers yeast with dap (had no epsom salt on hand) + water to total 15 liters (future generations will be 25l). in five days it went from sg 1.094 to 1.055, it is sweet and fizzy and i use a heater belt to keep it above 20C.
i hope to strip it next week. thank you for the recipe mcstill.
--
update: i stripped 5l of 37% low wines from the first gen today (it stopped at 1.02 sg). for the second gen i used 4l molasses, 3kg of raw sugar, a yeast bomb and a tsp of bakers yeast (just in case). it's bubbling steadily at sg of 1.099. all in all, things are going well! :-D
--
update: bubbling stopped at 1.062, so after a day i stirred co2 out as much as i could, aerating a bit at the same time. i also pitched a tsp of rehydrated yeast and 1/2 tsp of dap (just in case really) and re-lidded; soon the airlock bubbled again :mrgreen: think of it as 'punching down' a double/triple proofed pizza dough.

I do a rum recipe similar to yours, but no epsom salt & have a couple of questions.
What dos the epsom salt do :?:
When you run it through your plated column ( I won't use the F word ), do you age each gen,
or combine the gens for aging :?:

Cheers :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Mr E another name for epsome salts is Magnesium sulfate. Magnesium makes life easier for the yeast colony. Its a bit more complex than just that, a quick google search for "Magnesium sulfate and yeasts" and variations of that wording will provide a lot more information.

SBB wrote:Mr E another name for epsome salts is Magnesium sulfate. Magnesium makes life easier for the yeast colony. Its a bit more complex than just that, a quick google search for "Magnesium sulfate and yeasts" and variations of that wording will provide a lot more information.

Thanks mate, was just wondering if it's necessary if your wash works without it.

Cheers :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Is there enough head space in a 30 litre fermenter if you make your wash up to 23 litres :!:

Divey wrote:Is there enough head space in a 30 litre fermenter if you make your wash up to 23 litres :!:

Yeah just keep an eye on it and stir the foam back down if it's lively :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hey Mac,

This rum is starting to taste so bloody good, i had to tell all my so called friends to"f***off" :hand: :hand: ,
starting to feel like the golum(precious) HaHa

Cheers