New from New Zealand

[Nakiman]

I am now to distilling and want to make my own scotch style malt whisky.

I've bought a Copperhead still that can be run as a pot still by removing the saddles in the column.

I've been doing a lot of research for several years and watched hundreds of YouTube clips on home distilling.

I am wondering if I can actually ferment the wash in the distilling boiler with a bung & airlock. I was thinking of running the 1000 watt element for mashing and then use a hear pad on the side to keep a steady temperature for the fermentation.

I plan to mash in a bag to ensure that I have no solids in the boiler to scorch.

Will this work?

I would appreciate any help. Thanks

[Wellsy]

I would suggest getting a voltage controller so that you can control the temp of your

Pop into the welcome centre and introduce yourself, you will get a proper welcome then

[Nakiman]

Thanks for that.

Yes I am in the Welcome centre. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yes I have got a voltage regulator to control the 1 KW element. I will use the 2 KW full mode for boiling the mash and for the stripping run. I will use the 1 KW mode for the spirit run to make cuts.

I am wondering what pump to get for the condenser of my 25 lit still.


Will the below pump be enough if I use a 50 lit barrel with water and keep topping up frozen 3 lit milk cans? I will just recirculate the water into the barrel and keep water at 20C.

from www.5stardistilling.com.au

[Nakiman]

Sorry the link did'nt work.

from www.5stardistilling.com.au

[howard]

I am now to distilling and want to make my own scotch style malt whisky.

I've bought a Copperhead still that can be run as a pot still by removing the saddles in the column.

I've been doing a lot of research for several years and watched hundreds of YouTube clips on home distilling.

I am wondering if I can actually ferment the wash in the distilling boiler with a bung & airlock. I was thinking of running the 1000 watt element for mashing and then use a hear pad on the side to keep a steady temperature for the fermentation.

I plan to mash in a bag to ensure that I have no solids in the boiler to scorch.

Will this work?

I would appreciate any help. Thanks

if mashing in a BIAB in the boiler, it may be wise to insert some sort of false bottom to keep the grains off the elements.
you can buy the false bottom from several outlets (like the one for a digiboil) , if it will fit.
or maybe just a S/S colander, as is, or 'adjusted' with a hammer :smile:

i have fermented once in a digiboil, an all grain in a bag on a false bottom.
i drilled a hole in the lid for a bung and airlock.
i had it well insulated and just used the small 500W element with the temp set to 30°C.
the small element in a digiboil goes around the edge.
it went ok,

[Nakiman]

My very first ever attempt - I started the mashing yesterday.

Got the water on the gas burner at 5 pm and finished pitching the yeast at 10.40 pm. More than 6 hours including set up time. Another hour of washing up and cleaning. Mopped the floor of the kitchen as it was so sticky with the sugar & Wort.

It went quite smoothly and the results look promising. Here are some of the key points as I see them

1. Mash strike temp was a bit high at 76C = 169 F.
2. After mixing the 5.5kg grain it was 67C = 153 F. A bit high
3. After settling for an hour the Sp Gr was 1.041 and after sparging it went up to 1.051
4. After adding 3 kg sugar (solution) sp gr = 1.091 which was a lot more than I expected (target 1.070)
5. I boiled the wort for 15 min and it was taking a long time to cool & it was already past 9 pm. So I put in 3 frozen milk jugs (3 lt of water each) and the temp fell very quickly to 30C = 86F
6. Pitched yeast and went to bed after a while. Using Champagne yeast EC1118

I mashed in a 30 lit Stainless steel drum & boiled in it on a gas burner. Transferred to a 60 lit food grade blue barrel with a ring band clip lid. I followed all the basic hygiene & sanitation principles.

Waite and see.

BTW I broke the hydrometer :cry: . But I do have a refractometer.

[bluc]

Good stuff. Unless its an alcohol refractometer it wont be accurate once fermentation starts and there is alcohol present.

[Nakiman]

Yes I have 2. One for specific gravity to measure sugar and one for alcohol%

I have another small hydrometer that iI will need to spend time to understand how to use it.

[Nakiman]

Day 2 & morning of day 3.
I am not seeing any bubbles in the air lock, but I get a smell of yeast fermenting & the temp on the outside of the barrel is 27 C and bit warm to touch.
Not sure if the fermenter is air tight.

[RobMichelle]

If you can here it hissing all is well

[Nakiman]

On day 5 I saw that the wort was just quiet and clear at the top with no bubbling. I contacted the experienced guy and also researched the web and realised that I was way too low on the yeast at pitching. I looked up Jesse's YouTube channel and decided to add 1 heaped tsp of EC1118 and also stirred the fermenter a bit to move the sleepy yeast around.

Checked again on day 6 and bubbling activity had started - not vigorous but enough to know that fermenting was back on. Sp Gr was 1.031 (OG was 1.091).

Fingers crossed.

[Wellsy]

Just so you are aware mate, ec1118 is super slow. It is great for fruit but really really slow.

[Nakiman]

Thanks for that.

This is my very first effort and I am on a very steep learning curve, despite all the research.

Just so you are aware mate, ec1118 is super slow. It is great for fruit but really really slow.

[Nakiman]

I've put a heater pad on with a temperature control plug on. Night temperature dropped to 13C. I've set it for minimum 23C & Max 26 C.

I'll check Sp gr on Saturday & hope to do a stripping run on 23rd.

I'll do another mash after Christmas & before new year so that I can distil before I go back to work.

[Nakiman]

Got back from 9 days holiday.

I checked the two batches and Batch 1 had eaten up a lot of sugars but was still sp gr 1.009 with some of sugars to go. Still bubbling a bit & fermenting smell. Day 32 is a looong slow ferment

Batch 2 (day 18) had sp gr of 0.996 & ready to distil.

I did my first stripping run with batch 2 and it went really well. I learned a lot. I got a total of 4.5 lit at 73% ABV out of 20 lit wort

Very please despite 7.5 hours of patience! Tired

I was very pleased with the fruity sweet flavours coming though after the first 500 ml.

I'll do a stripping run of batch 1 next Saturday (hope all sugars have been eaten).

[howard]

Got back from 9 days holiday.

I checked the two batches and Batch 1 had eaten up a lot of sugars but was still sp gr 1.009 with some of sugars to go. Still bubbling a bit & fermenting smell. Day 32 is a looong slow ferment

Batch 2 (day 18) had sp gr of 0.996 & ready to distil.

I did my first stripping run with batch 2 and it went really well. I learned a lot. I got a total of 4.5 lit at 73% ABV out of 20 lit wort

Very please despite 7.5 hours of patience! Tired

I was very pleased with the fruity sweet flavours coming though after the first 500 ml.

I'll do a stripping run of batch 1 next Saturday (hope all sugars have been eaten).

a 20L stripping run should only take about 2 hours did you have the power on full?
so long as you don't overpower the condensor, strip at full power.
73% is high, did you have anything in the column? (maybe that was why it took 7.5 hrs)
usually my strips start at 65% and i go down to 15%, that way my total is about 6-6.5L at 40%.
no need to dilute for spirit run and maximum alcohol from wash.

[Nakiman]

I removed all the copper and stainless steel saddles from the column .

Here is what I observed / did (with careful notes)

* START - 2 KW both elements on at 220 volts
* 50 min - distillate started trickling out - steady stream (pencil lead thick) - Temp at top of condenser - around 45C - below 50C
* As the distillate started speeding up I tried to reduce to 1 element at 1 KW. Distillate stopped
* Back to 2 elements but reduced voltage to 190 volts (86%) & it started streaming again
* After total 2 hours, I had about 1 lit distillate and stream slowed down. I increased voltage to 200 volts - Smell and flavour became sweet / fruity - 78% ABV
* After 3 hours I had 2 lits - 75% ABV - 213 volts - nice flavour (surprised)
* After 4 hours - 2.7 lit - 65% ABV - 220 volt full power
* Noticed that as it got longer the stream slowed down if I cooled the water temp. In other words I needed more temp to get out the distillate
* After 5 hours - 3.5 lit - Changed jars - 50% ABV
- After 6 hours - 500 ml with changed smells with slight oily floating stuff - 35% - water is hot at 70C
* After 7 hours - 500 ml - smells bad, 25% - WATER VERY HOT - STOPPED.

I have a conversion chart that translates parrot hydrometer reading to temperature. Final reading was 25% at 40C+ - adjusted value was around 15% ABV I think. Might have been even less (10%?) as the table was only up to 40C & my readings were more like 60C

I am not sure if the water actually cools the column before the condenser part. I suspect that there is some reflux going on.

I was carefully monitoring the temperature at 4 points
1. Top of condenser - built in thermometer - Starts at around 46C & ends over 80C
2. Output water from condenser as it goes back into bucket - As above
3. Input water temp of bucket as it gets warmer - Goes up to 65C as I keep putting frozen milk bottles of water & then changing fresh water
4. Output temp of the distillate into the parrot - keep it below 30C but goes up as high as 60C in the very end



1.

[howard]

I removed all the copper and stainless steel saddles from the column .

Here is what I observed / did (with careful notes)

* START - 2 KW both elements on at 220 volts
* 50 min - distillate started trickling out - steady stream (pencil lead thick) - Temp at top of condenser - around 45C - below 50C
* As the distillate started speeding up I tried to reduce to 1 element at 1 KW. Distillate stopped
* Back to 2 elements but reduced voltage to 190 volts (86%) & it started streaming again
* After total 2 hours, I had about 1 lit distillate and stream slowed down. I increased voltage to 200 volts - Smell and flavour became sweet / fruity - 78% ABV
* After 3 hours I had 2 lits - 75% ABV - 213 volts - nice flavour (surprised)
* After 4 hours - 2.7 lit - 65% ABV - 220 volt full power
* Noticed that as it got longer the stream slowed down if I cooled the water temp. In other words I needed more temp to get out the distillate
* After 5 hours - 3.5 lit - Changed jars - 50% ABV
- After 6 hours - 500 ml with changed smells with slight oily floating stuff - 35% - water is hot at 70C
* After 7 hours - 500 ml - smells bad, 25% - WATER VERY HOT - STOPPED.

I have a conversion chart that translates parrot hydrometer reading to temperature. Final reading was 25% at 40C+ - adjusted value was around 15% ABV I think. Might have been even less (10%?) as the table was only up to 40C & my readings were more like 60C

I am not sure if the water actually cools the column before the condenser part. I suspect that there is some reflux going on.

I was carefully monitoring the temperature at 4 points
1. Top of condenser - built in thermometer - Starts at around 46C & ends over 80C
2. Output water from condenser as it goes back into bucket - As above
3. Input water temp of bucket as it gets warmer - Goes up to 65C as I keep putting frozen milk bottles of water & then changing fresh water
4. Output temp of the distillate into the parrot - keep it below 30C but goes up as high as 60C in the very end



1.

just to be sure...........
is the picture of the copperhead still you posted correct?
it doesn't look like there is any provision for saddles in there anyway.

the product from a strip does not usually taste nice, it's totally smeared.
your process doesn't sound like a stripping run.

[Nakiman]

Actually the column is a lot taller.

I got the feeling that the still was running more like a relfux mode.

This is my first ever mash, ferment & distillation.

[howard]

Actually the column is a lot taller.

I got the feeling that the still was running more like a relfux mode.

This is my first ever mash, ferment & distillation.

that explains it :smile:
there is probably some info around on modifying what looks like a t500 style column.
the top water pipe is copper on yours?
or buying a pot still lid.
or looking at some 5-star stuff (boka?)