Hi from Dunedin - New Zealand

[Johnboy1234]

Just discovered this forum, I have been using an american one, but saw this one and figured hey Much closer to home.

I am a novice and just did my very 1st run using a Euro 30-2 reflux still and the bourbon turned out the best I have ever tasted, so now I am addicted to making my own, as I couldn't go back to the commercial products after tasting my stuff.

Heres what I did.

I put 6kg of sugar to 23L of water and then added 1 pack of SUPER BREW yeast with nutrients included. A little bit too much sugar, thats why it took 3 weeks to stop fermenting. When it finally stopped fermenting it was about 1/2 inch below the 990 mark on the hydrometer, this was the best I could get it, it also had a very faint apple yeasty smell about it.

Then I distilled half as a sacrificial wash as the still was brand new, then yesterday I distilled the other half. I measured the potency at 20C and it read 92%.

I then added 100% water to water it down to 46%

After that I ran it all through a VERTAFLOW Carbon Filter at the rate of 1 drop per 1 second. A bloody long wait, and in fact I am still waiting for the last of it to drip thru today. Though it was well worth the wait as the was no longer any of that apple/yeasty smell.

Then I added 3/4 of a teaspoon of Ageing Smoothing Syrup, and 2 teaspoons of Black Label whiskey flavour to 900mls of 39% spirit and stirred it all up for a couple of mins................and VOILA the best bourban I have ever tasted.

I actually had some of my store bought OLD CROW bourbon on hand to compare, thinking that my stuff won't be as nice, BUT to my utter amazement, my stuff smelt and tasted way way better, incredibly smooth, fantastic buzz and no hangover. I think possibley it could also have to do with the fact thatas it was distilling I keep tasting wee drops and stopped distilling as soon as the sweetness over took the alcohol flavour, as it started out very alcoholly flavoured and gradually got sweeter as the distilling progressed.

Anyway for 1st attempt I am astounded at the results, just setting up my next wash now, as this stuff aint gonna last long at this house. I wouldn't hesitate pouring a bottle of commercial stuff down the sink, just so I could use the bottle to bottle my stuff. Seriously I won't ever be able to drink commercial stuff again after tasting my stuff. Where as before I didnt give a damn as long as it was bourbon and gave you a buzz.

[MacStill]

Welcome aboard Johnboy1234, that's a bloody good intro to the forum mate.... thanks ;)

Well you're on your way now, sounds like you've been talking to the brew shops tho, not that there's anything wrong with that but there are other cheaper ways of getting a top quality product ;)

Try out the tomato paste wash in the recipe section, you'll be pretty impressed at how little it cost to knock up a wash when using supermarket ingredients and bakers yeast, the final product is a lot nicer (cleaner) than turbo yeast and doesnt require filtering to get rid of off tastes and smells once you know your procedures.

Hope you enjoy your stay.

Cheers.

[reknaw]

Welcome aboard, sounds like you are well on your way, now you have started you won't be able to stop :)

[busman]

Hi Johnboy1234,

Welcome! As a fellow noob I must say I'm jealous that you've already got one run on the board :D

All the guys here are great, don't be afraid to ask them (us? :mrgreen: ) anything.

Cheers

[Johnboy1234]

Hey Guys!!! Thanks for the posts and THANK YOU for letting me know about the tomato paste wash. That sounds real interesting and cheap. Just one question.....Tomato paste? How does that work? I am going to try it after this batch I have bubbling away at the moment.

[MacStill]

Tomato paste? How does that work?

the tomato paste is the nutrients for the bakers yeast, it keeps them happy while they munch away on the sugar ;)

[Johnboy1234]

AAAHHHH!!!!! I see now, sounds logical. Is this an Aussie invention? Like meat pie and tomato sauce LOL
Thanks for the quick reply. I can't wait to try it, actually I will go and buy a new fermenting bucket tomorrow.

[MacStill]

Nah not an Aussie invention by any means, it's an old moonshiners recipe from a while back.

When I was into making vodka it was my go to wash, there are others but the TP wash is so simple and cheap it's ridiculous :lol:

[SmoothShineJack]

Hi Johnboy,
You might recall referring me to this site, soon after we both joined 'the other'.
Good to hear you too are having great results with your gifted Still.
Perhaps we might chat about flavours sometime?
Regards. :D

[Johnboy1234]

AH so it was you, I had lost the email and was wondering who it was that sent me that PM recommending this site. Yes sure it would be good to discuss flavours. Wow I see you arre also from Dunedin. Small world on the internet eh!