StillSmart

Today I shovelled about 8 cubic metres of earth from some rickety raised Veg. beds into builders bags.
Maybe next year the raised beds will be rebuilt,this year I can try to grow Parsnips in earth that I sieved 10 years ago,in those bags.
No one thought to tell me that I am now 10 years older.
Right now, I feel it!
Parsnip,now there is a sugar rich vegetable.
Parsnip wine is old hat, may have to try stillin' some

Robert

Did my spirit run yesterday. Left it to breathe overnight and diluted to safe storage proof levels this evening.

Got to love a bank holiday, yesterday I ran some rum, today I made the cut and enjoyed a few beers in the sunshine.

I've ran with a single plate under my packed column for a couple of years now, it either lets you run slightly faster, or, I choose to run at the same speed as before but the product is better, like I'm running slower.
The last few runs I've run with "the dalek" under the column, 2 plates, the first plate with a deeper liquid level, I have found my heads compressed, and my hearts extended into where I'm usually tails contaminated, so I'm happy. But, it does make for a very tall set-up.


Yesterday for my rum run, I ran with the dalek and a very short packed section - about 10" of scrubbers. Take off was about 94%.


Made the cuts today - and ended up with about 10L when cut to aging strength. I'll aged have on oak which will probably be done by autumn, and keep the other half white to be enjoyed a bit sooner than that.

Great work there Capt...love the photos, wish folks would add them more. When your new to an hobby and your taking the next step up, to be able to see another setup it helps a lot.

Ok Q's...I've always run my rum through my basic pothead..no scrubbers as I want all the flavour/taste to shine (pardon the pun) through. I ran my GS wash yesterday and it's got to be the best yet...for me that is..

I only pack the column for Vodka....so how do you get the flavour??? does the scrubbers not strip it out??

Do I spy a "copper" reducer??? or is it a trick of the light?? and what's the size of your dalek? 4"?

Anyway great post.

Icefever wrote:Ok Q's...I've always run my rum through my basic pothead..no scrubbers as I want all the flavour/taste to shine (pardon the pun) through. I ran my GS wash yesterday and it's got to be the best yet...for me that is..

I only pack the column for Vodka....so how do you get the flavour??? does the scrubbers not strip it out??

Do I spy a "copper" reducer??? or is it a trick of the light?? and what's the size of your dalek? 4"?

Anyway great post.

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Yes it's a very dirty copper 4-2" reducer tigged to stainless triclamp flange, it was from a company called artisan copper works that predated still dragon, so basically I extended that with a 4" sight glass bought from eBay and added an extra plate bought from still dragon.

As for the favour, you would be hard pushed to neutralise the rum wash even with a full column, the packed section is really short here, also my wash is really funky, pot stilled it is not a sipping rum and would need a long time on oak.

Per 50l wash its......
10l of feed molasses
3.5kg of molasses sugar - the molasses used to provide all the sugar but they changed the formula and dropped the sugar content from 72%+ to 44% .
10l of dunder from previous strip.
Some neuts.
+ water up to 50l
I dip a jar of the yeast sludge from the bottom and repitch that each time.

By the time you are a couple of generations in, it's a really heavy funky wash.
Also loads of flavour in the heads, so when making the cut, I cut less out from the beginning, including late heads, you can't really taste these in the cut, but you can smell them. After a month or more, these air off and you cannot smell them, but you are left with nice flavour.

If I'm oaking it, I might include a smidge of early tails, as there can be interesting flavour here too. I don't like this in my white rum, but if you taste commercial white rum it's full of tails, so if left in the white rum it does fine in cocktails, I just choose not to include it as I like to be able to sip anything I make neat if I fancy it, and that ruins it for me

Thanks Capt...that's now cut & pasted into my scrap book file. I think the next wash will be a Molasses one for me...there's a farm store not far and they do This £9....but I can collect, save on P&P.

The label says it's total sugar is 44.3%..that's the same as the stuff you buy. I saved 5 liters of dunder from yesterdays run...so I'm all ready.

I'll have to half your recipe as I only have 25/30 liter buckets....I may have to look at buying a 50/60 liter barrel...

Thanks for the detail Capt.
I sometimes think that I am the only one that has the seemingly intimate detail of a wash,and wonder if I am bonkers for knowing such stuff.
My neutral I can mash and run blindfolded, using volume and time as the arbiters, saving much time and effort.

Oh, and yesterday I caught the Free Range Chicken that had been doing a bad Magpie impersonation, of eating eggs laid around the place, and dealt with her, tomorrow to the freezer she will go.

Robert.

@ Capt: With a takeoff value of 94%, I will assume you have achieved a very clean neutral. But at that point it is no longer a rum. You will have distilled out most if not all the characteristics that make it a rum.

Cheating here,this isn't really what I did today....
I'm travelling home tomorrow.And will be far too busy to post.
I have a strip waiting to be done,and then the biggest spirit run I have done for many a year,and with the Very Silly still.
I have just bought 5 more 25l mash buckets , no real place for them to do their job, personally I think they will look just fine and dandy lined up in my lounge area, if they don't fit in the brew room.
The only Feng Shui I have to satisfy is my own,and it has become more and more esoteric!
Life is so sweet.

Robert.

RumJohn wrote:@ Capt: With a takeoff value of 94%, I will assume you have achieved a very clean neutral. But at that point it is no longer a rum. You will have distilled out most if not all the characteristics that make it a rum.

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Everytime I post about my white rum, there you are RJ saying it must be neutral and not really a rum.
It has *loads* more flavour than something like Barcardi superior, and is a long long way away from being close to neutral.

This wasn't really going to be my post for this thread today, but ay-oh.

As someone new to the world of reflux distilling, may I say that I can produce stuff that tastes like water, hic!, and stuff that tastes like it came from Satan's bottom, vommit
And that is just messing with a neutral wash.

Producing a desired flavour for someone with a more complex still and flavoured wash than my own should not be difficult?

Robert.

Today I thought id best show my face on here, not literally of course but it has been a while scince I last posted here

I've just been really busy at work, on holiday and getting a load of building work done, which means my guarage is so full of junk I can't still anything l be back soon in a few weeks hopefully

Today I ran the third of twelve mashes of the latest intake of Chateau whisky heavily peated malt, a shout out to "getherbrewed" for price and service again,-other suppliers are available.
But this time, for the first time I am trying BIAB.
I am nifty with a sewing machine...
I made the first bag from Calico, which tore at the stitches. Never used it.
The second bag from 50% Polyester 50% cotton, first mash brilliant, fast and low mess.
Second mash painfully slow due to either warp/weave shrinkage on the first run or "blinding" of the fabric from flour, it is incredibly clear in the fermenters.
Made third bag, pure cotton, salvaged second mash and ran third one.
Unconvinced, but the first three washes are happily bubbling along, and smelling devine.
Does anyone have experience of a fabric that may serve better?
I am convinced that with the right fabric BIAB is the way to go.
You just need to tweek your methods, I have read that some expect lower OG's from the method, mine were good.

Robert.

When I say "way to go", I mean for low tech users like myself, that don't own programable brewing Daleks

I guess that the lack of response means that the answer is not to be found hereabouts?

Robert.

Robert, I can't help you with your fabric search, sorry. Your idea sounds very interesting though. In your situation I'd be tempted to splash the cash and buy ready made bag/s. If size is a problem, buy sufficient to deconstruct and stitch them together. Have known paint straining bags to be pressed in to service here too. Have recently seen, don't know where, a vid of a BM/GF system where the malt tube was a grain bag. Simple solution, it seemed.