StillSmart

domasj wrote:Just made my first malted barley wash. Already bubbling. Expect about 6% abv. Used t500 boiler for mashing with mashing bag and dimer to adjust temperature in boiler. Used SS Distillers whiskey yeasts. Kitchen floor sticky, mess everywhere, but looking forward to taste final product very much!

Should work fine, but make sure to use the pot still lid and condenser to run the mash. Plus you might get a decent amount of oak from a half barrel planter, just clean it up with a saw and electric plane. It can be toasted in the oven......

My malted Barley runs always make a sticky mess!
And my Oak for aging comes from retired Whisky barrel staves too. I plane to clean wood, but don't bother toasting the Match sticks that I produce.
They work fine for me.

Robert.

Hope you were all good todady and ae still teaching they masters.

edit : no idea what either me or auto complete were trying to say there

If it’s sticky then you’re getting 5he sugar out, so that’s a good thing (although not all over the kitchen floor obvs)

Had an accident......moved a full fermenter by turning it around a bit and in doing so scraped the drain tap against the leg of the workbench ripping it out of the fermenter........to wash came gushing out and after a moment of thinking I couldn’t do anything, I leapt into action and picked up the tap and attempted to stick it back in the hole!
After fighting for a while I realised that the screw had popped off inside. So whilst holding the tap in place with my left hand I had to unscrew the very tight lid.....not easy, but finally managed it.....plunged my arm in right down to the tal to check the washer had come off, onlt to then find the washer was floating on the surface !
Retrieved it and the rescrewed it on ......phew 5 minutes of panic....a soaking wet right sleav3 of my jumper (well I couldn’t roll it up without a third hand) ..I lost about 1/2 gallon. Soaked the garage floor and will no doubt have many more fruit flies to explain to the wife

I have long said taps are b%r$t3rds - to be avoided. Well held.

Easydrinker wrote:My malted Barley runs always make a sticky mess!
And my Oak for aging comes from retired Whisky barrel staves too. I plane to clean wood, but don't bother toasting the Match sticks that I produce.
They work fine for me.

Robert.

It does make a difference though Rob, last lot I did were toasted from the original yellowish oak colour to a medium "pencil lead" grey, which seems to have worked well in some meads.

I'd guess it'd need to be a darker toast for spirits like whisky, brandy etc.

As ever, it's down to individual choice but I reckon it's worth the effort (the colour of those little packs of JD barrel chips look like they've had some toasting etc)......

I reckon that as JD chips are intended for BBQ's, they simply shred the whole dirty barrel, and no additional toasting. What do I know?

It is not just the colour that comes through.

Robert.

Indeed, that'd be possible/probable

Actually, I was thinking of the small bags of chips from a HBS. Pretty sure I've seen them as packed for StillSpirits but marked as JD barrel chips (as opposed to the BBQ ones).....

But the pic of the 8 month ones looks good.......

I use JD BBQ chips a light wash, 80g of chips
to 800ml neutral. Use the neuking method.
Filter, add Maple syrup to taste.
I like it tastes good enough to drink

After cuts, I think all that I make is also good enough to drink these days.
The demi-john of "shit,this is awful,re-run later" has had no additions for many a day.
A few macerations are still awaiting the acceptable degree of sweetening, trial and error, and time, but otherwise life is good in the stillroom.

Robert.

Easydrinker wrote:After cuts, I think all that I make is also good enough to drink these days.
The demi-john of "shit,this is awful,re-run later" has had no additions for many a day.
A few macerations are still awaiting the acceptable degree of sweetening, trial and error, and time, but otherwise life is good in the stillroom.

Robert.

I confess to bringing the airstill out of the cupboard and re-doing a few bottles at the weekend after completely missing the cutoff somehow and giving myself delhi belly for the first time ever

Porn! That is all.
What’s the heating arrangement in the cask ?

It’s got a 3.5kw side mounted immersion element