Moonshining with Icky

[PIZZABOY]

Found it. homedistiller.org.
Ujssm was my favorite for corn liquor. Always saved a little backset to go back in mash, i would save my tails up too and add to thumpkeg experimenting.

 

[PIZZABOY]

I know not to run anything you want to drink the first or second time you use the still. I used a bunch of tomato sauce when my dog chewed up a skunk. That was miserable.

I've used some regular detergent with hot water twice so far. I also have a cleaner that's supposed to be good for the copper.

So excited to use real copper lol

Cant beat real copper, the reason i suggest using cheap wine first time was sinve your going to toss it anyway its cheaper than using good mash

 

[PIZZABOY]

Best bit of advice i found was using small jars on a run. Numbering them as they filled. The first couple not so good, the ones in the middle sre where its at. The last few also not so great. For example, 10 jars, pitch #1, 3-7 good shit, 8-10, save up until you have enough to run them. Filtering through activated charcoal wrapped in cheese cloth helps pull the fusil oils out.

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

Potentially a source of income for you in your area. Distilling alcohol for personal use is not illegal in your state. But selling it is and of course it is and has always been federally illegal to distill and sell moonshine any where. Legit moonshine that is. Not the watered down stuff 'necks see at the local shop labeled moonshine. Make it strong and people will buy it!

 

[ickyrica]

Best bit of advice i found was using small jars on a run. Numbering them as they filled. The first couple not so good, the ones in the middle sre where its at. The last few also not so great. For example, 10 jars, pitch #1, 3-7 good shit, 8-10, save up until you have enough to run them. Filtering through activated charcoal wrapped in cheese cloth helps pull the fusil oils out.

That's how I roll already. I'm so afraid of getting nasty tails mixed in with the good stuff! I have a small fortune wrapped up in ball jars. I save the heads for my best friends though!!

I tried the charcoal route and still have all the stuff but I didn't see any benefit to it flavor wise, but I also used all stainless with no copper. I'm sure that hurt my flavor a lot.

@gr8whitetrukker 150 proof baby! That's the level of heat I'm trying to bring every time. Easy with a thumper, reflux I'm not sure. We'll know soon!

 

[ickyrica]

Reposting a pic to show the mash after maybe 30 minutes after finishing it.

A few days later the yeast is still eating away at all things sweet. Raisins are floating and it smells good


I wrapped a heating blanket on the bucket because this damn cold snap is relentless. I swear to god my floors won't warm up. Gotta love New England hardwood floors. It's been under 20 degrees for a week now with at least 3 days being single digit temps. Cold brewed ickyshine

 

[HIGHRISK]

Reposting a pic to show the mash after maybe 30 minutes after finishing it. View attachment 82422

A few days later the yeast is still eating away at all things sweet. Raisins are floating and it smells good View attachment 82421


I wrapped a heating blanket on the bucket because this damn cold snap is relentless. I swear to god my floors won't warm up. Gotta love New England hardwood floors. It's been under 20 degrees for a week now with at least 3 days being single digit temps. Cold brewed ickyshine

No heated floors up there?

 

[ickyrica]

No heated floors up there?

Not at my crib. Old school hardwood with area rugs. Makes you want to curl up with the missus and stay warm

 

[ickyrica]

Mash is still doing its thing. It has more sweetness in it than I would have expected this far after I mashed in.

I want to run it Saturday or Sunday but don't want to miss out on a higher proof on the first run. Decisions, decisions....

 

[ickyrica]

Distilled this weekend, went ok. Nothing special with volume. I ended up with way less shine than anticipated and I have an idea as to why. I got about a 1/3 of a gallon at 120 proof before the proof took a nose dive. I ran a few more pint size ball jars before I cut the run short.

So all in all I would say that I was expecting at least double the volume. What went wrong? The cold is what went wrong I think. Moon shining isn't a cold weather activity, that's a guarantee. I had my burner up a fair amount to get the boiling started and had to keep it high to keep running, which in turn was pushing shine and also was pushing vapor out (not adequately cooling the vapor down in the condenser??). That vapor is my lost shine.

So, I want to change the amount of condenser that I have, either by adding a higher flow rate to the cooling water or adding more space to condense the vapor (longer basically). I also want to put a bit more distance between the condenser and the reflux. This augmentation should be enough to get all vapors turned back into liquid, I hope.

Some things that are a good take away here...

1. Rye flour at the pot and reflux seam worked without any sort of issue at all. Perfect flour for the joints.
2. The still has been run 3 times now; 2 trial runs and 1 run with wash. It works as designed for the most part.
3. Copper!!! You want to run off some shine for you and your friends and don't care about impressing them with good flavor? Use whatever you want for metal. You want to impress people? Use copper. Holy shit the difference in taste is night and day. You have no idea the difference this makes....

Moving forward...

Make additional changes to still configuration and clean still out. Mash out again with a plain sugar wash and try this new still config with a cheap run of sugar mash. I will also be getting a yeast nutrient to add to the mix as well as using the raisins. If I can get the better part of a gallon out of this thing per 5 gallons of mash I'll make the switch to corn and rye, want a certain level of output before I get that involved.

If anyone has anything to add to the knowledge pool I would greatly appreciate it. I'm winging it here and learning as I go, so I am all ears!



This is all of the 120 proof I collected. (more like 118/119 proof, see pic below)



A couple pics showing some shine being collected. You can see how close to the reflux the condenser is, allowing some heat transfer to the condenser. Where the shine spits out into the jars is where I could see a little vapor escaping. This is a condensing issue. Sorry to disappoint, work in progress

 

[gr8whitetrukker]

Cool read

Distilled this weekend, went ok. Nothing special with volume. I ended up with way less shine than anticipated and I have an idea as to why. I got about a 1/3 of a gallon at 120 proof before the proof took a nose dive. I ran a few more pint size ball jars before I cut the run short.

So all in all I would say that I was expecting at least double the volume. What went wrong? The cold is what went wrong I think. Moon shining isn't a cold weather activity, that's a guarantee. I had my burner up a fair amount to get the boiling started and had to keep it high to keep running, which in turn was pushing shine and also was pushing vapor out (not adequately cooling the vapor down in the condenser??). That vapor is my lost shine.

So, I want to change the amount of condenser that I have, either by adding a higher flow rate to the cooling water or adding more space to condense the vapor (longer basically). I also want to put a bit more distance between the condenser and the reflux. This augmentation should be enough to get all vapors turned back into liquid, I hope.

Some things that are a good take away here...

1. Rye flour at the pot and reflux seam worked without any sort of issue at all. Perfect flour for the joints.
2. The still has been run 3 times now; 2 trial runs and 1 run with wash. It works as designed for the most part.
3. Copper!!! You want to run off some shine for you and your friends and don't care about impressing them with good flavor? Use whatever you want for metal. You want to impress people? Use copper. Holy shit the difference in taste is night and day. You have no idea the difference this makes....

Moving forward...

Make additional changes to still configuration and clean still out. Mash out again with a plain sugar wash and try this new still config with a cheap run of sugar mash. I will also be getting a yeast nutrient to add to the mix as well as using the raisins. If I can get the better part of a gallon out of this thing per 5 gallons of mash I'll make the switch to corn and rye, want a certain level of output before I get that involved.

If anyone has anything to add to the knowledge pool I would greatly appreciate it. I'm winging it here and learning as I go, so I am all ears!

View attachment 82725

This is all of the 120 proof I collected. (more like 118/119 proof, see pic below)View attachment 82727

View attachment 82726 View attachment 82728

A couple pics showing some shine being collected. You can see how close to the reflux the condenser is, allowing some heat transfer to the condenser. Where the shine spits out into the jars is where I could see a little vapor escaping. This is a condensing issue. Sorry to disappoint, work in progress

 

[PIZZABOY]

Distilled this weekend, went ok. Nothing special with volume. I ended up with way less shine than anticipated and I have an idea as to why. I got about a 1/3 of a gallon at 120 proof before the proof took a nose dive. I ran a few more pint size ball jars before I cut the run short.

So all in all I would say that I was expecting at least double the volume. What went wrong? The cold is what went wrong I think. Moon shining isn't a cold weather activity, that's a guarantee. I had my burner up a fair amount to get the boiling started and had to keep it high to keep running, which in turn was pushing shine and also was pushing vapor out (not adequately cooling the vapor down in the condenser??). That vapor is my lost shine.

So, I want to change the amount of condenser that I have, either by adding a higher flow rate to the cooling water or adding more space to condense the vapor (longer basically). I also want to put a bit more distance between the condenser and the reflux. This augmentation should be enough to get all vapors turned back into liquid, I hope.

Some things that are a good take away here...

1. Rye flour at the pot and reflux seam worked without any sort of issue at all. Perfect flour for the joints.
2. The still has been run 3 times now; 2 trial runs and 1 run with wash. It works as designed for the most part.
3. Copper!!! You want to run off some shine for you and your friends and don't care about impressing them with good flavor? Use whatever you want for metal. You want to impress people? Use copper. Holy shit the difference in taste is night and day. You have no idea the difference this makes....

Moving forward...

Make additional changes to still configuration and clean still out. Mash out again with a plain sugar wash and try this new still config with a cheap run of sugar mash. I will also be getting a yeast nutrient to add to the mix as well as using the raisins. If I can get the better part of a gallon out of this thing per 5 gallons of mash I'll make the switch to corn and rye, want a certain level of output before I get that involved.

If anyone has anything to add to the knowledge pool I would greatly appreciate it. I'm winging it here and learning as I go, so I am all ears!

View attachment 82725

This is all of the 120 proof I collected. (more like 118/119 proof, see pic below)View attachment 82727

View attachment 82726 View attachment 82728

A couple pics showing some shine being collected. You can see how close to the reflux the condenser is, allowing some heat transfer to the condenser. Where the shine spits out into the jars is where I could see a little vapor escaping. This is a condensing issue. Sorry to disappoint, work in progress

I guess the Angels got their share. That vapor problem, im with you on working on condenser. Not a bad run by any means. Did you test abv of wash? Was it around 12%?

 

[ickyrica]

I guess the Angels got their share. That vapor problem, im with you on working on condenser. Not a bad run by any means. Did you test abv of wash? Was it around 12%?

Nope, I couldn't. Had some trouble finding my brewing hydrometer, proofing hydrometer was right where I though it would be. I'd guess no higher than 12% give or take. Again, cold made this a little tougher than needed. The mash took a hit with the cold floors and it also took a hit when I put the warming blanket on it. The intense cold made the yeast go dormant and the heat made it go into over drive, what a roller coaster for the damn yeast! I have a nice little game plan to get a good temp from square one this go.

It tasted close but I pulled it with maybe a day left, could have waited a bit more. Time was the enemy there.

 

[janoshik]

View attachment 82725

This is all of the 120 proof I collected. (more like 118/119 proof, see pic below)View attachment 82727

View attachment 82726 View attachment 82728

Is that copper?

 

[ickyrica]

Yes, 100%

@jano

 

[janoshik]

Yes, 100%

@jano

So it's not just a local thing!

Making their own distillates had been a long term tradition around where I was born (you know, poor slav country ) and everybody always kept saying how the "copper tastes the best"

EDIT: my apologies I didn't read the whole thread, that part just caught my eye

 

[ickyrica]

So it's not just a local thing!

Making their own distillates had been a long term tradition around where I was born (you know, poor slav country ) and everybody always kept saying how the "copper tastes the best"

EDIT: my apologies I didn't read the whole thread, that part just caught my eye

No worries. Distilling is cheap and passes the time, plus it gets you a nice little buzz if that's your thing lol. I don't know one other person locally that does it, I'm the outlier I think.

 

[PIZZABOY]

Nope, I couldn't. Had some trouble finding my brewing hydrometer, proofing hydrometer was right where I though it would be. I'd guess no higher than 12% give or take. Again, cold made this a little tougher than needed. The mash took a hit with the cold floors and it also took a hit when I put the warming blanket on it. The intense cold made the yeast go dormant and the heat made it go into over drive, what a roller coaster for the damn yeast! I have a nice little game plan to get a good temp from square one this go.

It tasted close but I pulled it with maybe a day left, could have waited a bit more. Time was the enemy there.

I would work on that liebig condenser, no need to trash what you have, maybe another larger jacket around the one you have, or try over increasing both length and girth. Yes try to get it farther away from column or heat sheild the column outetised with a ceramic wrap, like used on headers, probably look like shit. Cold water in at bottom, and exiting top right? Maybe even an ice bath, like an igloo cooler as a hopper prior to going in.how much water you estimate in a run being used? So many vaiable and ideas... I doubt you will get bored with this hobby for awhile, so many recipes. To you have a dunder pit outback, with rotting goat heads in it yet for that ultimate floral boquet in Rum? The sky is the limit bro. Watch those escaping vapors building up, no need to start a rocket hobby just yet.

 

[janoshik]

No worries. Distilling is cheap and passes the time, plus it gets you a nice little buzz if that's your thing lol. I don't know one other person locally that does it, I'm the outlier I think.

It's extremely common in the mountainous regions of Slovakia.

Not too much stuff grows there and potatoes were usually used as food (historically), so people turned to fruit trees - mostly plums and then pears. The nice plums and pears got eaten and the not so nice ones were the subject of arguments between husbands and wives.

Wives wanted to make jams out of those and husbands wanted to get as much plum brandy as possible.


Recently it's not as popular, but still, local distilleries are in pretty much any village.


My grandparents and my father still make a gallon or two of plum brandy (Slivovitz - it's actually so good that it made it into english dictioinary! Slivka is plum in Slovak) every year.

If you are into experiments, I really suggest you check out various fruits. The funniest one we've had was pear brandy that tasted nothing like pears and 100% like bananas.

 

[ickyrica]

I would work on that liebig condenser, no need to trash what you have, maybe another larger jacket around the one you have, or try over increasing both length and girth. Yes try to get it farther away from column or heat sheild the column outetised with a ceramic wrap, like used on headers, probably look like shit. Cold water in at bottom, and exiting top right? Maybe even an ice bath, like an igloo cooler as a hopper prior to going in.how much water you estimate in a run being used? So many vaiable and ideas... I doubt you will get bored with this hobby for awhile, so many recipes. To you have a dunder pit outback, with rotting goat heads in it yet for that ultimate floral boquet in Rum? The sky is the limit bro. Watch those escaping vapors building up, no need to start a rocket hobby just yet.

yeah, I need more girth and length in my condenser it's true lol. I'll be at this for a while, I'm 3 years into it so far, just new to copper. I'm not sure about the goat heads though. I'll have to do some good old fashioned research on that!!!
Thanks for the pro tip

It's extremely common in the mountainous regions of Slovakia.

Not too much stuff grows there and potatoes were usually used as food (historically), so people turned to fruit trees - mostly plums and then pears. The nice plums and pears got eaten and the not so nice ones were the subject of arguments between husbands and wives.

Wives wanted to make jams out of those and husbands wanted to get as much plum brandy as possible.


Recently it's not as popular, but still, local distilleries are in pretty much any village.


My grandparents and my father still make a gallon or two of plum brandy (Slivovitz - it's actually so good that it made it into english dictioinary! Slivka is plum in Slovak) every year.

If you are into experiments, I really suggest you check out various fruits. The funniest one we've had was pear brandy that tasted nothing like pears and 100% like bananas.

I'd like to play around with different fruits during the mashing in process. Seems like a lot of good stuff out there to work with. I just saw a tv show where a guy used pea pods in his mash. Wild stuff.

Jam or brandy? My wife would vote brandy!