Moonshining with Icky

[Eman]

You guys talking about starters, when I do that I usually get a pint of wort and make that my starter. If you toss a full pint into 5 gallons of wort you will see fermenting almost immediately.

Yep, it is noticeably more active much faster when you do it that way. For some high gravity brews, it's probably not possible to do it any other way.

I remember dogfish head brewing had a show on Discovery or somewhere that they were talking about the difficulty on one of the beers they make due to the high alcohol content... I forget which one, they have a lot of high ABV beers. Anyways, they would occasionally have to dump an entire batch because the yeast would die off quickly and there would be no way to salvage the product... It as painful to watch that much beer go down the drain, especially considering just how expensive one batch would be.

 

[ickyrica]

Got the starter going, walked away for like 10 minutes. When I came back it was already going nuts. I feel like the mash is going to go off like a rocket when I add the starter

 

[ickyrica]

Hydrometer reads over 10% so I guess these worries are over nothing. Add another handful of days to fermentation and this could be a respectable batch

 

[iceman440]

I make my own alcohol. I just add yeast and sugar to juice and in 14 days I’m drinking

Lol

 

[Tinytim]

I wish I could produce enough to sell it! I only have a 10 gallon still which is peanuts in reality. Highrisk gets some because we ride tandem on his jet ski, naked : )

Ok, so the mash is sitting around 75 degrees. Its bubbling but slowly. It's still very sweet but at the same time has a nice alcoholic smell and the cherries are getting a booze taste too. Wondering if this is ok, or should adjustments be made. Like a little warmer to aid in fermentation speed or more yeast for the sweetness maybe? I'm in uncharted territory for me @System7 @Tinytim any thoughts?

Hmm, too much sugar will slow fermentation, 1116 is a good yeast,hydrometer= 1.050, fire away. Go ahead and run what you got, youll get a better flavor, yield may suffer.

 

[ickyrica]

estimated alcohol percentage and gravity pics. Still has a fair amount of sugar in it. What I keep reading is this percentage reading minus the reading it gives when done fermenting is roughly the actual percentage of the mash.

Not sure if I posted this yet but I'm making a doubler for this run. It's not going to be copper but the rest of the rig is, pot and condenser. Should be a good time

 

[Tinytim]

View attachment 111587 View attachment 111588 estimated alcohol percentage and gravity pics. Still has a fair amount of sugar in it. What I keep reading is this percentage reading minus the reading it gives when done fermenting is roughly the actual percentage of the mash.

Not sure if I posted this yet but I'm making a doubler for this run. It's not going to be copper but the rest of the rig is, pot and condenser. Should be a good time

Ive heard of mash temps up tp 80,and going like 20 days, double distillation absolutley. Are you going to proof it around 80, or a little lower?

 

[ickyrica]

Ive heard of mash temps up tp 80,and going like 20 days, double distillation absolutley. Are you going to proof it around 80, or a little lower?

Probably 80.

20 days for mash? Jesus man. I'd be out of my mind impatient lol!

 

[ickyrica]

Hydrometer reads 18% and it's bubbling away like it should be, what I was expecting to see. I got antsy and used the starter this morning. Came home to the mash working hard. Loving it!

 

[ickyrica]

Sounds like bacon, sort of

 

[Oldschool]

Sounds like bacon, sort of

I think you have it going your way!

 

[ickyrica]

Nothing to report really. The rye is getting pushed to the top of the cherries cuz of the bubbling, that's all

 

[Tinytim]

Should start seeing some seperation and soliids going too bottom. I know you cant wait much longer

 

[ickyrica]

Should start seeing some seperation and soliids going too bottom. I know you cant wait much longer

I'm seeing the gravity start to go down as well, sugar is being devoured. I want to run it tomorrow so I'm not in a pinch during the workweek. I know the proof suffers but I love my sanity and the possibility of a wasted batch is real. My work can pull me away for lengths of time.

 

[Tinytim]

With that thumper you will get a decent run, i know what you mean about work.

 

[ickyrica]

I've been stalling here, trying to avoid reality. I've had some good luck with distilling. My 1st run was a disaster which included my mash vaporizing into the atmosphere lol. I'm not sure how many times I've distilled at this point but I finally had another shit show episode. The still was rock solid. Everything should have been g2g. Also, I didn't get my shit together in time so I went with my reflux and no thumper.

A few issues contributed to a bad run ime.

First off, something that I totally overlooked was volume of usable mash. While this isn't a true issue, it was a point of neglect. This batch had a fair amount of solids in it so the usable liquid yield was smaller than I had anticipated. Kind of a bummer.

I ended up with a total of .5 gallons. Not stellar at all for around 6 gallons of mash.

This is where my real dissatisfaction comes to life. Alcohol content and flavor. Both were a total letdown. Then half gallon is sitting at 20% and the flavor has funky taste. I don't know what the exact cause of this is but I'm guessing it's a combo of a few things including too high sugar content, preservatives and inconsistent mash temp. I'm theorizing the bad taste is from burning sugar that was remaining in the mash and possibly the preservatives too. The low alcohol content is from all 3 things: sugar, temp and preservatives.

A few hard lessons learned this time around. Not pleased, but wiser, so it's not a total loss. I'm not going to attempt this recipe again right now, corn mash is next. I will revisit the cherries again but I'll be attacking it differently. Fresh fruit, no syrup, no preservatives.

Well guys, sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. I lost. It happens

 

[Tinytim]

Their are no certainties in this hobby, way too many variables. I think this is why certain years of wine are claimed as better than others, even the pros have issues.
The fun comes from experimenting and learning along the way. Distill up a good batch of corn likker to sip on, and try again.

 

[Eman]

I've been stalling here, trying to avoid reality. I've had some good luck with distilling. My 1st run was a disaster which included my mash vaporizing into the atmosphere lol. I'm not sure how many times I've distilled at this point but I finally had another shit show episode. The still was rock solid. Everything should have been g2g. Also, I didn't get my shit together in time so I went with my reflux and no thumper.

A few issues contributed to a bad run ime.

First off, something that I totally overlooked was volume of usable mash. While this isn't a true issue, it was a point of neglect. This batch had a fair amount of solids in it so the usable liquid yield was smaller than I had anticipated. Kind of a bummer.

I ended up with a total of .5 gallons. Not stellar at all for around 6 gallons of mash.

This is where my real dissatisfaction comes to life. Alcohol content and flavor. Both were a total letdown. Then half gallon is sitting at 20% and the flavor has funky taste. I don't know what the exact cause of this is but I'm guessing it's a combo of a few things including too high sugar content, preservatives and inconsistent mash temp. I'm theorizing the bad taste is from burning sugar that was remaining in the mash and possibly the preservatives too. The low alcohol content is from all 3 things: sugar, temp and preservatives.

A few hard lessons learned this time around. Not pleased, but wiser, so it's not a total loss. I'm not going to attempt this recipe again right now, corn mash is next. I will revisit the cherries again but I'll be attacking it differently. Fresh fruit, no syrup, no preservatives.

Well guys, sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. I lost. It happens

Do a batch of corn and add some cherries to it.. I won't tell anyone.

 

[ickyrica]

Can't lie, it kinda pisses me off but I know it's a process with a lot of variables. The corn is going to be late summer/early fall. With the house remodel getting close to finishing up we plan on listing and building a house back on our old property, so a bunch of mash sitting in buckets stinking up the casa isn't going to be a good thing lol. I'm starting to think about going a little bigger as well. 50 gallon maybe. I have a shitload of fam and friends that are asking and 10 gallons isn't a huge payload. Corn will not be in a new still, that I'm sure of.