@@MrBloodprice hard to say, I enjoy supplying myself and drinking buds with next to free booze, extracting thc oils from pot without toxic chemicals just my hobby style booze. I'm just saying I have learned more from George in 2 yrs give or take, than the yahoos who taught in my podunk school system that I grew up in. Every video I watch drags my attention closer down the hobby hole that is "Distilling Happiness."
Fantastic video George. After I have soaked the chips long enough, I put them in a saucepan on a flame, dry them out, re char them and use them again. I’m happy with the results. How long do you leave it in a barrel ?
George, Mike is right. I my parents were dedicated teachers and I taught Ag but only one year. You have the talent to teach and convey what you are saying. It's a gift many teachers do not have, only 10% I would say. Keep it up, your a blessing to those that hear you.
Oaking Question. I have read/heard from some that pre-soaking and straining will reduce some of the tannins and reduce alcohol losses. A short boil (5-10 minutes) will even reduce more of the harsh tannins. I like the idea of a quick boil to reduce oaky-bite and to sterilize the wood before introducing wood to shine/wines. Wood being porous, it is a great location for microbes/fungus to lay dormant just waiting for moisture to release nasty off-flavors.
Thank you so much I'm honored by your shout out I really appreciate it like you I'm just trying to help others be the best they can be and will continue to help when I can loved the video once again chocked full of great information. HAPPY HAPPY STILLIN
I thought it was really kewl that George mentioned you too, especially after you had answered my question about my curiosity. Wish people in general were more like George and you sir.. hope life's treating you well in your world. And thanks again.
@@mikebullard1797 Thanks Mike your comments are greatly appreciated. I was lucky enough to have my Great Grandfather and Grandfather to learn from most people aren't that lucky so me helping others is my way of honoring them. I do agree we need more people like George in the world it would be a much better place . Happy Happy Stillin
George try putting in the fridge or freezer and pulling it out and letting it warm a few times, what this does is contract and expand the wood as if it was in a barrel outside for years it simulates the weather changes and puts the vanilla and Carmel flavors in the oak at a faster rate just something you may want to try.
You took a drink of what's in your cup....... Anybody ever notice how rare that is in the videos???...... I've watched your channel for a while and love love all the content...... There's almost never a time you don't have a cup of something and you almost never drink it!!!! Thank you for all you do!!!!
I have had that cloudiness in my spirit a couple of times and could never work out why. everything tasted OK but now I know what caused it. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.
Good morning, sir. I'm so happy you're back for us to enjoy and learn. I lost some of my motivation of my hobby when my mentor retired. Lol. You're a great instructor. I lost my original app for Barley and Hopps. After seeing this video, I'm excited to play again. Could you please send me the link for your app? Should I message you my # rather than post it? Thank you for your time. Be safe. Charlie. BTW. I am traveling to San Antonio in March from Fl. Do you have a suppy store? If so, where in Tx?
Just tried out the app. and I love it everything at my finger tips looking forward to any additions in the future. Also if you put a little ball of copper or stainless steel in the bottom of your test beaker you will never break your hydrometer dropping it in to hard you'll only break it a hundred other ways but not that one.
There's a distillery in Cleveland that uses pressurized containers and charred oak chips to age their bourbon in a matter of hours. Here's a question. Could a person take these mason jars with oak chips and put them in a pressure canner to more quickly extract the wood into the distillate? I wouldn't want to burn the house down, but if done carefully, this theoretically could work.
@dipeer5 As I replied to 'Wayne Ivy', CryptoPonics YT channel is coming online soon (you can subscribe now) and we are going to have a segment called "FactFinders" where we dispel myths and uncover the true facts. I put this suggestion on the list of items to 'test and prove' as well as testing vacuum in addition to pressure. We will also test the cycling of temperature at each pressure maximum or minimum as additional independent tests and report this to our community. Great idea :)
How do you wash and what do you wash your wood chips in after you charred them? I head people say so many different things so would you happen to know ?
Thankyou so much Mr George for sharing the valueable knowledge.need to ask something I live in the hills of India and there is another type of oak tree in the mountains can l treat them boil them toast them for aging and flovouring
I really love your chanell i have learned alot from you thanks buddy and congrats on 100000 subscribers my question is can you make a product as good as jim beam or Jack Daniels at home
Hello George lm new to your channel infact I am new to the whole you tube thing I know this video is a few years old but I hope you see my question where can I get the glycerin you talked about and is it necessary?
I'm new at this "barrel aging" thingy. My spirit of choice for nosing & tasting is "Old Smuggler" and "Ardbeg 10". School me please, what would I gain by aging and how long to age? Thank you kind Sir . . . ;)
@d friendly The app actually has a density slider and converts the imperial units into metric units as well. Therefore the results instruct you to add X grams of high proof alcohol with Y grams of water. I use my 10 kg kitchen scale to blend the abv down, George was just using the imperial units and his vast experience to show as an example. Check the app out and give us feedback if / as needed. BTW the slider value can be 'tapped' on and a direct value specified. AGWS 'Happy Distilling'
Been reading the comments: Crypto you are doing an amazing job. I'm on the hunt for a still. It's a slow process. George has provided so much information and training. Jesse and Bearded too, and now you ! WHAT A TEAM!!!
George can you share your thoughts on the Still Spirits spirit flavourings? I have tried the Top shelf Rye whiskey and the Spiced rum. Have you tried these and what did you think? How do they make them? I found the 2 I tried quite drinkable but don't think you're going to fool anybody with it. Also I am a mixer as in rye, rum or vodka and coke. Or Screw drivers so it lends itself acceptable to drink.
Chemist here, been watching for several years. To expand on George's explanation on tails causing cloudiness. Tails consist of the higher order alcohols (mainly isomers of amyl alcohol, which are formed from amino acids by the yeast) which are sparingly soluble in water (because of the long carbon chain, as compared to the short carbon chains in ethanol methanol etc), and higher boiling. In concentrated ethanol solution they are soluble, however once the ethanol to water ratio is diluted past a point, the fusel alcohols reach their point of insolubility, and drop out of solution as small droplets of oil. Eventually this would float on top of the solution like an oil if left long enough. Love the work you do, George! I won't hesitate to keep giving chemical explanations if it helps everyone. Cheers.
After watching you for so long IV learned to stop collecting my “drinkables” at 100 proof and tails after. My likker has gotten significantly better thanks to it. Thanks George and happy distilling
Hi George! I had the problem of cloudy jars on my last sugar run. I had watched one of your filtering videos and tried running it through a zero water filter just to see if it worked. It came out crystal clear! So that is another option for pulling out fusels even after you've proofed it down. Thanks for all the videos! Happy distilling!
Simple equation for proofing down your spirits: actual ABV, divided by desired ABV Times by volume in ml minus volume in ml gives you the amount of water to add in ml An example 93 (current ABV) divided by 40 (desired ABV) Times 2000 (ml aka 2 liters) Minus 2000 (ml aka 2 liters) = 2650 ml of water to add.
Thanks George. I am really enjoying your content. You have made what seemed a very esoteric and mysterious subject very entertaining and easier to understand.
Thank you for all the videos and information you give us, I hope one day we can have this craft legal in the US! For now I will just enjoy watching you and the others that are able to make this a hobby.
Hi George. Renato here. I've been watching your videos for a while but just subscribed to your channel. I'm a winemaker myself but wanted to experiment a little with other things we can do with grapes ( Brandy ). Personally I really enjoy your tutorials. Thanks so much. there is a lot to learn.
I made myself a Pennsylvania Single Malt. I did get the peated malted barley and went 40% peated and 60% pale ale malted. It's very much similar to Lagavulin. My Scottish heritage did not fail me, lol
George, watched the sugar wash video and followed to the T. Didn't have time to run so I stored it like you suggest. While the mash was fermenting I cleaned my stainless and copper with your cleaning ideas, I even ran the unneeded 'sacrificial run' of just pure water. Now my issue, I ran what I felt was the easiest batch I've run in 10 years, the first half quart came out a light green. The following 2 qts came clear, the next 6 came with a light tint of yellow and progressively darker. Do you have any clues why this went yellow? Is it consumable? Thanks again and love the channel.
Haha - When you said “Chuck ya don’t know do ya?” I about jumped outta my chair...obviously your referring to a different chuck, but funny nonetheless - Thanks for the video’s sir!
Georgia I don’t know where I was talking to you the other day. But I was asking you how much you get out of 4 gallons of mash. I got up almost a gallon. I got 165 proof. Thank you so much for your help this is my first run
Louching (pron. looshing), Saponification, and Flocculation are the 3 issues you can end up with when diluting your distillate. Louching comes in 2 forms, permanent and temporary. Temporary is almost ways because of low temperatures causing the solubility of the oils to drop, and thus precipitate out of solution. You'll see this if you store a whisky, rum, gin, etc... in your freezer. It goes away when the liquid heats back up. Permanent louching happens when you add too much water, which lowers the concentration of ethanol, so it can no longer keep the oils dissolved in the solution. The amount of wanted you can add, can realistically only be determined by testing that specific batch. So test small samples first. Louching won't effect the flavour or odour, it's still all the same stuff in there, it's just visible now. Flocculation happens when you add a water that is high in mineral salts. Those mineral salts are almost never soluble in ethanol. So when you add the water, those salts are forced to precipitate out of the water portion. This is also a form of coagulation, as the anions and cations of those salts will start sticking to other things in the solution, like oils. It will all start clumping, and then create flocc which settles at the bottom. This will effect the odour, and flavour for that matter, you might also notice a different mouth feel. Saponification can happen when you add water that is high in mineral salts as well (high alkalinity & hardness water, not to be confused with high pH water). It would also require that the distillate be high in esters (specifically fatty acid esters), and that the distillate wasn't cold (heat energy is required). De-esterification (aka saponification) will happen due to the alteration in pH, along with the cations of those salts, to literally make soap. Not much is made, not much needs to exist for the taste to be there, ppb. In my opinion, if you make ice cubes out of your tap water, and put it into a clear glass of water, and you see flakes coming off the ice. There is too much mineral salts in your water, and you are best off using RO or distilled water. You can limit all 3 of these from happening by testing on small samples first, like 100mL samples. Shake up your distillate so it's evenly mixed, cut it with however much water, let it sit for a few minutes, then give it a look and a taste. If it looks and tastes fine, then go for it. I also only recommend using distilled water, RO water, or very low mineral salt water if price is an issue. For Saponification, if it happens, you have to redistill. For permanent louching and flocculation, you can use a process called chill filtration, whereby you put your filters, funnels, containers, and distillate, in the freezer, this is all before diluting the main batch down. Then after 24h, you pour it through the filters. If you dont have a professional setup, you can use 3 coffee filters, and pour slowly. You want the filters to soak up and remove those oils. Obviously, flavour and odour will change a bit, but if you don't want to redistill, this is your only option.
@Adam W Thanks for this comprehensive and detailed information. The community appreciates it and we appreciate the time it took for you to share this. :)
Happy Distillin’ At 8:00 - I do my measuring on kitchen scales because it’s easier to measure accurately that way. 180 proof weighs 80% the weight of water and a litre of water weighs 1000 grams, so your .89qz of 180 should weigh 842 grams, and your 1.1qz of Texas water should weigh 1040 grams which is why you had to chuck in a little bit more (302ml by my calculations) because you’re trying to cut 180 proof down to 80 proof. You should’ve ended up with about 2.4 litres of 80pr by my calculations on this batch, or an extra half a pint. To simplify, To make 2 litres or ~quarts at 80pr, I’d use 600 grams of 180 which would be the same numbers you’re coming up with, then top it up to 2 litres using Metric water. I just do it with kitchen scales by weight, for better accuracy. I did email you my cheat sheet a while ago. Let me know if you want me to resend it, doing my mixing by “weight” on $10 digital kitchen scales takes ALL of the guesswork out, no fiddling, add a bit more ethanol / water, hydrometer, oops, taste test, add a bit more “a” or “w”, measure again... Repeat....
Jesus, could you resend the email to George and ask him to forward it to CryptoPonics. I will check it against the app to ensure we are singing the same song. The app does give results in grams of high proof alcohol and water but I think the apps numbers might be a little different then yours. Could you install the app and check a few points to ensure we are accurate also and report back? All of our apps will always work in both metric and imperial units as I am finally fully transitioning to metric units myself.
CryptoPonics Yep, my “Spiritual Guide” has been modified, updated and tweaked a lot since I began a Happily Distillin’ last April. I started with a shitty eBay Pot on pot still for $120 and I needed this document to figure out how to mix my 160pr bottles all the way down to the 100pr bottles so I wasn’t drinking crap. Then my world changed in July when the T500 turned up in my life, and everything became simple, 93% out of the still, 92% after activated charcoal, and 90% after I ran it all through a Brita water filter jug. So I know I’m working with a dextrose wash, double filtered and from my 25lt barrel I end up with exactly a gallon demijohn (or whatever your part of the world calls a gallon moonshine jug) full of 90% / 180pr crystal clear, tasteless Aussie-shine. Our 1 litre Re-sealable bottles all seem to tare in at 540g, cost $2 each and I just weigh in 300g out of the “jug” and top ‘’em off with the best water I have available to make up my 1 litre bottles. I did ask George to please try and speak in “World Metric” as well as American units in his videos a couple of weeks ago and he has been obviously got the message because I can see that he his really working hard lately to speak in both units (have you noticed?) After much brewing and giving the T500 a thrashing for 8 months now, I can honestly say that this unit is amazing bang for buck and mine has paid for it’self well and truly. If you’d like the original document of my “Spiritual Guide” I’d happily email you the word document, and you can modify and distribute it as far and wide as you can, my name is also George so if you “at” me to Blue Mountains Tv Antennas dot com I will shoot you a word doc to play with and distribute as long as you credit me. I have tried to keep it down to one page. Cheers mate!
One thing I tried with the wood chip aging, was temperature differences, kind of a microcosm of a barrel warehouse. Over 3 months, especially with a single malt, it went from warmest room in the house, to the refrigerator, to the coolest room in the house and every 3 days, I would rotate. I had very good results with that. Thought I would share.
Thanks! I am planning to use our cold room to rotate in and out of weekly during the cold months and then garage and house with AC in the warmer months. I wasn’t sure that idea had “legs”...but it sounds like it should work.
You may also want to look at the Pearson's square for calculating final concentration from two other concentrations say 80% and 30% to make a 40% solution.
Hay, just wanted to say, I ran into that cloudy fusels issue when I added water in the past. I ran it through a water filter and it came out clear again. Does this sound right (filter removed the fusels)?
What do you think about putting my little "Aging Barrell" in my attic ? Seem like the temperature there would fluctuate a lot more than on my kitchen counter thus it would speed up the aging process. Thoughts ?
Please see my comment to djpeer5. You can try as I will be scientifically trying and reporting back to community on CryptoPonics YT channel. "Never hurts to think....." :)
George, you R an AWESOME teacher!! The only disappointment is how many damn commercials I now need to friggen click through!! I HATE them!! Damn iiit!! I remember youtube last year and only needing to click through 1 or 2 of them in a 20-25 minutes clip. I think I clicked through about 8 of them in this 20 minute video. So aggravating! Not your fault but youtube should really control them better than this. Otherwise...AWESOME CLIPS George!!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼💜💕🌷 Happy distilling!!🙌 Dubbing you "Dr.Distilling"! Lol!!
Hey george, SSG RETIRED, SIR i am wanting to know if i can use BEANNO, for convertion starch to sugar and whats the directions and how much do i use? Need to process corn meal and no emilace available. thank you. Robert
If you use a scale to weigh out your water you can take some of the testing and retesting out of the process of determining the final strength. One liter of water weighs 1000 grams. 1 liter of ethanol weighs 789 grams. Also adding your glycerin after doing you cutting (although minimal) will dilute your final product. Also something to watch for is molecular settling, 1 liter of water mixed with 1 liter of ethanol will not make 2 liters of liquid.
Love your show .l am going to try to make my own still.And l am thinking that I will succeed by watching your videos.Thank you very much looking forward to making some wabbly pop.😜
As always, thank you George and everyone else who works on this. I watched, listened and read a couple dozen comments but still can’t find any reference to what the app’s name is that you refer to. You never mention the name. Please share and I apologize if you said it or if a dozen other people already asked. I promise I looked. :)
Hi George, I know theses are older videos but we are just new to all of this and came across your videos and love them! You mentioned a calculator app but we are unsure where to find it and wondered if you could help? Thanks
Very good informative video.....but.....having to watch 16 COMMERCIALS for a 24 minute video took a total of 29 minutes to view the whole video...🤔..... it happened on the other videos I watched, but, I just had to say something this time..... GREAT information...too many commercials.
