Randy to boost your ABV output fill up the column with your raschig rings to within an Inch of your pre-condenser/reflux condenser/dephlegmator. Even add a section of 2 stainless spool. Height = Purity. The easiest way to avoid a Puke is to go slow. When the boiler gets hot, and the bottom of the column starts to get warm lower the power by 1/4. I know your running your PID rig which is more difficult than (power management) trying to balance the column temp/wash/abv left in the boiler. Then cut power back another 1/4 when the column heats up and watch the output. I make "Blackberry Brandy" and "Cherry Brandy" aka "Wisniowka" - which are really Cordials.. Something else to make with a neutral: Twisted Tea. Brew tea, add sugar, add lemon, get it the way you like it. Then add neutral abv% to desired abv strength. Calculator is here: homedistiller.org/wiki/htm/calcs/calcs_dilute.htm Cheers Randy! Azeotrope is a journey....
Randy, I haven’t been able to find a video on your fermentation room. I am curious on the design and how you control temperature. Do you ever use your FastFerment fermenter?
@@stillworksandbrewing now if you had wanted to make a ten gallon mash using 10lbs flaked maize..3 lbs malted white wheat.. 3 lbs malted 6 row with ten gallons water.. would you add sugar or see what starting gravity you could get out of that?
A teaspoon of vegetable oil will help it from puking or defoamer available from maple sugaring supply.... wont taste it and it wont show up until the late tails. Did you degas the mash prior to filling? Degas, leave a tad extra head space, and a bit of veg oil or food grade defoamer, and this problem will go away. Cheers keep it up!
@@stillworksandbrewing looking forward for more video's! Always nice to look at destilling, and how people do it, alot of different ways to do destilling 😃👍 keep up the good work
what was the ABV of your tails? I've entertained the thought of saving tails for a run but never have. i ran a 8gal. mash of corn and 6 row yesterday and had about 12oz. of tails. i do my tails by fire. put some in a spoon and when it stops lighting pretty blue i stop collecting.
@@stillworksandbrewing how much drinkable alcohol would you say you got from the tails? did you have more tails than normal amount during this run? i really don't think it is worth messing with. jmho
@@fourdeadinohio8303 I would say not much I just put on the counter and when i get a quart i throw it in but not more then a quart i have not seen any more tails than normal
@@stillworksandbrewing jesse from still it ..did a tails run he saved up but he had gals. of it. he watered it down to 30% before he distilled it. from what i remember his turned out pretty good. i was thinking you'd have more tails just from the idea of putting it back in there.
Hate that your still puked on you, but as you say it can get away from you pretty quick if you are not paying attn.. Curious as to why you spend the money for grains to get a neutral spirit, why not just a sugar wash? In my bourbon that I made from your recipe (which turned out great by the way) After aging on oak I plan to infuse with toasted pecans. Since you have more neutral spirit what about an orange pecan. I think that could be mighty tasty. What do you think? As always another good video. Valuable information.
I enjoy all of your videos, however this series is titled "making moonshine" yet you called it a neutral spirit and when tasting it you said it has almost no taste. You should have titled it making vodka. No disrespect to you, just much respect for moonshine. Moonshine has a sweet distinct corn flavor... not flavorless. Keep it up anyway randy you produce good content.
Thanks for the comments in my opinion not all "moonshine" is corn liquor is is one style of moonshine ( a very delicious one) the ones i am going after in this video is flavored ones that what we will finish up with please come back next week and check it out Cheers!! (and you are right all styles deserve respect in their own way)
@@stillworksandbrewing You are correct- "Are moonshine and vodka the same? Physically speaking, there is no real difference between vodka and moonshine. Both are unaged neutral spirits, usually cut with water to increase volume and produce a more drinkable product. ... Moonshine, at least commercial varieties, can easily be called American Vodka, much like Poitin could be called Irish vodka."
Great Video. Have you made one, where you walk through how you set up your water/coolent lines for the still? I’ve the same one, and I was curious how you lined out for condenser and your reflux chamber. Thanks
