Not a Brew Day but a Stillin' Day.

Blackie

The guy from over the ditch
Joined
Jun 23, 2017
Location
Richmond, New Zealand.
Nice weather here today, so ran the still.
Had about 20 litres of molasses wash to get through.
Hmmmmm, nice....4.5 litres of best quality (high octane) rum. Now have 15 litres sitting here waiting to be cut down to 42% (that's just 'cos I like 42%, not because it's a 'magic' number or sumthin').
I use a hybrid still, with a cooling water recycle system.
Rum started out at 82%, and dropped slightly throughout the run to when I stopped it at 58%. The hybrid drops the % dramatically after that so I don't bother.
I know some folks go down to 20%-30% before stopping, but I've found it's not worth the time and electricity to go much lower.
Went down to 40% once but the still was going real slow by then, and starting to get a tad 'wiffy'.
Will do my cuts in a couple of days time, then bung it on oak for a couple of months.
Looking all right this side of the Tasman. How are you Aussies going?
All good I hope.
 
I'd love to have a go with a still, just a shame everything I like then needs a further 10 + years in a barrel.
 
Nice! Looks a lot less complicated than I imagined!

Do you do your own beer too or just stick to the spirits?
 
I was told once that you can buy the old barrels used for Jim Beam or Jack Daniels which are broken up into chips and by adding these to your spirit, can give the aged flavour we all desire?

Now, I’ll admit that this could quite possibly be drunk talk.
 
I was told once that you can buy the old barrels used for Jim Beam or Jack Daniels which are broken up into chips and by adding these to your spirit, can give the aged flavour we all desire?

Now, I’ll admit that this could quite possibly be drunk talk.


100% true.... my old work colleagues did this to flavour "Siddiqui" when we worked in Saudi many years ago.

Jack Daniels barrel shavings are sold in the USA intended to be put into bbq smokers..... legally shipped to Saudi they are used to flavour the local moonshine :)
 
Aging in smaller amounts is accelerated. I've found 2 years to be good on bourbon and brandy using oak staves. Not a scotch fan so I've never made one to have an opinion.
 
Yes @Scotty I just do the spirits now. Have brewed beer and wine before though (my favourite was Stout).
Have some more molasses to ferment and then on to some grain for a moonshine!
And as you mentioned to @tim33z I do indeed also add Oak wood chips to my Rum. Let it sit for about 6 months then clean it out and bottle the stuff. The Oak also adds some colour to the brew too, plus I can add some cinnamon stick, black pepper, nutmeg, and/or caramel to the final brew to get what ever flavour I want.
My 15 litres of spirit will be about 30 litres by the time I water it down to a drinkable level. A cheap Rum here in NZ is about $32 a bottle, so even at that price I have made $960 worth. The still and all the other gear probably owes me about $800-$900 so I'm getting into profit now.
If you can weld stainless, and/or silver solder copper then you can make your own still. Hey, that's another rabbit hole to fall into.
 
100% true.... my old work colleagues did this to flavour "Siddiqui" when we worked in Saudi many years ago.

Jack Daniels barrel shavings are sold in the USA intended to be put into bbq smokers..... legally shipped to Saudi they are used to flavour the local moonshine :)
My old man used to live off the money he made making Sid in the mid 80s - all his real earnings went into a tax free bank in Jersey!
He still has a paper copy of The Blue Flame somewhere, and imported his still back to the UK (where they are/were illegal) when he left Saudi.
 

The new version with cooling water jacket added to column. Very well worth doing.
Cold water enters through bottom hose, warm water out through top hose. I just slip on normal 12mm garden hoses to the end of those little black tubes attached to the water jacket. Flow control valve is at the top end (outlet).
I use a 240 Volt pump to recirculate cooling water from a 200 litre plastic barrel through the cooling system, and back to the barrel.
 
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