Home Distillation Tips

I made a small pot still with a copper worm condenser once. Made some fantastic triple distilled white rum with it. Why are you thinking of using thre turbo yeast? My understanding is that it is used to create higher ABV in the wash specifically for column stills making neutral spirit. I used bakers yeast for a bit more flavour but lots of ale yeasts to choose from too.

@Hewie ok good to know. Someone said use either DADY or turbo yeast. I’ll have to do a few runs I imagine to get it right.

Is it a column type condenser on it? From what I know turbo yeast is generally used with a sugar wash to make cheap neutral spirit - to which people generally add an "essence" type flavour to replicate another spirit. From what I've tried of these made but others they are rubbish. If you're planning to use corn I'd use a different yeast. You know that you need malt for the enzymes to convert thr starch in the corn right? Sounds like a fun little project

@Hewie yeah I was planning on getting malted barley and using 90/10 corn to barley.

@casualtorture

Just make sure you (safely) discard the blue stuff that comes off the still first... we want you to ba able to see our posts for years to come...

I cannot confirm nor deny my involvement with any such distilling activity...

What kind of set-up are you using for your heat source and is you still a simple pot design or does it have a kind of small column type rectification head?

If you haven't already try looking into boil in a bag type homebrew set-ups in order to facilitate your mash/wort making process, you can ferment and distill the mash on the grains but honestly it will be a pain to deal with and you run the risk of scorching it during a long distillation. This will also allow you to eventually work with grains like rye without making cement (although look into using flakes).

Don't underestimate the importance of yeast in flavour, a lot of info will push you towards turbo type yeasts because of the yield and to avoid a stuck mash but as @Hewie pointed out, they provide little in the way of flavour. you could use a combination of yeasts either pitched together or staggered. There is also these new strains of Norwegian yeasts called Kveik that are adept at fermenting at high temperatures and provide little in the way of off flavours, they apparently chew through everything and provide a nice clean fermentation and can tolerate higher ABV, I have not used these yet so my knowledge is not firsthand.

The King's County guide to urban moonshining is an interesting read both for historical and distilling info, it's not a super technical manual but not as dry as those can be.

@casualtorture - sounds like a great little plan. Best of luck I with it all

@Nozinan blue heads? What was she making??

@cricklewood it’s just a small stainless pot still with a coil. Nothing fancy, if I decide I like it then I’ll upgrade later once I kind of know what I’m doing.

@casualtorture That was the heads from a spirit still - single malt. Crazy, I know

@casualtorture looks like a very enjoyable project...but, if I were you, currently lax local law enforcement or not, I would be more private than you have already been about a project like this. Conditions change. Local heads of law enforcement change. One self-righteous zealot is all that it takes to give you a world of trouble.

some great info there from @cricklewood and it looks like you're on the right track. It's been years since I did any distillation but when I did this was the best, most comprehensive resource I found. homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/… When I made and used my still my work colleague wanted to make some fruit wine. The only fruit he had a surplus of was grapefruit - so that was what he used. After many months the wine was undrinkable - so bitter! However, after running through my still we got some fantastic 'schnapps'.

@Hewie I would compost grapefruit before I turned it into wine...