RSIciTC
New Member
I can not find any information on making Whiskey. I need to freeze distil it. As I have limited funds.
Buy cheap vodka. It's not cheap or easy to make a good whisky. It takes a long time and it works out to pretty damn expensive.
can you afford something like this?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264900113023?hash=item3dad46f27f:g:HR4AAOSwMghe6x26
You're not supposed to make cuts based on temperature anyway, you're supposed to do it by taste and smell. ABV is only applicable to determining how long you should run it for into the tails. I'm a cheapskate, I run DEEP.
Water distillation and alcohol distillation are not the same process.can you afford something like this?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264900113023?hash=item3dad46f27f:g:HR4AAOSwMghe6x26
or get it? just don't use plastic for the reciever....
edit: and....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/distilling.281/
Water distillation and alcohol distillation are not the same process.
Water distillation, you want to get it up to a rolling boil and as hot as you can.
Alcohol distillation you need temp control to get the temp at the sweet spot above alcohol boil temp and below water boil temp.
Not everything marked still will make whiskey.
Water distillation and alcohol distillation are not the same process.
Water distillation, you want to get it up to a rolling boil and as hot as you can.
Alcohol distillation you need temp control to get the temp at the sweet spot above alcohol boil temp and below water boil temp.
Not everything marked still will make whiskey.
They talk about these airstills in the distilling forums. They have plastic parts just about everywhere touching the vapor. Thats one of the big things they go over. Only stainless or copper should touch vapor and runoff. Most people prefer copper. People worry about what will leech out of plastic parts. They don’t even want you to use silicone.can you afford something like this?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264900113023?hash=item3dad46f27f:g:HR4AAOSwMghe6x26
or get it? just don't use plastic for the reciever....
edit: and....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forums/distilling.281/
what ended up being your yield - prior to mixing to sanitizer if you did mix.If you want to experiment with distillation, you can get started for way under 50 bucks. All you need is a hot plate with adjustable output, an erlenmeyer flask or some other vessel that is heat resistant and has a lid or stopper of some sort, a coil of refrigerator copper tubing and a computer fan. A digital thermometer is optional but helpful in determining when to stop collecting. This shot shows a 2L flask filled with neutral diluted down to 35% and gin botanicals. For initial runs I use a 5L flask, then use smaller 2 or 3L flasks for spirit runs. We made a lot of gin scented hand sanitizer to get us through the shortage last year.
View attachment 742015
What the Thai workers like to drink is their Lao Kao (white alcohol) 110 baht for one 0.625 L. bottle 40° ABV which is the maximum available in Thailand. It's made from molasses, so it's a rum, like Saeng Som, but much cheaper. If you want to mix alcohol with soda to have a whisky soda like beverage, there is a blend which is quite cheap, but I forgot the name as I never drink it. For a cheap whisky: 100 Pipers is acceptable. If you want to distil your own whiskey, you can find all or almost all ingredients on the net (Shopee, Lazada, Brewing Shop | Thailand | Craft Components ,…) as beer home brewing has become popular in Thailand too. For your still, people making stainless steel balustrades or gates can weld a couple of ferrules on a Ø 2" or 3” SS pipe which can be adjusted on a SS noodle pot plus some air conditioning copper tube for the condenser and you are good to go… A pressure cooker will also do the job. I'm attaching "Blue Flame" a text written for UK people living abroad. This is focused on risks linked with distilling alcohol. There are some additional comments in French I wrote for my son, but just stick to the original text. Cheers!The OP is from Thailand, so I went on google looking for local alcoholic beverages and found this:
The local spirit of choice is Sangsom, a popular rum, with an ABV of 40 percent. Although Sangsom is often referred to as a whiskey, it's brewed from sugarcane and aged in oak barrels, categorizing it as a rum.Nov 12, 2019
As already mentioned there are some health risks associated with drinking freeze distilled alcohol, and I would think the risk could be reduced with a lower ABV target like a wine strength beverage.
If you want to experiment with distillation, you can get started for way under 50 bucks. All you need is a hot plate with adjustable output, an erlenmeyer flask or some other vessel that is heat resistant and has a lid or stopper of some sort, a coil of refrigerator copper tubing and a computer fan. A digital thermometer is optional but helpful in determining when to stop collecting. This shot shows a 2L flask filled with neutral diluted down to 35% and gin botanicals. For initial runs I use a 5L flask, then use smaller 2 or 3L flasks for spirit runs. We made a lot of gin scented hand sanitizer to get us through the shortage last year.
View attachment 742015
I don't keep a tally, just keep collecting until head temp reaches 206, but it's a lot more than we have use for.
IIRC, 12 gallons of wash @ 2lbs/gal white sugar yields about 3.5 gallons of ~70%; after another pass it's probably 2.75 gallons @ ~80-85%. In successive runs I get almost all of it back out and the result is really clean.
Neutrals are vodka and gin and are usually made on a column still. A column still is the still of choice for neutrals. It has a number of plates inside the column that catch vapor at multiple steps along the way to the top and force it to re-condense so that only the purest spirit makes it to the top. Vodka and gin can be made of things like potatos or wheat.I read some place that large scale commercial distilleries produce a very clean neutral, the whiskey flavor comes mostly from barrel aging.
Any wine (no matter the ABV) made from fruit will contain methanol. Not much but some and when you distill that wine you collect and then remove the methanol.
No wine would contain ethanol, not methanol. Methanol will kill you or make you go blind even in small amounts. Methanol is the first alcohol that comes of a distillation column Becuase it has a lower boiling point than Ethanol. That's what the heads are. The middle of the distillation is your ethanol.
It's a silicone bung with holes in it for the copper tubing and the thermometer.What is the lid/stopper that you're using?
It is an $8 coil of copper tubing from DIY store, I only used about half of it. No particular length, I was just experimenting and this looked about right. Lucky for me the coil and computer fan provide plenty of cooling power. I adjust the heat input by touching the coils; for slow runs only the top two are too hot to touch, for stripping runs only the bottom two stay cool enough to touch. As the run progresses I dial up the heat and check the coils as a guide.Any idea how much copper is there? No issues w/ vapor coming out of the condenser w/ just the air cooling w/ the fan?
No, I use a bigger setup for large batches and making neutral. This is for small batch, recipe testing, and running 40% neutral + botanicals for gin or other flavored stuff. I seriously wouldn't part with this thing for less than a few hundred bucks, and I'd just turn around and build a fancier version of it. It produces really excellent flavors and with the 3L flask I can produce two bottles of gin per run.You run 12 gal of wash through this? How long does that take you?
That's a sweet little rig Jay. I have a little burner just like that. As a matter of fact, I have all that stuff laying around....Rainy day project coming soonIt's a silicone bung with holes in it for the copper tubing and the thermometer.
It is an $8 coil of copper tubing from DIY store, I only used about half of it. No particular length, I was just experimenting and this looked about right. Lucky for me the coil and computer fan provide plenty of cooling power. I adjust the heat input by touching the coils; for slow runs only the top two are too hot to touch, for stripping runs only the bottom two stay cool enough to touch. As the run progresses I dial up the heat and check the coils as a guide.
No, I use a bigger setup for large batches and making neutral. This is for small batch, recipe testing, and running 40% neutral + botanicals for gin or other flavored stuff. I seriously wouldn't part with this thing for less than a few hundred bucks, and I'd just turn around and build a fancier version of it. It produces really excellent flavors and with the 3L flask I can produce two bottles of gin per run.
Here it is with a doubler, just testing it out.
View attachment 752319
Only PITA I guess is that I have to clean the coil periodically or I get a bit of green distillate. I use a tiny fountain pump and circulate hot vinegar solution. Stainless would be ideal but it would need a longer coil to work as efficiently as copper.
Be sure to post some pics of your setup!That's a sweet little rig Jay. I have a little burner just like that. As a matter of fact, I have all that stuff laying around....Rainy day project coming soon
Good eye! It is flattened 3/8" copper tubingJay, is that bracket holding the thumper made of flattened 1/2" copper pipe ? That's what it looks like from here. How well does the thumper work on something that small. Does it make a diff ? Thanks.
Yes Sir. I love the price and I don't think they make them like that anymore. Thanks for sharing the pics !It is flattened 3/8" copper tubing
The doubler works, seemed to increase the abv I was getting but I only did very limited testing. If I were to run it like that I would probably use a slightly larger flask.
Here is a picture of the rudimentary clamp I hammered out. The ends join in kind of a hasp like a safety pin, I add small binder clips between the loops to help it grip the flasks. I think I stuck a bit of paper towel in between the copper and glass to improve the fit. Crude but it gets the job done and the price was right.
View attachment 752413
What was cool and totally unexpected was watching the boiler suddenly suck back all of the contents of the doubler shortly after I turned off the heat. Scary for a second until I realized what was happening. After that I would be very careful adding any solids to the doubler for fear that something might plug the tubing and cause the boiler flask to implode. Please do keep this in mind.Yes Sir. I love the price and I don't think they make them like that anymore. Thanks for sharing the pics !
Yeah, I know it can ruin a copper pot. Thank for the warn. How were you measuring the head temp as mentioned in your earlier post. ThanksWhat was cool and totally unexpected was watching the boiler suddenly suck back all of the contents of the doubler shortly after I turned off the heat. Scary for a second until I realized what was happening. After that I would be very careful adding any solids to the doubler for fear that something might plug the tubing and cause the boiler flask to implode. Please do keep this in mind.
Hey thanks, it was just luck I had some copper pipe laying around for the uprights, and that darn block of mahogany has been knocking around my garage for a few years, glad I finally found a use for it.Jay, that is the most aesthetically pleasing desk top still I've ever seen. Kudos!
I bet it's great for infusions and testing gin batches, etc.
I've never like doublers/thumpers as it's always been harder to track the cuts... it seemed like they came on too quick. Have you had trouble with cuts based on the small boiler?
I'm a big fan of a SS keg boiler for fast and dirty stripping runs, then a smaller 6.5 gallon spirit still for finishing. Even the 6.5 gallon boiler seemed a bit small and quick on the cuts. Especially heads > body.
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