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I had fun playing with the 14 gallon still with 3 bubble plates and a mini thump keg, but it was time to up size again.



I can run this one as a 14 gallon as before or I can run it as a 31 gallon still with a 14 gallon thump keg.



1st run was bourbon made from corn cob wine, the next one will be nectarine brandy.

That’s brilliant Speedy!

Easy to use to it's basically plug and play now I've got a prv on it.

Does a hundred litres of wash a run, now I've got to buy some bigger fermenters.

I'm afraid to ask this but.... what do you do with all that hooch?

Actually I drink SFA these days, but plenty of friends and family friends that love it.
The wife's work always send me food home with her so I send rice whiskey in with her a few nights a week, go to a BBQ and take 4 bottles along.
Everyone loves it.
But I seem to be the only rum and brandy drinker, so make a big batch of rum each year for me and a run of whatever fruit is in season.
Did a peach brandy before that's awesome already, a tequila that cost almost $80 just in ingredients to make, did a nectarine brandy with a little malt today and I'm doing a grappa tomorrow.
Then it's rice whiskey till the season ends.

What are you using to make the Grappa?

Sultanas and grap vine trimmings.

There's grape trash anywhere near me, I learnt about this from an old Italian I fruit picked for as a young bloke
Mince the sultanas and grape leaves with suger and boil till it forms a syrup, then add suger, pour in the fermenter and add water.
I mix it up with a paint stirrer in a cordless drill.

You know you did it right if when you add cold water to the spirit it turns milky.

SPEEDY wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 8:16 am Actually I drink SFA these days, but plenty of friends and family friends that love it.
The wife's work always send me food home with her so I send rice whiskey in with her a few nights a week, go to a BBQ and take 4 bottles along.
Everyone loves it.
But I seem to be the only rum and brandy drinker, so make a big batch of rum each year for me and a run of whatever fruit is in season.
Did a peach brandy before that's awesome already, a tequila that cost almost $80 just in ingredients to make, did a nectarine brandy with a little malt today and I'm doing a grappa tomorrow.
Then it's rice whiskey till the season ends.

Rum are you producing a traditional product…..

I do a navy rum (traditional) kind of like Bundy rum but it doesn't taste like burnt arse.
I prefer my island style rums, I do one that's kind of like an aged bacardi rum, a ginger rum, a spiced rum (aged) similar style to captain Morgan and a lighter clear rum that's sort of a cross between bacardi and Malibu.

Rums my trademark drink but I love doing brandy too.

I like a corn likka but I'm over scotch and bourbons as you can get them anywhere and I like to make the things that you can't buy.

My other speciality is rice whiskey, that's the real crowd favourite around here, you can't buy it here, bugger all people make it and it's a, traditionally import drink among the Thai and Lao people for both social and religious occasions.
Tastes kind of like a cross between vodka and sake.

I must say speedy. Over the years I have noticed that your posts make I lot more sense when your pissed...so it’s good to see another still pumping out the good oil again...

Every man needs a hobby.

SPEEDY wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:15 pm Sultanas and grap vine trimmings.

There's grape trash anywhere near me, I learnt about this from an old Italian I fruit picked for as a young bloke
Mince the sultanas and grape leaves with suger and boil till it forms a syrup, then add suger, pour in the fermenter and add water.
I mix it up with a paint stirrer in a cordless drill.

You know you did it right if when you add cold water to the spirit it turns milky.

That's interesting. The folks used to use the fermented skins of the berries/ grapes after they had been pressed for the wine making. I remember as a kid my job was to clean out the press and fermenting vats didn't need to drink back then the fumes was enough and I turned out alright

caps wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:39 am

SPEEDY wrote: ↑Fri Jan 14, 2022 8:15 pm Sultanas and grap vine trimmings.

There's grape trash anywhere near me, I learnt about this from an old Italian I fruit picked for as a young bloke
Mince the sultanas and grape leaves with suger and boil till it forms a syrup, then add suger, pour in the fermenter and add water.
I mix it up with a paint stirrer in a cordless drill.

You know you did it right if when you add cold water to the spirit it turns milky.

That's interesting. The folks used to use the fermented skins of the berries/ grapes after they had been pressed for the wine making. I remember as a kid my job was to clean out the press and fermenting vats didn't need to drink back then the fumes was enough and I turned out alright

A man can learn some interesting things on this site.....

It's why sultanas work for grappa too, you need to oil's in the skins and fruit pulp.
If you just use the grape juice then you get brandy, but there's no juice in sultanas, they are essentially just dried pumice.
By mincing them you get the oils from the skins and the flavour from the dried flesh.
For a really good old fashioned grappa you boil the pumice, then strain out the syrup.
Then you reduce the syrup till it's really thick, then ferment it.
I boil the minced sultanas till it thickens up, then add water and let it cool, add some citric acid and diamonim sulphate and I use angel leven yeast, it works great with fruits.

There's a lot of ways you can achieve the same ends when your distilling.

A bit of the old put on with the new, now it a 118lt still with a 55lt thump keg and a 2.5kt mini thump keg/gin caddy/slobber box added on it right before the condenser.
Oh and there's a mini shotgun condenser below a packed column on the long ended T piece, so I can run it as a reflux still too.
I'm selling off some other spare parts now as this thing is now my dream still, it does it all. It's a vodka/gin still, a regular pot still, I can add columns on it too.