Mumbles Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 It's actually a bit higher than the original recipe just due to extract portion sizes. It should be 9lbs liquid, or 8 of extract. A figured it'd help make up for any of the other grains that I'd leave out, and a little extra alcohol is fun for everyone. I could also bump everything up 25% or so and go for a doppel maibock. I'll do a bit of reading up on the whole mashing thing. Seems about the same as what I did for the last batch with steeping, but with keeping a constant temp, and starting a bit lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Yeah, it's almost identical to most steeping instructions except for the water:grain ratio. Most kits just tell you to steep your crystal and other specialty grains in your pot with a good portion of your total water. For complete starch conversion during mashing, it's important that your ratio be no more than 1.5qt/lb to maintain sufficient concentration of amylase enzymes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarezWally Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Ohhh, just the thread ive been looking for. Me and a few others are sick to death of high spirit prices and taxes and we were discussing setting up a still to make basic moonshine and if its any good move on to something better (or not) Nothing serious has been set in motion but we have a perfect location to set it up. Assuming we steal / pillage as much as we can how much are we looking at forking out? While I have limited knowledge here I assume methanol is not really a issue aslong as you throw the first 10ml of product? Dont want to go blind here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Do yourself a favor, and do a lot more reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hst45 Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Do yourself a favor, and do a lot more reading.Good plan, and here's a place to start.http://www.amphora-society.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco_Aster Posted December 22, 2007 Author Share Posted December 22, 2007 I tried a whiskey batch a little while ago, here is some info I posted on homedistiller.org- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey, yesterday I prepared the following mash- 8lb cracked feedstock corn 1.5lb light unmalted cracked barley 11.5L water Is this okay for a first grain bill? Mixed the grains then added the boiling water. Let it soak for a few hours in the fermentor wrapped in 2 sleeping bags. When it came down to 63*C I added one bag of enzymes from my local homebrew shop. Left for 24 hours and then added 3/4 a packet of W-34/70 Lager yeast. Before I added the yeast the mash smelt just like vomit. Is this normal? I have done about 5 x 25L sugar based washes with turbo yeast and just wondering if this is the norm for grains? I'm planning to distill in my homemade fractional still with the 1.5m of stainless scrubbers taken out. I tried it out with a sugar wash and it gave me 88% with very little smell. Will this work okay for whiskey? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the two liquids distilled off the stinky mash was definitely a solvent, smelled like a mix of ethanol, acetone along with other chemical smells. I think the oily looking substance that floated on top smelled of burned wood, almost like an old ashtray. Thought you guys might have a better knowledge of what this might be. The smell in the mash came after the enzymes were added. It was the most revolting thing to ever enter my nostrils. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted December 22, 2007 Share Posted December 22, 2007 You need to read a bit more about the mashing process. The corn and malt needs to be kept at a fairly precise water ratio and temperature or treated at high temperature in an acidic environment (sour mash) in order for the starches in the corn to transform to sugar. What you've done is not the correct procedure, and you've likely ended-up with a stinky bacterial soup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 Frank: I decanted my beer a couple days ago, pressured it up to ~30 PSI and let it cool in the fridge overnight, took it out in the morning for another shot of pressure, relieved the valve back to ~12 PSI and had a glass. It tasted alright for flat beer, I guess. Hit it with another 25 psi and let it sit another day, did this for about 5 days straight and now it's tasting good, just about the right level of carbonation. I'd have left the gas hooked up but my crappy regulator has a tiny leak somewhere. A guy where I work makes his own vodka/rum/schnapps fairly large scale. He's got a 32 gallon trash can he ferments in, and a big stainless tank/reflux distiller. Frank and also Bonny: off topic, but I lost my cell phone and hence all the numbers stored inside! Please give me a call / email me your numbers so I can get back in touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Very nice, Tentacles!! My weekend project is gonna be adapting a pressure cooker to be a steam source for heating all-grain mashes. I ran across this thread: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18008 and it's got me all jazzed up. I'll give ya a call tomorrow too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 You wern't kidding when you said that you can get in trouble if you like building gadgets. Likely will be brewing up my maibock in the coming weeks. I got a new beer brewing book for christmas(I love my mom). Might modify my recipe based upon that. They said that the crystal malt tends to add a bit of a the wrong type of flavor. Would likely drop it out completely, as the OG is already a bit higher. Mumbles' Maibock has a nice ring to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 mmm...delicious MaiBock..why do you have to be out of season? Yeah...gadgets...it's a sickness really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 What would you use if you wanted to distill some methanol alcohol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asilentbob Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 You generally don't get enough methanol from fermenting things to distill an appreciable quantity of it... most methanol is made from CO/H2 coal gas or whatever it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Where does the term wood alcohol come in them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 This is probably going to suprise you, but you've probably made it at least half a dozen times. It was quite literally distilled from wood. Destructive distillation is what we call making charcoal. It is one of the volatile, flammable byproduct formed when making charcoal by the retort method. This was not high yield, nor as economical as making it from natural gas and steam. You'd have to distill it anyway, so why not just get some anti-freeze or windshield washer fluid. I find the blue stuff is normally methanol. Look for the familiar skull and cross-bones and blindness warnings on the side. It is also sold as "Heet" gasline antifreeze. The yellow, not the red bottle. The red bottle is called "iso-Heet". Guess what alcohol is in iso-heet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 It's also sold as gas line antifreeze in colder climes. I picked up a gallon here a while back for like $10. AKA Methyl Hydrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Ya buying heat kinda gets expensive. See I thought it came from wood but wasnt positive on it. They sell it pure by the gallon? Or is it mixed with other crap as it normally is in washer fluid? You got a product name on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Racing shops often sell it as fuel for cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I bought a 5gal can from WWR for ~$6/gal (before freight) about 3 years ago. You wouldn't think that gasoline prices would affect methanol prices much, but that same can now costs $9/gal. If you buy a case of HEET, it's ~$12/gal. Washer fluid (-20F) is usually ~30% MeOH by weight (35% by vol.) according to a few common MSDS. At ~$2/gal for washer fluid (~$5.70/gal MeOH), it's the cheapest source if your time and the electricity used distilling aren't added in. If you live in colder climates and can find the violet -50F stuff, that's better yet at ~65% MeOH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyro6314 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I dont think Anti-Freeze has Methanol in it does it Mumbles? Only Ethylene Glycol, Water and other additives to keep the nasties down in your cooling system such as anti corrosion agents. Racing methanol is expensive simply because it's "FOR RACING". Dont put *pure* methanol on a frozen window either, it will normally shatter. Look to the oil field industry. Almost anyone who works service rigs, runs flowbacks or does flow testing will have access to massive amounts of it; although its not usually stored well and is diluted with alot of water. If you adventurous, while driving around in the country look for big tanks sitting beside a well head and or a big silver globe sitting on a tripod that looks like something from outter space. Both of these will be full of Methanol and are almost never locked up. Go by and fill up; its pennies on the dollar for them so dont worry about it. PS. In no way do I condone stealing!!! Just umm, unless it is contributing to the growth of the pyrotechnic hobby And dont get caught! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 pyro: He means windshield washer antifreeze; You must live in a warm region. Frank: "If you live in colder climates" Although everything up here is rated to -40F, and it's only a bit farther north from you. I've seen the -50C stuff, it's quite common up here. Also, I finished off that keg of beer already. Picked up the ingredients for that recipe you sent me, so if you can figure a time to come up and visit, just let me know. The dry malt extract was far more expensive than the liquid, so I went with liquid. Dry was $30, liquid was $15 for 3.2Kg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 -50C and -40F are probably the same product. -50C is about -45F. Unless there is significant extra cost for a product for an extra 5 degrees F, I see no reason why they would not be the same. My beer turned out to have a bit too much diacetyl in it. I read that the yeast left in the bottle for carbonation could probably take care of it. Perhaps I'll toss it in the closet for a month or two, and check then. The maibock is coming up as soon as my roomate gets back from Minnesota. It is definatly cold enough in the house to lager. Also, I got a turkey fryer for christmas (thanks Mom), so if I can find a nice day, it may be an outdoor brew. Frank, or anyone else for that matter. All the books say to use stainless steel for the boiling pot. The fryer came with a 7 gallon aluminum pot. Is there anything that would prevent me from using it so I could get a bigger boil? If I do partial mash, it'd be indoors on the stove due to size, but for the extract and what not I may go out doors. I have a "5 gallon" SS pot that in all reality holds 4 if filled to the brim if Aluminum would pose a problem. I know that the mashing/wort can be a tad acidic, somewhere in the vicinity of 5.2 - 5.6 pH, but that shouldn't cause an issue. Hell, soda has a pH around 1 or 2, but that has a plastic liner, and isn't boiling either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankRizzo Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Tentacles: Yeah, the comment was geared more toward other forum members who don't live in the frozen tundra like us. The "Splash" brand cheap stuff that you can find at any gas station in the summer is the -20F product. I've seen the higher concentration purple stuff at Walmart for a few extra dolllars (~$3.00/gal). Mumbles: Aluminum is fine for a boiling kettle and in fact is less prone to scorching your wort during the boil due to the better thermal conductivity. The only drawback is that it's easier to scratch, and those scratches can harbor nasties, making it harder to sanitize (though it's a moot point since you're *boiling* in it). As long as you're not abusive when you scrub or use a steel implement for stirring, aluminum pots are definitely the way to go. The whole Alzheimer's/aluminum thing has been shown to be bullshit as well. Stainless steel does the have the *SHINY* factor though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psyco_1322 Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Good site to buy white wine yeast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tentacles Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 mumbles: There's a thread on homebrewtalk about Al for kettles. If you want to get fancy you could properly anodize it, otherwise just boil some water in it for 15-20 mins or stick it in the oven (big oven!) at 350 for half an hour. Also, I think you switched around C and F in your head there. -40C is almost exactly -40F, but -50C is -58F! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts