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Thread: Pressure cooker still

  1. #21
    looking at their tools while posting pictures of mine.
    Domeguy's Avatar
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    I miss spoke. Got 1 1/2 pints, very strong stuff. Have to dilute later into maybe 3-4 pints and add a bit of flavoring.
    "Teach the children quietly
    For someday sons and daughters
    Will rise up and fight while we stood still"

    I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

  2. #22
    looking at their tools while posting pictures of mine.
    Domeguy's Avatar
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    The company I ordered the apparatus from claimed up to 3 weeks to ship. It took just short of two months...but “My Precious” finally arrived last week. I gave her a spit shine cleaning, and had a 6 gallon corn wash waiting for her. I used the 5/5/5 rule of 5 gallons water, 5 lbs corn, (15 cups) and 5 lbs sugar (10 cups) and the yeast. I waited 4 days for the bubbling to subside, as I didn’t have my test equipment when I started the mash, so I didn’t know it’s exact starch/sugar mix. I strained the mash and added it to “My Precious”. She got to cooking the mash pretty good, and soon she was kickinout the good stuff. I poured out the first 1/4 cup, and collected the rest in 8 oz jars. Now here is my dilemma, I’m not much of a drinker, I mean fuel maker...so I don’t know how it is supposed to taste. Others go by since of smell, which my Parkinson’s has cancelled out. I’m letting the jars air out for 48-72 hrs, then I guess I will have to go knocking door to door, and ask people to try a taste. I ran 4 liters of cheap wine through “My Precious” this afternoon, and got 8 oz of 75 proof “fuel for the Weed-eater”. I’ve got 15 gallons of something in the container mashing now. There is water, corn, sugar, powdered malt extract, and yeast bubbling away. I may have to run this in my tractor, as it should be somewhat higher proof than the first run. Oh, the life of a prepper...
    "Teach the children quietly
    For someday sons and daughters
    Will rise up and fight while we stood still"

    I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

  3. #23
    looking at their tools while posting pictures of mine.
    Domeguy's Avatar
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    I took my goodies from My Precious to a neighbor who’s father was known to be a ...well, let’s just say he had a side business. The product did not quite meet the standards of “the old ways.” I’m trying different recipes each time, looking for that one special taste. So when I start up My Precious next week, I will just add the old product back in and recycle it. I’ve ordered some amylase enzymes to help break down the starches and convert them into sugars. That will go into my next recipe I make next week. I added more sugar to this batch cooking right now, as well as some malt. It was bubbling like mad for the first 24 hrs, then has calmed down to about a bubble every 5-8 seconds. I’m getting into the science that happens inside My Precious. I think I love her.
    "Teach the children quietly
    For someday sons and daughters
    Will rise up and fight while we stood still"

    I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

  4. #24
    Do you have a robot?
    realist's Avatar
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    Tell me what do you do with the heads and tails? How do you tell what is good and what is not?
    If it is predictable then it is preventable....... Gordon Graham

    So if it is predictable and preventable then you better prepare.

  5. #25
    looking at their tools while posting pictures of mine.
    Domeguy's Avatar
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    I’ll explain this the best way I know how, but as I understand it, some people have a set way of doing things, and others may do it another way. You MUST throw away the first certain percentage of every run. This is the methanol, ie. wood alcohol, that can lead to blindness if taken in a high enough doses. Most books and experts say about 2-4 ounces per 5 gallons of wash. The methanol starts to boil off at 148 degrees. The good stuff you want is the ethanol, which starts to boil off and turn into steam at 173 degrees. Some books say you can tell by a oily touch if you rub some between your finger and thumb, and may have acetone smell like finger nail polish. The heads come from somewhere between 173 to 200 degrees, real specific right. Some say the hearts, come between 180 -205 degrees. Then the tails come through somewhere between 190-211. They say the tails have a musty, wet cardboard smell, and will have an oily film on the top. Most every still will have its own sweet spot, which will be slightly different from every other still. A pot still will give off a lower proof product with a higher finished flavor. This you want of distilling a product like whiskey or a brandy. A reflux still will give off a higher alcohol level with not much flavor. You want this if you are distilling a product like gin or vodka. There are probably a hundred or more different types of stills, made mostly of copper or stainless steel. You need some copper if you are running a stainless steel still. This helped to cleans the sulfur out of the finished product. Everyone’s tastes are different in what they like in a alcohol drink..some like the different flavors, some like the higher alcohol flavors. So if you were hypothetically to run a still, especially if you are new to it, it’s best to collect the foreshots (the bad stuff) first in a small jar and throw it out. Then collect everything in small jars and number them as the come off. After the run is over, do some sampling with the nose, and the tongue. When you find the tastes you like, (usually in the middle numbers) you keep those, the hearts. Some like to add a bit of the heads and the tails to the hearts. It’s entirely up to your taste, but be warned, it’s the side chemicals in the heads and tails that give you the hangovers and other problems. So after you keep what you want, you can then pour what you don’t want to drink and put them into a container and add that back into the still when you are hypothetically running your next batch, since the heads and tails still have recyclable alcohol. So, to be exact, it’s up to your own taste as to what you want to keep, then you recycle what you don’t want. I hope this answers your question.
    "Teach the children quietly
    For someday sons and daughters
    Will rise up and fight while we stood still"

    I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

  6. #26
    looking at their tools while posting pictures of mine.
    Domeguy's Avatar
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    I learned a few interesting facts on my quest to learn about the magic that occurs inside a still. During prohibition, everyone and their brother ran their own still...usually safely. But some people were only interested in profits. Some ran their stills using very questionable, and sometimes deadly parts and additives. Some used car radiators as the cooling condenser. These radiators contained lead, which bleed into the finished product. To help age the moonshine faster, they added chemicals like embalming chemicals. Some kept the methanol, or the foreshots, which are poisonous, and could cause blindness if taken in a high enough dosage. And actually, it was the Feds, that started the rumors saying moonshine can lead to blindness, hoping to scare some people off of the licker, even though there never were any proven cases of regular moonshine causing any blindness. And Absinthe, a very popular distilled avlohol back in the day, was promoted as a dangerous hallucinaginic which caused people to do dangerous and murderous acts. This came about after a man killed his wife after drinking Absinthe. They neglected to tell the people he had been drinking moonshine nonstop for 48 hrs pryer to killing her, which I would guess had something to do with it.
    "Teach the children quietly
    For someday sons and daughters
    Will rise up and fight while we stood still"

    I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

  7. #27
    Bacon saver

    Brownwater Riverrat 13's Avatar
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    Guess I shoulda stopped by on the way home from workin on the new homestead? Would have made a "cherry" on top of a long day. Sounds like you're moving right along.
    Be safe.............the night is your friend.

  8. #28
    Do you have a robot?
    realist's Avatar
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    I like the idea of adding the embalming fluid for flavor. I figure if I'm going to get pickled then I might as well get embalmed while I'm at it. I'm just getting started so when my time comes I'll be ahead in the game.
    If it is predictable then it is preventable....... Gordon Graham

    So if it is predictable and preventable then you better prepare.

  9. #29
    looking at their tools while posting pictures of mine.
    Domeguy's Avatar
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    I haven’t been able to spend much time lately with my Precious. But I found a distillery in Winchester about 30 minutes away that just opened up. They will be giving a class on distilling which will help me to better make the cuts and keep all of the good stuff. I’m just waiting for them to get a few others to sign up.
    "Teach the children quietly
    For someday sons and daughters
    Will rise up and fight while we stood still"

    I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

  10. #30
    may be in trouble


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    Dome,

    How large of a mirror, or mirrors, do you think you'd need for Precious to become a solar powered still?

    K

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