r/firewater

So made some apple pie moonshine today. I've done it a few times in years past and just used regular apple juice and cider but this time I used some cold pressed unfiltered apple juice and when I added my everclear it turned out like big white ish cloudy clumps in it that don't really settle but stay suspended. Normally I have a brownish cinnamon type sediment which is fine. But this time ! strained it which got most of the cinnamon sediment which is cool. But I was reading that this may be pectin from the unfiltered apple juice? I just tried to buy a ultrafine nylon mesh strainer which should be here on Wednesday but any thoughts?

I had this custom built by North Georgia Still Company a couple of years ago and have been in love with it ever since I received it. I worked with them over a couple of months to make the vision a reality and it's a true one of a kind work of copper art. They added several custom touches to make it incredibly special and it really was such an amazing experience; they really went out of their way on this.

I designed it after learning and researching for almost a year. They refined it and made it proper based on actual knowledge vs theory.

It's a 3 gallon main boiler with a custom cap. 2 x 1/2 gallon thumpers with infusion ports. 1 gallon condenser with about 10 ft of copper coil in it. Full tri-clamps at every connection. I use the 4x 6 gallon conical stainless steel Ss Brewtech fermenters for various batches of mash. I wrapped the thumpers with Reflectix to help insulate them from heat loss and produce a more even temperature once things start flowing from vessel to vessel.

I actually don't drink much, considering the investment, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE giving out impossibly unique gifts for various occasions, that could never have existed if I hadn't produced it myself.

Just wanted to share with this community what I've been sitting on and maybe make some friends and learn more about what others are accomplishing with their setups. It's apple season right now and brandy is on the menu next. Cheers!

About 3 months ago I started an experiment where I tried to replicate the traditional baiju fermentation and production process, and one ended up working, the other got very infected and ultimately pitched instead of trying to run it.

Took an airstill, 5 cups of water, a crudely made stainless steel mesh basket (to separate the grain from the heating element) 1,000g of the fermented grain.

I ended up collecting 350 ml of ~23% , it started coming off at about 50% and I stopped once it was coming off at 10%.

I tasted a few drops (and spit it out due to how I steamed the grains) and it didn't taste as bad as the actual baiju iv tried in the past...

Ultimately id count this as a success but so far only on a small scale and if anyone wanted to scale it up they would have to figure out how to steam strip a large amount of grain efficiently, not sure how to do it with my equipment at any rate...

What I learned was that AYLY works just fine for a solid state fermentation yeast/enzyme additive. The other one I tried was the rice wine yeast balls you can get at any Asian market, those initial didn't seem to be doing anything (by smell, where the AYLY was smelling very boozie at the same time) uncovering the fermenter and covering with cheese cloth seemed to help l... Untill it got infected...

It took me 3 months to run the project not because it took that long to ferment but because I didn't have time/ forgot about it for a while.

If anyone wants to try this out in I would highly recommend as it's very interesting and produces a very interesting flavor profile. Also I'd be very interested in anyone else's process and/ or results.

Made an adapter to use a glass cup to keep the fruit flys out of the parrot, but it fogs up even though the offtake is cold...

Does anyone know how to prevent the condensation?

Also so far it works like a charm in keeping the fruit flys away from the offtake.

I planted 70 bloody butcher plants and got 40 cobs in return. Not a great yield but it was my first time.

Next year we will fertilize less (plants got way too tall) and plant closer and scrap the entire three sisters concept. (Beans took the corn down)

I acquired some shine (jar on the left) that appears to have a blue tint / hue compared to the clear source (jar on the right).

Notes I have seen darker blue tinted shine that was obviously not safe to drink.

Does this look safe to drink / age?

Edit #1 swapped out glass, less blue tint, to be on safe side will have the guy I got it from rerun and clean his still

Had a whole bunch of fruit that I pureed to make into a brandy. Right now it's the consistency of really runny applesauce. Should I add some liquid before I try to ferment?