New to hobbie

[Windowliquor]

I bought a 2.5gal onion type still. My question is does anyone know how much distilled product I should get. My mash is 5 lbs cracked corn, 1.5 lbs malted 2 row barley and about 2 lbs of sugar. Water and a pack of yeast.

 

[bracconiere]

did you mash the corn and barley? or are you coutning on the sugar alone for fermentables?

if mashed i'd guesstimate you'll end up with 12%, and out of 2.5 gallons get about 50ounces? at 65%....or cask strength...usually a person can get a gallon of 65% out of 5 gallons of 16% starting material...

 

[Jonathan2342]

Really new to this, ended up buying 3kg of buckwheat honey to make a mead. When tasting it I thought coconut may go with the chocolate notes. Hope I did not make a dud. 2litres coconut water, 1.5kg buckwheat honey, topped off with about 1litre spring water. 71b yeast, starting gravity of 1.080

 

[Windowliquor]

did you mash the corn and barley? or are you coutning on the sugar alone for fermentables?

if mashed i'd guesstimate you'll end up with 12%, and out of 2.5 gallons get about 50ounces? at 65%....or cask strength...usually a person can get a gallon of 65% out of 5 gallons of 16% starting material...

Yes I mashed all including sugar. It fermented for a week and now I’m letting it rest to clear. Thanks

 

[bracconiere]

Yes I mashed all including sugar.

i hate to be insulting, but i have to ask. So you crushed the barley, boiled the cracked corn. then waited for it to cool, then added the crushed barley at ~150f? then strained it some how?

i have to ask because i don't know if you know how to make all-grain beer even?

 

[Windowliquor]

You can’t insult someone that don’t know what their doing. Lol and I don’t. I ordered the malted barley on line. I put it in after the corn cooled. Didn’t strain it I was going to let it settle and siphon it off to distill.

 

[Windowliquor]

ANY HELP is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[bracconiere]

honestly, if it was pre-milled, and you steeped it at 150f..should be good...and i'd try to use a double boiler for the run, leave the grain in the still....i've heard of someone else doing that...

 

[Windowliquor]

The double boiler sounds good. I wonder how it effects the heating time?

 

[bracconiere]

i've never done it myself, 6 gallons in a 15gallon pot f's up a hot plate....but i'd imagine, it would just limit how hot it can get....that way you get the flavor from grains without burning them.....

kinda like they heat up the same, but there's a divder, and the water won't get above 212f, or 200f if you live at 4500ft....

 

[Windowliquor]

I will definitely give that a try. I’m just above sea level

 

[Jonathan2342]

Really new to this, ended up buying 3kg of buckwheat honey to make a mead. When tasting it I thought coconut may go with the chocolate notes. Hope I did not make a dud. 2litres coconut water, 1.5kg buckwheat honey, topped off with about 1litre spring water. 71b yeast, starting gravity of 1.080

Did not realize I was posting on a different thread, find this forum confusing, apologies if I offended anyone.

 

[bracconiere]

i assure you i felt personally insulted, lol


(i've never made mead!)

 

[Windowliquor]

can I put a drain on my carboy. When I siphon off the mash there’s at least 1 to 1.5 gal left behind. I thought a spigot with a couple of inches of stainless screen would do the trick to retrieve it.