For finer control the larger the knob the finer the adjustment, something I learned working on cars that transfers well. I heat over natural gas hooked to a converted propane burner but made this suggestion to a friend that runs electric and he's been a lot happier now, he did say it took a bit of fiddling around to find a knob that worked and then to remark the scale by hand.
For those who know fruit and how to do it right blueberry is one of the best. I like doing a grape wine mash, then throwing some blueberries and a little brown sugar to soak for a few weks
Thank you! I have to be innovative 💡. My job doesnt allow me the luxury of babysitting my brews. I kinda have to set it, cross my fingers and see what happens. Lol. It wasnt enough weight, but it still worked better than no weights or just free floating. Thanks for the support and cheers! Shine On!
With a 6 gallon batch, i would think tossing the first 100ml is plenty for fusel oils and any methanol from the fruit. Plus you used pectic enzyme which helps impede the amount of methanol anyway. I agree learning your still, doing many runs and keeping a log book is smart for your cuts. Also though depending on what you are distilling i have been amazed at how smooth some liquor gets just from sitting for a few weeks. I'm surprised you didnt squeeze out the juice from the bag though. You have alot of flavor in there and it's not about losing much alcohol but flavor. Use a thumper after your first run if you want and fill that with blueberry jam!
Run the still up to about one 4150 and stabilize the temperature there for about 10 minutes get your methanol out and then turn it up slowly and small increments. That way it’s stabilized as it goes up when you go into the start of the run Vinny stabilized before you go into the run you’re not gonna be running, even.
We use a circle of mesh that sits in the bucket over the fruit, and them put a weight on that same as you’d do for sauerkraut fermenting. We sort of push it up and down whenever we think of it to stir it up. Works the same as the bag, which I might try next time 👍
I thought about that too, putting a screen of somesort on top and weighing it down, but i dont like using anything thats not stainless or glass in my fermenter. And i didnt have a good way to do it, so this is what i come up with.
You should add at leasr 3-4 feet of column, and a little bit of length between that tee qnd shotgun condencer. Try adding copper mesh just below the tee to help drop out the fusil oils.
Anytime you distill a flammable substance you run the risk of fire or 💥! Keep your still air tight and make SURE that you are not pumping out steam, just liquid dripping.
Thanks for doing a video because you are just like the rest of us! I have a theory about the rising blueberries and the weight, but my experience comes from making sauerkraut and applejack (apple brandy). Since you are using a bucket, what if you used the glass thing from a microwave, and put bricks on top of it, I think that would be the right size. Then I would put a few layers of cheese cloth over that, and I might put saran wrap/plastic wrap over that to avoid drying out. Maybe twine around it since it would be hard to get an elastic that big to go around the bucket. You can just scoop out the mold and keep it going, don't pay that any mind.
You wouldnt want to put bricks in a fermentation vessel. Too many cranies for bacteria to hide. I have been looking for some sanitary weights, like big heavy glass balls or something. No luck yet.
Great Job, I tried BB Shine and didn't get good results. Ended up trying to make a blend but again no go. I'll give your method a try. I may use a blender to create a BB mush and try that as well.
The first half of this recipe was before i started my channel. The full recipe was 300 lbs blueberries, 15 gallons of water, 30 lbs or so of sugar, (or enough to get 10% wash overall) fermented that all in a 30 gallon barrel, pulled the blueberries after the first week, pressed them, then added back in the juice from that to finish ferment. That yeilded me 26 gallons. I filled my 13 gallon still twice and stripped hot and fast with a 1500/120 element. The rest is in the video. What i made in the video was so i could have a full still after adding in the 40% lowwines and fresh wash. I got my hands on almost half a pallet of damaged blueberries for free. So ya. Lol.
What i showed was only 1 part of a large batch, but it should still work as a scaled down 1 and done run. I just got an enormous amount of blueberries for free. The final 4 gallons and 30 lbs i paid for, but i had 26 gallons i stripped down which had about 250-300 lbs of berries. Lol. In hindsight I probably should of explained that in the video.
You concern about 40% ABV is not a hard line. I have ran 75% ABV lots of times in my stills. However if I am using in in a closed space or open flame then 40% may be to high of a hard limit. I also would never run high proof ABV in a new still. If you do run high proof make SURE there are no leaks.
Oh wow, i dont think i would have the guts to run 75%. Lol. I am a bit of a cautious and parinoid distiller, cause if something goes wrong i burn down my house. But Thank you for the info, good stuff.
No. It Does not have to be at zero or dry. You may notice a slight decrease In your final quantity of liquor. If it is below 1.005 o would run. Anything above that or a 1.010 I would wait. But that's only preference. Because you work hard to get that sugar It would be a waste to have that much sugar not turning to alcohol
With a 2" dia column 5' tall and that condencer, using a 14 gal still you should have been able to run that off in about 5 hours from initial startup time. That is unless you also use a reflux condencer at the top of your column and then its about 6 hrs ( or so I've heard ).
That is about right for a 1 and done run. This is a run of 30-32 gallons stripped down to 13 gallons, and this is the second distalation of that batch.
No. Your thinking of a pre-condencor, They go on top of the column but below the ninety. That way the Condensed liquid liquid drops back down into the boiler and not out of the Spout. The location is the key element.
@Garry McGaw oh my. Thats CRAZY! I can only get them when they are in season, which seems to be late winter early spring, but i pay like 17 bucks i think for a case of 6- 1/2 gallons
If you over sweeten a mead you can always pitch some more yeast, let it ferment down to the disired level, then rack again and pasteurize it. If its too high in alcohol for the yeast to eat the sugars, you can add whatever base you used i.e. juice/water to bring down the ABV then pitch.
@@BeerWineandShine idk I think I could probably have added more water but at that point it had already been fermenting for around 4-5weeks and I was ready to start another batch
I usually only do 2-3 weeks in primary fermentation. I sometimes do a secondary if i want it sparkling. The liquor I distilled was amazing even if it would have probably been better not distilled.
Running slow is great and all butt don't be scared to put some heat to it. As you would know by know stainless is diff then copper. It's to bad you don't have a thumper and more Cooper. How much packing do u put in the neck of ur still head?
This run was made using a "pot still" setup. So i didnt use any packing for this one. I only recently started using packing but only in my column setups. I am planning on making a video about the differences and why i have started to use it so stay tunned!
@@BeerWineandShine it's a pissing match butt in my set up and I've had a bigger keg set up butt you gotta get more Cooper in there, maybe a copper thumper to the boiler would be awesome. My set up makes awesome stuff keep the copper clean and burn on.
4shotz are about an once per gallon you got a 13 gallon still so about 10 or 11 onces it's a little less then that but with that your good heads on the other hand it's up to you and your taste
The methanol comes off first no matter what. So even at 32 gallons total spirit run you should still more then good with 13 once take for 4shotz. Fruit makes methanol in the fermentation process aka 4shotz grain don't make methanol to speak of really compared to fruit wines. Store bought alcohol does have some methanol in it still that's why you get a head ache from drinking to much. But I do love the video keep up the awesome content
@KEVIN_NINJA _JONES i usually pull off the first half pint to full pint depending on batch size anyway, so i am not worried so much about methanol, its the heads to heart cut i struggle with. Never know how much heads. As far as taste goes sometimes it seems obvious, other times i cant tell for nothin! Lol. Thanks for watching Brother. The support means Alot! SHINE ON!
I would have mashed those berries up first and then added the pectic enzymes while I was stirring . The skins won't allow the enzymes to get to the "meat" of the fruit. But that's just me. Lol
I could have done that, however freezing breaks down the sell walls, which allows yeast and enzymes to get in, and juice and flavor to get out. Cooking them does the same thing.
@@BeerWineandShine It seems like it would be more efficient and cost effective to use the berries for flavoring the alcohol after the alcohol has been distilled. Like pouring vodka into grape juice.
@TRU Dat a brandy has characteristics of both the fruit and fermentation, if done correctly can produce a very smooth, lightly flaovored spirit that can be drank white, or compliment verious types of wood well, for example, french oak does good with some brandies. A "Liqueur" is basically an alcohol spiked coolaide designed to hide the taste of poorly distilled liqour. Lol. For lack of a better analogy.
There is a few ways it can happen. Running to hard is One way yes, but 1/2 pint an hour is way to slow, which can cause this as well. I think beaver diy did a video on this as well.
@BeerWineandShine I've been where you are , and it's not a good place. I'm not gonna preach to you fella, just worried. I may be from the uk, but I've always got a ear to lend, if you ever wanna talk. Gotta admit that blueberry brandy sounds fecking scrumpy. Subscribing to your channel is gonna test me brother
For finer control the larger the knob the finer the adjustment, something I learned working on cars that transfers well. I heat over natural gas hooked to a converted propane burner but made this suggestion to a friend that runs electric and he's been a lot happier now, he did say it took a bit of fiddling around to find a knob that worked and then to remark the scale by hand.
😂you Crack me up bro. Great job keep up the good work!
Shine on!!!
Hey brother, That's looking great.
It tastes great too! This is my best product yet.
For those who know fruit and how to do it right blueberry is one of the best. I like doing a grape wine mash, then throwing some blueberries and a little brown sugar to soak for a few weks
Hell ya! from Moonshiner Joe keep shinin'!
That truck load of Blueberries gave you the bug something fierce!
I had to pick it all up by hand though. For a fat boy with a bad back, i have blood, sweat, and litteral tears invested!
Good call on weighing down that bag....almost every video out there has someone plunging it down daily. Subscribed just for that alone...lol.
Thank you! I have to be innovative 💡. My job doesnt allow me the luxury of babysitting my brews. I kinda have to set it, cross my fingers and see what happens. Lol. It wasnt enough weight, but it still worked better than no weights or just free floating. Thanks for the support and cheers! Shine On!
With a 6 gallon batch, i would think tossing the first 100ml is plenty for fusel oils and any methanol from the fruit. Plus you used pectic enzyme which helps impede the amount of methanol anyway. I agree learning your still, doing many runs and keeping a log book is smart for your cuts. Also though depending on what you are distilling i have been amazed at how smooth some liquor gets just from sitting for a few weeks. I'm surprised you didnt squeeze out the juice from the bag though. You have alot of flavor in there and it's not about losing much alcohol but flavor. Use a thumper after your first run if you want and fill that with blueberry jam!
If i remember right, i think i didnt squeeze out the berries cause my still wouldnt hold it. Either way, this turned out great. One of my best.
Nice! :)
Run the still up to about one 4150 and stabilize the temperature there for about 10 minutes get your methanol out and then turn it up slowly and small increments. That way it’s stabilized as it goes up when you go into the start of the run Vinny stabilized before you go into the run you’re not gonna be running, even.
We use a circle of mesh that sits in the bucket over the fruit, and them put a weight on that same as you’d do for sauerkraut fermenting. We sort of push it up and down whenever we think of it to stir it up. Works the same as the bag, which I might try next time 👍
I thought about that too, putting a screen of somesort on top and weighing it down, but i dont like using anything thats not stainless or glass in my fermenter. And i didnt have a good way to do it, so this is what i come up with.
You should add at leasr 3-4 feet of column, and a little bit of length between that tee qnd shotgun condencer. Try adding copper mesh just below the tee to help drop out the fusil oils.
Anytime you distill a flammable substance you run the risk of fire or 💥! Keep your still air tight and make SURE that you are not pumping out steam, just liquid dripping.
Glue a wooden chopstick or a kabob stick on the dial, and a 1/4", or less movement, will be more precise. Just a thought. 🤔
Thanks for doing a video because you are just like the rest of us! I have a theory about the rising blueberries and the weight, but my experience comes from making sauerkraut and applejack (apple brandy). Since you are using a bucket, what if you used the glass thing from a microwave, and put bricks on top of it, I think that would be the right size. Then I would put a few layers of cheese cloth over that, and I might put saran wrap/plastic wrap over that to avoid drying out. Maybe twine around it since it would be hard to get an elastic that big to go around the bucket. You can just scoop out the mold and keep it going, don't pay that any mind.
You wouldnt want to put bricks in a fermentation vessel. Too many cranies for bacteria to hide. I have been looking for some sanitary weights, like big heavy glass balls or something. No luck yet.
The instructions for pectic enzyme is 1/2 tsp per galon of juice.. or 1/10 tsp /lb of fruit and do this 1 hour before fermenting starts
I could always find the per/gallon of juice measurement, but never seem to find the per/lb of fruit measurement, so thank you.
Great Job, I tried BB Shine and didn't get good results. Ended up trying to make a blend but again no go. I'll give your method a try. I may use a blender to create a BB mush and try that as well.
The first half of this recipe was before i started my channel.
The full recipe was 300 lbs blueberries, 15 gallons of water, 30 lbs or so of sugar, (or enough to get 10% wash overall) fermented that all in a 30 gallon barrel, pulled the blueberries after the first week, pressed them, then added back in the juice from that to finish ferment. That yeilded me 26 gallons.
I filled my 13 gallon still twice and stripped hot and fast with a 1500/120 element.
The rest is in the video.
What i made in the video was so i could have a full still after adding in the 40% lowwines and fresh wash.
I got my hands on almost half a pallet of damaged blueberries for free. So ya. Lol.
that sounds so good i would love to try you recipe hope you dont mind cheers my friend
What i showed was only 1 part of a large batch, but it should still work as a scaled down 1 and done run. I just got an enormous amount of blueberries for free. The final 4 gallons and 30 lbs i paid for, but i had 26 gallons i stripped down which had about 250-300 lbs of berries. Lol. In hindsight I probably should of explained that in the video.
You concern about 40% ABV is not a hard line. I have ran 75% ABV lots of times in my stills. However if I am using in in a closed space or open flame then 40% may be to high of a hard limit. I also would never run high proof ABV in a new still. If you do run high proof make SURE there are no leaks.
Oh wow, i dont think i would have the guts to run 75%. Lol. I am a bit of a cautious and parinoid distiller, cause if something goes wrong i burn down my house. But Thank you for the info, good stuff.
Does the wine have to be completly dry or at zero before you run? Or if its got sugar in the wine does it make a problem with foam or anything?
No. It Does not have to be at zero or dry. You may notice a slight decrease In your final quantity of liquor. If it is below 1.005 o would run. Anything above that or a 1.010 I would wait. But that's only preference. Because you work hard to get that sugar It would be a waste to have that much sugar not turning to alcohol
With a 2" dia column 5' tall and that condencer, using a 14 gal still you should have been able to run that off in about 5 hours from initial startup time. That is unless you also use a reflux condencer at the top of your column and then its about 6 hrs ( or so I've heard ).
That is about right for a 1 and done run. This is a run of 30-32 gallons stripped down to 13 gallons, and this is the second distalation of that batch.
Scale back the size of your element , that should give you more spectrom of temp.
Arn't you able to control your output by adjusting the condenser's flow rate in addition to the amps?
No. Your thinking of a pre-condencor, They go on top of the column but below the ninety. That way the Condensed liquid liquid drops back down into the boiler and not out of the Spout. The location is the key element.
@@BeerWineandShine Thanks that helps.
PS. I'm glad you're not lactacting.
Pitch the yeast 1 hr after pextic enzyme.. and you should only leave the blueberries for 7 days
Great vid mate, how much do you pay for a box of those 2 piece lid jars?, just curious.(1/2 pints)
Thanks buddy. Honestly i dont remember how much i paid. 10 bucks maybe? The prices of things nowdays makes me angree, so i dont look. Lol.
@@BeerWineandShine Hahahahaha, you nailed that, I just paid $40 bucks for 3 1/2gal jars, spew'n! but that's par for the coarse down here in Aussie.
@Garry McGaw oh my. Thats CRAZY! I can only get them when they are in season, which seems to be late winter early spring, but i pay like 17 bucks i think for a case of 6- 1/2 gallons
I had a batch of mead that I made way too sweet recently. Distilled it and it was poggers although I hope I never waste mead like that again
If you over sweeten a mead you can always pitch some more yeast, let it ferment down to the disired level, then rack again and pasteurize it. If its too high in alcohol for the yeast to eat the sugars, you can add whatever base you used i.e. juice/water to bring down the ABV then pitch.
The lovely thing about homebrew is you can do whatever you want, and because you understand how it is made, you can understand how to fix mistakes.
@@BeerWineandShine idk I think I could probably have added more water but at that point it had already been fermenting for around 4-5weeks and I was ready to start another batch
@@sebigrell meads do take a long time.
I usually only do 2-3 weeks in primary fermentation. I sometimes do a secondary if i want it sparkling. The liquor I distilled was amazing even if it would have probably been better not distilled.
Running slow is great and all butt don't be scared to put some heat to it. As you would know by know stainless is diff then copper. It's to bad you don't have a thumper and more Cooper. How much packing do u put in the neck of ur still head?
This run was made using a "pot still" setup. So i didnt use any packing for this one. I only recently started using packing but only in my column setups. I am planning on making a video about the differences and why i have started to use it so stay tunned!
@@BeerWineandShine I'll stay tuned. I like ur boiler that's for sure, I run on 2 kegs 15 and a 13.5 for a thump and a 48" 1.5 over 1/2 Liebig.
@@BeerWineandShine it's a pissing match butt in my set up and I've had a bigger keg set up butt you gotta get more Cooper in there, maybe a copper thumper to the boiler would be awesome. My set up makes awesome stuff keep the copper clean and burn on.
4shotz are about an once per gallon you got a 13 gallon still so about 10 or 11 onces it's a little less then that but with that your good heads on the other hand it's up to you and your taste
With the low wines from the stripping runs it was equivalent to a 32 gallon run.
The methanol comes off first no matter what. So even at 32 gallons total spirit run you should still more then good with 13 once take for 4shotz. Fruit makes methanol in the fermentation process aka 4shotz grain don't make methanol to speak of really compared to fruit wines. Store bought alcohol does have some methanol in it still that's why you get a head ache from drinking to much. But I do love the video keep up the awesome content
@KEVIN_NINJA _JONES i usually pull off the first half pint to full pint depending on batch size anyway, so i am not worried so much about methanol, its the heads to heart cut i struggle with. Never know how much heads. As far as taste goes sometimes it seems obvious, other times i cant tell for nothin! Lol. Thanks for watching Brother. The support means Alot! SHINE ON!
What kind of still is that?
Its called a milk can. With a 2" inch column or traditional head.
I would have mashed those berries up first and then added the pectic enzymes while I was stirring . The skins won't allow the enzymes to get to the "meat" of the fruit. But that's just me. Lol
I could have done that, however freezing breaks down the sell walls, which allows yeast and enzymes to get in, and juice and flavor to get out. Cooking them does the same thing.
Another great video
Shine on brother
Crush up the berries
Why don't you juice the berries then add pure ethenol from your still to the juice?
Do you mean for back sweetening?
@@BeerWineandShine
It seems like it would be more efficient and cost effective to use the berries for flavoring the alcohol after the alcohol has been distilled. Like pouring vodka into grape juice.
@@varietasVeritas that is called a liqueur. Which is just a flavored spirit. This is a brandy. Which has Fermented berries. They are quite different.
@TRU Dat a brandy has characteristics of both the fruit and fermentation, if done correctly can produce a very smooth, lightly flaovored spirit that can be drank white, or compliment verious types of wood well, for example, french oak does good with some brandies.
A "Liqueur" is basically an alcohol spiked coolaide designed to hide the taste of poorly distilled liqour. Lol.
For lack of a better analogy.
4 gallon water and 30# a fruit? Oh yeah its a flavor bomb....
It worked out Pretty good too. I have my tasting video coming out soon-ish
If you're getting tail oils at 130 proof you're pushing her way too hard
There is a few ways it can happen. Running to hard is One way yes, but 1/2 pint an hour is way to slow, which can cause this as well. I think beaver diy did a video on this as well.
Blend up your berries more surface area better flavor
Its not a good sign when your hone by yourself drinking
Thats the only way i do it!
@BeerWineandShine I've been where you are , and it's not a good place. I'm not gonna preach to you fella, just worried. I may be from the uk, but I've always got a ear to lend, if you ever wanna talk. Gotta admit that blueberry brandy sounds fecking scrumpy. Subscribing to your channel is gonna test me brother