Anybody used one of these? Mr. Distiller

[GadgetGuy]

I think I'm getting one. I have too many damn projects going on at once between vehicles, computers and myco stuff to build one and this is hands down the least expensive still I've found in any form. It is small but a do a few batches a week over time and you will have plenty to sit on for a while.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...99186474801644

Found one with pretty much everything you need to make your first batch for $200 plus shipping. Has anybody ever tried one of these?

[ggod]

I have a MR. Beer. Good for entry level brewing. A great way to find out if you have a true interest without spending a lot in start up cost.

[GadgetGuy]

So it works well for the home hobbyist then? It looks like a fun little toy. I think I'm gonna put away a few bones and try to get one while they are still on sale. Definitely a good way to learn the process before stepping up to something larger.

[Hippie3]

http://www.milehidistilling.com/Mr_D...de_p/16050.htm

interesting

[911aware]

of mr. beer. i have two brew kegs.

and i usually keep several flavors on hand.

Originally Posted by ggod

I have a MR. Beer. Good for entry level brewing. A great way to find out if you have a true interest without spending a lot in start up cost.

[911aware]

me likey!

Originally Posted by Hippie3

http://www.milehidistilling.com/Mr_Distiller_trade_p/16050.htm

interesting

[Diacetyl-M]

Wow that is really cool. I'd like to get one and try it out.... thanks for the link

[GadgetGuy]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

http://www.milehidistilling.com/Mr_Distiller_trade_p/16050.htm

interesting

Yes that's where I was going to go. Actually somewhat close to me as well so I don't think shipping would kill me. Good sale right now.

[jay-pheno]

ive heard bad about those , its just like a rice steamer or coffee pot,
i dunno homedistiller folks was saying bad forgot what exaclty ,, but for real can make a nice still like the bokabob design dude is selling here in anouther thread those rock and really not to much to em , worth diying !

i personaly dont want homemade booze thats touched rubber , Aluminium or plastic dureing the heating process but thats me ,,

[GadgetGuy]

It'll be a little while before I can afford one but I'll post up when I get it.... It looks just like a water distiller but I believe it is altered to run at a lower temp. The idea of building my own still is pretty intimidating to me right now and I have enough projects going on at this time.

[kcmoxtractor]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

http://www.milehidistilling.com/Mr_Distiller_trade_p/16050.htm

interesting

That's the still that my buddy had. It was damn nice. Would take a couple of runs to make a super high proof shine (190+) but it was great.

[Hippie3]

good to know.

[kcmoxtractor]

Works really well for herbal extracts and such also. Can make a crystal clear ganja tincture that's pretty good with one.

[Hippie3]

ganja tincture should be clear emerald green imo .
add a couple drops of food coloring

[GadgetGuy]

I think it would be good for me to get down the process before I jump into something too deep, it's like a little PF jar growing invitro to me.

[kcmoxtractor]

Hahaha yeah the green just gives it that "I'm special" touch.
Just read and follow the instructions, you'll be fine... get an electric hotplate!

[Leftover Salmon]

+1 On the folks at http://www.milehidistilling.com/

I have purchased a few of their Oak barrels for bourbon and scotch aging and I must say that I was pleased with the quality and their customer service.

With that said, however, I have not used the Mini home brewing setup in question... So I guess this info is not of much use to you..

[Hippie3]

gonna send off for one next week-
stay tuned.
some recipes from their site-

MOUNTAIN DEW RECIPE

In making "Mountain Dew" or "White Lightning'" the first step is to convert the starch of the grain into sugar. (Commercial distillers use malt.) This is done by "sprouting" the corn. Shelled, whole corn is covered with warm water in a container with a hole in the bottom. Place a hot cloth over it. Add warm water from time to time as it drains. Keep in a warm place for about 3 days or until corn has 2 inch sprouts. Dry it and grind it into meal. Make mush (or mash) with boiling water. Add rye mash that has been made the same way, if you have it. Yeast (1/2 pound per 50 gallons of mash) may be added to speed up the fermentation if you have it. Without it, 10 or more days will be required instead of about 4. In either case, it must be kept warm. When the mash gets through "working" or bubbling up and settles down, it is then ready to run. At this stage, the mash has been converted into carbonic acid and alcohol. It is called "wash" or beer and it is sour..

SWEET FEED MOONSHINE # 5 gallon bucket of sweet feed (Sweet feed has several different grains and molasses making it a great tasting whiskey.) one package of yeast (using distillers yeast will increase quality and quantity) # 5 pounds sugar # water Put enough feed to cover bottom of 5 gallon bucket a good 4 inches deep Add 5 pounds of sugar. Fill 1/2 full with boiling water. Mix until sugar is dissolved. Let it set for 90 minutes and then finish filling with cool water. Add the yeast after it has cooled to the recommended temperature on the yeast label. Cover with lid--our lid has a little cap that screws on, leave it loose to breathe. 4-5 days later it's ready to run! This is an old-timer recipe and works quite well. My liquor is always 150-180 proof. I don't recommend this for pot stills unless you filter it by pouring it through a pillow case into a 5 gallon bucket after it has finished fermenting. Otherwise the meal will settle and burn in the bottom of your still. Some folks leave the solids in the pillow case and tie it off where it will not touch the bottom of the still.



WHISKEY

INGREDIENTS

10 lbs. Whole kernel corn, untreated

5 Gallons Water

1 whiskey pure





DIRECTIONS

Put corn in a burlap bag and wet with warm water. Place bag in a warm dark

place and keep moist for about ten days. When the sprouts are about a 1/4" long the corn is ready for the next step.

Wash the corn in a tub of water, rubbing the sprouts and roots off. Throw the sprouts and roots away and transfer the corn into your primary fermenter With a pole or another hard object mash the corn, make sure all kernels are cracked.

Add 5 gallons of boiling water and when the mash cools add yeast. Seal fermenter and vent with a water sealed vent.

Fermentation will take 7-10 days. When fermentation is done, pour into the still filtering through a pillow case to remove all solids.






GOOD WHISKEY

I thought you might like this moonshine recipe to enable you to Make Whiskey at home.

The ingredients are malt, sugar, yeast and rain water. You can buy the malt from most big supermarkets, if they don't have it they will probably order it for you. The brand names for the malt and yeast can be Blue Ribbon, and Red Top. The malt is a liquid and comes in a can, the yeast comes in cakes.

To every can of malt you will add 5 gallons of warm water, disolve 5 pounds of sugar and add 1 cake of yeast. Mix all this together in a barrel made of plastic, stainless steel, or copper, under no circumstances use aluminum.

Keep it covered with cheese cloth to keep the bugs out. Keep it in a warm place till it ferments. Then you can cook it off in your still and you have the smoothest whiskey you have ever tasted.

After you run off the whiskey, it is clear like water. You can color it by taking a piece of dry fruit wood (or maple), burn the fruit wood over a flame till it is blackened, then drop the burned fruitwood in your clear whiskey. In a few days the whiskey will be the color of store bought whiskey.


RYE WHISKEY




INGREDIENTS

7 Lbs. Rye

2 Lbs. Barley

1 Lbs. Malt

6 gallons of water

3 grams Yeast

1 gram Ammonium-fluoride.



DIRECTIONS



Heat water to 70 degrees and then mix in malt and grain. While stirring the mixture slowly heat to 160 degrees (raise temperature 5 degrees every 2 minutes).

Keep mixture at 160 degrees stirring constantly for 2-3 hours to convert starch into fermentable sugar and dextrin.

Filter off liquid and place into fermentation device and allow to cool to 70- 80 degrees. Immediately pitch with 3 grams of yeast.

To avoid secondary fermentation and contamination add 1 gram of ammonium-fluoride. Stir liquid for 1 minute then cover and seal with a airlock.

Mash will take 5-7 days to ferment.

After fermentation is complete pour into the still, filtering it through a pillow case to remove all solids.



Moonshine

5 gallon bucket of sweet feed (Sweet feed has several different grains and molasses making it a great tasting whiskey.)

one package of yeast (using distillers yeast will increase quality and quantity)

5 pounds sugar

Water

Put enough feed to cover bottom of 5 gallon bucket, a good 4 inches deep.

Add 5 pounds of sugar. Fill 1/2 full with boiling water. Mix until sugar is dissolved. Mix the rest and finish filling with warm water.

Add the yeast after it has cooled to the recomended temperture on the yeast label. Cover with lid--our lid has a little cap that screws on, leave it loose to breathe.

4-5 days later it's ready to run! This is an old-timer recipe and works quite well. My liquor is always 150-180 proof.

It is not recommended for pot stills unless you filter it by pouring it through a pillow case into a 5 gallon bucket after it has finished fermenting.

Otherwise the meal will settle and burn in the bottom of your still. Some folks leave the solids in the pillow case and tie it off where it will not touch the bottom of the still. When you, Make Whiskey at home you can produce a drink of exceptional quality, and the process can be exceptionally rewarding.

[kcmoxtractor]

That definitely looks like some tasty whiskey recipes! You should definitely filter the mash through a pillow case before you put it through Mr. Distiller. It only holds a small volume of mash and the grains might stick to the bottom and make it a pain to clean. I haven't ever made a whiskey mash like that, always just used the turbo yeast method and then added flavoring essences.

Where are you going to get your activated charcoal from?

If you wouldn't mind, please post some pictures to show what the grains look like in each step, when I get a little more room I am definitely gonna do this again.

Have you seen this video Hip?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...99186474801644

[Hippie3]

i'll be using whole corn.
maybe that sweet feed recipe too.

will post pix as it develops,
once it gets here...

[Oblivion]

The wife got me a Mr. Beer as a Christmas gift some years ago. Its nice for small runs. I make 5-6 gallons at a time these days though.

[GadgetGuy]

Im ordering mine in a few weeks as well. They carry activated charcoal and everything. Cant wait.

[Hippie3]

well, i see their charge on my credit card has cleared-
so do i need to buy extra turbo yeast and charcoal
or does it come with enough to get started,
if anyone here knows ?
should be here pretty damn quick now
and i'll want to start right off...

[Hippie3]

well, came today
I see it does not include the receiving bucket
nor the fermentation airlock, etc.
came with yeast, charcoal and clarifying liquid.
but i've ordered more and can rig up the rest.
now to start a batch,
it can ferment as i await delivery.

[kcmoxtractor]

Yeah one of those 5g water jugs for a water machine from walmart works really well, and you can get the airlock into a piece of cork or something. They had one that was the same size at our local brew stop.

[Hippie3]

thx, on my way to grab jugs at wally mart

[Hippie3]

could one just use regular [baker's] yeast found at grocery stores ?
what % ethanol would it reach before dying off ?
the turbo yeast says it'll hit 14% in 5 days fermentation.
but it's like $4 for 3 ounces BEFORE shipping charges...

[kcmoxtractor]

We used bakers yeast and plain sugar when we did it. The Fleischmann's brand. I don't remember what % it came to, but I *think* it was somewhere between 10-14.

[Hippie3]

thx
good 'nuff i reckon.

btw
seen some add cornmeal to their sugar / water mash,
what's the effect ?

[Hippie3]

quick pix of distiller and included supplies

[almorel]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

well, came today
I see it does not include the receiving bucket
nor the fermentation airlock, etc.
came with yeast, charcoal and clarifying liquid.
but i've ordered more and can rig up the rest.
now to start a batch,
it can ferment as i await delivery.

Hip did you find the receive bucket? It should have been inside the distiller?

[kcmoxtractor]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

thx
good 'nuff i reckon.

btw
seen some add cornmeal to their sugar / water mash,
what's the effect ?

I would say it will just taste better, we always just went with sugar/water/yeast, so I don't really know.

[dreadydavo]

i'm impressed with the simplicity of the machine but really with the new types of yeast. Most yeasts take a bit longer to higher proof brew but also die off at 15 no more than 17 %. To see they have 18- 20% and even 23% is shockingly cool. Granted they do cost quite a bit more. Its possible one can culture parts the of packet to make a bag go a bit further but that would just add more time to the process. But get 23%, yeeee haaaw!

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by almorel

Hip did you find the receive bucket? It should have been inside the distiller?

yeah

[SilvrHairDevil]

Originally Posted by dreadydavo

Most yeasts take a bit longer to higher proof brew but also die off at 15 no more than 17 %. To see they have 18- 20% and even 23% is shockingly cool. Granted they do cost quite a bit more. Its possible one can culture parts the of packet to make a bag go a bit further but that would just add more time to the process. But get 23%, yeeee haaaw!

A bit of info on yeast and alcohol:

Different yeasts have different profiles and not all of them do the same thing.

Bread yeast is made to poof up bread, so it works quickly and is designed to make lots of CO2 and finish quickly.

Beer yeasts are mostly designed for flavor and some of them are somewhat pressure resistant, so that in-bottle carbonation will occur. They generally do not attenuate to high alcohol content.

Champagne yeast is designed to be able to carry on fermenting even with a high alcohol and high pressure situation. This makes the bubbles in the bubbly.

Some yeasts are very good for fruit wines, like apple, blackberry and other acid fruits. Lalvin 1122 reduces the malic acid in these fruit wines so that the usual 2 years waiting for secondary malo-lactic fermentation to reduce the acid level can be cut to a few months .

Some yeasts are made for high alcohol production. I haven't had experience with the Turbo yeast, but I have had experience with getting high alcohol yields.

For starters - no yeast can make alcohol from sugar that isn't there. And yeast can't start with too high a sugar content. It's an osmosis thing.

F'rinstance - the 23% mentioned earlier requires a sugar content of 387 gm/liter which gives a SG of 1.145. Way too high for any yeast to start.

What you can do is feed the fermentation. Start with a more usable 215 gm/liter SG 1.08.

Ferment this in a much larger vessel than the initial quantities may seem, because you have to add to it. This is where the carboy primary fermentation comes in. A carboy with an airlock will keep contaminants out while the yeast eats its sugar.

This is also where the high alcohol yeasts come in. Lalvin 1118 will go over 20% easily, but won't start with that much sugar. It won't be able to hydrate enough to get working.

Start with 215 gm/liter, then after a few days when a lot of the sugar is used up, add in the rest of the sugar dissolved in water (172 gm/liter). It is a good idea the add some yeast nutrient at this time, also. This will help prevent off flavors.

One way to make sure the ferment gets off to a good start is to make a yeast starter. Dissolve 150 gm sugar in 1 liter of warm (105° F) water with some yeast nutrient. Pitch your yeast in this, cover and wait a day for froth action. Pitching this whole batch of frothing yeast into your mash will get 'er going quick. You could extend your yeast packet with this method, using 1/3 pack for each starter.

The most easily fermentable sugar is corn sugar (dextrose).

The type of yeast is important, more from a flavor standpoint than of a high alcohol standpoint, as you could likely make 2 batches of lower alcohol mash by the time you got done feeding the fermentation up to 23%.

Use of yeast nutrient is highly recommended to guide the fermentation pathway away from off flavors.

Hope this helps. I likely forgot something in all this. If I did and you have questions, feel free to ask.

[Hippie3]

thx for the info

[Landogarner]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been meaning to give some home brew beer a try ever since trying my friends home brewed beer. It was so fresh and tasted amazing. Kind of spoils you.

Off to order while it's still on sale!

[Hippie3]

the mr.distiller is not for beer,
you'd want the mr.beer for that.

[Landogarner]

Good to know. Shows how much I know about brewing hah

http://www.beveragefactory.com/draft...ery+2006.shtml

Anyone heard anything about the above linked product? Looks interesting.

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by GadgetGuy

I think I'm getting one. I have too many damn projects going on at once between vehicles, computers and myco stuff to build one and this is hands down the least expensive still I've found in any form. It is small but a do a few batches a week over time and you will have plenty to sit on for a while.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...99186474801644

Found one with pretty much everything you need to make your first batch for $200 plus shipping. Has anybody ever tried one of these?

ok, finally got all my shit together,
starting the first batch today,
should be ready by friday .
starting simple, their sugar/water/yeast recipe.
same as the video

[kcmoxtractor]

We never used anything besides sugar/water/yeast, and had pretty damn clean results. Are you going to use flavoring essences?

[Hippie3]

not exactly...
but i have a few ideas

[Landogarner]

Hippie, like what?

[Thre365ive]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

not exactly...
but i have a few ideas

I'm thinking things like wormwood and star anise, and all kinds of tasty flavorings!

And these things make damn clean moonshine. I had some of the same batches as KCMO. You won't even need a chaser if you run it 3 times.

That being said, after seeing what it can do, I'm thinking of building my own. It's output is very limited since it can only do small amounts of mash at once. I'd like to run a whole carboy at once, and have a thermometer on mine. Maybe I won't have to run it more than once.

[kcmoxtractor]

Yeah wormwood gets bitter quick and makes some peoples stomach really irritated. My girl puked so hard that last night we had 'synthe, 365... off just that one drink you gave her too.

Wizard's three run batches were really smooth, I think you will really enjoy this Hippie!

[Hippie3]

when you say
'run it 3 times'
i assume you mean
run the output back thru-
not the original brew ?

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by Landogarner

Hippie, like what?

for batch 1 i'm thinking hard cinnamon candy dissolved in the liquor.

[Landogarner]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

for batch 1 i'm thinking hard cinnamon candy dissolved in the liquor.

Huh, that sounds interesting. Similar to what my friends and I have done with skittles and vodka.

Buy super size bag of skittles, get about 20 or so of one color and put them into an empty container, we used empty water bottles, add about 6-8 ounces of your favorite vodka and let dissolve for a few hours. Voila! Excellent skittles flavored vodka. Mix with sprite and you have a very tasty drink.

Huh, I'm going to have to try that with the still.

[kcmoxtractor]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

when you say
'run it 3 times'
i assume you mean
run the output back thru-
not the original brew ?

Yes, it will increase in proof with each run. Each distillation will also go a little quicker progressively since it has more booze.

That cinnamon shine idea sounds dank. You can add some cloves and apples and a little sugar also and make apple pie shine.

[Thre365ive]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

when you say
'run it 3 times'
i assume you mean
run the output back thru-
not the original brew ?

Yep. Distill the distillate 3 times. It'll be tasty as hell.

for batch 1 i'm thinking hard cinnamon candy dissolved in the liquor.

Why not just use a few cinnamon sticks?

That cinnamon shine idea sounds dank. You can add some cloves and apples and a little sugar also and make apple pie shine.

Apple pie shine is fucking amazing. I had some at Appalachian Uprising (bluegrass festival for those who don't know) and let a few randoms have sips. Every one of them asked for more.