"I have been on here for over a year and finally got my self in gear and made my first run this past weekend. I have probably forgot as much as i had learned reading about during the first 6 months, but i brushed up with a couple of books and went to town. I had tested my unit, a brewhouse PSII, over a year ago when i received it and have just kept it covered. I went and got 3 gallons of cheap wine and ran it thru in reflux mode with copper in the reflusx pipe. Kept temp at condensor tube in the178 to 180's the whole time until the wash was out of good stuff. I used small canning jars to collect just over 2 quarts of liquor. Tastes great, but has a sweet smell to it. i have cut it with some distilled water to lessen the ABV and allow others to sample. I have ordered some carbon to filter the run to see if that will get rid of the sweet smell.

So any advice to get rid of the sweet smell? am i on the right track with the carbon? I just began a yeast starter to begin my (first) ferment. I have read that you can just keep a small amount of starter in the fridge and add sugar water to it for the next ferment. Any advice experience with that?

i am really excited about this! JR"