Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I took the advice given in my welcoming post and went and brought a 4 l cask of wine, a fruity red! :puke-huge:
Useing Still spirits 5l super reflux still modified with a 15l stainless pot with electric element.
Heated it up to 50 c and turned the cooling line on, Im useing 8mm id hose that came with fittings i got for 8 bucks from the reject shop and head pressure from a 5000l tank, Im thinking ill add a tap at the still for fine adjustment and was surprised at how little flow it needed.

I ran the first 75ml of nasty nasty smelling shit into a measureing jug then swapped to a bottle and collected until the temp rose to about 80c then changed container and tested it a couple of times and got another 75ml that smelt half nasty.
I will have to get a more accurate digital thermometer as I only got a kitchen one atm.

So got 75ml of nasty nasty shit, foreshot, then I got 175ml of sweet smelling good stuff which I really like the smell of then another 75ml of half nasty stuff, tails.
The calculator said I should have been able to get 720ml but im happy with the 325ml I got for a first attempt and the temp went high so I stopped.

I have 700ml glass bottles of spring water I got for $1.50 each that Ill use to water it down and store it, until tonight when i drink it and ill need it cause its our anversary today, 8 years of wedded bliss :D :angry-banghead:

I also need to buy an hydrometer and alchometer, where on the southern side of brissy is a hb shop?

Just for fun I caramlized half a cup of raw sugar then over heat disolved it into half a cup of the stuff then added it to the bottle and mixed well, ffffarkin yummy 8-} dont know what youd call it maybey sweet brandy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Think ill try a mollases/ sugar wash first

well done.

I can get 6x 750ml clear skins white/ red from my local wollies for $12 a case! ($2 inc the wine)


makes ~ 1 bottle of brandy, and 5 spare bottles for other booze.

I also need to buy an hydrometer and alchometer, where on the southern side of brissy is a hb shop?[/quote]

Hi Twisted,
5Star sells good quality & well priced hydrometers & alchometers delivered to your door.
If you need them quicker than post there's bound to be a few close by or our site sponsor TruBrew is in Capalaba.
Cheers

Now I know the still works ive put down my first wash, ive done heaps of beer so its not totally new to me.
Trying/hopeing to make a rum
4 kgs of sugar 1 kg of molasses and two teaspoons of lemon juice inverted into a syrup on the stove then
added 12 litres of cold water (to make 15 litres total) in the fermenter let cool to 30deg c and added four tables spoons of yeast.

I found a random online pic of what my little still might look like :whistle:

How many marbles?
I was given three marbles with this still and ive tried one and two how many am I sposda use?, I have 10 cm of SS scrubber in the column below the reflux jacket.

I want to upgrade but not until I get this little one sorted and get a bit of practice.

Hi ya can i just say I'm not sure using temps is the best way to make cuts or deciding when to shut down of even a way . I didn't have an Alcohmeter when I started so just go by taste , metho to start with and wet pooch to end . there are a whole range of ways to determine proof but most require some skill and experience or weird items not in the average pantry like black gun powder :)) . If ya have some booze there that you know the ABV of say a bottle of bought spirit at 37 or what ever try filling a glass full and float something in it that will partly submerge say a small bottle or shot glass with a weight in it (water wet dirt ect ) and mark where it floated to . That will give you the gravity of that particular proof , not great but until ya have a tails hydrometer this will give ya some idea of where your at

croweater wrote:Hi ya can i just say I'm not sure using temps is the best way to make cuts or deciding when to shut down of even a way . I didn't have an Alcohmeter when I started so just go by taste , metho to start with and wet pooch to end . there are a whole range of ways to determine proof but most require some skill and experience or weird items not in the average pantry like black gun powder :)) . If ya have some booze there that you know the ABV of say a bottle of bought spirit at 37 or what ever try filling a glass full and float something in it that will partly submerge say a small bottle or shot glass with a weight in it (water wet dirt ect ) and mark where it floated to . That will give you the gravity of that particular proof , not great but until ya have a tails hydrometer this will give ya some idea of where your at

yep ok :handgestures-thumbupleft:
that was just my first attempt at starting it up and a junkahol run to figure out how it worked and get the cooling lines on the right fittings, wasnt meant to take any product to keep but i drank it anyway 8-}, ive done a lot of reading since have an alcometer and better thermometer now.

Reading what I did I didnt cut anything except the foreshots and a tiny amount of tails, no wonder I had a headache :violin: