Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I bet they still would have the silicon sealant, plastic cap (?), and they would still have the brass fitting along with screws n bolts

Definitely has the plastic cap at the end, not sure about the internals.

I have a MacBoka for small spirit runs now so the t500 column will be being retired. :dance:

could always switch the plastic cap out for a copper one and put it up on the for sale section for a beginner. Would have done that with mine but im too time poor

Not a bad option, my copper working skills are somewhat lacking though!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Thanks for the pics, :text-+1: good to know whats inside there without having to dismantle and potentially damage it. Since mines not causing any issues ill leave it as is, but the minute it fks up she'll be getting revamped. HAd a look at some of the other refluxes people are running..I agree that the T500 isnt really much chop by comparison. But I have it so I guess i will be sticking with it for the foreseeable future. I need to get around to fixing my pot still, long story, involved a bobcat through the side of a shed, right where my damned still was...

Hi, just tried to dismantle my t500 and found that the inside brass fitting (cooling water outlet) is round, and obviously could not put a spanner on it, I tried to undo anyway but the copper pipe just bent. I turned the outside fitting back to its original position but I now have a slight leak. I obviously can't tighten it any more . Can anyone recommend a sealer for the outside to stop the very small leak. I though a gasket too that dries. Any thoughts?

Is the leak in the top plastic part or somewhere else?
If it’s the top most people, including me just use a tube of food grade silicone. Works fine but looks ugly and mine eventually started to leak again so I had to rip it off and start again.

No it is not at the top,it is at the cooling water outlet fitting about 1/3 up the column.

We're can I buy food grade silicon?

Sorry mate, I should have said 100% silicon, which is food safe. Something like this from Bunnings etc.


Do you mean this point where the leak is? Is it leaking water, vapour or liquid ethanol?

I have only tried with water while soaking in citric acid !

Sorry yes that is the point where it is leaking!

Wish I had read this thread before I got my T500 reflux. I was also trying to take mine apart for modifications, to replace the plastic but had reservations on taking the water cooling fitting off. Mine is the same as in the photo above, so I changed my mind and have settled into the idea of keeping it for a while longer until I make or buy a better one.
However I wanted to get some flavours out, so I disconnected the reflux water and just run the PC. With a power reducer on the boiler it's seems to work ok as a pot still. The plastic on the top hasn't warped and there are no strange smells coming out of the still (like melting plastic).
I've run a UJSM, CFW, FFV and have wired a gin basket under the column and also produce a fairly ok gin from TPW that has already been run through the reflux and had cuts made.
I'm getting 65% ABV on stripping run and 84% ABV on the spirit run, but the biggest improvement is the flavour that comes with it. distilling just got a whole lot more interesting.

Is it possible to put the T500 column back together again after dismantling?
Just noting the comments about the water outlet fitting and not being able to tighten it again.
Wondering because I'm not really happy with my results lately, and wonder if there's some issue inside the column....thought if I can pull it apart AND get it back together, it might be a good idea to take a loom in there.

I had a quick try once and gave up, was sure I was going to break it.

I wouldn't try and pull it apart. A working still is better than no still at all if you bugger it up.

What part of your results aren't you happy with? Maybe we can offer some suggestions.

Thanks Doubleuj and Tesla101.
I figured it was unlikely, but the question hadn't seemed to be answered anywhere that I could find, so I thought I'd put it out there.

My distilled product is really smelly. I'll post something about it in the Distilling/Reflux Stills forum (more appropriate I guess).

What packing you using? Ceramic saddles get on the nose and carry over... :think:

Just as an FYI if anyone else thinks the bubbles in the cooling water outlet are a problem - it’s air that’s sucked in from the temperature probe hole :)

No problems there unless you link the drain hose then it shoots the probe out and covers the roof in water lol.

:laughing-rolling: