G'day from Brissie.

[Ohbilly]

Short story of how I ended up here. My old man has been making beer for years with the Coopers cans bought from the supermarket, just smash it together, make cheap beer and get drunk simply because he hates his job. After years of watching him I said I wouldn't mind giving spirits a go...two days latter he came home with the whole SS t500 relux kit(the all copper one) with enough to do three runs. I didn't know anything about making likker and I wasn't gonna let him run it with his 'smash out the booze' approach...so I read the manual that comes with it and away we went.

The first wash came out at .880 FG and after distilling ended up with 4.5litres at 96%, running at 56.5 degrees celcius...minus the foreshots ofcourse. No bad smells or tastes, just clean neutral spirits. We've done about 20 - 25 runs through it and it has dropped gradually down to 92%...I suspect a cleaning is due.

Im not impressed with using essence to flavour so im gonna look at buying a pot still and try CFW and a rum, probably looking at the copper alembic pot dome thingy to go on top of the t500 boiler as I've just ordered a voltage controller for it....lets see what happens.

So basically that's where im at, just doing a lot of reading while im abroad getting married(yep, alcohol can make you do crazy things) and when I get home, I'll get into it.

Cheers,

Ohbilly.

[Doubleuj]

Welcome billy

[Sam.]

Welcome here mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Have you heard about cuts?

Also if you are buying the turbo gear from the home brew shop you can make a sugar based wash for clean nuetrel spirit for a fraction of the price, like this one.

Enjoy the forum :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Professor Green]

Welcome Ohbilly.

If you're looking to add a pot still to your setup, you should avoid the SS alembic one - it's highly inadequate and extremely overpriced for what it is. There are much better options available for the money. Have a look through the pot still section for some ideas.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

[Ohbilly]

Sam,
yes I've been reading about cuts...I've been doing a lot of reading as I'm in the Philippines with nothing much to do. I'll look into the sugar wash recipe and give it a try when I get back.

Professor Green,
thanks, I'll not buy the SS alembic pot. I will be sticking with the t500boiler for two reasons, 1, I just ordered a voltage controller for it and 2, having just gotten married my money situation is not as plentiful as it was. I did read through some threads in the pot still section but im now more confused as to what I should do. I guess I was thinking go with the alembic because it comes from the same place where the old boy bought the T500, its the same Brand(SS) so it will just fit and work.

I'm not too adventurous, just wanna setup to try Cornflakes and a simple rum then go from there....I'll keep looking through the threads and see what I find.

Cheers...

[copperhead road]

Welcome ohbilly, I'm like yourself and bought a pot still to get started as I'm green as an Irish leprechaun. A lot of the experienced guys recommend the pelican design on a keg boiler is a good relatively easy one to make and is good for a newbie pot still. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Minpac]

5 star distilling have a T500 adaptor to standard ferrule and a 2" pot still head, could be a good option depending on how handy you are with a soldering torch