Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi all,

Complete noob. Was going to drop $300 on an airstill but after lots of research (99 percent on this site thanks all ), ive decided on a build with my budget and skill set. Ive home brewed for years so I don't find any aspect of fermentation daunting. My plan is a basic pot still:

$20 stainless BIG W stockpot 19 litres,
$35 Bunnings copper coil 3metres for worm, (please suggest diameter cheers)
$8 stainless bowl dome,


Guys are there any major flaws in this? Will 3 meters of copper be long enough? The stock pot is really thin, too thin? I have the option of electric stove or gas stove.

Cheers.

Suggest you re-read :scared-eek:

Thankyou, quite helpful.

Welcome to AD.

I would seriously reconsider the stockpot/bowl combo as it could be quite dangerous if you don't get a perfect seal between the two. You would be better off with a T500 boiler and home made pot still. Keep your eye out for a second hand one in the for sale section if your budget does not stretch to a new one.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Hi Julia, welcome. Whisky, whist blunt, couldn't have hit the nail on the head better. The build you speak of smacks with downfalls and problems.
It would only produce poor alcohol and leave you with a bad assumption of this great hobby.
Look through the pot still builds and keep reading.

Yea dont go stockpot. At very least go t500 boiler and an adapter from mac. at best go keg boiler..

Thanks so much all,

Id like to explain a little more on what I'm trying to acheive. Essentially I have no expectations to make a perfect spirit with this, my goal is to start small and learn as I am a kinetic learner. I cant justify $300 on a electric fan and kettle inbreed that is the airstill. I'm hoping to start with this setup to grasp basics. The sealing issuse Ive considered and I'm gonna clamp and seal with a rubber gasket. At the end of the day I'm trying to emulate something like this:

JULIAGILLARD wrote:Thanks so much all,

Id like to explain a little more on what I'm trying to acheive. Essentially I have no expectations to make a perfect spirit with this, my goal is to start small and learn as I am a kinetic learner. I cant justify $300 on a electric fan and kettle inbreed that is the airstill. I'm hoping to start with this setup to grasp basics. The sealing issuse Ive considered and I'm gonna clamp and seal with a rubber gasket. At the end of the day I'm trying to emulate something like this:

images (4).jpg

As has been said a t500 is a good beginners setup to cut your teeth on if you're on a budget.

But at times like this I'm always reminded of a saying a bloke I know would say from time to time "do what you want, you will anyway" :think:

I smell troll

The Stig wrote:I smell troll

What, are you saying you don't trust someone named Julia Gillard :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
I bet you're right though, there's no way that 99% of her reading here couldn't have come up with that half cocked idea of a still.

Correct on both counts

The Stig wrote:I smell troll

:text-+1:

:angry-banghead:

Mate if your actually fair dinkum we'll help you out but the fact you have "read heaps on this forum" and came up with a still I've never seen on here is slightly suspect. That still to be honest looks like a complicated piece of crap that would be a complete waste of time. You could make a decent pot that would work a treat in a weekend and cost half as much.

Thats some homedistiller nonsense right there :teasing-neener: I should know since my first still looked much like that with a ptfe everlasting seal that took forever to make and was a piece of shit to use. As soon as I left that other crappy forum and came here I realised how much easier and better distilling could be and couldn't be happier. So quit trolling and head on back to some other forums.

[attachment=0]1503821965781475414676.jpg[/attachment :-B ]Thanks all, :

I'm no troll, if I was working at the moment I would get a t500 with new copper column for $500, ive spent more at the pub in one Arvo. But as I'm beyond broke a medical dole exemption this is the cheapest fuctiinal still I could come up with. As for the Gillard handle it's been my Xbox Live gamertag (Xbox gamers add me JULIA GlLLARD) since the silly ginger was prime Minister. Heres my current beer setup as well.

If you don't mind me asking, what it the maximum you're prepared to spend? If you can give us an idea of that we maybe able to make some better (and safer) suggestions.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

You could make a pot stil with keg boiler for under $300 easy I recon. Have a read through the pot still section and get a few ideas there.

I would suggest that you keep saving your pennies.
Put the cash aside, i find its easier to save cash than number in a bank account.
I'm still saving mine, for the last 3.5yrs.

woodduck wrote:You could make a pot stil with keg boiler for under $300 easy I recon. Have a read through the pot still section and get a few ideas there.

My pot still took me 3 hours to build and costst me $180 and that included a new 2400 watt element, new blowtorch,flux and solder. Was lucky enough to score 2 50litre beer kegs off a mate. For $300 you could easily cover all these costs and have a bit of change for a 6 pack of beer afterwards.