Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Sorry folks - joined up a month ago (Thought I posted here but mustn’t have hit the submit button).
I’ve been running a T500 for a year now. I don’t think it’s a bad unit for an amateur. Great buy was the water controller -frees you up to do other things around the shed while it bubbles away.

Best lesson I have learnt so far: there’s so much more to learn.
Good fun.

Gday rolls and welcome here, thanks for introducing yourself.
Just remember to never leave a still unattended. I know you’re still in the shed, which is ok but don’t get distracted.
What do you drink?

Doubleuj wrote:Gday rolls and welcome here, thanks for introducing yourself.
Just remember to never leave a still unattended. I know you’re still in the shed, which is ok but don’t get distracted.
What do you drink?

:text-+1: and welcome to AD.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Welcome mate :greetings-waveyellow:

Yep definitely don't leave your still unattended shit can go wrong very quicky. A room full of alcohol vapour is not something you want.

The T500 should serve you well, plenty of people have done alright with them.

Welcome here mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Welcome rolls :greetings-waveyellow:

Welcome to the forum Rolls. What have you been making

Doubleuj wrote:Gday rolls and welcome here, thanks for introducing yourself.
Just remember to never leave a still unattended. I know you’re still in the shed, which is ok but don’t get distracted.
What do you drink?

Yes - I agree. Already had a near miss when the carbon filter unit full of pure went over about 6 months ago. PITA! (Yes - now know it should have been watered down). Don’t use it anymore anyway :snooty:

Making Gin. Here is my latest run.

I reakon 12 month old is to young to be distilling :teasing-neener: :teasing-tease: 8-} :laughing-rolling:

Could I ask - why are T500 so disliked? I would have thought that the unit has introduced a fair few to the world of distillation. What’s so wrong with it? It pumps out fairly pure alcohol. Is it the speed? To shiny -lol

If you want shiny check out 5 star gear and it has the extra bonus of no plastic bits..

Rolls912 wrote:Could I ask - why are T500 so disliked? I would have thought that the unit has introduced a fair few to the world of distillation. What’s so wrong with it? It pumps out fairly pure alcohol. Is it the speed? To shiny -lol

I will think you will find that no one knocks the T500 but the people that have started with them and are serious about this hobby quickly outgrow them :handgestures-thumbupleft:

G-day mate,the car ya learnt ta drive in is not the one you will end up wanting,ifn ya after rum or whiskey its not your best choice,doing neutral is the longest distillation time compared to pot stills for yield ,so a lot of peeps realize in the same time they could make twice as much with something twice as big ,and who isn't time poor these days,and a lot of people do not want to commit too much money on something they know fuck all about but most realize pretty quickly whether they will continue and grow or give it up,and yes it sure did start many distilling ,but I do not think many that get serious will still be using it a few years later.As a lot of us end up trying rum and whiskey ,which requires a pot still or bubbler.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

hillzabilly wrote:,doing neutral is the longest distillation time compared to pot stills for yield ,so a lot of peeps realize in the same time they could make twice as much with something twice as big ,and who isn't time poor these days,and a lot of people do not want to commit too much money on something they know fuck all about but most realize pretty quickly whether they will continue and grow or give it up,and yes it sure did start many distilling ,

I have the pot still attachment for the T5.
For a proper still, what I don’t understand is how do you get pure, clean alcohol like a reflux from a pot. What I’ve come to realise - flavouring gin isn’t hard. There are a lot of good receipes (thanks to this forum). Making cleaning spirit is the pepsi challenge.

Another question - when you empty the fermented wash into the still, should I run it through the pot first for a quick clean up? I try to avoid the reflux at this point as the gunk makes it smell funky meaning I have to wash the column out etc.

So, is this right?

Run 1 - Pot
Run 2 - Reflux
Run 3 - Reflux
Run 4 - Reflux (sometimes)
Carbon wash.

Gunk?

You're not dumping the entire fermenter contents into your boiler are you?


Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Rolls912 wrote:

hillzabilly wrote:,doing neutral is the longest distillation time compared to pot stills for yield ,so a lot of peeps realize in the same time they could make twice as much with something twice as big ,and who isn't time poor these days,and a lot of people do not want to commit too much money on something they know fuck all about but most realize pretty quickly whether they will continue and grow or give it up,and yes it sure did start many distilling ,

I have the pot still attachment for the T5.
For a proper still, what I don’t understand is how do you get pure, clean alcohol like a reflux from a pot. What I’ve come to realise - flavouring gin isn’t hard. There are a lot of good receipes (thanks to this forum). Making cleaning spirit is the pepsi challenge.

Another question - when you empty the fermented wash into the still, should I run it through the pot first for a quick clean up? I try to avoid the reflux at this point as the gunk makes it smell funky meaning I have to wash the column out etc.

So, is this right?

Run 1 - Pot
Run 2 - Reflux
Run 3 - Reflux
Run 4 - Reflux (sometimes)
Carbon wash.

with a pot still 2-3 strips then a spirit will get you something that is almost vodka but still not really..water it back to 40 each time you run it..prob still be in high 80's rather than mid 90's as far as abv. I never bothered..

If you have a reflux still use the pot and strip 3-4 batchs then run nice and slow through the t500.
you will never get a true neutral/vodka from a pot. it is just to dirty of a form of distillation. It is designed after all for carrying flavour over...

Rolls912 wrote:

hillzabilly wrote:,doing neutral is the longest distillation time compared to pot stills for yield ,so a lot of peeps realize in the same time they could make twice as much with something twice as big ,and who isn't time poor these days,and a lot of people do not want to commit too much money on something they know fuck all about but most realize pretty quickly whether they will continue and grow or give it up,and yes it sure did start many distilling ,

I have the pot still attachment for the T5.
For a proper still, what I don’t understand is how do you get pure, clean alcohol like a reflux from a pot. What I’ve come to realise - flavouring gin isn’t hard. There are a lot of good receipes (thanks to this forum). Making cleaning spirit is the pepsi challenge.

Another question - when you empty the fermented wash into the still, should I run it through the pot first for a quick clean up? I try to avoid the reflux at this point as the gunk makes it smell funky meaning I have to wash the column out etc.

So, is this right?

Run 1 - Pot
Run 2 - Reflux
Run 3 - Reflux
Run 4 - Reflux (sometimes)
Carbon wash.

Yes throw out the first 150ml this is forshots,do your run and collect into your cuts containers,put aside the heads and tails,and put the hearts in a separate container,after say three batchs like that you will have enough hearts to dilute ta 40%ABV and fill the boiler,then clean out the still well and do a slow spirit run,again collecting into your cuts containers,air overnight and select your cuts,you should end up with some very nice product that way,then the feints from your first three runs and the feints from your spirit run go into your next ferment,so its my opinion your fermenter should hold about three times the volume of the still to make this method easier.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Thanks. Good comments -appreciated.

Always kick 150mls from every run although I’ve read it’s not necessary for the final + I leave the crud at the bottom of the fermenter. Although for my TPW I’m nervous about not using a yeast killer and a clarifier (as I read in one of your helpful TPW threads) Anyway, let’s see.

Here are my cuts from my last run. Don’t know why the pic is upside down. The photo was taken when I was sober I promise.



Here is my mash:



Interesting that the larger fermenter is not generating more heat that the small one.

Another question. Is it possible to get just the turbo yeast with no nutrients and use that in a TPW? I would have thought that yeast would be better than bakers yeast? Has anyone tried this?

I have used the still spirits vodka yeast wich comes in a smaller square pack wich is just about all yeast ,it has a very good smell and mild taste,similar to the ec1118 champagne or wine yeast,wich is also worth a try when aiming for neutral, but is a slow low temp yeast wich could be a problem in our summers.cheers hillzabilly :handgestures-thumbupleft:

If you want to spend $ on a good vodka yeast have a look at uvaferm 43. It is designed for restarting stuck ferments but is apparently a very good neutral yeast. Also good at fermenting dry and good for high sugar washs. I think winequip sell it exclusively.. i dont use it but a respected member here who runs a legal distillery swears by it :handgestures-thumbupleft: