G'day All

[Inky]

G'day All, Inky here.
I sort of fell into distilling recently when completely out of the blue, my wife came home with a still (a T500). She is keen on being a bit more self sufficient and is trying to encourage me to drink spirits instead of beer. Reckons it smells. Well OK, I'll give it a crack, but I have to admit I do love beer.
But what a girl, eh?!
I'm fortunate to be on a farm so have plenty of shed space and a good rainwater supply. The main thing I don't have is time- always something to more to do..

Not knowing the first thing about distilling I've been reading fairly extensively -enough to know I don't know much anyway. I've picked up on a fair bit of the jargon I think but no doubt I'll get something wrong so bear with me.

I was thinking of getting the alembic pot head for the T500 to make brown spirits but after looking for reviews and getting a fair bit of info here and around the traps I think I might have a crack at a simple pot head like the Pelican on these pages- I have tools and gas and did metalwork at school about 35 years ago, so what could possibly go wrong?

Anyway I'll sign off but would like to say thanks for the forum and the info and generosity with which it's given.
Cheers, Inky

[Doubleuj]

Gday inky, welcome to the forum :handgestures-thumbupleft: what a girl indeed, keep her on for the wet season!
Don’t waste your money on the alembic pot still, if you’ve got half a skill then build a simple pot like the awesome pelican and start making some great spirit.

[bluc]

Welcome bud sounds like your off to a good start. Homemade pot def wil be better than the stillspirits one. check out tomato paste wash(tpw) ffv by teddysad or wbab washs for netural in the tried and proven section http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewforum.php?f=32 try each one see what you like. Check out this thread for a good run stategy http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10483

[Inky]

Thanks for the welcome and pointers.

I actually had seen the TPW recipe and was all set to do one but when I was buying the makings didn't look close enough at the TP label and I got one with garlic and herbs. I substituted vegemite which I had seen suggested somewhere and it's bubbling away ok- it's been 11 days now.

I also did a kale one I had read about as being very clean but it stalled. After reading a bit about getting a stalled brew going again I did a pH test with my soil test kit which came out at 2 so I made a mix of bicarb soda (apparently not the best to use but it was all I could find) and vegemite and just poured it in. Of course it fizzed madly and I lost a couple of litres in froth but soon settled and is bubbling away now.

One thing I am curious about with a pot still is whether there is a particular length of column required- maybe if it's too long the vapour might condense before making it to the bend, and so just reflux without any product ever running? And can it be too short? Would that mean all the fractions would be jammed together?
Any info on this would be great. Maybe there are plans somewhere you could point me to?

Cheers, inky

[bluc]

Not on our size pot stills it doesn't make much difference. Some have a 500ish mm riser to help prevent puking mine was only about 150mm and worked fine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Inky]

Thanks bluc- so what about the condenser? I'll be doing a simple single barrel- to use shotgun terminology (I think that's a Liebig?). The longer the better? -with how much weight and space it takes up being the limiting factors?
And not wanting to get ahead of myself or anything, but what about with a shotgun condenser, is there a shortest useful length for a given number of tubes?

[bluc]

Shotgun is more useful as it can be re used on a bubbler. 400mm long 4-5 1/2 inch tubes works well.

[scythe]

The ahotgun deaign is great because it allows you to make a short condenser that will knock down alot of vapour.
A 500mm liebig will limit the speed at which you can run by not being able to condense all the vapours once you start running a bit faster.
4x500mm 1/2" is the same or better than a 2, 000mm liebig.
Shotgun condensers are heavier.
Liebigs need to be longer.
Depends on what you have at your disposal.

[woodduck]

Hi mate and welcome aboard :greetings-waveyellow:

I would definitely go a shotty. It will suit any still you might build in the future. If you decide the hobby isn't for you then it's far more salable than a liebig so win win. It will however be harder to build so do some reading in the build threads here and see what they're all about.