Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey all,

Been lurking around here an Youtube for a while researching stills after getting the distilling bug after watching Alan Manning's videos. I ended up ordering one of his a few months ago but it never arrived (not sure if customs nabbed it), but that might be a blessing in disguise as I take it his stills aren't rated highly on the forums (should have done better homework).

Anyway I'm keen to make a still to initially make gin (ideally vapour infused), and I don't need anything huge. I'm pretty good at metal fabrication/welding but haven't worked much with copper. I would like to do things like rum and bourbon later too (though I get that I'll need a differently designed still).

So..... after some ideas on a decent newbie still design - can anyone suggest a good starter design? I'm also after a decent source of copper in SE Melbourne - plumbing places seem to want to only sell full lengths of copper pipe, and 6m of 2" is a bit overkill. I've been watching Jessie from Still It's videos recently - his still looks nice but might be a bit big for my needs.

Any help appreciated.... thanks all.

TIm

G'day mate, for starters be very wary of you tube, unfortunately any dickhead can upload a vid there and a lot of it is complete bullshit down to dangerous.

We have a big safety aspect on this forum from running a still to making sure your drinking the gear that isn't going to turn your liver into a cancerous sultana.

As for what still you want to make, make spirits do you want to make? This will dictate what still you should go for.

Welcome to AD timmy.

:text-+1: on what Sam said.

Letting us know what spirits you want to make will help us help you. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

timmy wrote:
Anyway I'm keen to make a still to initially make gin (ideally vapour infused), and I don't need anything huge.

TIm

Bit of skim reading going on there guys? :laughing-rolling: 8-} :teasing-neener:

D'oh!

Doubleuj wrote:

timmy wrote:
Anyway I'm keen to make a still to initially make gin (ideally vapour infused), and I don't need anything huge.

TIm

Bit of skim reading going on there guys? :laughing-rolling: 8-} :teasing-neener:

I really need to stop doing that :angry-banghead: :laughing-rolling:

G'day mate, welcome.

I don't know much about gins so can't really help there. I will say a bubbler and a carterhead would be the best setup but it wouldn't be cheap. I guess as a cheaper option you'd need a reflux for neutrals then a way of suspending botanicals in the vapor path so a pot might be better for that? Or you could soak the botanicals in hearts then run through a pot maybe. Either way you may have to have two still heads. Hopefully some gin blokes will chime in :handgestures-thumbupleft:

You can make decent gin with just maceration, I think The Doctor has made a number of comments in various threads on this.

To make a good basic pot stilled gin, you'll need a reflux column for making your neutral base and a pot still. Odin's Easy Gin is a good place to start (you'll need to google it) All of the botanicals are macerated overnight in neutral then pot stilled. This will give you a very nice gin.

Now for vapour infused gin, this can be done a number of ways:

• Suspend the botanicals in a muslin bag just below the still mount of your boiler and pot still it. This means you cannot change the botanicals during the run if you want to but it will infuse the botanical flavours. Or,
• Inline botanical basket where the botanicals are inserted inside a basket inserted into a receiver at the top of the still (usually above a reflux condenser). This allows changing the botanicals mid run by stopping the vapour using full reflux and pulling the basket out, replacing the botanicals, putting the basket back in again and reducing the reflux to let the vapour pass again. With this set up, the heavier oils fall down into the boiler which can make a bit of a mess. Or,
• Carter head still where the botanicals are placed in a basket assembly that is offset from the column of the still. This also allows replacement of the botanicals during the run however the heavier oils fall into a special reservoir rather than into your boiler. This is the ultimate tool for vapour infusion.

Cheers,
Prof (I don't think I typed "botanicals" enough in that lot) Green.

Welcome Timmy. I have found Reece in Chelsea heights will sell by the metre. If you’re that far south.

Welcome to the forum
I will humbly suggest a 3-4" boka to get going on the neutrals.
2" is easy and cheap to build, but for not alot more $$ (and time invested, first building and then every time you run it) you could have double the output
Check some local scrap yards, scrap copper is roughly 1/2 or less the price of new
Your biggest concern is space and power availability, neutral stills usually end up pretty tall and a 4" will want anything up to 6kW of power to run
Research, research, research. :)