Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

G'Day, Bloke/Sean here.
From Canberra, run a family small business and love making things.
Starting off making turbo wash with an air still and 10l fermenter. (now doing 30lt fermenters) liked most of my results but recently decide i wanted better. :obscene-drinkingchug:
Decided to throw down a molasses wash, I guessed though. I used 5Kg molasses, 2kg sugar and the turbo yeast and nutrients etc.
As soon as I tested the first results from my airstill I knew something wasn't right. :obscene-drinkingdrunk:
So i jump online and do a lot more research, eventually finding this forum..... and now i wish i had found this much, much earlier. :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

Next wash for me will be basically Macstills rum wash, although I would like to build or buy a 25-30 pot still before then.
If anyone in the Canberra region wants to help me out with knowledge for the build that would be great, after 3 days of reading on here i'm overloaded, I think seeing one in the flesh would help me a lot.

Well that's me, and thank you all for putting up so much information, It's brilliant.

Welcome here mate, the more you research it the clearer it all becomes :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sure does. Most makes sense, i'll be re reading about stripping/spirit runs etc many times i think :text-lol:

Welcome mate, you'll get there. All the time reading and re-reading is worth all the money you'll save and the great quality spirit you'll make.

Welcome! :handgestures-thumbupleft:
You'll be wondering how the hell ya going to remember everything you read.. i know i did! I actually made myself a cheat sheet for a start, just full of the critical things to remember/ get right.
From then on you will start to put in to practise some of what your reading and it will start to stick!
Good luck with this great hobby.

G'day mate and welcome :greetings-waveyellow:

Give it time and it will all make sence :handgestures-thumbupleft:

dans.brew wrote:Welcome! :handgestures-thumbupleft:
You'll be wondering how the hell ya going to remember everything you read.. i know i did! I actually made myself a cheat sheet for a start, just full of the critical things to remember/ get right.
From then on you will start to put in to practise some of what your reading and it will start to stick!
Good luck with this great hobby.

I've already got 3 pages of notes and saved a dozen pages :laughing-rolling:

Welcome mate,

Ask heaps of questions, the men and women of this forum are amazing!

Welcome aboard bloke
I can help out if required
Contact by pm
Cheers Ian

Welcome to AD Bloke.

Keep reading and re-reading, it will all eventually click.

There are some great build ideas in the pot still section to inspire you if you want to go down the DIY road.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

You can make a pot pretty easily and cheaply. I will post a few pics and links of mine tomorrow as will be stripping my second gen mcrum. Reckon not more than a $100

bluess57 wrote:Welcome aboard bloke
I can help out if required
Contact by pm
Cheers Ian

Thanks Ian, Will take you up on that :-)

mattyb wrote:You can make a pot pretty easily and cheaply. I will post a few pics and links of mine tomorrow as will be stripping my second gen mcrum. Reckon not more than a $100

Thanks Mattyb, I've already got a keg ready to go to make the boiler, removed the spear this morning. Still working out what design i should go with.

Bloke wrote:

mattyb wrote:You can make a pot pretty easily and cheaply. I will post a few pics and links of mine tomorrow as will be stripping my second gen mcrum. Reckon not more than a $100

Thanks Mattyb, I've already got a keg ready to go to make the boiler, removed the spear this morning. Still working out what design i should go with.

Am running it tomorrow so will post it up

Here is what I use at the moment for my rum stripping runs. I do have a small tube that goes between the 2 90 degree bends to push it out over the edge of the keg but am waiting on some more clamps from 5 star. You could also do this without the column off the keg and just a liebig which you can put together easily from buntings.

But what I have here is basically

2 of these 90 deg bends 13.76 each
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-Tube-OD-S ... m570.l1313

1 tube about $20
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-51MM-Tri- ... itleDesc=0

then just get 4 triclamps, a reducer for the liebig and a liebig and you are set. You can get most of this from 5 star for the same price too but send Andrew a msg and see what he has on hand. Gives you an idea anyway. Would be much more than $100 in mine as I got the stuff for the shorty and the extensions from the scrappy and they will all go on to the bubbler I am building.

Thanks MattyB.
Had a visit from my business landlord this morning (sparkies), turns out they do a lot of scrap copper and he's going work on getting me everything I'll need for my own build, once I give him a list of what I need. :happy-partydance: :happy-partydance:
Still deciding which build to go with, the more I'm reading the ambitious I feel ;-) I should have all the tools I need for the build, good mate is a fridgy and can teach me to braze/solder (I've only done mild and carbon steel works).
All in all I'm getting excited haha

I'm currently thinking a shotgun design on a keg boiler to start, I may make a reflux of some sort for my clear spirits later on. Tempted to jump straight into a bubbler build but i think that should wait. All the choices :think: :think:

Go ahwad and design your bubbler now.
Then
Make things that will suit your bubbler later.
And before you buy anything ask yourself "can this be used on my bubbler?"

Least money wasted this way.

Go ahead with your shotty build, by the time you've finished it you'll be confident enough to nail the bubbler :happy-partydance:

Bloke wrote:Thanks MattyB.
Had a visit from my business landlord this morning (sparkies), turns out they do a lot of scrap copper and he's going work on getting me everything I'll need for my own build, once I give him a list of what I need.

Get him started by looking for 2-3m of 50mm (2") pipe,
50mm couplers, reducers and 90 deg bends

Bloke wrote:

mattyb wrote:You can make a pot pretty easily and cheaply. I will post a few pics and links of mine tomorrow as will be stripping my second gen mcrum. Reckon not more than a $100

Thanks Mattyb, I've already got a keg ready to go to make the boiler, removed the spear this morning. Still working out what design i should go with.

my only regret was that I didn't go to the extra effort to turn the keg upside down for easier draining.