I've been on the outside looking in for some time. Now I feel like joining in.
I'm not new to brewing, I've been making beer for 23 or more years. I work at a Homebrew store in Texas, been there 8 years now. I've been wanting to expand my knowledge into distillation for some time now. I help a lot of distillers with their grain bills. I use to think they were nuts using the stuff that they were buying... I've now begun to understand.
My current project is building a CCVM. I've almost gotten all my parts, just missing an additional couple pieces of 2" pipe and my boiler. The boiler is no problem, a buddy has one for me, a half barrel keg. I have a little experience with soft silver soldering on stainless steel and have been reading a lot of posts on it. I do have a friend that has a tig welder so if I get into too much trouble he can help me. I just want to figure it out and build it myself.
I have helped a friend do a rum wash and stripping run, that's when I got the bug really bad. I like whiskey, rum and vodka. I make easy cordals from PGA and vodka.
You guys are very open about different ideas, I like that. Its nice to hear, read, different points of view.