G'day Lads

Say Hi and introduce yourself

G'day Lads

Postby jread » Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:25 am

G'day fellas, Im James from Gold Coast - recently sparked a massive interest in home brewing, i have no setup yet the last 2 Months have just been reading, watching videos, and looking at online shops all over the place. At the moment i have picked a boiler but no still yet. Hopefully get some insight from you. :-)
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby bluc » Wed Jun 24, 2020 2:45 pm

What drinks you like will help you pick your still :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby Professor Green » Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:47 pm

Welcome to AD James.

The still you need will depend on what you want to make but the following might help you out.

For whiskies and rums, pot still or bubbler.
For vodka/neutrals a reflux column
For gin and other re-distilled flavoured spirits, a pot and a reflux column.

What size boiler have you settled on? This will determine what size still you can use.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby dans.brew » Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:54 pm

Welcome to AD! :greetings-waveyellow:
:text-+1: on what prof said.
Many, many options and ways to go about it... all depends what path suits you and your objective.
Good luck deciding!
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby jread » Thu Jun 25, 2020 8:29 am

Professor Green wrote:Welcome to AD James.

The still you need will depend on what you want to make but the following might help you out.

For whiskies and rums, pot still or bubbler.
For vodka/neutrals a reflux column
For gin and other re-distilled flavoured spirits, a pot and a reflux column.

What size boiler have you settled on? This will determine what size still you can use.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.


Cheers mate, question - doesnt a bubbler produce neutral spirits? i thought it works similar to a reflux but more refined.

So the boiler im looking at is the guten series, guten 50L or 70L. I'm stuck on the type of still i was looking at the kegomax CM reflux still from kegking but i saw some reviews on it which is making me reconsider. Any one know much about it or have insight on it? I'm kinda looking at multi purpose still so i can brew both neutral and flavored spirits once again any advise on that would be appreciated or recommendations :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby jread » Thu Jun 25, 2020 8:30 am

dans.brew wrote:Welcome to AD! :greetings-waveyellow:
:text-+1: on what prof said.
Many, many options and ways to go about it... all depends what path suits you and your objective.
Good luck deciding!



Yeah Cheers Dan. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby Carol » Thu Jun 25, 2020 9:35 am

Hi jread
I am a comparative newbie with a FSD 2" boka and pot with a 25 litre boiler. So can do high quality neutral, whisky and gin. Cost effective as it is modular. There is a thread on my boka in reflux stills that might be helpful.
I have a simple system - 3 fermenters - while I am minding a stripping run, I clean the fermenter and fill it up again. So my fermenters are always full .
Three stripping runs gives me enough for a spirit run.

Cheers
Carol
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby dans.brew » Thu Jun 25, 2020 1:55 pm

jread wrote:Cheers mate, question - doesnt a bubbler produce neutral spirits? i thought it works similar to a reflux but more refined.

There is different configurations you can run with bubblers. It is the packed section run together with the plates that tears out the flavours and makes the clean neutral.
Plates on their own will let all the flavour through into the finished product ie rum/ whiskey ect.
These different configurations run on a modular bubbler is what makes them so versatile.
Hope that makes sense and i havent bamboozled you too much. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby Professor Green » Thu Jun 25, 2020 7:32 pm

jread wrote:
So the boiler im looking at is the guten series, guten 50L or 70L. I'm stuck on the type of still i was looking at the kegomax CM reflux still from kegking but i saw some reviews on it which is making me reconsider. Any one know much about it or have insight on it? I'm kinda looking at multi purpose still so i can brew both neutral and flavored spirits once again any advise on that would be appreciated or recommendations :handgestures-thumbupleft:


OK, so if you want to do it all, then you'll need either two stills or a modular one. The latter is the best option here as you can assemble the still in different configurations to suit the spirit you're making at the time. I would do some more research on that boiler though, looks to me like it is meant for brewing rather than distilling. For brewing you want to hold the vessel at particular temperatures which usually means the heat is turned on/off with a thermostat. For distilling you want constant power to keep the liquid at a rolling boil otherwise you'll have nightmare of a time. If it does turn out it is usable for distilling, it does look a bit flimsy so you would probably be limited to a 2" still which would mean Carol's suggestion of a pot and a boka would be the best option as I think a 4" still would be too heavy for it.

I don't know what your budget is but here are a couple of off the shelf options from 5 Star to get you thinking (Best gear bar none by the way):
  • 30 Litre Boiler + 2" pot + 2" Boka.(Boka for neutral and pot still with strip/spirit run strategy for whiskies/rums etc.) You can start off with either the Boka or the pot and add the other later if you don't want to get both up front. I think this is possibly the cheapest option but trade-off is teh slower speed of 2" stills.
  • 50 Litre MIlk Can boiler plus the aforementioned pot and boka. A bit more expensive than the previous option but you're getting a bigger and much sexier boiler so you ca do bigger (and threfore longer) runs. Same speed issues apply.
  • 50 Litre milk can and a Neutraliser. This would be the most expensive option but would be the only still you'd really ever need. Being modular it can be assembled as a pot still, 3 or 4 plate bubbler for flavour or a reflux column with 5 plates and a packed section for neutral. Because it is modular, you can build it up from a pot still, through to a bubbler then finish with the full Neutraliser just by buying the extra bits required to get it to the next level if you want to spread the cost out over time. It's also a 4" still which means faster run times for the same amount of product when compared to a 2" still.

One very important thing to consider is how much room you have in which to operate the still. For example, a fully assembled Neutraliser on a 50 litre boiler runs in excess of 2.4m tall so you'll need somewhere that can accommodate that height if you want to go down that road.

Hope this helps.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby jread » Fri Jun 26, 2020 2:15 pm

Professor Green wrote:
jread wrote:
So the boiler im looking at is the guten series, guten 50L or 70L. I'm stuck on the type of still i was looking at the kegomax CM reflux still from kegking but i saw some reviews on it which is making me reconsider. Any one know much about it or have insight on it? I'm kinda looking at multi purpose still so i can brew both neutral and flavored spirits once again any advise on that would be appreciated or recommendations :handgestures-thumbupleft:


OK, so if you want to do it all, then you'll need either two stills or a modular one. The latter is the best option here as you can assemble the still in different configurations to suit the spirit you're making at the time. I would do some more research on that boiler though, looks to me like it is meant for brewing rather than distilling. For brewing you want to hold the vessel at particular temperatures which usually means the heat is turned on/off with a thermostat. For distilling you want constant power to keep the liquid at a rolling boil otherwise you'll have nightmare of a time. If it does turn out it is usable for distilling, it does look a bit flimsy so you would probably be limited to a 2" still which would mean Carol's suggestion of a pot and a boka would be the best option as I think a 4" still would be too heavy for it.

I don't know what your budget is but here are a couple of off the shelf options from 5 Star to get you thinking (Best gear bar none by the way):
  • 30 Litre Boiler + 2" pot + 2" Boka.(Boka for neutral and pot still with strip/spirit run strategy for whiskies/rums etc.) You can start off with either the Boka or the pot and add the other later if you don't want to get both up front. I think this is possibly the cheapest option but trade-off is teh slower speed of 2" stills.
  • 50 Litre MIlk Can boiler plus the aforementioned pot and boka. A bit more expensive than the previous option but you're getting a bigger and much sexier boiler so you ca do bigger (and threfore longer) runs. Same speed issues apply.
  • 50 Litre milk can and a Neutraliser. This would be the most expensive option but would be the only still you'd really ever need. Being modular it can be assembled as a pot still, 3 or 4 plate bubbler for flavour or a reflux column with 5 plates and a packed section for neutral. Because it is modular, you can build it up from a pot still, through to a bubbler then finish with the full Neutraliser just by buying the extra bits required to get it to the next level if you want to spread the cost out over time. It's also a 4" still which means faster run times for the same amount of product when compared to a 2" still.

One very important thing to consider is how much room you have in which to operate the still. For example, a fully assembled Neutraliser on a 50 litre boiler runs in excess of 2.4m tall so you'll need somewhere that can accommodate that height if you want to go down that road.

Hope this helps.



Thanks professor, alot of food for thought.

So the biggest thing that attracted me to the guten range was the all in one convenience, and the fact that a malt pipe can be used for mashes.

I'm wondering with the milkcans, when you want to do a mash do you just use a grain bag or something?
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby dist » Sun Jun 28, 2020 11:59 am

With due respect, setting a complete newbie who never distilled in his life on a 2K+ spend is irresponsible at best.
There are many options, you just need to know what to look for.

I'm using Brewzilla at the moment, it is very similar to Guten.
These are excellent devices for making beer. They are a little less so when distilling, but nevertheless, I have completed a 12h spirit run yesterday with avg abv of 92%.

So my suggestion to you, if you are keen on making beer as well, get the Guten or Brewzilla, and get AlcoEngine Reflux still from KL. It's only $150, so the whole thing would cost you much less then the full blown stills suggested earlier. Later, when you have little experience, you can decide whether to "upgrade" or keep what you have.

Good luck.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby Professor Green » Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:10 pm

In my experience people who start sentences with words like "With due respect", rarely have any.

There is nothing wrong with the advice that has been given. Buying the right gear first time around is good advice. If it turns out that distilling doesn't float the advised persons boat, the gear in said advice will have good resale value. I wish I had been given the advice I just gave when I first started, it would have saved me a lot of money.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby The Stig » Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:21 pm

:text-+1:
Very well said Professor :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby dist » Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:23 pm

Professor Green wrote:Buying the right gear first time around is good advice.


I agree. But we seem to disagree what right is. Lets do car analogy.
Would you buy your child a mercedes a45 as their first car? Or maybe let them learn by driving a hyundau i30 and then, when they are good drivers, sell the hyundai and buy the mercedes. You see what I mean?

I also don't like the decidedly one way commercial aspect of this forum and some of its members. Is this a friendly distiller community like it says on the header or a promotion board for fsd? For example, I asked an innocent question about a competitor product a few days ago and my post was deleted without even a pm.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby The Stig » Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:53 pm

If you don’t like it, your more than welcome to leave mate
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby dist » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:56 pm

Thank you for clarifying that, mate. Good bye
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby Professor Green » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:58 pm

dist wrote:
Professor Green wrote:Buying the right gear first time around is good advice.


I agree. But we seem to disagree what right is. Lets do car analogy.
Would you buy your child a mercedes a45 as their first car? Or maybe let them learn by driving a hyundau i30 and then, when they are good drivers, sell the hyundai and buy the mercedes. You see what I mean?

I also don't like the decidedly one way commercial aspect of this forum and some of its members. Is this a friendly distiller community like it says on the header or a promotion board for fsd? For example, I asked an innocent question about a competitor product a few days ago and my post was deleted without even a pm.


Stills are nothing like cars, they're tools and I wouldn't recommend a cheap tool to anybody. Ever. I make my recommendations based on my experience with the products I've recommended and the requirements given by the person seeking advice. In the past I have also suggested the DIY approach which generally doesn't benefit 5 Star except for maybe some bits-n-bobs. The biggest reason FSD gets recommended here so much is that their equipment is the best quality you can get and they offer unparalleled after sales service.

You do realise that this is 5 Star's forum right? You would had to have agreed to certain terms of use when you signed up. One of those terms deals specifically with posts about other manufacturers and the associated removal policy.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby Professor Green » Sun Jun 28, 2020 9:20 pm

So, ignoring the tossing of toys out of the pram, let's get back to the subject at hand...

jread, I don't do mashes so I cannot answer your question about doing them with a milk can boiler. Perhaps someone with experience in that area will chime in with some ideas.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby scythe » Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:04 pm

I thought the idea was to not ferment in your boiler to prevent scorching.
Also clean wash in the boiler means less cleaning of the boiler.

And as far as comparing stills to cars,
Would you buy an unreliable rusty car with a top speed of 10km/hr or a maintenance free comfortable and reliable car capable of 100km/hr?
Both will get you where you want to go.
Last edited by scythe on Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: G'day Lads

Postby The Stig » Mon Jun 29, 2020 6:13 pm

Some do ferment in the boiler then still on the grain.
But it’s not the norm and you would need an agitator and indirect heat (jacketed steam etc ) to help stop scorching
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