new from WA

[Longknife]

Gday guys.

Im from mid coast Wa.
I wish id found this site before laying down the hard earned. I ended up with a t500 but as it turns out its not as much of an allrounder as the guy at the HBS led me to believe. I like rum and bourbon and the mrs likes gin vodka tequilla. I work offshore at five weeks at a time so wont have the time or still for doing a really good rum or UJSM, so i will make do.
Iv been brewing beer for years now and have really growing an interest in the distilling at home gig.
Great to see a local site with the guys that obviously know their shit not bagging the beginners and their L plate stills, but giving good positive feed back and advice we can follow.
Good to also see a few WA crew on board. If your in the Cervantes Jbay area PM me if need a hand or a cold one.
thanks crew!!

[caveman]

welcome mate this site is full of great info and people to help ya out :handgestures-thumbupleft:
might take ya up on that beer one day as i go to gero a bit too theres always time to stop somewhere for a coldie :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Longknife]

Cheers Caveman,

iv been readin and learning and so on and dont think ive scratched the surface. like beer brewing i find its one of those hobbies you always want to play with< tweak here and a tweak there>! Yeah im normally around up this way, I do 5week on 5week off so can be outta range depending on where im working, but if your up this way and at a loose end PM away and dont be shy.

[Longknife]

That goes for any WA or forum members. I been round these parts for a while and commercially fished out of hear, so anyone popping up an have a question just shout more than happy to help.
longknife and fam

[MacStill]

Welcome,

What kind of boat you got?

:laughing-rolling:

[Longknife]

Hey Mcstill,
im all outa comm fishing now so i work offshore on the oil an gas boats. moneys more consistent and the price of bait and diesel dont stress ya. im just running a little beast with room for passangers< still mix it with the big guys though> built by Jimmy Earl from Sea Gypsy boats in WA. The dudes a guru, welds like silk!!MIGHT ask him how he goes with COPPER!
Anyway Mcstill, iv read alot of of your posts and will know doubt re read them and stare at the stills you build and your future ones. thanks for answering "new guy questions "when they so bleeding obvious to you and blokes at your skill level. its save us heaps of shit. so cheers you JEDI Masters out there. Ill be watching your advice and saving for more stills.

[NotBenStiller]

Welcome longknife,
I'm a noob here too. And from WA too. And got a T500 too
The T500 isn't the best - everyone knows it - but it can serve our purposes for those still just learning :D
You remove all colunm packing and it can be be run as a sort of semi-pot still (de-tuned)
I've recently modified my T500 column coz i wasn't happy running it de-tuned with the plastic cap - pics here of what i did
http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1599

I ran a couple stripping runs after my cap mod - it wasn't as fast as all these fancy 3" columns but it could still (hah ah - get it??) be used for rum/bourbon de-tuned.
I'm going to start a Deathwish wheat-germ this weekend and reckon the T500 will do fairly OK with it de-tuned. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

.....at least you didn't get suckered into an airstill.... :laughing-rolling:

[zwagerman9]

Get him Frank! Haha.

[bt1]

Welcome bloke,

That mod for the still looks like the go.

Just a couple of ideas...In winter I use Larger yeasts and run cold on a modified UJSM. Larger yeasts love 9c and take about 4 weeks to finish off. The yeasts are readily available from HBS as Saflarger or BrewCellar Larger 11.5g packets. Has a simple yeast growing process to increase yeast volume as well. Might be a solution for the 5 week rotation.

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Saflager_S-23_HB.pdf

I also single run using a pot with a coil in it (hybrid) for big robust bourbons mainly, currently playing with a fresh grain Irish whiskey...point being the still might be well suited to single running rather than the normal strip run and then spirit run imho. This process would reduce your time, efforts, storage and costs and might be a better fit for your roster. Happy to provide details if you consider it a solution.


cheers
bt1

[Longknife]

Cheers bt1

had a look at the copper cap that notbenstiller put up and reckon I might give that a go. once I get it done will run without packing and with coil disconnected.
BIG ROBUST BOURBONS mmmmmmmmmmm. will see if the mod can help me get anything like what your talking about. Thanks alot and good luck with the whiskey. If you had some details on the hybrid your running or your methods Id be very interested to hear, it would look like thats the path that might fit better for work.

Thanks again.

[bt1]

Bloke,

A bit of info as requested.

Hybrid Pot
Why a hybrid in the first place….Cos it’s simple, easy to use, fairly fast and avoids the complexity of thumpers reflux balls etc. It’s very frugal on time as each run=a finished bourbon as I single run.
I’ve tried several hybrid designs mainly column height changes some not so successful but have settled on a design I've used for a few years now. A hybrid is nothing flash it's just a pot head with a long coil to improve reflux. I've found over time:
1 Too short a column and the burner will over power the coil and reflux is minimal at best. I call <600mm too short for a 3 ring burner even when run as 2 ring . Settled on 3 ring to get a balance between heating times and run temp control. I now use this puppy now but it’s overkill really, but fast heat time for a 50lt keg.
http://www.beerbelly.com.au/images/mongo23.gif
2 Too tall and it will take better than a 3 ring burner to power it(especially if outside in winter) but gas cost too high for my liking...I call >850mm too tall.
I get roughly 4+ single runs from an 8.5kg gas bottle which I reckon is fair.

Coil/ placement
Tried several coils some like the cold finger type with double helix ¼” with ½ inner produced too much cooling and even at low flows with a pond pump using a waste gate induced too much reflux, produced a nice high abv so low 90’s abv but output was slow as <1.25lt/hr.
Current coil is a simple double helix std coil but its long ~ish at 25cm. The length seems to give you the “control” over abv range when matched to a pot height of about 680mm- 700mm i.e. it adds about 12 -14 abv pts and puts your start in the low 90’s abv (temp corrected btw) and allows you to target an abv you prefer. I target 80abv as it seems a good balance of run speed/output >=2.2lt/hr and flavour from grain based sugar washes generally.
Coil has the inner gap and gap between out coil and 2” column wall wrapped in stretched out SS scrubbers.
Coil is placed just before the 90 degree elbow heads off to a horizontal reducing Lyne arm. So picture one of McStill’s pot heads with a coil brazed in it before the elbow. Simple!

Process
Started like we all do making plenty of cuts but its simplified these days based on being generous with cuts. Only two cuts, 1 for foreshots and early heads and that’s a fair bit cos it re used to run an ethanol heater so don’t consider it a loss. I run down to 4.2lt at 80 abv when I’ve generally had enough and fanging for beer. Some would consider it wasteful but realistically I never have to worry about tails, blending, cuts what ever.
Air for a week, spring water down to 65 abv, in goes timber, black pepper corns, vanilla beans if keen. Let it sit for a few weeks in open 5lt jar with coffee filter on top for just.
Close lid, let it sit until out of jars then tip into a 20lt or 50Lt SS keg, reduce timber let it age.

Seasonal change
In winter I use Saflarger yeasts which work out to about 4+ weeks at house spare room temp. The beer gurus would use a Fridgemate or Tempmate but I’ve never bothered as ambient seems to be spot on for Larger yeasts (also reduces cost of power C/F hot fast brews in winter)
In summer/Spring use specialist or general yeast with aquarium heaters to absolutely manipulate temp so I can choose either a 1week or 2 week ferment.

Done… simple, quick and easy.

Cheers
bt1

[Longknife]

Thanks everyone .
Lots of good info and looking forward to doing some mods to the t500