Hi from Queensland

[Atreu]

Hi everybody,

I'm fairly new to the distilling game; I bought a turbo 500 two weeks ago, and found this site about a week ago (starting to wish it was the other way around!) Still, I made my first wash (turbo classic, with the liquid carbon - all came with the still) and distilled it last week.

While I can't say it's as good as I'd hoped it would be, it still tasted better than spirits I've bought before!

At the moment, (after skulking around this forum for the last week) I have a TPW bubbling away nicely - it already smells better than the turbo, and im looking forward to enjoying this hobby for quite a while!

Atreu

[Muppet]

Welcome :greetings-waveyellow:

[1 2many]

G'day and welcome, good to here you have a tpw on the go and doubt you will use the turbo stuff again, enjoy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Andy]

welcome mate :greetings-waveyellow:

[agro]

Welcome aboard :greetings-waveyellow: even if you stuff up with a tpw it will still be better than the turbo crud :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

Welcome mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

You should be able to knock out some decent neutral with the 500. Must ask though have you read about cuts yet? :think:

Also was is your preferred drinks, as this may dictate what your next still is going to be :D

[Atreu]

Thanks everyone!

Sam, I did read the cuts section, but it was on the same day I did the distill; and with the turbo info "you only need to discard the first 50ml!" i thought I'd be okay... Aaaannnddd I had my first learning curve. After discarding the first 100ml I kept smelling it every 100ml or so, and realised pretty quickly I'd stuffed up. Needless to say, I now have 10 or so 350ml bottles ready for my next batch!

As for my favourite drink, I'm actually a bit of a drink whore... If it's good, I'll drink it. Having said that, I only just recently had a scotch I enjoyed - funnily enough, a mates homebrew - forgotten about, on a light oak, for 6 months. It was probably the thing that helped me decide i wanted to make spirits! It really was the nicest drink I think I've ever had.

As for the next step... (probably a silly question:) do I need different stills for different drinks?

thanks again to everyone for the welcome; from what little I've read on here, this is one clued on group.

Atreu

[Bushy]

Hey mate :greetings-waveyellow:
Good to see another convert to the wonderful world of home distillation.
Different stills for different drinks is one way to look at it. Have a read around the starter sections about pots, reflux and bubblers. You will soon pick it up.
Enjoy yr new hobby :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Sam.]

As for the next step... (probably a silly question:) do I need different stills for different drinks?

Not silly at all mate. Generally reflux stills are used for clear spirits (vodka) and pot stills are used for brown spirits (rum, whisky). Having said that you can use a combination of both to make a nuetrel in a reflux then run it though a pot still with botanicals to make gin.

There are many ways to skin a cat. Have a look at this, the different types of stills.

At the end of the day if you want to be able to make any type of spirit effectively and economically you will want a bubbler of some description :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I would suggest having a good poke around in the newbies corner as probably all your questions will be answered there and also some you hadn't even thought of asking yet ;-)

If there is something you don't understand or need clarification on then let us know :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[BIG D]

Hello mate and welcome, some very sound advice there from Sam. :handgestures-thumbupleft: :greetings-waveyellow:

[Atreu]

Thank you guys! :D