Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

EziTasting wrote:

dans.brew wrote:... :angry-banghead:
Live and learn i suppose. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

It's only a mistake if you keep doing the same thing, expecting things to change!

I'm pretty sure i read somewhere that a needle valve or gate valve was the go, but i still tried the ball valve... so not totally innocent! :laughing-rolling:

Nathan.. very happy with whats coming out of her so far. The cuts are clearer/ more defined i reckon, but in the end to get a good product ya got to get them right or it doesnt really matter how good the still works.

Thanks for taking the time to illustrate and document your build, i am likely to build my own soon, so this was so well covered and all the input along the way.
Obviously not your 1st still,
I spent 1st 20 yrs of life in the sth mallee region, so understand the climate, chérs

Rock wrote:Thanks for taking the time to illustrate and document your build, i am likely to build my own soon, so this was so well covered and all the input along the way.
Obviously not your 1st still,
I spent 1st 20 yrs of life in the sth mallee region, so understand the climate, chérs

Cheers Rock... my first still i made was just a basic pot with lieberg condenser. Fairly easy and cheap to make so a very good starting point for brown spirits. You wouldn't have lived far away then, we are on the edge of the mallee and the edge of the wimmera. Not a bad spot, apart from when it just wont rain.
I highly recommend having a crack at a build if you have some basic skills, its very rewarding... and a whole lot of fun! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Finally got onto my parrot today... hacked my original one down to pieces and made a few alterations.
I saw this design in another post the other day and thought it was a ripper.

Should make keeping track of my Abv a bit easier.

one thing if you solder your parrot on you really need a breather pipe to stop surging :handgestures-thumbupleft: Looks smiko though :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:one thing if you solder your parrot on you really need a breather pipe to stop surging :handgestures-thumbupleft: Looks smiko though :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Not planning on soldering on the 2"reducer.
My pc at the bottom must be slightly out of round so i used a counterpunch and put a slight indent on either side of the reducer so after i slip it on the pc i turn it slightly and it locks on real tight. There is a slight gap there which lets the air in. Seems to work well. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sweet :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Working on cleaning up my still atm and clear coating it. Im not aiming for a perfectly clean, like new copper look. I like the polished rustic look. Its quite a job rubbing it all down. Here is the first couple components i did... pretty happy with them.

Got a bit of 2 tone colour going on, but i don't mind it.
The next few tees and rc didn't quite come out the oven as planned. :angry-banghead: Im hoping it was just the oven temp getting a bit too high that caused the yellow colour, i did everything else the same. I'll rub them back and have another go.

Finished cleaning up the last of the tees last night and clear coated all the remaing pieces. Seem to have solved my yellowing problem by keeping a good eye on the oven temp. The temp the copper gets to gives it its colour... well thats what i was hoping was the case anyway. Seems to have been the problem.

A month or so ago I added a bit of thin foam around the boiler to help with heat loss. Seems to work well!

Dan,
That’s looking sharp! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I have to say, your boiler is letting down your piece of art of a still! Really nice job, well done!

That’s come up a treat Dan. Top notch job.

That is a very nice rig mate, you gotta be proud of that :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers fellas!
The whole rig has been a bit of a learning curve, not to mention a hell of a lot of fun. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
The blue foam does clash a bit with the nice copper... practicality over looks for now though.
A big thanks for everyone's help and advise along the way, wouldnt of come close to reality without this forum! :clap:

Very nice indeed. Makes me wanna do mine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

bluc wrote:Very nice indeed. Makes me wanna do mine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Give yourself a decent amount of time if you do... quite time consuming rubbing it all down and making it shiny. Well worth it though. :music-deathmetal:
Rubbing back the clear coat on the ones that went yellow wasn't fun i must say. :angry-banghead:
I was actually wondering while i was rubbing away how they would fair if i was to get them lightly sandblasted first up, or whether it would be too abrasive on the copper and pit it. It would make cleaning in the crevices a lot easier... anyhow i don't really know a thing about sandblasting so was just a thought.

One of the little hand gun ones with the tank on top would do it, they run all sorts of mediums through em - walnut shell comes to mind..

On a car, they can warp panels from the heat generated, filling with water would avoid that

RC Al wrote:One of the little hand gun ones with the tank on top would do it, they run all sorts of mediums through em - walnut shell comes to mind..

On a car, they can warp panels from the heat generated, filling with water would avoid that

Looks like you may have to do a separate post with an Exposé on walnut blasting! Sounds very interesting!!

RC Al wrote:One of the little hand gun ones with the tank on top would do it, they run all sorts of mediums through em - walnut shell comes to mind..

Yeah i would of thought there would be a way.. they must create a lot of heat to warp panels :scared-eek:

Soda blasting. It's finer and doesn't heat up as much apparently. I tried a bit of sandblasting on some copper and quite liked the look of it but never went through with it, can't remember exactly why. I have a feeling (if I remember correctly) it was because the copper is really soft and the sand particles got stuck in it?

Hey dan why did you put the bits in the oven? to create a colour on the copper or bake on a 2pac type clear? :-B