Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Some vids of my new bubble column.
I "changed up my mind" as my little girl would say, and I did some things I can now say are improvements on the previous one. The plate drilling was changed, allowing this one to hammer. And hammer it does.
Swapped the 3 way valve for 2 seperate valves. This was more like swapping an auto gearbox for a manual, for want of a better description. I had to drive it, but it gave better control. It also wasnt as restrictive for the pump, so the coolant system had a few flow issues that wern't an issue before. Nothing some better piping and a mop won't fix.
I've made the plumbing on this one a bit more "knock down", but at the same time, 10 mins of soldering and it would be fairly permanant. But no leaks from "commisioning", so I'm happy.

All in all, run went well. Ran some 10% UJ sour mash, 40 litres in 3.25 hours from flame on to flame off, at 93%ABV. Got about 4.5 litres of good drinking stock.

Gday Empty, the "just for fun" idea from the second vid sounds like a cracker! dont forget the pics and video... :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yer stackem up through the roof just tell the Neighbours ya got a new pot belly stove and thats the flu :text-lol:

I'm thinking of trying to make the stinkiest rum I can, and see if I can turn it into vodka on the first pass,
just for fun.

truth be known, I'd prefer rum to vodki.

Even though the neighbor is a sticky beak, he need not know what goes on.

"Whats he building in there....?"

Cool mate how many plates do ya recon it would take to go from stinky to sparklin clean

Not real sure cavey, but just about everything Ive seen says 11 plates. Seems 10 to 13 is fairly agreed on.
So I'm hoping that with the boiler (being one "plate"), and 2 x 5 plate column sections I'll be in the ballpark. I'm pretty sure it would clean up a tpw or similar recipie no problems, but to see what it does to a stinky rum should be interesting.
It might not get it sparkly clean, but 10 plates is what I'll have to play with. If it shows promise, I might brew up a neutral wash and see what it comes out like. One for the vodka buff's.

Whoever ends up with that baby won't be doing a dash with their cash on rusty trash :D

McStill wrote:Whoever ends up with that baby won't be doing a dash with their cash on rusty trash :D

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
go the old skool copper ova staino any day :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yep.
They'll have to suffer proper sulfide removal, traditional materials, nicer tasting hootch, the chance to have thier own piece of hand made copper porn and knowing their still is held together with silver solder.
They will also have to put up with a still that works very, very well and does the job quick.
"Made in Australia, from local and imported ingredients".

And just to let you know, the other column section is primarily for another complete still. But the second still might have to take a hit for the team and donate its lungs temporarily for the sake of the vodka experiment.

Maybe I've been sampling too much tonight, but I was also thinking of pulling the tree out of both and just run it as a pot still. A really tall one. Again, for fun.

Either way, it wont rust.

WineGlass wrote:I'm thinking of trying to make the stinkiest rum I can, and see if I can turn it into vodka on the first pass,
just for fun.

I've got very plausible idea on how to achieve this cheaply and simply , should increase ya theoretical plates many many times over (dicussions with MR , DH and others ;-) .) Hopefully I have it ready to fit when I get back :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I got an idea too bud. I figure on trying actual plates as compared to theoretical plates.

But lets be serious here, who'd make a rum base if they were trying to make vodka (me... :violence-stickwhack: ). I just want to get an idea of just how much flavor it would remove in a single run.

This is more about trying to make something that a vodka connoisseur would enjoy, but make it in an evening (not 16 hrs)

A whiskey/rum/brandy still dosn't really need anymore than 5 plates, even this can strip flavor if run too long. But I expect that if I started with a rum or whiskey base, its going to be a bit more of a test.

awesome post, no surprise there. if i may ask the details about the plates though, it sounds like you're happy with the changes. would you mind elaborating on them? i'm about to start on a build for my brother, want to try perf plates on this one. been reading, think i've got the details i need (overflow height, plate spacing) and the 30% rule of thumb, but have you found a hole size/number of holes that performed better than others?

McStill wrote:Whoever ends up with that baby won't be doing a dash with their cash on rusty trash :D

He is a poet and dont knowit

tickle wrote:awesome post, no surprise there. if i may ask the details about the plates though, it sounds like you're happy with the changes. would you mind elaborating on them? i'm about to start on a build for my brother, want to try perf plates on this one. been reading, think i've got the details i need (overflow height, plate spacing) and the 30% rule of thumb, but have you found a hole size/number of holes that performed better than others?

hole size between 1.5mm and 2mm, 30% of the plate. However you can fit them, just leave a spot for the cups/downcomers.