Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I hope im not out of line comenting here. But i am very seriously considering buying one of these, just wondering what sort of water usage these require? Are most of you recycling water through a pump system? If so how much water storage do i need and what sort of pump? Thanks in advance

Hi Joel,
I'm currently using mains water mostly because I've been to lazy to set up a recirc cooling system yet.

I run approx 1 litre a minute through the coil.
I'm intending on doing a strip run tomorrow on a BWKO wash, so I will actually measure the flow I'm using and post when I have the data.

600 ml per minute while strip running a flavoured wash at 2700ml per hour output.

The condensor is cool to the touch for the top 50%
100% knockdown of vapour.

Thanks for that, not too bad to use mains for a while then! Now there is just one thing i dont understand, in regards to foreshots, how are the seperated if the column is refluxing? I am thinking everything would all mix together? Also do you use the 25 electric boiler mac sells with the boka?

Refluxing separates the fractions (foreshots, heads, hearts and tails) because the lighter fractions (fores and heads) reach the top of the column/takeoff first :handgestures-thumbupleft:

To add to Zacs post,

think of oil on water, it has a lower density so naturally floats on top but needs time to reach the top and separate from the water if mixed. Heads hearts and tails all have different boiling points and density's putting the lighter heads/fores up top, ethanol in the middle and fussel oil/tails at the end followed by the water and whatever else is in there.
Keeping the still in full reflux for 10 to 30 mins separates these fractions much better than just turning on and collecting. I usually run 15 to 30 mins depending on how time poor i am and just before tails comes in i put back in full reflux for 15 mins to try and push the tails back down the column. Just wish i could see the fog of tails like everyone who has bubblers :-|

Hope this helps

Hi Joel,
Iv got mine sitting on top of a still spirits boiler for the moment .
2000 watts.
I am moz of a he way through building a voltage controller to slow things down when running in "po still" mode.
I've got two generations of bwko all stripped down now so I'm looking to do a spirit run on that soon.

But in today's run I also had some tpw neutral that I did a spirit run on.

94% output. Sooooo clean !
:)

Wish there was someone local that could show me the ropes.. having trouble finding anyone to share this hobby! So im relying on you guys :handgestures-thumbupleft:

joel0395 wrote:Wish there was someone local that could show me the ropes.. having trouble finding anyone to share this hobby! So im relying on you guys :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Might help if you put your general locaton. :D

Copy that

i think there are some stilly-buggers down that way :P
Royboy73 is down that way iirc...

I'm using the boiler Mac sells with these, works fine by me. I don't have a controller so it's just flat out. Actually can't remember what size element is in Macs boiler??

For the record, I'd never operated a still ever in my life, just did lots of reading and Then checked I had it straight in my head with MacStill when I picked up the boka. By the time I had finished my cleaning run I had a really good idea on how a run went, and then I did two TPW as practice runs and then a final spirit run and I have some damn fine vodka at the end of that first batch. Can definitely say to you Joel this is a bloody nice rig and perfect for beginners :handgestures-thumbupleft: :clap:

Went to my shelf for some of my vodka tonight after a shitty week of real life and it's almost all bloody gone! The bloke around the house who doesn't drink video has drunk most of it, and apparently swapped a bottle for some home killed pork. Good thing there are two more TPW washes ready to go next weekend.

Great to hear, thanks hawkeye! Im just waiting to get a reply email about some prices and im ready to go! One last question though, could you please tell me the overall height of the still including the boiler! I need to make sure it will fit in my still room! Thanks again

this should give you an idea :handgestures-thumbupleft:



use the cask wine for an idea lol

Aww that's my shiny gorgeous beauty.... Pity my back drop ain't so pretty :P

Not sure overall how tall she is. Packed section is a meter.

Well so much for that hobby.
After many discussions with the other half I gave mine away today. :sad:

The guy I gave it to was shocked....
Some random nutter he's talkin to in a HBS gives him a nice shiny still for nix.

He didn't believe me at first.... Nearly shat when I handed it over. :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
They're a good rig, but I just don't have the time or patience for it all I'm afraid.
A big thank you to all who have helped out on this little learning curve.

Oh well, at least I've got a hot water urn for the shed. :))

Cheers.
Fishboy

It's definitely not a pastime for the impatient, Fishboy.

Giving your rig away was fairly drastic though. You probably could've recouped a fair chunk of your costs by offering it up for sale here I'm sure someone would have snapped it up in a flash.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Yeah that's true, but the way I look at it is happy wife happy life.

Ive got other hobbies where I can spend the cost of the rig in an afternoon. Coin wasnt the consideration, I got a couple of months playtime out of it, and I learnt a lot of things.

Besides it's helped someone to not be using turbo equipment and washes coz I pointed him in the direction of this site as well.
So he may very well pop up here at sometime.
It's nice to give people random surprises the reactions are worth it. :scared-eek: :)) :)) Not everything in life is about cash.

He may very well pop up here at sometime and I know you will all help him along on his way.

Again, thanks for all your help guys & girls.

Karma is a wonderful thing

I'm gunna join the users group, :teasing-tease: I'm gunna join the users group, :teasing-tease: I'm gunna join the users group, :teasing-tease: I'm gunna join the users group, :teasing-tease: