Hi, from the top of the blue mountains!

[Tin Roof... Rusty]

Hi All!

Thought I should introduce myself after a couple of weeks of looking around on here.

I am recently returning to the sport after about a 15 year hiatus, I previously used a custom home built still, that I will slowly recreate by modifying the alcoengine reflux unit that I have started back in with (which makes almost passable gear for getting tipsy off, but I recon could be a whole lot better). I'll try and post my processes, both successes and failures, for everyone to enjoy.

As a sparky working in a relatively tech heavy sector, I occasionally get access to, and training in, some pretty cool stuff that could be used for this hobby, some of which I already have some big plans for, such as a full "Building Management System" style controller that can be set up with a graphic interface that can give complete control of a stills energy usage, power settings, water flow control, temp monitoring, and pretty much everything to control a run straight from a tablet or PC. But that is all a while off yet.

My first project though, will be adding a voltage regulator to the 1900W element of a 35L digiboil, which I have noticed is a question that comes up a bit in the tech section. So I have some parts on order for that, and hope to put up some instructions for you all to be able to do it at home for under $50, while still maintaining full functionality of the digiboil for everything else you need to do with it.

Anyway, hope to have a chance to chat with some of you soon, and thanks so much for all the good advice I've already found on here, I will make it my mission to repay it in kind, and hopefully help out a few folks where I can.

[crow]

Hi mate, yeah pretty sure that is the same as my first reflux still, ultra pure made in geelong.They are a good little still and will produce azeotropic alcohol all day but you will need all day as they are slow af. Best bett is to make/get a normal pot still and strip everything with that first up which will speed up your run times by a great deal. Once you start reading here you will soon see what i mean :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Wellsy]

Welcome aboard Rusty.

[Tin Roof... Rusty]

Hi mate, yeah pretty sure that is the same as my first reflux still, ultra pure made in geelong.They are a good little still and will produce azeotropic alcohol all day but you will need all day as they are slow af. Best bett is to make/get a normal pot still and strip everything with that first up which will speed up your run times by a great deal. Once you start reading here you will soon see what i mean :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hi Crow, yeah I'm fairly sure the brand in question just ripped off a handful of good designs and had them mass produced in china. It's not great, and slow as f%$k, but it was a start for me to get back in, and fairly cheap, so I'm not afraid to take a hacksaw to it and make some mods when I have time. I've seen a LOT of really nice locally made stuff out there, but I'm just the type of guy who's going to cut it up and f%$K around with it, so might as well start out with something that no one will be offended when I do that lol.

Will def be investing in a pot still setup soon too, being able to do stripping runs that much easier will be a massive help for neutrals, but also I've been getting into brewing mead as well as my old beer recipes, and I REALLY want to distil a mead after seeing a few things on youtubes.

[Tin Roof... Rusty]

Welcome aboard Rusty.

Thanks Wellsy, I'll try to only add to the conversation when I can, but I'm pretty sure I'll have a great many more questions than answers lol.

[Wellsy]

That’s what the forum is here for mate questions.

I still have more questions than answers but no one seems to mind :laughing-rolling:

[crow]

I dont want to cutter up ya welcome page to much but here is a link to one of my old threads on improving the output speed via a column extension, feel free to ask there :handgestures-thumbupleft:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1385