Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi all,
Newbie alert! First post.
I, like others, made a decision to get into distilling and rushed out and purchased the whole T500 kit and caboodle.
Here I was all schooled up ready to do my first Turbowash and distill using the instructions provided with the T500.
Then I came across this forum… well the rest is history.
So far I have thrown out the instructions and replaced the plastic outlet hose with copper.
I am now wondering what to use to replace the short hose at the top? I read somewhere that it should be PTFE tube? Do I just buy some somewhere that is equal in ID?
Also what do I do with my Turbo ingredients? I have everything to do the first batch. Should I just use it as a first run to get some experience? I am only interested in doing Vodka and Gin at this stage.
I am familiar with brewing as I have been brewing beer for years so the wash part is familiar to me.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

As it's your first post I have moved it here so you can have your very own welcome thread, so welcome to the forum :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Good work replacing the outlet with copper, not sure about your top tube, just this hold cooling water? If so it doesnt matter what that is.

As for the Turdbo products use it as a cleaning run for your still and you can also have a play around with different settings to see the difference in output and it won't matter the end result as you won't want to drink it anyway :D

Thanks for the advice. I’ll take your word for it re: the flavour.
I’ll get it down and see how the wash goes.

Welcome mateopog
I would recommend the WBAB wash if you are looking for a wash to try mate

Welcome mateopog.

That hose at the top of the T500 just caries cooling water from one condenser to the other so there's no real need to replace it.

As for the turbo stuff you already have; make it and, as Sam suggested, use it for your first run to clean your still and learn how to use it.

Just about any of the "clean" recipes in the Tried & Proven section will serve you well for vodka, my personal preference is WBAB but TPW and FFV are also both very popular especially as a base for Gin.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

Thanks again all. So I have the sacrificial Turbowash underway in the fermenter… going off like a firecracker compared to my homebrew beer!!
I am also planning on doing a TPW in another fermenter to have ready to go the day after the Turbo.
My question; how much cleaning will I need to do after I run the Turbowash through as a sacrificial run if I plan on doing the TPW the next day? Just a rinse?
Cheers.

Just a quick rinse will be fine .
The fore shots from the TPW will clean the rest out

Hi all,
An update on my first run of the T500.
Sacrificial run was with the turbowash. My boiler has a 1400w element and a 900w element so turned both on with needle valve on the Still spirits water flow regulator at max flow.
The first drips came after about 50 minutes with the temperature at around 34.7 degrees. Our water here in the Central West of NSW is coming out of the tap a little cold at about 16 degrees so not sure if that means anything.
After 200ml of foreshots I slowed the water to get the drip drip dribble as per the ‘proper’ instructions. This happened when the temp got up to about 45 degrees. I filled up a few more 200ml jars and it was running pretty consistently.
So then I thought I could turn off one of the elements and it would kind of keep on going. The output stopped completely. I waited and waited and mucked around with the water for around 15mins but could not get it going again without turning the element back on.
Once I got the output back I just kept it going at the nice dribble dribble drip rate till I had about 11 jars and then just killed it. That was enough for a cleaning run I gathered.
So my question is how do I run with just one of the elements? i.e. on lower power? Or is my boiler not powerful enough to run it under 2300w.
Pretty satisfying regardless seeing the output. Cant wait to run something to drink next.
Cheers,
Matt

mateopog wrote:Hi all,
An update on my first run of the T500.
Sacrificial run was with the turbowash. My boiler has a 1400w element and a 900w element so turned both on with needle valve on the Still spirits water flow regulator at max flow.
The first drips came after about 50 minutes with the temperature at around 34.7 degrees. Our water here in the Central West of NSW is coming out of the tap a little cold at about 16 degrees so not sure if that means anything.
After 200ml of foreshots I slowed the water to get the drip drip dribble as per the ‘proper’ instructions. This happened when the temp got up to about 45 degrees. I filled up a few more 200ml jars and it was running pretty consistently.
So then I thought I could turn off one of the elements and it would kind of keep on going. The output stopped completely. I waited and waited and mucked around with the water for around 15mins but could not get it going again without turning the element back on.
Once I got the output back I just kept it going at the nice dribble dribble drip rate till I had about 11 jars and then just killed it. That was enough for a cleaning run I gathered.
So my question is how do I run with just one of the elements? i.e. on lower power? Or is my boiler not powerful enough to run it under 2300w.
Pretty satisfying regardless seeing the output. Cant wait to run something to drink next.
Cheers,
Matt

The T500 as a reflux still is designed to run at full power and control using the water flow. You may be able to run it with just the 1400W element and turning the water down or you could get a power controller, I think FSD have them. Might be a good addition if you are thinking about detuning the T500 to make whiskey. The T500 is a good out of the box still that can make good neutral, and it has a good boiler so you have options down the track of making or buying a different top. In the meantime have fun learning to make the most with what you have.