Hi from Melbourne

[NreeK]

G'day folks,
I'm in Melbourne and right at the beginning of my distilling journey. I've been inspired by a mate in Adelaide who's made some of the finest gin I've ever tasted. Also, lockdown is giving me the shits and I need a new hobby that has people around me encouraging me to head to the shed (so they can reap the benefits).
The plan is to make gin and rum to start with...... and later scotch style whisky as I love a good peaty single malt.
The plan is to purchase a 50L boiler keg or I'll convert one... and purchase a plated column.
Please forgive me for asking the occasional stupid question.
Cheers,
Enrique

[Wellsy]

Welcome Nreek
No such thing as a stupid question mate. Welcome to the site there is lots of valuable info on here and lots of people happy to share. For me my journey started 12 months ago cos like you I needed a lockdown hobby. Smartest thing I did was call five star distilling and asked Andrew lots of questions. If you are looking for unbiased advice and no pressure give him a call. He does not need to trick anybody into buying his stuff because the gear is so good it sells itself. Plenty on here use his gear, and plenty of others don’t at the end of the day we are all just happy to share what we know with those who want to listen

[NreeK]

Thanks for the welcome Wellsy,
Ringing Andrew from 5 star sounds like a great idea. I've been checking out their stuff... looks like you've pulled the pin on some quality gear. Their Mac 4 SSG is attracting me!

[Wellsy]

It took me a year to get the Finances sorted and Andrew gave me some great options to get me started. Once you know what you really want to produce the rest get easier. Of course what you want is likely to change it hey if we could predict the future we would just get next weeks tattslotto numbers and we could get one of everything lol

[NreeK]

Have you heard anything about www.5stardistilling.com.au brewer in Wodonga? They seem to have some nice setups as well.

[NreeK]

aha... that's funny. I mentioned another manufacturer in my last post and it was changed automatically it seems to 5 star distilling... and that's fair enough. it is a 5 star forum after all :)

[Wellsy]

I think it is the universe telling you something lol

[The Stig]

Ok , yes this is a 5 Star forum , in every sense of the word .
A little background , I stared this forum in 2010 after being shat on at HD
We allowed advertising in the beginning but that brought drama and fights but out of that 5 Star was born and we banned all other advertising .
Fast forward 7 years and I took over the business of 5 Star as a way of turning my passion/hobby into an income .
We don’t stop anybody from talking about gear purchased elsewhere , but we draw the line at naming other retailers wether it’s good or bad feedback , we just don’t want the drama.
We do encourage all feedback about 5 Stars gear , good or bad as it can only make us stronger .
I hope this helps to clear this up for you :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[NreeK]

lol, yes, the universe is trying to tell me something Wellsy,

Thanks The Stig for the explanation, it's very helpful and kudos to you for following your passion; it's admirable. The Stig is an appropriate name for you and your algorithms who sensed the name of the other retailer and removed it at lightning speed.