Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi all,
I've been along term stalker, shhh I'm not really here :P.

I started my home distilling life like most I guess with home brew beer and always wondered about the spirit side of life.

After a long hiatus i bought a T500 and all the associated bits n bods and started delving into the world of Distillation. It was with the aid of sites such as the Aussie Distillers chat that i threw away the T500 manual and the way of the Turbo products (yeah i know don't go there!! ) started to get the most I could from my old T500 and started to get some quite nice flavoured bourbon neutral drinks (as you may gather from here on in I love my bourbon).

As i mentioned id been lurking and not a active member always trying to get the most from what I had purchased (i am actually quite shy and not wanting to impose though get a drink or two and well., here is my post tonight.. ) hence I would sit back back read a lot from both here and other forums but not be an active participant. I was always trying to learn how I could get a nice flavoured bourbon or for that matter any whisky and would read about the world of bubble plate stills and the differences from them (and pot stills ) to the reflux column i had purchased. Hence i begun the search for the next great expense and also or perhaps even a greater, reason for the Mrs to accept the said "great expense"....

With all that said and after much deliberation (and perhaps some extra Xmas presents for the Mrs) im proud to say that I'll soon, Covid border gods willing, be the owner of a Visualizer Mk2 plate still and looking forward to the wonderful world to come :P

I'd like to say that i made my choice with the positive feedback from this site along with my conversation with Andrew from 5 Star who was so helpful and willing to share his time. I am feeling very excited about this and looking forward to exploring some of the recopies that are on this site.

I would like to up front (well at the end, see how i get ...) to say thank you to all the contributors to this forum, I hope you know how your contributions help all the distilling community not just those that may post on here but all that read it.

My sincere thank you all!!

That is about the end of my emotional hello that i thought i would put up and now. (now you see the trouble i get my self into)

I will now go back to my usually quiet stalking. lol

Cheers
Terzza

PS any grammatical errors are expected. don't type over .05 people...

Welcome Terzza.
Don’t get too quiet mate , we like pictures.
Once the rig arrives we want to see her :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Welcome Terzza.
You are in for a treat and some steep learning mate. Andrew is always there to help that’s why we rave about his service and products. Don’t go to quiet mate.
It is super important you share your experience so others won’t feel like they are the only ones not sure what is going on.
I can highly recommend the BWKO recipe, just make enough so you will get some that gets older time is a wonderful ingredient in all that we make here

:text-+1:

Welcome Terza!! Good to see another Victorian :handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Eh Terzza, Welcome to the forum mate now go have look at my malting thread and get onto to it, from the 10 kg's i did the result is outstanding to say the least and put thru 4 plates this stuff is is liquid gold. Pure barely for the sweet mash then add backset then keep going on the generations using grain NOT breakfast stuff.
My 3rd generation is close to done so thats will close to 20 litres of 65% to age for a year.

The world is a oyster and how you shuck it depends on the out come so pick the best and go all grain

Cheers Bryan

Thanks all for the welcome,

Yep most certainly a step learning curve but all this talk of liquid gold has my mouth watering.
hopefully the TNT gods will be kind. ^:)^

cheers
Terzza

Terzza you need to remember mate every parent thinks their child is good looking and we all know some of the aren’t lol
Fingers crossed it is a quick delivery mate

:text-worthless:

Welcome Terzza.

:text-+1: on what Stig said. We'll need pics of that Visualizer once it shows up!

Cheers,
Prof. Green.

It arrived yesterday :teasing-neener: :laughing-rolling: :music-deathmetal: :dance: :happy-partydance:

That explains the absence from the forum, he is way to busy cleaning 3verything and putting it together :)

Wading his way through mile of bubble-wrap and Chupa Chups maybe :laughing-rolling:

Hey all,

Sorry, works been one of those distractions to what i would otherwise be enjoying doing, but its one of those things you have to do right :angry-banghead: .
I am happy to announce the happy and safe delivery on Monday of 1 large and heavy box containing all sorts of bubble wrap shiny goodness. :D :D :D
After inspecting all the bits n bods i did a test assemble, all i have to say is wow, the images on-line do not give this justice. This rig is so so damn impressive.




I have since got both elements wired and most of the still has now been cleaned with only two remain areas causing me some grief.
Firstly, the PC, while the RC was easy to clean with a bottle brush, the small diameter holes int he PC are proving to be a bit harder to clean, any recommendations to the best way to get all the way through the tubes for cleaning?

and now, something i have done that has me a little worried.... ~x( ~x( ~x( :pray: :pray: :pray:
i soaked the copper bubble plates (dismantled and without screws) in a citric acid wash, this is something i have done in the past with my copper saddles out of the T500.
What i did differently this time is that i left them in the solution overnight and when i came out this morning i got a shock. The plates have turned from a nice clean shiny appearance to the image below.


cant believe i did that, i usually soak for an hour and remove them :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:
Any idea what i have done and suggestions as to what i can do to reverse it?

thanks heaps and i'll put up some more images once i get it back together.
cheers
Terzza

Nothing at all to worry about there Terzza.
And I just let the sacrificial run clean the condenser

Don't worry about the bubble plate, looks perfectly clean.

Heres a pic of mine after 2 runs

They do get funky rather quick don’t they :D

Thanks all,

guess its that new baby thing lol

that makes my Thursday night a bit more fun. time for a cleaning run :dance:

cheers
Terzza

If you think it looks good now, wait until it is running mate, fabulous.
Oh and I would suggest you put an arrow on your reflux condenser tap mate. Sometimes in the heat of battle it is easy to get confused. Maybe it is just me lol. The arrow also gives me a reference point on where I started and where I have adjusted too. Makes a big difference when trying to do little adjustments.
You have an awesome bit of gear there mate.

Congrats, Terzza, it sure is a mighty fine looking piece of kit isn't it.