Gin Botanicals

[grasmere]

I have searched through messages going back sometime and would appreciate help with using a bag of Gin Botanicals.
Do I need to buy a basket and is it so that some of the column packing needs to be removed?.

[grasmere]

I went to my local Brewing supplier today and he showed me how he uses a stainless steel mesh strainer tied with fish line underneath the boiler lid,
So I bought one on my way home and look forward to setting it up and using the Gin Botanicals.
I will let Aussie Distillers forum know if it works

[The Stig]

What is this BeerMe thing ? Got a link ?
If its a T500 kind of thing your just going to strip any flavour your putting onto the vapour out

[woodduck]

Make sure that fish line isn't plastic line. I'd use a bit of stainless or copper wire :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Professor Green]

Sounds like it's a Pure Distilling Spirit Maker reflux still on a boiler they call "BeerMe" Stig. The PD web site states the boiler is for boiling water and fermenting only but it looks just like a T500 boiler to me.

[Professor Green]

Hi Grasmere, I think you're going to be wasting your time and botanicals trying to make gin with that still. Unless it can be run as a pot still, it will strip any vapour infused flavour out and you'll just end up with less neutral than what you started with.

Gin is, unfortunately, one of the more complex spirits to make in that it requires a couple of distillation steps and different equipment for each step. This is why many people making gin opt for modular stills or have a reflux still and a pot still.

If you do insist on trying it though, you definitely do not want to use fishing line to hang the basket. Use stainless or copper wire as woodduck suggested and make sure it's not coated with anything either - enameled copper wire for example would be a very dangerous choice.

[grasmere]

Thanks for the replies. The Beer Me is a 30Ltr Reflux colum Boiler. I also have a 30Ltr Brewzilla with Reflux and Pot Columns
I have 35 Ltr Fermzilla which I bought recently

[grasmere]

So do I use the Brewzilla for two stripping runs with the Pot column and then use the filter under the lid of the reflux column

[Professor Green]

OK, so you can make your neutral with the reflux still and hang your botanicals above the liquid line of the boiler with the pot still attached. That wasn't immediately obvious!

With the brewzilla boiler, doesn't that have a thermostat control on it?

[grasmere]

yes it does have a thermostat control

[grasmere]

Thank you for the replies, most helpful

[The Stig]

A thermostatically controlled boiler is no good for what we do.
We need a continuous heat not an "on and off" type thing that a thermostat wl produce

[Professor Green]

:text-+1:

You'll really struggle with the boiler cutting in and out all the time. Save the Brewzilla for brewing/wash making.

Does the The Beer Me boiler also have a thermostat?

[grasmere]

Sorry I misunderstood the post. The 30 Ltr Beer ME does not have a thermostat, but the Brewzilla does. So this would be the one to use?

[bluc]

Use the one without any thermostat control....

[Professor Green]

Sorry I misunderstood the post. The 30 Ltr Beer ME does not have a thermostat, but the Brewzilla does. So this would be the one to use?

Yep, use the 30 litre one. It will provide you with the constant heat you need to keep a the boil rolling.

[Turrets]

Sorry I misunderstood the post. The 30 Ltr Beer ME does not have a thermostat, but the Brewzilla does. So this would be the one to use?

Yep, use the 30 litre one. It will provide you with the constant heat you need to keep a the boil rolling.

Prof, I have the above device. I find you can effectively override the thermostat by setting the target temperature to 120C - this leaves all elements on continuously.

[woodduck]

That won't give you any control though Turrets, it will just be flat out. Might be ok for a strip run but no good for a spirit run.

Have a read of the thread about running a still by temp in the newbies corner it will explain it better than I can :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[Professor Green]

:text-+1:

The Beer Me boiler, like the T500 one (and after seeing a few more pictures of it I suspect they are one and the same), is 2000W which worked fine with my 2" boka when I ran it. I did have the boiler modified to separate the two elements so I could run it at 2000W for heat up and drop it to 1200W once it started boiling which definitely improved how the still ran but wasn't strictly necessary to achieve a respectable neutral.

[grasmere]

I have read running a still by temperature and probably need a few reads to understand it.
If the goal is to run the boiler by constant boil, the Bee Me and 500 have no control apart from the Inlet and outlet water supply. Does this mean that although I don't know the temperature of the boiler, this doesn't matter, as long as it stays the same?