All opinions welcome

by **Shearms** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 5:15 am

I have a few questions about what sort of equipment is best. I've run a turbo before and am looking forward to getting home and running my TPW's I have put down. I have a reflux still made out of a keg, it has an internal heating element. i will try and attach a pic to this post. i would like to be making a decent scotch and have found all sorts of recipes on here for the mash. y main question is can i use my reflux still to produce the required results? can i detune it for the stripping runs? ( remove all packing from column) and then replace packing for spirit run? with the internal heating element have i put myself at a disadvantage? how much stripped product is required for a decent spirit run? what ABV should i have when making my spirit run? these are just a few of the questions i have at the moment, I'm sure that more will pop up over time.
cheers lads

by **Sam.** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 6:31 am

If you can take the packing out to detune it then do it for your stripping runs but if you are trying to make whisky then leave it out for your spirit run as well otherwise you will lose the flavours (assuming using a malt base wash)

If you are going to use essence to make the whisky then put the packing back in because you just want to make the cleanest nuetrel you can.

Once you have done your strip runs make sure you water it back to 40% before doing the spirit run and make sure you have enough to cover your element.

No prob using the element it just may take a little longer than gas and if you don't have a voltage controller you won't have and power control.

by **blond.chap** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:22 am

I'm pretty new to this, but I've been mainly looking at the 'Fine Scotch Whisky' recipe in the 'Tried and Proven' section, I think it will answer a few of your questions (on %s etc.).

If you get excited about mashing, "How to Brew" is a great guide (it's written for beer, but if you skip boiling the wort and don't add hops it'll work for a wash). The esky mash tun design is a good way of getting the grains out after mashing:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/index.html

My still has an internal element and it works well enough (once it's heated up). If you take the packing out for both runs (make it into a pot still), as sam_and_liv says it should be fine.