Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi All,

I am starting to look at gear for a still, as a first step I need to get a boiler (to boil the water I use for making my cider - Sydney water is putting more and more chemicals into the tap water and boiling it in my 10lt stockpot is getting tedious) I will then use the boiler as part of my still until I can locate a suitable large SS vessel/drum/keg.

My local HBS has two, the T500 from NZ with I think a 45mm hole at the top and a very similar one marked as Australian that has a 60mm hole, is one size better than the other? I am thinking of getting a pot still condenser made first.

Any advice appreciated.

Regards

Brendan

I'm a big fan of the ole 50L beer keg boiler, 5Star on here sells elements and couplings etc.

His new big custom 130L stainless jobbies are somewhat semen inducing though :oops:

brendan1952 wrote:My local HBS has two, the T500 from NZ with I think a 45mm hole at the top and a very similar one marked as Australian that has a 60mm hole, is one size better than the other? I am thinking of getting a pot still condenser made first.

They are both made in China, probably in the same factory.
he t500 made to SS spec and the 60mm to Pure Distilling spec

Hold off and look around before committing to this sort of still you might find there is much much better for much much less

I'd be looking for a beer keg boiler myself. Get a cheap keg, get a drain welded on the bottom and a couple of triclamps for elements or even a couple of 1" nipples if you didn't want the elegant solution.

Find a nice little engineering shop that will do it for a carton for you. Easier if you've already drilled the holes.





This is the perfect set up. Add a 1" socket to the top of the keg for a refil port and that's as good as it gets.

Then either a homemade or purchased still with good capacity (not from the brew shop) will clip straight to the 2" neck of the keg.

How do you get in to clean the keg after a run?

+1 what 5Star said (even if you 'just' get a good original condition, 50l stainless keg)

from there....the options are almost endless :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Twisted wrote:How do you get in to clean the keg after a run?

You should only need to give it a good flush out or a squirt with a hose or domestic size gurney to keep it clean.

Yes, it only needs a rinse with a hose. Worse comes to worse and you want to clean it one year, fill with PBW or napisan/oxyclean/sodium percabonate and soak overnight.