Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

G'day, been a long time coming and have increased my research over the past few weeks. Working away 2:1 I don't really have much time at home atm so I've regretfully gone and bought my first still (copper t500). Once I have decided it really is for me and have more time at home I will deff be building my own as I consider myself a bit of a handyman :D

Obviously I have many questions (most of which would have been answered before so bare with me!
I've read The compleat distiller, newbie corner and a fair few other threads.
Mainly looks like I'll be going with the TPW option atm

Couple of Q's are
* perth is pretty warm atm getting to 30°C inside, how will TPW wash go?
* should I start my wash the day I go back to work (leave for 2 weeks) or first day I get home?

Cheers for all the info in advance ladies and gentlemen :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

Gday Bobsya

I reckon your 2 week timespan would be near on perfect , ive done a few TPWs here in the southern suburbs this summer and one of the beauties of this wash is its pretty much set and forget , very forgiving .

G'day mate, like prawnz said, put one down before you leave, I've had tpw that was 6 months old and it was still good. As long as it's sealed it'll be ok.
Good luck and have fun.
Have you ditched the plastic hose from the t500?

Howdy fellow westy,I would organize ta combine doing your stilling and wash prep on the same day if ya time poor ,on the first couple of days ya back,this will give you a couple of days ta do cuts and keep an eye on ya wash for the first week wich for me is were most problems may pop up,thus letting it settle and clear for at least a week or more wich should give a well cleared wash for ya still.I have learnt in Perth to do the majority of my production at the more temp freindly time of the year,rum loves the higher temps and I do that in summer with good results,some use brew fridges or other air cond cooled boxes ,wich is costly and better suited ta larger ferments of 50-200lt,not something the beginner is usually prepared ta do unless they see the worth in it and have bigger volume required for their needs ,but realize that the better ferments ya do the better ya product will be,anyhoo carry on.cheers hillzabilly ;-)

Welcome mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

G'day mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Bobsyauncle wrote:Couple of Q's are
* perth is pretty warm atm getting to 30°C inside, how will TPW wash go?
* should I start my wash the day I go back to work (leave for 2 weeks) or first day I get home?

Cheers for all the info in advance ladies and gentlemen :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

Hah, mate I'm in the Pilbara and I do it whenever the need arises! But then we do it in 200L batches now since it's almost fool proof, well, I can make it successfully!! :laughing-rolling:

Oh and welcome, Sandgroper!

Welcome Bobsyauncle.

TPW is a very robust recipe and if you run with Hillzabilly's recommendations, I reckon you'll be one happy camper.

Cheers,
Prof. Green

Cheers for the welcome
Sweet as! Put a TPW wash down today so hopefully will be all good when i get back :D

Doubleuj wrote: Have you ditched the plastic hose from the t500?

no, as in all or a specific one? and replace with what?

hillzabilly wrote:I have learnt in Perth to do the majority of my production at the more temp friendly time of the year,rum loves the higher temps and I do that in summer with good results

yeah that sounds like it will be the go. The wash has been 28-30*C all day with a fan on it stinking out the house :laughing-rolling:
Rum is my weakness so that's what ill end up making once i get a decent still.

Sorry, the outlet hose, all others are ok.
I cut a small piece of the outlet hose, just enough that it doesn't go past the stainless outlet spout and then wrapped this up in pfte tape/ plumbers thread tape.
Then use a length of 1/2" copper pipe bent to suit your collection point/ height :handgestures-thumbupleft:
This was mine

Ah ok, what was the reason for using the copper pipe? More cooling or just not as flimsy? Did it make a noticeable difference?

High proof spirit will eat plastic is why it should be changed for copper.you really dont want to drink the crap that it leeches from plastic..

bluc wrote:High proof spirit will eat plastic is why it should be changed for copper.you really dont want to drink the crap that it leeches from plastic..

:text-+1: what he said :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Well then, off to get some copper pipe asap! :text-thankyoublue:

Welcome,
I am new to this as well. Have just started my first TPW, a 50L batch. I have it sitting on a crate inside the bath in my main bathroom. The temperature is fairly stable there, the kids say it smells like a pizza shop, and you can always put on the exhaust fan. I have a 25L batch of turbo running next to it which I will use for my cleaning runs and get practise for the real thing. Biggest issue I had was my incoming water is not very cool and I could not get the wash temperature down. I know I could have used fans and wet towels, but I had a bunch of freezer bricks so I rinsed these in sterilant then water an let them bob around in the fermenter till it was at 30C. It is 24 hours later now the washes are bubbling beautifully. The TPW is sitting at 28C and the turbo at 30C. That is based in the temperature indicating strip. (I tested these and they are not far off the mark.)

Regards,
Peter C.

PeterC wrote: The temperature is fairly stable there, the kids say it smells like a pizza shop, and you can always put on the exhaust fan. I have a 25L batch of turbo running next to it which I will use for my cleaning runs and get practise for the real thing. Biggest issue I had was my incoming water is not very cool and I could not get the wash temperature down. I know I could have used fans and wet towels, but I had a bunch of freezer bricks so I rinsed these in sterilant then water an let them bob around in the fermenter till it was at 30C. It is 24 hours later now the washes are bubbling beautifully. The TPW is sitting at 28C and the turbo at 30C. That is based in the temperature indicating strip. (I tested these and they are not far off the mark.)

Regards,
Peter C.

Hey mate,
Haha yep we're in the same boat. Mines in the laundry with a fan on it and wet towel and was sitting right on 30 till today, down to 26-28 on thermo strip. Was in the main house with aircon on last 2 days but got told off for stinking the place out :roll:

Also read someone hooked up a pipe to the air lock and ran it outside to get the smell out of the house :think: