Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hello everyone,

I live on an acreage on a hilltop half an hour from Hobart.
In the past couple of years I got back into brewing beer, after a break of about 20 years.
Things have certainly changed in that time, in regard to equipment and methods. I've given the bottles away, and now do pressure fermenting and kegging.
About a year ago, I started distilling with an air still. Used the recommended turbo stuff, and convinced myself that what I produced was OK.
Then I realised that it wasn't - and I started doing other washes. It was a pain with the 4l air still. Took forever to double distill, etc.
I then got a pure distilling reflux still, after I became convinced that it was superior to the T500.

Started doing whisky with essences, then commercial chips, and then cutting up an old port barrel and making my own.
I also make some gin, and am currently steeping botanicals in 30% spirit from the reflux, then putting it through the air still. I'm told that it tastes very good :-)

Future plans could be to get a pot still, and tri-clover connections so that I can swap the stills over easily on the digiboil.

I could tell you more, but then I'd have nothing to talk about on the forums :-)

Welcome aboard , sounds like your well on your way to greatness .
Enjoy the ride :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Welcome! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

There's a handful of Tassie based members floating around here.

southern45 wrote:Welcome! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

There's a handful of Tassie based members floating around here.

Wow are tassies that small they can all fit on one hand :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Not like us QLDers needing 2 hands :teasing-neener:

No I think it might be more that you Queenslanders just can’t see where you are aiming

Thanks for the welcome everyone.
Yeah, we have 2 hands. One for each head.

PeeGee - You've sent me a message, but I can't read it until I spam the forum with more posts :-)
Will try to do so in the next few days.

Hi hermit welcome to the forum.

Sorry i saw this post after your other post, i have responded to it also. :dance:

OK Old Hermit.

PM me when you are able. To your advantage etc etc.
PeeGee

Still Stilling Old Hermit?

Just touching base as the group still meets each month.

Welcome Old Hermit.

Good to see some Tassie members here, as I'm moving down at the end of this year!

:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Another tassie just on board I also brought the pure distilling boiler reflux kit leave and forget caught my eye hoping to take some meat out and use it as a pot still sooner or later any1 else tried

G'day and welcome, once you start down the pot still road just be aware it gets addictive making your own spirits that start taking on your own flavour rather then just mixing factory flavours.
Neutral and essence can make some damn nice drink but the satisfaction of doing it all yourself is impossible to beat in my book.
I'm sure you can put your heads together and come up with something special.

Esi spirits wrote:Another tassie just on board I also brought the pure distilling boiler reflux kit leave and forget caught my eye hoping to take some meat out and use it as a pot still sooner or later any1 else tried

If it's the Pure Distilling reflux rig, then no it will likely not function very well as a pot by just removing the insides.

That rig will make a very acceptable neutral though (in my opinion at least) and is super easy to operate. Ditch all the plastic extras if you bought the bundle.

There's no reflux kit on the market IMO that can be gutted to be anything other then the equivalent of an air still when it comes to being run as a pot still.
But it will give you an indication of what you might be able to produce which might make you bite the bullet and buy a proper pot still system.
I still don't like many of the pot still set ups being sold but if you wanted a basic pot still set up that will be familiar to use then I would recommend getting a 2" bubble plate sight glass and an Alcoengine pot still condenser.

I ran o e for a while and made some decent stuff off of it but I eventually got carried away and cobbled together a large but extremely good pot still.

I tried making neutral with a reflux for a while but it didn't suit me, I wasn't in it to make cheap alcohol, I wanted the fun and the challenge of crafting my own from scratch.
I even went so far as to malt and even peat smoke my own barley and malk my own corn, wheat and even rye.

Be warned if you go down the pot still rabbit hole it can suddenly become a very steep decent.

tacman1970 wrote:Good to see some Tassie members here, as I'm moving down at the end of this year!

:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hey tacman,

How are your plans for moving to Tassie coming along?

Cheers,
Rocky

Esi spirits wrote:Another tassie just on board

Hey Esi Spirits,

You still kicking around? Whereabouts in Tassie?

Cheers
Rocky

rockymars wrote:

tacman1970 wrote:Good to see some Tassie members here, as I'm moving down at the end of this year!

:handgestures-thumbupleft: :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hey tacman,

How are your plans for moving to Tassie coming along?

Cheers,
Rocky

Hi Rocky,
Plans are advanced now! Will be a Tassie resident in mid-Jan!!
Cheers, tacman