G'day

[grumpthehermit]

Hello All,

I've been lurking around this site for a while and doing a bit of reading before joining up yesterday. :-D

I've been making beer kit ( from a tin ) beers for over 10 years and now want to try my hand at making neutral spirits for making scotch and anything else that sounds interesting.

I have purchased a "pure distilling" reflux still and base but have not run it yet, I see allot of the commercially made stills seem to get fair amount of "constructive criticism" here, but I am hoping what I have bought is at least a good way to start learning.

I started a "turbo yeast" "classic" wash yesterday with 7.25 grams of sugar, it's bubbling it's brains out at between 25.8 - 26.3 degrees so far but smells really rotten egg like. From what I have read so far I thinking I'll be straight onto a TPW next as it seems like a better ( and cheaper ) way to go to make a better neutral.

I also have a pack of "turbo clear", a two part mix to clear the wash before running, and an antifoam ( silicon based additive ??? ) does anyone recommend using these or is it just best to let everything settle out naturally before heating everything up. :?

I would like to hear some feedback about the still I have from anyone who has one or knows of them, I'm sure I did see a member of this site lists having one of these on their profile, It would be good to know if there are any tips or tricks to getting to best operation out of it, should I insulate the column etc ???

Thanks for reading, any feedback greatly appreciated.

Cheers
GTH

[stubbydrainer]

G'day GTH
welcome to this little corner of the interweb :text-welcomewave:
I can'y help ya mate with the HBS stuff ( I refuse to use the shit :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: )
I'm sure there would be someone on here that owns or at least knows something about your still, I had a look at one ages ago at the HBS and shat myself at the asking price :o and decided to go down a different path
Look around and ask as many " dumb" questions as ya like mate, we all ask 'em at times ( I do most times :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: ) and always get some sort of answer( most of 'em helful too ! :laughing-rolling: )

[SBB]

G'day Grumy
Welcome to the forum. You might as well use the turbo clear seening you already have it.
as for the anti foaming agent....if its the one im thinking of it works, but a small amount of butter or cooking oil in your boiler will do the same job.

[maheel]

Welcome Grumps

is it one of these ? http://puredistilling.com/

only issue i think might be the column is a little short but you could extend it pretty easy in the future once you give it a try (and if you think you need to)
i am pretty sure the are a BOKA type design (or close to it, so should work OK)

give it a cleaning run with water / vinegar 1st to make sure it all works and you are sorted for the 1st run

an idea on that turbo might be to quickly split it to two barrels or buckets and add more water but it may already be "to far gone" to worry and just write the "turbo" off as a 1st try. split it to two 25L buckets top up with clean water to 25L and you could add maybe a little more sugar to each (1kg).

use one for a cleaning run the other to practice and the 2nd to create your 1st product
Keep it and then do a TPW and see if you make a judgement on what is "better"

i highly recommend a stripping run then re-running for a spirt run on TPW (or any sugar wash)
yes it takes more "time" but no carbon or other "cleaning" products or complicated "filters" are needed
use small collection bottles
water down each separate and make your cuts
and you will be onto very drinkable neutral :)

let us know how it goes

PS: i would not use the anti foaming agent but the clearing stuff is normally just gelatin based. you could use it but try to wait for the end of fermentation (990 on hydro) before putting it in and a few extra days clearing is always good :)

[grumpthehermit]

Thanks Guys,

I've not read anywhere else here yet about using butter or oil ( vegetable / olive ??? ) as an antifoam, is an antifoam even nessessary? Is it something allot of you use or is it only something you would put in if you were worried that all your sugar had not fermented out? :?

Yes Maheel, that is the one, and I agree, from what I read up on it before buying one it seems to me to be the boka style. I must also say it is shorter than I expected it to be from the photo's and info I read about it.

I also bought a Fuselex nano stainless filter housing and some carbon, I figure while I am learning I am probably going to need it lol. :roll:

I am not very familiar with what you guys call stripping run procedure yet, I have read a post or two about it, this still does not have much in the way of controls, I have only a on / off switch for the heat ( boil-a-beer, 2000W ) and the tap on the collection outflow, the instructions warn about not trying to reduce or control the still using the flow of cooling water while running it so I am confused as to how I can vary my run?

I don't have a spare second bucket at the moment so I will let this brew run it's course, thanks for the tip though. :-D

I'll keep reading up about this stripping and see if I can get my head around it.

Cheers
GTH

[maheel]

you pretty much have all the control you "need"

you adjust the % of the ABV by using the valve. open a little and hopefully get 93%+
open it a lot and get less % ABV = ? "unknown" for now

so you could strip by running a batch with the valve fully open ignoring the ABV % offtake rate

then put that run back in the boiler (or even two stripped runs) and then run it with the valve set to give you MAX % ABV

the setting (or drip / stream) offtake rate for now say 94% is unknown for now until you do a few runs and get a idea of performance of the still

my boka makes about 250ml of 94% per 15-20mins when i control the offtake rate
if i open the valve full it makes about 70% until whats left in the boiler starts to run out of ABV and it drops off % wise .

once you get a few runs done it all makes much better sense

[Panda]

Welcome grump,

I too started out with shop bought stills (still haven't made my own) and did the turbo yeast and carbon thing for years before finding these great forums.

My advice is to ditch the carbon and just double distill, ( put neutral back in still n cut to 40% and run again) much much cheaper and comes out better, especially when you ween off the turbo yeasts and start using some of the recipes on the forums.

If you are feeling lazy with yeast and just want to throw turbo yeast in, then do 2 6kg washes ( half pack in each) rather then throwing the whole pack in one wash. Your money will go further and you will have a better product.

[Frank]

Hi Grump and have fun here.
We do and even Stubbydrainer gets to ask things :o :shock: !!!!! Mind you, he sure can make things!!! :teasing-neener:

Mate, I completely agree with (+1) the above post by Panda.
I'd also add that there's a lot of good to be said/smelt/tasted re leaving most of the LHBS products behind and trying the 'less is more' approach, regardless of your still setup (cue: Mcstill for another Airstill p#sstake :laughing-rolling:).

(edit: to chuck sh#t on SD)

[QLD.Andy]

@Frank :eusa-violin:

[R-sole]

If your goal is to make scotch you need a potstil.

It's much easier to make it right from the start and have it coming out like a tryuely great handmade spirit than to try and tip cordial into semi neutral and have it taste like 'home brew'.



SorryButItJustIsPunkin

[grumpthehermit]

Thanks again to everyone for their comments.

The tub is still bubbling along, has slowed down quite a lot and seems to smell nicer at this point too.

Thanks Panda, sounds like the stripping runs are a go, I have been busy ( painting !!! :roll: ) the roof so have not had a big read up on all the posts about stripping, but will do so before making an attempt at it.

5Star, "my goal" is to get started and learn along the way, I appreciate what your saying though. And yes, I fully intend to use essences to begin with. If this hobby grabs me then I might get deeper into it and go the pot still route later.

Cheers
GTH

[hoppy]

Hi Grump and welcome to the forum.i put 25litre tom paste washes through the ultra/pure and get 3litres at 94% measured at 20c after cutting i get 4 litres of very nice hearts i dont run it the way the instruction book tells you to.i followed Husker advice from H/D on LM still operation.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 5#p6815947
I also built a phase angle controller to adjust the heat in the boiler.Another link on heat control.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p6868490

I also insulated the column, they are a little short and a bit expensive $$$$ :roll: but you get a better drop than you can buy :dance: :dance:

Hope this helps some Cheers Hoppy :mrgreen:

[The Stig]

Hey Grump,
5Star is right, do it proper from the start for best results but..........
If your in a hurry and you are after a particular result/taste then the Still Spirits Whiskey Profile kit is a fine place to start.
Going this route will give you enough juice to stock up so you can then start to experiment doing things the 5Star way.
The kit may seem expensive but it comes with lots of instruction/recipes and will last a while (a few drops of this and that)
I think (may be wrong) Frank may have played with the kit.
Shed some light Franky :teasing-tease:

[MacStill]

Well I agree Stig, Frank is a great resource when it comes to this.

Because of his love for air stills and cordials I think he's the "go to" man for that type of thing :teasing-tease:

[grumpthehermit]

Hello Again,

Hoppy's link has a circuit diagram but also has a RM manufacturing unit shown, is that one of the best / better know prebuilt units available for the money? I would rather buy one like that then be soldering components together. :)

Also about insulating the column, I have several things I can use for that, but how far up the column should I go, the thermometer goes into the column horizontally an inch or so over half way up, I'm assuming just under that would be the go?

I see some posts talking about using reflux still gear for non neutral output by taking some scrubbers out of the column, the instructions with mine say "DO NOT" remove they scrubbers as they are packed a special way? :o

Found a link to the profile kit.

http://stillspirits.com/uk/flavour-essences/whiskey-liqueur-kits/whiskey-profile-kit.html I'll see if I can track one down, I think I could have allot of fun with it. ( thanks Stig !!! :-D )

A mate of mine is the reason I have developed an interest in spirit making, he has the "old style" Still Spirits" gun metal grey very compact looking reflux setup, ( I believe you can get a height extension for these but he does not have that ) anyhow, the stuff he has been making "using cordials" :-D is wayyyyyyy better tasting to me than anything I can buy at the bottle'o.

Thanks again to everyone for all the info and feedback!

learning learing.
GTH

[hoppy]

Hi Grump, Iinsulated mine to just over the take off valve just punch /cut a hole to fix thermo & take off valve through,yeah read the bit about DO NOT REMOVE SCRUBBERS :naughty: :hand: had to have a look to see if there were any fairies hiding inside :lol: :doh: just stainless scrubers and one copper one at top inside the coil :handgestures-thumbupleft: :text-lol: maybe they dont want you to see how simple they are to build :whistle: for the $$$$ you pay :shock:

Cheers Hoppy :mrgreen:

[Icarus]

I too started out orignally with turbo yeast and found that some smell more than others during the ferment. I also found that covering the fermenter with a fine mesh cloth (cheese cloth or the like) rather than running sealed with an airlock for the first 24 hours produced far less bad odour.

cheers, Icarus

[grumpthehermit]

Thanks Hoppy !!!

I'll wrap mine up the same and see how it goes.

:-D

Hey Icarus, Yeah the smell was woeful, lessened at it slowed down, interested to see how bad it is when I pop the lid off in another day or so, it's just bubbling through the airlock once every minute or two ow so getting close. I am all set to do a TPW next. If that works well I won't do Turbo's again.

:dance:

[Cane Toad]

Hey Grump,if it's only bubbling once every minute or two,I'd say it's ready to run.I know with the molasses and UJ washes you get a bubble through the airlock for weeks,it's only trapped CO2 left in the fermenter,but then I've been wrong b4 :laughing-rolling:

[grumpthehermit]

Hey Big Don,

I've done kit homebrewed beers for years and I have never tried to bottle anything that was still active through the airlock. I always wait the extra day or so until it stops completely.

Maybe someone else can confirm?

I thought action at the airlock had to mean that the yeast was still eating sugar.

:-D