Rough journey (but I'm back)

[P1ratepat]

So today in my boiler is my first gen of my first bwwko. I've been on this forum for a few years however I haven't participated at all recently.
I've had a particularly rough journey.
To catch you all up on what's been happening.
From when I joined the forum until know, I purchased a turbo 500 kit from HBS. Not knowing how to use it I turned to the google for answers and found this amazing forum and all the wonderful knowledge that exists here and I was on my way to making my first batch.
Made quite a few batches of tpw and a few experiments with those. Even made a macrum and ran it through the turbo 500 for a light rum experience.
I had a lockable shed that was the perfect size for my distillery. Then we had to move (the hardest part of renting.) I ended up with another shed that was a good size for distilling but open entrance but that was ok as it was 15km from civilisation.
Since then I purchased a pot still. So I had a turbo 500 and a pot still. I went solid with rum experiments and cereal sugar head washes for over a year. Then it was time to move again. We moved to a less then desirable neighbourhood with no shed for brewing. I used the car port. I used to keep my gear inside in the linen cupboard so it was safe. I was doing a spirit run on some rum and I got a late start and didn't finish up until 12:30. So I thought it would be fine to leave it in the car port and clean it first thing in the morning. Not something I usually do but the late night finish up i thought it would be fine. I turned everything off, unplugged it and went inside to go to bed.

I woke up the next morning, made a coffee and went outside to clean my boiler, properly clean my fermenter and put it all away when to my horror the whole lot was stolen. My boiler. My pot still and my fermenter just gone. As well as my whipper snipper, a pram, and my ash trays. It turned out it was some junkies that stole the stuff, three months later the junkies were kicked out of the place they were staying and one of my neighbours bought back my pot still head. With a huge chemical burn on the inside of the output hose. I didn't bother replacing anything at that point as we were still in the same neighbourhood. I discarded the output hose and anytime I seen the junkies that stole it I chased them down the street shaking my still head at them. Now I'm not sure what they did with it but the chemical burn suggests they were trying something nasty with it. We got to move again (yay) this time to a much better neighbourhood and I finally replaced all my equipment. (Still have the old still head). Now with a new pot still, a new boiler (already cleaned and broken in i made some rum) i decided to try my hand at this bwwko which I've been reading about for ages.
Thank you for reading and sorry for the long read.

[scythe]

Welcome back pat!

[BigRig]

Good read mate albeit a shitty time was had by you, good to see you are back in to it.

[P1ratepat]

Thanks guys its good to be back here and into the craft :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[bluc]

If you are sure chemicals were run through that pot head then if I was you I would ditch it.

Getting caught with a still is one thing getting caught with one that was used for making "stuff" and has trace elements is another :whistle:

[Wellsy]

Sorry to hear of your troubles mate but am glad to see they are behind you and your moving forward.

BWKO was my first ever wash and run and I was drinking and enjoying it within weeks. I did make a mistake with oaking it by effectively using chips but it did speed up the process.

You will love the recipe and product mate enjoy.

[P1ratepat]

If you are sure chemicals were run through that pot head then if I was you I would ditch it.

Getting caught with a still is one thing getting caught with one that was used for making "stuff" and has trace elements is another :whistle:

That's good thinking bluc, I'll scrap that :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sorry to hear of your troubles mate but am glad to see they are behind you and your moving forward.

BWKO was my first ever wash and run and I was drinking and enjoying it within weeks. I did make a mistake with oaking it by effectively using chips but it did speed up the process.

You will love the recipe and product mate enjoy.

Thanks wellsy, I sure am looking forward to it! I've been there with the chips with a couple times, I've since gone to staves