by Truxnell » Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:49 pm
Hi all, been trawling as much of the site as I can in preparation to get into distillation - figured it was time to just drop in and say Hi and just ask!
I have been brewing beer for 10 years (started as most do with coopers tins and a plastic fermented, now full AG beer in a 50L Guten & 3 tap keggerator)
However, I have also finally stopped mixing cheap bourbon & coke and started really enjoying bourbon/whiskey on rocks, or more usually in a Old Fashioned cocktail.
I had some home distilled stuff 10+ years ago, In what i now know was a netural, watered back down to 40% and sweetened with some 'brand name' essences. I was entirely unimpressed and completely ignored home distillation since.
Only recently did the Minister of Finance make a comment she wouldn't mind some gin if we could make it, and encouraged me to research more, did i realise that my experience was not indicative of the hobby and it sounds like its quite possile to make a whiskey as good as the $50 daily sipper stuff (and from what i can tell with experience much, much better than mass-produced store bought)
I'm pretty keen to get into adding my own (decent) whiskey/bourbon to the home lineup, with neutrals not being a primary/immediate goal. My plan is to focus on brown spirits, and be able to make 'OK' gin as a experiment for us to try, but acknowledging she isn't likely to want serious volume/quality day 1. (i.e. my thought process is starting with a modular pot still/bubbler, and doing a few runs to get some OK neutrals, or wait until I inevitably upgrade the modular gear)
I have trawled as much of this site (and other american ones, and reddit) trying to land on what would be my good first option, however searching and reading scattered posts in a forum doesn't give a complete view.
Not sure if i should be putting up a post elsewhere on advice request, but im keen to see the best path stillwise for good quality whiskey (and volume).
I have partner/2 kids so time is a factor - and I admit to be slightly putoff to having to do multiple stripping runs with a pot, then a spirits run. I cant afford to spend a entire day every weekend out for the hobby permantly, so im keen-ish to try and make a initial jump into being able to do reasonable quality single-runs, as this will make it a LOT easier for me to be distilling more regular.
My situation is i have:
50L Guten
25L SS Brewtech fermenter
Temp controlled Fermentation fridge
(Incidental, 3 tap keggerator, 3 co2 bottles, 5 corny kegs, grain mill, homebrew workstation)
I am capable of DIY, but i dont have experience in brazing (just electronic soldering). I'm also more inclined to buy decent quality futureproof these days over trying to do it on the cheap, only to stay with the hobby and have the DIY a sunk cost as i buy the good stuff anyway.
I'm eyeing off the 5SD 4" modular Pot, with the aim to upgrade to a bubbler. I had considered a thumper, but from what I can see a 4 plate column seems to be a good sweet spot for brown spirits.
I'm also keen to just understand what a decent bubbler setup looks like and what it would just to just do it right from the start. Im struggling to understand what that looks like though, and had troulble with the 5SD site to see the selection.
Would i be buying the 4" modular pot, and 'just' squeezing in 4 plates and leaving the pot head on? Or is the final goal to add the 4 plates, a dephlegmator and possibly adjusting the head and running it as a partial/detuned reflux? (I think this starts to look like a CM reflux still, which i believed were more on the pain in the ass end of stills)
Im still keen to keep the entry cost down, but im just not sure what the end goal would be and how much extra $'s it is if i wanted to make the jump to bubblers early/immediately.
I'm also thinking i may prefer a perforated plate over cap plate, as they look a lot easier to keep clean. I do enjoy being able to toss everything in a large fermenter with some brew cleaner and pulling it out shiny.
The rest of my shopping list is starting to look like:
100+L rainwater tank for water recirc (This will be good for chilling mashes anyway, as im currently wasting water)
350w water pump
Glassware for cuts
wood chips for aging
Possibly 5-10l barrels for aging (but starting to wonder if its easier to stick with chips to avoid needing to refresh barrels)
60l fermenter (idea being I do a double-AG mash in my 50L guten to fill it, then i can maxamise single-run volume when i get the hang of it)
Hope this is all appropriate!