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Thanks so much for this community and this fool proof recipe. I'm just finishing off my second ferment. First one I discuss in my first still thread I pitched my yeast 3 days ago, with an original gravity of 1.074. Today it's down to 0.997! I'm not sure why it dropped so fast this time compared to l...

subbrew wrote: ↑Mon May 17, 2021 6:57 pm And I thought I was a bit obsessive about taking notes. You are either an engineer or a plant operator. I am impressed.

Did you end up going with the gas flex pipe for your reflux condenser?

Haha busted, database engineer.

Yup, bought the gas flex pipe from Amazon.com

Jar # Volume mL ABV % 1 120 94 2 350 95 3 350 95 4 350 95 5 350 95 6 350 95 7 900 94 8 900 95 9 1700 93 10 900 94 11 900 94 12 900 95 13 425 95 14 425 95 15 300 93 Haven't made any cuts yet, I kinda blew out my nose while testing the ABV. After washing the grad cylinder I was smelling it to make su...

The stripping runs went well and I did my spirit run yesterday. I tested the ABV a few times throughout the run, the only time I saw it dip below azeotrope was at 8:40 PM. Today I'll be measuring the volume and ABV of each jar and, hopefully with the help of my wife, makin' my cuts (after work). For...

I managed to rack the 4 carboys (not totally full) into 3, leaving the lees behind. I ran my first stripping run yesterday and ended up with around 2 gal of 39% ABV low wines. I tasted my first homemade booze. Granted, it was just the low wines from a BW wash, but still exciting! Running my second r...

My 85L BW wash has dropped down from 1.063 to 0.992 and held there for a couple days, I syphoned it into 4 carboys yesterday. Me thinks it'll be time for stripping runs on the weekend. My SS racking cane arrived today :D I got a bunch of lees into my carboys due to the hose moving around during syph...

Jar #	ABV %	Volume mL
1	95	200
2	95	200
3	95	150
4	93	250
5	89	300
6	87	250
Total		1350

1.24L of total ethanol, not bad!

Ran my sacrificial run. The first run with alcohol and actually using the CCVM in reflux mode was pretty fun! My first 3 jars came off at 3 drips/sec and were 96%! Azerotrope on my first try? I didn't temp correct it and got called away by the missus before I had a chance. Only because of this aweso...

If your still is a larger diameter than your hot plate just cut some 2x4 to the right height to support the still. I had the same worries that the hot plate would not be designed to hold a still plus 6 or so gallons of wash. Mine turned out to be the same height as a 2x4 so no cutting was involved....

Man, racking my wash was a pain without a cane. Ordered one from amazon. My wash for the sacrificial run has been in my outdoor fridge for a few days. The gravity dropped to 1.000 somehow, guess the yeast didn't mind slowly eating away with the low temps. I started a 85L BW wash, oh boy does it ever...

There is another potentiometer inside the box parallel to the pot that is adjustable from the outside. This was mostly cause it was hard to find anything other than 470k ohm pot and having one on the inside allowed me to adjust the main dial so it went from 10v to 120v. I also cut a slit in the box ...

I wasn't desperate to run in on any specific day. Just trying to figure out the best use of my time. If it is for a sacrificial run I figured it was done enough.

But I got caught up making my SSR controller insteading of the cleaning runs. I'll post some pics in a bit.

The current gravity is 1.006.

SG down to 1.026

That's probably good enough for the sacrificial run eh?

Think I should rack it into a carboy and put it outside now so that it's mostly cleared by Sunday? It is still getting pretty cold at night up here (around 5°C).

howie wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:00 pm yes, sometimes people swim in my 'reservoir'

Ha ha nice!

Kinda wish I hadn't gotten rid of our above ground pool after the kids moved out.

...bearing in mind i have a good submersible pump and a 55KL reservoir.... I think something went sideways if you converted 55 K L from imperial... Unless you're using a pool for your reservoir (55KL = 14529 gallons) ...that Distillex mob make some good stuff, i've been very impressed by their weld...

I started fermenting my first bw for the sacrificial cleaning run yesterday. Exciting times! It's been bubbling away and looks happy. I started it in a warped plastic 18.5L water jug that I was going to throw out. After I got it going I found a guy selling used carboys pretty cheap. I bought 4 x 6ga...

I have been thinking of using an induction cooktop as well. I was planning on making a wood frame just larger and a little higher than the cooktop for the pot to sit on. Then lightly spring load or use some kind of counter balance to hold the cooktop against the bottom of the pot. I actually was th...

Forgot to mention that I picked up a used (but looks brand new) 1800W induction cooktop for $20 CAD. The element has a pretty small diameter but it does help. I'm sure it's not meant to have 100lbs of weight on it either, but it was cheap so I won't be too upset if it breaks. I also picked up some p...

My idea above worked. Now I have all my hose fittings and all I'm waiting for is the short 8" spool to go above the tee for the CSST. I think it's time to go to costco and pick up some vinegar, sugar, yeast, and tomato paste. Oh, and a project box for the SSVR controller. I made a prototype and...

I think I have an idea that should work. Currently have a bunch of those not-so-great-but-maybe-good-enough 1/8" bsp push to connect fittings. My column came with 4 of 'em, 2 for each condenser. 1 was damaged and they sent 2 replacements. I don't need to use the reflux condenser 'cause I'm goin...

Thanks for the tips guys, now that you mentioned BSP I think you're right. It looks like it'll just be cheaper to get 1/8 bsp barbs than getting bsp to npt adapters; but then if I ever wanted to get quick disconnects I'd be annoyed at myself for not just getting adapters in the first place. The sear...

I've ordered the tee, CSST and 8" strait spool to build my CCVM! I also bought the fittings I'll need to directly connect the CSST to a garden hose. Now I'm still having issues still trying to figure out how to get my product condenser fitted to a water source. The crappy fittings that come wit...

So.... The original plan was to get everything else I needed to get this still going as a CM type reflux and down the road convert it to a CCVM. I was aware that CMs are hard to control and would need a separate pump to the reflux condenser with a needle valve. While looking for pumps, needle valves...

SomethingObscure wrote: ↑Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:31 pm Try search for 1/8 NTP to quick connect, barb or pagoda

Cheers SomethingObscure

Beauty. TYVM

My guess is that's it's 1/8 NTP to push fit. Like this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Straight-Push-to-Connect-1-4-OD-Tube-x-1-8-Npt-Male-Fitting-Pneumatic-Stud-/122669419917 I'm sure if you ask the seller on AliExpress they'll tell you what part to buy. But I agree you should look to either get a bar...

Replacement or not, I'd ditch those in favor of a true quick-disconnect or, at the least, a male-threaded hose barb. The connectors provided aren't really intended for repeated connection/disconnection and those metal teeth are going to bend and break before long ... and then you have leaks. Thanks...

I am not 100% familiar with that part but I am thinking it would still work. I'm thinking that the threaded end screws into the condenser(use teflon tape on the threads) and then the hose pushes into the other end of that connector. The blue part is used if you want to pull the hose out. you would ...

Earlier I realized that one of the house adapters is damaged. If one thing had to be damaged in shipping, I'm sure this is the cheapest piece :clap: The seller is sending a replacement, but couldn't answer my questions for the sizing if I wanted to pick it up locally. I measured with my calipers and...

The inductive hotplate may work if the bottom of your boiler is magnetic. If a fridge magnet sticks to it you should be good to go. The inductive hotplates that I have used do have temperature control but you can also just use a straight power setting which is what you would want to do. Costco has ...