Hello from South Oz

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Rothematosis
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Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

G'day guys, amateur distiller from South Australia here. I work a lot, and try and home Brew whenever I can get the time.

I own what I believe to be a bokakob reflux still I bought second hand off Facebook. I've thrown a few washes through it a year or two ago, and then ran out of time for the hobby. I've just picked it back up, and have a couple washes bubbling away as we speak. For your amusement I'll admit to you all I recently purchased 5 x still spirits pure turbo Yeast packs. (Yeast, carbon and clearing agent). The day after purchasing I discovered I should have just bought some tomato paste.

I am a fitter & turner by trade and am very interested in making my own still later on. I have an old 80ish litre copper tank I might use, and will construct a flute column to go with it. I'm struggling to find any clear plans or information regarding the subject. I'm also torn between bubble caps and perforated plates.

Anyway, I digress. It's great to be here, and look forward to learning as much as I can.

Cheers.
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Still Life
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Still Life »

Hey what's up.
Would never bash another man's choice in brew.
You want to go Turbo, wear what you dig and more power to you. This is a subjective hobby in the final results the way I look at it.

At the top of the page, the HD Google Search is a powerful tool.
Open it; add a space after the URL; type in the word or term you're after (such as bokabob, still plans, etc.)

Good luck to you, and Welcome.
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Lowie
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Lowie »

Welcome mate from a fellow croweater and fitter :D. I started out with the basic meany years ago, finished building my 4" bubbler this year. Now that's a great piece of kit that someone with your skills will find a piece of p1ss to build! :thumbup:
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Yummyrum
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Yummyrum »

G'day mate
can't have enough Aussies here .
I doubt you will find a plan for a flute . there have been many variations , there have been bugger all that didn't work .

For a 4" Flute as a general rule 5" seems to be better than 4" spacing as it reduces Entrainment ., IE you can run it a bit harder before tails drags through .
3/4" seems a typical downcomer diameter and flared top works better at avoiding flooding .
Height of down comers is anywhere from 15-25mm with 20mm being fairly typical.....as I said all seem to have worked .
Owners of both bubble caps and sieves enjoy their product . Sure , bubble caps have a higher turn down ratio I.E , you can run them at lower power than a sieve plate before before it collapses ....fine , but I haven't heard of anyone on here that wants to run slower ....strangely enough :D
There are all manor of seive plate hole patterns . As long as you don't go silly and much over 2mm you'll be fine .

1/16" on a 1/4" grid is very common ...I used it , works for me
1.5mm on a 5mm grid Think Salt Bush Bill uses this one ...his stuffs good
1.5mm on a 4mm grid saw this on another forum, no complaints
Olddog used 30 odd 3/32" holes and swore by it

What ever you chose I'm sure will work
Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

Cheers guys!
Appreciate the info yummyrum, really helps. Sounds like I can follow the basic flute design and have a bit of flexibility with dimensions etc. Had it in my head it's all pretty critical to get right. Worried about flooding on one hand, and turndown on the other..

I have a lot of reading ahead of me.. Appreciate the hospitality
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thecroweater
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by thecroweater »

G'day Roth feel free to post a picture of ya still if ya want. I originally hail from the Riverland but am living in frozen Vic for now.
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

G'day croweater, I saw your name in the mods part, was surprised to see you're from Victoria! Nevermind mate, we can't all be perfect ;)

Wasn't planning on posting a picture of it, but why not. The thing looks to me like a ferromit N25, just from a bit of googling on my part.
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thecroweater
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by thecroweater »

Yep its that story of reflux still, I'm pretty sure its a kiwi "Alex" still. I can't remember off hand want the trade name was but that boiler is a give away. You could always knock up a simple pot still why gathering parts for ya plated column. Caps verses perfs yep that's an argument that's raged for awhile, the both have different pro's and con's but the end product is about the same. I feel perfs are faster but caps let you milk a bit more out at the end of harts and tails. Yeah mate live in Vic but still a croweater ever if i have to make my own pie floaters, won't catch me choking down a VB or poxy Fosters
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
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Yummyrum
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Yummyrum »

Rothematosis you poor bastard ......you know your about to get the shit kicked out of you for posting a picture of that still with a plastic hose on the outlet :lol: :lol: :lol:
Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

Yeah I think you're on the money there. I have toyed with the idea of making a pot still, but I think I'll just hold off and do the flute. By the time I get around to doing it I should have some idea about distilling :lol:
Yes, good man!


Yummyrum, I am aware of my indiscretion! :oops: Looking to get it sorted before my next batch. As I said, I'm just getting back into it and have learned a lot since last time
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thecroweater
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by thecroweater »

Didn't spot that definitely piss that off , you can swap it out for a few bucks of 1/2 copper and consider re-running what ya already got. I started with a pot and ya won't regret the learning curve with fractions, they will hold ya in good stead with flute runs. I gave mine away but if I still had it I would be steam mashing with it :roll:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

Couldn't decide where to post so I figured I would just add it here.

I've been waiting to add a stainless outlet on my still before doing any more distilling. Well, I've finally got around to making one up (although it's not finished, it's finished enough to use)!

Image

I had about 15L of 50% spirit that i stripped with the plastic outlet. Now that I had a stainless outlet I thought I would polish it off. I ran it through the still, got about 7L @ 90ish%, was lazy with my cuts, wasn't happy with it and decided to triple distill.

I distilled it last night, seperaring into about 400ml lots, and ended up with about 6ishL of 90ish% spirit. After making my cuts, I have half of the spirit in one container (stuff to keep) and the other half, heads and tails, in another

Image

My query is, am I being too picky with my cuts? Or, being a turbo Yeast wash, is this to be expected?
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Saltbush Bill »

G'day from another Aussie :wave:
Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

G'day Bill, welcome :thumbup:
The Baker
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by The Baker »

Saltbush Bill wrote:G'day from another Aussie :wave:
And another.

Geoff
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Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

Rothematosis wrote:G'day Bill, welcome :thumbup:
:oops:

Silly me, speaking without thinking!
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raketemensch
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by raketemensch »

You can never be too picky with your cuts. After 2 years of this, I’m still tightening mine.

You’ll make some cuts too tight, some too loose, until you find the sweet spot that you like.

Never let greed affect your cuts. It’s hard to throw back stuff that you put so much work into, and sometimes you’re looking at a whole bunch of jars that don’t taste perfect, and you’re thinking “I really would like to have more to age,” but you’re better off trusting your nose and your tongue than that part of your brain.
Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

Cheers raketemensch, I think that's what I was hoping to hear!
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thecroweater
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by thecroweater »

Kinda moving beyond welcomes here, perhaps move further discussion to novice distillers :thumbup:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
Rothematosis
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Re: Hello from South Oz

Post by Rothematosis »

Will do croweater, still getting used to this forum business
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