New to distillation, or simply new to the HD forums.
** Your first post MUST go here. Introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your interest in distilling. Any posts asking distilling questions will be deleted. **
I am from London, England and I'm just starting out. I have done a LOT of reading on the site and the depth and quality of information has been incredibly useful. My main reason for joining the forum was to say thank you to everyone for taking the time to share their knowledge.
I currently have an AirStill (I know ) but I solder/braze in my day job and I'm planning to build a larger stainless/copper pot still in the very near future.
I'm predominantly interested in gin and odin's easy recipe and rads all bran have been very successful so far. I like the idea of experimenting and using different/unusual ingredients but for now, I need to just understand the basics.
Looking forward to the adventure!
Mark
Last edited by Mgee on Tue May 28, 2019 1:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Pikey wrote:Hi Mark Welcome in - There are a number of us here who are not too far from you - I'm 100 miles or so
My first build was based on a 25 L tea urn and 1" copper pipe. You need to modify the electrics a bit - so it doesn't go into "Keep hot mode" tho'.
More English people. Great stuff, we can bang on about Brexit on here too....
I did think about using a tea urn but kind of decided to head down the standard stock pot and bowl route.
Would you recommend the tea urn? Did it work ok?
Mgee wrote:More English people. Great stuff, we can bang on about Brexit on here too....
I did think about using a tea urn but kind of decided to head down the standard stock pot and bowl route.
Would you recommend the tea urn? Did it work ok?
Yours wouldn't be as complicated - ANd bits have dropped off mine - after about 10 years the "Reflux line" dropped off and I nevr bothered to replace it - since I hadn't ever opened that valve in ten years but it looked like this when it was made !
I Bought a new urn and copper - I'm gonna replace it soon and thought I might do a "Photo how to" thread when I decide whether to adapt the original design - or do a different one.
Anyhow "Yep she works"
So Who do you fancy for the new PM ?
I'm a"Boris man" myself.
Got the photos theh wrong way round - the bottom one should be second - But I guess you'll work it out.
I like the fact it is electric so you don't have all th eclat with gas.
Mgee wrote:More English people. Great stuff, we can bang on about Brexit on here too....
I did think about using a tea urn but kind of decided to head down the standard stock pot and bowl route.
Would you recommend the tea urn? Did it work ok?
Yours wouldn't be as complicated - ANd bits have dropped off mine - after about 10 years the "Reflux line" dropped off and I nevr bothered to replace it - since I hadn't ever opened that valve in ten years but it looked like this when it was made !
DSC_0949 resize.jpg
I Bought a new urn and copper - I'm gonna replace it soon and thought I might do a "Photo how to" thread when I decide whether to adapt the original design - or do a different one.
Anyhow "Yep she works"
So Who do you fancy for the new PM ?
I'm a"Boris man" myself.
Got the photos theh wrong way round - the bottom one should be second - But I guess you'll work it out.
I like the fact it is electric so you don't have all th eclat with gas.
That's interesting and I might look at the urn option now. Don't suppose you could give me some info regarding the bypass you did on the electrics?...I'm bloody useless with wiring and stuff but the father in law is a sparky so he should be able to help.
Thanks for the pictures. So many ideas but I need to get a firm plan and crack on with it!
Hi Brits, I'm from the south west, just one run under my belt but decades of beer brewing under my belt so clued up on all the mashing, fermenting etc.
Brexit has done a good job of dividing our country and I can't really see any way that is going to change soon. As for the next prime minisiter, I'd like to say that it would be hard to get anyone worse than the current one but I fear Boris would fit that bill.... I know he's a bit marmite but I absolutely loathe him. Anyway, that's as much politics as I'm going to get into here....
TheJollyBrewer wrote:Hi Brits, I'm from the south west, just one run under my belt but decades of beer brewing under my belt so clued up on all the mashing, fermenting etc.
Brexit has done a good job of dividing our country and I can't really see any way that is going to change soon. As for the next prime minisiter, I'd like to say that it would be hard to get anyone worse than the current one but I fear Boris would fit that bill.... I know he's a bit marmite but I absolutely loathe him. Anyway, that's as much politics as I'm going to get into here....
Nice to meet you all....
Hi thejollybrewer,
Yes, the options are pretty scary really. As long as that sneaky toad Michael Gove doesn't get in, I'll be happy. Mr Farage might be our next elected PM at this rate but I think I'd have to move country if he gets in to power
Yeah enough politics talk. It's very depressing seeing our country so divided but it's only going to get worse in the coming months. Hey ho....I guess we'll have to drink more
I'm not being arsey but we try not to discuss politics or religion on the open forum it can quickly spiral out of control. Try and keep it to what we are all here to discuss distilling.
Again not being arsey and look for ward to seeing what you come up my skills are rubbish but I hope to try and make something soon I'll be going the triclamp way.
Hi Manc, not arsey at all. I don't think any of us want to talk about it really, but it's a bit like talking about the weather, we can't help ourselves...
I'm not being arsey but we try not to discuss politics or religion on the open forum it can quickly spiral out of control. Try and keep it to what we are all here to discuss distilling.
Again not being arsey and look for ward to seeing what you come up my skills are rubbish but I hope to try and make something soon I'll be going the triclamp way.
That's interesting and I might look at the urn option now. Don't suppose you could give me some info regarding the bypass you did on the electrics?...I'm bloody useless with wiring and stuff but the father in law is a sparky so he should be able to help.
Thanks for the pictures. So many ideas but I need to get a firm plan and crack on with it!
Boris can't be any worse than May so why not
e
If your FiL is a sparky - he won't have any bother - They vary a bit but generally they have a Thermal overload cutout and a reset - which can be left in place as a safety feature
The one He needs to bypass is the "Keep hot" which stops the urn just short of boiling and then keeps it around 80 degrees C - to make tea.
That is the one which makes it unsuitable for our needs - It just needs to be able to keep heating constantly, to boil off the vapour in a nice stream.
You will eventually want a power controller to turn the power down when she gets up to temperature - but that can wait (They're only about a tenner from China and there's loads of info on the threads). You want to be able to turn it down to limit the heat build up in teh electrics - but I'm waiting for a new one and as I said they work fine without and I'm happy to do a few runs without (it was a few years before I got one at all !)
The only bit that is a bit of a clat is holding the lid on securely - If you click on mine you'll see I use a "Barrel clamp" filled with flour paste - Getting hold of that clamp was a pain - but there are other ways and the pressure in the still is tiny - so that can be overcome. Some just use a few "Bulldog clips".
Anyway that's enough for this thread - its a "welcome thread" - start a new thread in the body of the site if you want to know more and when I get around to my new build - I'll do a "photo how to" as I said
That's interesting and I might look at the urn option now. Don't suppose you could give me some info regarding the bypass you did on the electrics?...I'm bloody useless with wiring and stuff but the father in law is a sparky so he should be able to help.
Thanks for the pictures. So many ideas but I need to get a firm plan and crack on with it!
Boris can't be any worse than May so why not
e
If your FiL is a sparky - he won't have any bother - They vary a bit but generally they have a Thermal overload cutout and a reset - which can be left in place as a safety feature
The one He needs to bypass is the "Keep hot" which stops the urn just short of boiling and then keeps it around 80 degrees C - to make tea.
That is the one which makes it unsuitable for our needs - It just needs to be able to keep heating constantly, to boil off the vapour in a nice stream.
You will eventually want a power controller to turn the power down when she gets up to temperature - but that can wait (They're only about a tenner from China and there's loads of info on the threads). You want to be able to turn it down to limit the heat build up in teh electrics - but I'm waiting for a new one and as I said they work fine without and I'm happy to do a few runs without (it was a few years before I got one at all !)
The only bit that is a bit of a clat is holding the lid on securely - If you click on mine you'll see I use a "Barrel clamp" filled with flour paste - Getting hold of that clamp was a pain - but there are other ways and the pressure in the still is tiny - so that can be overcome. Some just use a few "Bulldog clips".
Anyway that's enough for this thread - its a "welcome thread" - start a new thread in the body of the site if you want to know more and when I get around to my new build - I'll do a "photo how to" as I said
Cheers Pikey. I'll get the controller etc at the beginning if I go down this route. For some reason, I really don't want a keg but that is the easiest option. I'll keep my eyes out for a cheap urn as well.
Thanks again mate. Looking forward to seeing your build
I'm just down the road from you (so only 2 hours drive in London traffic).
Seems like you're off to a great start with the distilling too.
Good luck mate.
Best place to start for newbies - click here - Courtesy of Cranky :-)
If you have used this site to save money by making your own top quality booze at home then please consider donating a couple of dollars to help keep this site running. Cheers!
Best place to start for newbies - click here - Courtesy of Cranky :-)
If you have used this site to save money by making your own top quality booze at home then please consider donating a couple of dollars to help keep this site running. Cheers!
) but I solder/braze in my day job and I'm planning to build a larger stainless/copper pot still in the very near future. 
