T500 im new starter with a few questions

[shauno]

Hi there, ive been using my t500 still for bout a year now using the still spirits products (yeast, carbon, Aldi brand white sugar, turbo clear) producing 94% everytime.

Q1 Wat other ways to make the wash, not familiar with the sour mash and corn ways. using products in australia

Q2 im a rum drinker wanting to do a batch of the best rum any tips or recipes

Q2a was told that how the t500 works if i use distillers rum yeast it wouldnt work coz it strips everything just to produce the alchohol that just a plain pot still will be better, Could the ceramic saddles & copper be taken out of condenser to make it work as a pot still

Q3 any recipes/products for producing commercial grade spirits, ie canadian club, jameson, bundy rum...............


Please Help Cheers

[pounsfos]

Good afternoon

Yes the t500 by default is a reflux still, designed to produce neutral vodka,

luckily for you I used to have, so I know how crap they are
Build your own still and you will never turn back and realise how bad of a still it is

But since you have it at the moment we will use what we have
you can take the packing out of the column to turn it into a pot still (it's good for stripping runs as well)

while you are there, add some boiling chips so you can collect more faster

next time you turn it into a reflux column, take the saddles and use only copper meshing (scrubbers) you should be able to pick some up at the brew store or your local supermarklet, Stainless steel opnems work well as well

have a good read of the parent site, especially on stills

[rad14701]

It has been covered extensively here in these forums that the T500 should not be used as a pot still... Vapor temperatures must remain below 85C/185F due to the synthetic components which will be damaged or potentially leach nasties into your spirits...