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Agreed well put Carbo (gold star). Thats eczactly what I was pondering about. I usually aim between 11 an 13%. Might have to drop her an see what difference it makes.

Hey all. I was just wondering if anyone out there has done any experimenting with the time it takes a certain amount of sugar to ferment out with different amounts of water? IE 10kg sugar in 40L of water VS 10kg of sugar in 60L of water? Im thinking that the yeast still has to convert the same amoun...

Awesome. Ill go around a meter. Cheers for the help once again.

Cool so it is to big for what i need. No reason I cant split it an take some dia out of it then resolder. Could add turbulator easly enough aswell. So is there a standard length one would go for? 500mm?

Hey all, im upgrading my still, am going to make a liebig condensor to replace my worm. The worm works well, but is bulky and needs to be watched that it dosent overflow. My stills a 50l keg with 2 ring gas burner, colunm is 1m high by 50mm wide. Reflux is 4 cross flow pipes through the top quater, ...

Awesome. Ive been looking for oak for ages (even went down the wine barrel road) but all was a bit expensive an didn't want to go down the pre loved JD chips etc. I didnt stop and think about the fact that i now work for the council parks an rec....... our parks have huge white oaks, every wind we g...

Quercus robur english oak. Anyone know this tree, an is it ok to age with?

i had a similar incident at my local ish brew shop. i have read an asked many questions here an other places, so know enough to keep me safe. But when i went in there an told him about my still i built an asked about brew ingredients. I got a lecture on what is wrong with everyone elses stills while...

awsome thanks all , going to have to wait for them it to seed. will have to try a brew before then an keep some for comparing.

Hey all,
im finaly geting things sorted for a gin run. i have angelica growing in the garden, but how an when to harvest the root and what to do with it IE dry it? to use for gin. dose anyone do this? an also can i use any other part of the plant for gin?

cheers mk

Update! I left it to age with a coffee filter over the jar an the lid slightly on (breathing room). Still has a slightly smokey smell but the flavor is not to bad, slightly smokey and this is only around a month aging. It droped a few %ages so is now only 34%, Started at 42%. im guessing the really ...

hey all, I got some peaches (30kg) I de skinned them an got rid of the pip. Then emulsified them with a blender. I then put them in my fermentor with aronud 15l of water and 3 kg of sugar. The wash turned out nice peach smelling wash. Thought about bottling a couple for wine, then thought na it woul...

UPDATE, am stilling at the moment smells an tastes good, its on the first stripping run now. another question though, it tastes good as it is (in the hearts atm) should I go for a second run or would that take to much flavour out? running a 50l keg with 1m heigh 50mmdia column in pot still mode.

That sounds like what im wanting to do thanks brendan. mushing peaches today. will see what its like out of the still then go from there, the schnapps idea soaking peaches in it sounds good.

I see i do.that sounds like it should work. i dont know much about thumpers. I have read on here somewhere that anything above half your still volume should be alright. id also add some pulp and feints or wash, instead of just straight pulp and water into your thumper. keep me posted with your results

pre heater? would that be a waste of fermentable sugars? also would it take the sugars/flavors out of the thumper?

update on this one, i got the solder and flux $30. soldered her together it wasnt flash by any means but worked. Then was talking to a local engineer who told me he cold have tigd the two ss furrled ends to my ss column and silver soldered the copper bits together for me for the same price. so i uns...

So i have read through the topic rockchucker forwarded me to. An also taters fruit berry recipe post. Now i am thinking back about the younger years and had a wave, what about schnapps?? would this be done by following a simple recipe like the ones i have read, getting as much flavor through the sti...

Thanks rockchucker that sounds good will read through it tonight an make a plan of attack. I have never actually tasted peach brandy before, just the cheap store brought brandy (no idea what fruit they use for that). So ill definatly go down that path. Don't worry halfbaked i didn't want to waste th...

hey all, I have just been given around 30kg of whole peaches. i am wondering what to do with them. I have never really been a fan of brandy as such. but i do want to make something that has the flavor come through in it. i could just distill it till tasteless but i see no point in wasting good flavo...

sweet, will find my nearest steel and tube. see what i can find.

sweet definatly no brass or chrome then. Yip coming together nicely, upgrading from very first pot still with joints all just push together and needing flour water paste etc etc. so doing it properly now i know it works well. To a simple cm reflux. putting 4 15mm cooling pipes through the column for...

Hi to all, an a happy new year of stilling. I have a couple of chrome plated brass sink wastes that would go great in my still column size wise. Question is dose chrome plating have anything bad in it for distillers? also can i solder to it or do i have to remove/grind away the chrome? also i have s...

sweet, my next question is i have two chrome plated sink wastes that will do nicely in my column and keg. im guessing i cant soft solder stainless to chrome plated brass?

would it be alright to solder to brass after stripping the chrome away?

You are right there, should have checked google. Thanks heaps

Heres another one, where can i find a fully stainless steel 30mm bath waste?

hey all again, Happy new year to all. I am looking for a tri clamp to attach my column to my still, will do a easy flange on the column. But cant find anywhere i can get a tri clamp in NZ. (probably looking in the wrong places) If anyone knows of a company or where to source them, also what size tri...

I used Harris Stay Brite #8 and Harris Stay Clean flux and it works great. Awsome thanks heaps, by the looks of it, its not something thats sold frequently in NZ, the stuff im looking at is the same make up tin and silver, but for the life of me i cant find the % details (eutectic 157). found them ...

Hey all. was just wondering if anyone here has soldered/brazed copper to stainless steel, if so what kind of solder/rods would you use. I have found some lead free low melt solder online that is for food purposes no lead or cadmium. It says that it is alright for dissimilar metals, but doesn't say w...

Awesome, Im going to try stripd down wire tomorrow, got it ready today. Striped it down then boiled the hell out of it to get ride of anything that might have been on it. its sitting in alcohol at the moment, will wash it off tomorrow then see how it works. Ill have a ask around trappers here see wh...

where would I find those?