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Don't get me wrong, I store mine in glass and avoid plastic. Apart from PTFE I only use copper or stainless in my still. I get that if someone mentions plastic it becomes a free for all. I just don't like this attitude of "he mentioned plastic, lock the thread and send him a warning". You ...

What is the new thing that you could bring to the discussion apart from independent scientific testing and the case studies that go with it?!

Don't start. I've already had a telling off for saying how gin manufacturers transport their neutrals and what the output pipes of large distillerys are made from :lol: this forum and some of its members are unfortunately very archaic, it's surprising that the site exists and it isn't a mail-in maga...

I was watching a programme the other day about a distillery in America. It was a huge custom built thing and everything was perfect! The output was a piece of 25mm pvc tube? :lol: There's also pleanty of videos on YouTube about gin distillerys that buy in their neutral alcohol in IBC containers! Adm...

Maybe not such a good idea then, just racking my brains trying to make something new I guess. Anyone can run a still with someone else' recipe, I want to make my own custom brew! I have made nice stuff with fresh coffee or coffee made with hot water which then percolates into ice below and then mix ...

Whilst passing a local cafe I noticed they were bagging up their coffee grinds and giving them away for free as a natural fertiliser for your garden which made me think... Has anyone ever run a mash from coffee rinds?

I was thinking a coffee/sugar wash?

I made the mistake of starting off with Turbo 24/48 etc and made nothing but nasty tasting crap when I first started on my old still. I tried re-distilling 3 times, carbon filtering multiple times, leaving it uncovered for over a week. All in all it was junk! Consider it a lesson learnt. I used mine...

[quote="Longhairedcountryboy"]Paddy, can you link me to an example of a proper ammeter?/quote] Don't get me wrong, yours may be fine! I just bought some cheap ones on ebay with no brand name and they were dangerous to be honest. If you buy anything with a brand name and a warranty you are ...

Looks good! You've done a tidy job with the cable management! Only thing to watch is those ammeters. I bought one of the generic cheap 32A ones and the inside was super skimpy, I tested it and it got pretty hot under load. I upgraded to one from a proper manufacturer supplied by an industrial compon...

What type of plastic is it? It should say on the bottom. Most of the brew buckets are usually food grade PP (Polypropylene) or HDPE. If it is, I wouldn't worry about it. All the datasheets, manufacturer tests and independent tests have tested ethanol (Ethyl Alcohol) at 96% abv at 60'c-80'c for 30 da...

Thanks! Maybe I will give it a go. I will have a look through the corn mash recipes and maybe post back with results!

Hi everyone, I have currently been running different washes but mainly stuck with all bran. I wondered if anyone has ever run a mash made from chicken corn. I was obviously looking at the organic, no added chemicals or medicines type that is a mix of organic wheat and organic cut maize. I was wonder...

Hopefully you do okay with fitting it all in the box! I had to upgrade mine to a much larger box to fit everything in nicely.

See, that is a properly wetted and soldered joint! Is that with the Harris stay clean flux?

Well I thought I would give an update for the OP. I bought some Topnik TS-80 flux as it says on the datasheet it is for soldering Stainless steel including acidproof and I think that is your sticking point. I had the same results as the OP. I make a living from soldering copper pipe in peoples house...

From my experience it makes no real difference if you fluctuate by a few grams. I do all-bran batches to run for neutral and for a 6 gallon batch I will usually use 12Tbsp or 84g of yeast (bakers). I have tried using less out of interest, I did a run with 7g and it took an age to brew and needed a l...

Maybe I will give it a go. I do wonder if the solder I tried before was wrong though. It was Fry Powerflo lead free 99c grade. Sadly the data sheet doesn't say what's in it! *Edit* Scratch that, it's around 95% tin, 5% copper so not having any silver is probably part of the issue. I guess not all pl...

I only added it because judging by the thread the OP has been trying and trying to solder it together with little success. I only suggested silver brazing with JM55 because they do small amounts of the stuff on ebay for cheap and it can be easier because there isn't as much of a "golden zone&qu...

It's just easier when trying to connect stainless to copper or making parts from stainless. If it's copper to copper then it is defiantly worth just using regular soft solder. Most of the time you try to connect copper to stainless with regular plumbing solder and it will flow onto the copper and ju...

Sounds like a bacterial infection to me turning into vinegar hence the acidity level. Out of interest what is your process for cleaning the fermenter each time? I got lazy once and after one successful ferment I rinsed everything with a little bit of washing up liquid and then went onto the next bre...

I would usually agree except in the case of using silver-flo. If you are using a normal plumbing solder for copper pipes then it needs to be hot but not glowing, by the way you are going to have a VERY hard time getting it to flow properly with stainless) Silver Flo 55 is a lead and cadmium free sil...

Hi there, What sort of still are you running? There's two possibilities, one is that you had some junk left in the still (what is your still made from?) or you ran the boiler too hard and the product bubbled up and "puked" where the mash bubbles and goes up the still. Running thick or suga...

Hopefully you have moved on with this? If not then go on ebay and buy some johnson matthey silver flo 55 with the easy flow flux. Pleanty of sellers have it on ebay in small packs with a little bag of solder for around £5. I have done A TONNE of joints with this stuff and it's strong solder that is ...

Do what hefezelle says and redistill store bought alcohol. If you know that you don't get a rash from the commercial alcohol then put that through your still (water it down to 30% ish with tap water) and see if that gives you a rash. If it does then its the still. If not then it's the wash

When I siphon off I just use a piece of 12mm hose. You can either suck start it manually (its all being boiled anyway if you are ocd clean) or do what I do where I use one of those fuel pump priming bulbs to start it. I put the hose about half way down when I start it and slowly push it down into th...

The wiring may seem daunting but its usually a lot more simple than you think. Earth to everything, neutral from the heating coil and then the live just daisy chains all the bits together :lol: In all seriousness it isn't as scary as it looks. I use a still controller from StillDragon that I broke o...

Well if you are running it on 110v it will be PAINFULLY slow to heat up and to run. There are two physical things that can slow down a run: HEAT: If your condenser is working perfectly but your boiler isn't gutsy enough to produce enough vapour to feed the condenser then it will be slow. You need to...

If I can offer any advice is don't underestimate on your boiler. I bought a 17L stainless cookpot, then started looking at urns and basically outgrew it all. I now have a 55 litre stainless keg with a 5500W element which is far more than I need however it means I can do what I want with the still he...

On the point of pumps I use a 6000LPH pump that has a 5M head (85W motor) and honestly, I wouldn't buy anything less than that when you go looking. I have previously had a 650lph and a 1600lph. Both were not powerful enough and caused issues down the road. I have a full bore isolation valve on the e...

I've just made mine from 304ss and I love it. I don't like the cleaning of the copper or the flavour it instills. I do add tightly packed copper mesh to the top of my still for sulfite removal. If you are making it from stainless steel by either welding or brazing I advise you get some stainless pas...