Gday from Australia

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Givit
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Gday from Australia

Post by Givit »

Gday
First post, I have been brewing beer for a few years and always wanted to have a crack at spirits.
So as we do were i work lash out and internet spend, found myself with a 25lt "home spirit maker" refulx heading home in the mail.
From looking it must have a thermostatic valve built in.? wich my be a pain if i want to control, anyways anything can be converted once understood.
Then started reading.. :roll:
Found out i probably wanted a pot still but anyway it will be a start. it will be a turbo start cause its in the mail too,
Fermenting i understand so no point doing mash untill i find or build a pot still adaption. maybe a nice sugar wash till then.
Filling my head on this site and others trying to gain the theory.
Ive got grand plans but i realize like brewing start easy and work up to my 101 Bourbon Whiskey i like so much‎.
So i will keep dip feeding, looks like plenty of knowalage about this place, hence joining home distiller.
pounsfos
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by pounsfos »

hello form across the ditch

yup, you got the foundations already, all it is now is to learn how your still works, and making cuts
everything can be found on here, and everything else is practice :)
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thecroweater
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by thecroweater »

Yep you'read catching on and the good new is a pot still is quite cheap to make and pretty much anyone can do it with a very dollars worth of tools. So what state are you from
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
Givit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Givit »

Cheers thanks
I'm in WA
Just done the turbo wash that came with it, seems like a lot of chemicals and carbon to add then more chems to clean it up latter.
oh well got to start somewhere, figure i can only go up and get better. by better i mean simpler more natural.
yep will run this and see if i can figure out cuts and get my first look. excited even thou i know i'm starting with,,,, well i'm learning anyway.
as said read and practice, and get a buzz on.
stangas
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by stangas »

Hiya mate...

I'm a fellow west aussie.. I'm in Collie

Good luck with your new purchase... and have fun
Mud Mechanik
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Mud Mechanik »

Welcome aboard.
Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway----John Wayne
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Yummyrum
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Yummyrum »

Welcome Givit. That still head will make you a nice Neutral in the medium 90s ABV . I started out with a Still spirits reflux still that put out in the low 70s ABV and drunk Carbon filtered Turbo for a while until trying the TPWs and Weet Bix All bran washes .

Turbos won't kill you .. its so worth trying it before you move on to better things .You can't make comparisons without first trying the worst first :( By all means buy some essences and flavor it up too ...its all part of the journey .Sadly but truly some essences taste better than some Pot stilled "real" stuff :silent: .....some taste worse :think: ....I still make Flavoured Neutrals and Pot stilled Rums ...there is room for all .

You have a good boiler and you should have little issues making a Pot head ( or buying one if you have to) and making some good stuff . However you most certainly will need to also buy/ make a controller to turn down the boiler power if you intend to Pot still.

Good luck and have fun :thumbup:
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Danespirit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Danespirit »

Givit wrote:Gday
First post, I have been brewing beer for a few years and always wanted to have a crack at spirits.
So as we do were i work lash out and internet spend, found myself with a 25lt "home spirit maker" refulx heading home in the mail.
From looking it must have a thermostatic valve built in.? wich my be a pain if i want to control, anyways anything can be converted once understood.
Greetings, Givit..

Use your turbo for a batch to do a cleaningrun on a new still, mate..
I can tell you right away...it ain't worth distilling with, but as you already have it...use it. :wink:
You can't control a still with any thermostat or thermostatic valve, as you read on in here you will understand why. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 65&t=16635
Not sure about this but if my mind ain't fooling me, there is a thread in here how to "tune" your still.
Please take a look at the link in my signature...it provides you with basic information about distilling (Cranky did a good job there).

Have fun..enjoy
rad14701
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by rad14701 »

Greetings, Givit...

Can you post a few pictures of your still... From your description I'm curious... We want to make sure there are no safety concerns with your rig... There is a lot of inferior junk being sold these days...

Good luck, stay safe, and enjoy the journey...
Givit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Givit »

Thanks all Gday Collie
photo of the unit, well goog image "home spirit maker" its pops up all copper construct SS packing.
by thermostatic control i was meaning the speed of water flowing thru condenser i see other units this is controlled manually at different temps during stilling.
this unit mentions only minimum of 800ml pm,
completed fist batch divided into 8 jars and only going to drink jars 4-5, got a feel for alc% during run at different temps.
Alcometer,Smelling and finger drip tasting (spitting) as it went to start the scenes working. the heads and tails cold-start the mower pretty well.hehe
heaps of reading on site its great and finding all i need so far.
cant wait to try some better washes wheat bix and all bran on the list.
trying to get flavor to turkey using gobb chips and scrub essence. So i add water to cut down to 40% last thing before filtering after flavor is right and sat on chips.
Thanks for the welcome.
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Danespirit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Danespirit »

Well, "The worlds most advanced home spiritmaker!" :wtf: :lol:
Not to burst your bubble or be a ass, but you will find better builds in here.
Every build i have seen in here so far, can easy compeat with this spiritmaker.
What you basicly have there is a LM still, with a very short column.
There seems to be a ballvalve at the takeoff.
If that's just nickelplated brass, you should throw it away and get a needlevalve (stainless would be a good alternative).
Now i think i know what you mean with thermostat.
The only condenser on that still, is the refluxcoil on top.
You don't really need a thermostat for that, you regulate the waterflow so no vapor escape. A valve or simply squeeze the hose, could do it.
Is the still ventilated at the top? It should be..
800 Ml flow per minute, sounds like a ok flow, but that depends on your water temperature.
Now, instead of just hooking it up on the housewater system and flush a lot of good water down the drain, you should get a pump and recirculate it. :idea:
I can imagine water is pretty expensive in Australia..and there is no need to waste resources.
I am not sying your still is crap, but you could get more out of it with a column extention...maybe a small Liebig on the takeoff to further cool the product. :idea:

Edit: i saw what the woman called a washer...is that O-ring silicone? If, then it should be swapped out too.
The second video from Pure distilling, where the older guy claims " You can be a masterdistiller first time, every time..!"
It doesn't work that way..! No one becomes a master distiller by just buying this product, it takes a lot of experience and a lot of trial and error.
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thecroweater
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by thecroweater »

It is an Ultra Pure still made in Geelong, I have one although mine is many yrs older and has all copper packing it is virtually the same. The valve is ss, this is a good little starter still with a couple of small mods , one is extend the column by about 4 or 500 and change the ball valve out for a needle valve will help no end. As the name suggests it makes pure alcohol, that's all it does but it does it well if not slow. The instructions you got with it are not much chop and don't even mention cuts ,just forget them. As far as making a flavoured spirit goes the closest you could get is a very light white rum, so you will need to look at building a pot still for that down the track but they are quite easy and cheap to do. :thumbup:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
Givit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Givit »

Thanks dane and crow. I fully except your observations and welcome them.
good side is i can tig mig and braze so the mods suggested will be easy. then a pot build once more understood.
haha no instructions came with the unit and it was a rash internet by with the guys at work then i started reading.
So yes i can see the validity of your comment and have found out for myself. hindsight 20/20
Can only go up and better, awesome hate starting something and getting worse...:)

PS, the internet claims i could get a bigger penis too. hahaha
Cheers
Givit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Givit »

Ok So i have added 500mm to the column and changed the packing to copper, ran vinegar and water , then water and old tails to clean then kept aside as cleaning product.
i then ran a birdwatches TPW. Still fired up and hit 80deg i let column settle and came down to a steady 78deg opened valve and a constant stream came out so i slowed it to 3-4 drops a second.
Result is much nicer the nasty industrial flavor has gone. was like acetone or isopropal smell before.
So thanks for all the advice
more questions, Do i need to slow output and why. Also is there any advantage to double distill product, IE re-distill 3lt of 94% with 15lt of clean water will this clean it anymore.
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thecroweater
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by thecroweater »

If you had a pot still you could strip first but double distilling in a 2" reflux still is a true ache in the rectum :thumbup:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
Givit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Givit »

Thanks crow
I am pretty happy with the product now, and as you mention probably not worth the ball ache, the mods suggested worked a treat.
I have just re-read the VM still running thread in novice section and found my answer to output rate. All making a lot more sense now after my first experiments.
Got some sitting on gobblers chips and some neutral sitting on carbon.
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Danespirit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Danespirit »

Givit wrote:Ok So i have added 500mm to the column and changed the packing to copper, ran vinegar and water , then water and old tails to clean then kept aside as cleaning product.
i then ran a birdwatches TPW. Still fired up and hit 80deg i let column settle and came down to a steady 78deg opened valve and a constant stream came out so i slowed it to 3-4 drops a second.
Result is much nicer the nasty industrial flavor has gone. was like acetone or isopropal smell before.
So thanks for all the advice
more questions, Do i need to slow output and why. Also is there any advantage to double distill product, IE re-distill 3lt of 94% with 15lt of clean water will this clean it anymore.
I am pretty happy with the product now, and as you mention probably not worth the ball ache, the mods suggested worked a treat.
I have just re-read the VM still running thread in novice section and found my answer to output rate. All making a lot more sense now after my first experiments.
Got some sitting on gobblers chips and some neutral sitting on carbon.
Extending the column , has improved the ABV of your spirits.
Still you can't run it by the temperature your thermometer shows...
The only way to run a still is by smelling, feeling and tasting..
Crow mentioned running it through a potstill, which is what many including myself do to seperate the water from the spirits (roughly explained).
You read the VM thread...fine..but you run a LM still. So you should use HD -google search to find information about such a still.
A VM behaves totally different from a LM still....VM can't collect below 40% ABV (due to the way it's designed). A LM can collect everything,given you want to spend the time and money to heat the still for the last "drops" in there.
If you learn how to distill the spirits properly, you won't need that carbon filering anymore.
Edit: What about those gaskets mounted from the factory, did you change them...?
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thecroweater
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by thecroweater »

Yeah carbon, about that. Have a good read through the cuts and fractions post in the newbie lounge and following that carbon will be a distant bad memory. Carbon is a away to polish a turd but will not make a bad neutral good, just palatable. Gobbler chips SRe better than essence by a country mile but either way you still end up with a whisky flavoured vodka. Once you build a pot you will soon see and find you will use your neutral to make the more traditional neutral type macerations that are abound here and all over. I haven't used mine for years as my plated column can do both but last time I did it was to make all those typical leg opener girly drinks like limoncello and such.
Anyways might be time now to move further discussion to the relevant sub-forum eg novice distillers or elsewhere :thumbup:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
Givit
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Re: Gday from Australia

Post by Givit »

Sorry thats a typo the VM meant to be LM.
Slowly getting my taste buds and nose in tune and using teaspoon water trick, I can now tell heads from industrial smell and tails from wet dog, still fine tuning nose as to when they change.
i note that as soon as temp goes to 79 its well into tails. I understand not running cuts by temp just mentioned as the running temp.
Funny thing was before the extension i did get 94% but it was all industrial (acetone isopropal) smelling, after extension get 94-95% and sweeter taste and smell.
The carbon i had left over from the first turbo runs so i thought it cant hurt.

Edit. Yes the silicone gasket is gone as well

Thanks for all your help starting and the welcome.
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