Good morning from the PNW

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TripwireFife
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Good morning from the PNW

Post by TripwireFife »

Well hello everyone.
I just started distilling about 2 months ago and have jumped in like I do with everything full bore. What started as a semi drunken bar bet (can we call them bar bets when they are house party because of covid?) to team up with the other guys from one side of the river against the guys on the other side of the river and build a still then set a series of challenges with distilling Vodka, Rum, Whisky and Tequila each spaced out with tasting parties over the next year and a half.

our side of the river built a pretty awesome reflux column while the other side of the river went the traditional route and got a kit from C&H. We started with basic sugar washes and I don't know if its just dumb luck, or engineering or maybe the fact that all 3 of us on the team have read just about everything we can find on this and other forums but we are producing ridiculously good 170 proof consistently. the still just seems to shut off when we get below 170.

we have expanded with our recipes and are starting to experiment now that we have 4-5 runs under us and have expanded from doing fermentation in kegs up to 15 and 33 gal drums and are already looking at what's next still wise for our next improvement.

I'm sure there are others here in the Portland area and would absolutely be interested in trading some samples and continuing to learn as we go.

oh and as always ABG!
Last edited by TripwireFife on Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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acfixer69
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by acfixer69 »

Welcome to HD. Plenty from PNW here. Stay safe.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by Twisted Brick »

Welcome TripwireFife. Cool intro. At some point you will need to post a pic of your awesome rig.

Twisted Brick
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Deplorable
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by Deplorable »

Welcome! Lots of us from around the upper left corner of the US.
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TripwireFife
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by TripwireFife »

Twisted Brick wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:50 am Welcome TripwireFife. Cool intro. At some point you will need to post a pic of your awesome rig.Twisted Brick
I will post some pictures later tonight after work. it really works well, but does have a few things that are kind of frustrating. because of the way its designed we cant get below 170. I feel like we are leaving alot in the pot. but hey, thats what version 2.0 is for.
OtisT
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by OtisT »

Tripwire, Welcome to HD. Is your river rivalry an east/west thing or possibly a north/south thing, and which bank are you on? I’m on the East side and everyone knows we make better booze on the east side. ;-)

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TripwireFife
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by TripwireFife »

OtisT wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:18 pm Tripwire, Welcome to HD. Is your river rivalry an east/west thing or possibly a north/south thing, and which bank are you on? I’m on the East side and everyone knows we make better booze on the east side. ;-)

Otis
We are rocking it east/ west... and as a member of the East side I completely agree with you. we just do things better here on the east side. I'm down Oregon City way.

it is shaping up to be a fun competition and adds a bit of competition (not that we needed any other reason to add that) to the get togethers.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by Twisted Brick »

Yeah, for sure you’re gonna need some straight-up pot stillin’ capability for your flavored spirits. Good reason to modify your still into a modular ‘can-do-everything’ rig.

Lookin’ forward to seein’ your pics😎
“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake.”

- W.C. Fields

My EZ Solder Shotgun
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TripwireFife
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by TripwireFife »

Twisted Brick wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:44 pm Yeah, for sure you’re gonna need some straight-up pot stillin’ capability for your flavored spirits. Good reason to modify your still into a modular ‘can-do-everything’ rig.

Lookin’ forward to seein’ your pics😎
I think our second one will be more along the lines of the super modular units. I hate the idea of taking something that works so good out of commission and maybe having it work ok. then again. who knows. i have this feeling that we will end up with 3-4 different stills by the time this competition/hobby really ramps up. its amazing how much fun we are having even just getting going on this.

i dont have a ton of pictures of the setup currently that dont have faces or other things going on but here is a picture of the still when we first made it before we cut it down some. and a picture of the reading from the first batch we put through it.
IMG_7311.jpg
IMG_6908.jpg
oh... the keg on it was just for test purposes. we are running standard 1/2 barrel kegs for actual distillation

ABG!
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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Just so ya know ....99% of people stopped building reflux stills of that design years ago...to inefficient and out dated.
A reflux still that cant do better than 170 proof / 85% abv isn't really doing a great job.
You will find a lot better still designs if you look through some of the still builds that can be found on the forum.
TripwireFife
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by TripwireFife »

Oh I’m sure there are better designs. An our next one will be different. But considering we built it pretty much after just general idea kicking around and very little research it’s not too bad. Not to mention it’s working better than the commercial build it yourself pot still of the competition.

I don’t know I I said it before but we have already found weak points. Things like not being able to get any more out of it once a certain point is hit and not being able to control the water for just the condenser and the main pipe

As a first attempt at even getting into the hobbie I think it was a good first design. Also can’t complain about the peach vanilla shine it produced
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Bushman
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by Bushman »

Welcome, just a reminder that this is a Welcome thread discussions other than introductions and welcoming a new member should be in the proper thread forum.
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Tummydoc
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Re: Good morning from the PNW

Post by Tummydoc »

Good news is you can convert that to a CCVM reflux still easily and improve quality
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