Plum Crazy Kiwi

[heyhaychapman]

Thanks Mentors and Master Distillers for your time and help and all members for their interest and contributions. I got into distilling because I went to a school reunion and my girlfriend brought along a bottle of her dads home made spirits. He is Romanian so he calls it Tuica. Lots of other eastern Europeans call it Slivovitz. Her dad came to New Zealand, raised 4 kids, planted 4 plum trees and learned to make the drink from the local priest. His stuff kicks and I sort of liked that. None of this pretending to be friendly like wines or liqueurs do. "Trust me I'm really only fruit juice ..." His stuff literally hurts when you sip it but 2 minutes later you have all the get up and go you need to party . Dancing? No problem! Talking to strangers? Why not ! 20 minutes later when it comes time for a top up you have to pause and ask yourself "do I really want another ? " because it will hurt. You get less shit faced than you do drinking the tasty stuff because you pace yourself and drink less ABV over all. That was my theory and I stuck to it.

I have learned enough from HDF and my own attempts now to know that the reason his stuff kicked was because he never took any foreshots away and kept only the heads for drinking. If you were lucky enough to get bottle number one you got a bit of nerve damage as well as a hangover. He's 89 and sees no reason to change.

Yes it is legal to distill your own here in New Zealand . It would be nice to think that we are a beacon of freedom unto the rest of the world but the truth of the matter is it was by bureaucratic fluke not intelligent design. The nation got hopelessly in debt about 25 years ago and the customs department said " hey we can save a few million by laying off the staff that chase people who make their own booze" Done deal said the Minister of Finance . And here we are. The sky didn't fall. The streets aren't filled with drunken home distillers, government saved itself a few dollars and I can distill in front of a window.

While many of you have to begin by making your own still, I get to wander down to the local brew shop, tell a total stranger that I want to make alcohol, give him my address so he can send me his newsletter and order a 25 litre Still Spirits T500 base and pot still head. It looks like a glorified tea urn, the kind of boiler you would have in a cafeteria for dispensing hot water. I have adapted the set up so it can take a pot still head or a reflux head. The boiler base and lid stay the same . Just added a couple of large stainless shims and away we went. Otherwise I had to buy a separate boiler to run each and that's just crazy talk.

I have done a few runs with fruit ( kiwifuit and plums) with varying degrees of failure. I didn't know enough about yeasts or sugar levels ( still don't) and expected the impossible. I mix it all my washes up in 100 liter barrel with a mortar mixer on a drill which pulps the fruit and aerates the wash very nicely. When you are buying your fruit to make 25 litres of wash your mistakes get pretty expensive. Plus over winter I was running out of fruit to buy. So it has been a real help to stumble across Rads thread on All Bran Wash and Braz's suggestions ( mashed potato ! Genius) . I'm on wash number four and some of the mysteries are revealing themselves . I'm still finding new things to stuff up every time but I know I am heading in the right direction. I would even describe one of the 500 ml bottles I made last time as tasty. It has chocolate notes if you fricken well please. It also has white snot suspended in it so that's keeping it real. I have been doing single runs because that was how I learned doing fruit schnapps. I get about 2 liters each of heads, hearts and tails and usually chuck the tails into the next run. Last post I made I was advised to triple distill . What the hell, I'll read up on that and give it a few goes and see what happens.

Once I have done many more runs of All Bran wash and the fruit season comes around again I want to get back into trying schnapps, calvados and grappa. Plus those Ukranian infused fruit and herb recipes over on the parent site look pretty interesting. Oh and buy a reflux column for the boiler. That should see me through to 60.

Like they say on the novices board "it's all in here somewhere" and that is true but for a newbie it's a lot of hours of learning. It took me about 4 days with note taking just to get through the All Bran Wash thread. What I like about this as a hobby though apart from getting high and buying shiny stuff is the learning and the conversation. There is maths, chemistry, engineering, physics, art and social studies. There is the experience of being helped out by people known only by their forum names and because it's legal here I get to talk about it with colleagues at work, people I meet in the supermarket, anyone I choose. It's as innocent as making bread and thats how it should be. Good luck to all us newbies with our learning and thanks again to all contributors, especially those who answered my cries for help. Cheers !

[kiwi_brewin]

Welcome PCK

I am like yourself resonably new to this and am also a kiwi lol. Still trying to monster my way through all the threads first but its great reading and priceless infomation. I am using an esscencia reflux still currently but am wanting to build my own.
Havent realy tried the different recipes yet but hope to soon. Enjoy the hobby its great fun.

[heyhaychapman]

Cheers fellah. I was pleased to see your post at HDF just before I posted mine. The illustrious kiwidistiller is out there somewhere and Tony Ackland from the parent site calls New Zealand home as well. Let me know if you decide to try the All Bran wash. I have faffed around for ages and have the quantities for a 25 litre wash working very nicely. Once you have the measurements and steps down pat it takes off like a rocket and you can spend more time learning and less time wondering what the hell just went wrong. As for distilling " I know nuss-sing" as Shultz used to say. The 25 litre Essentia is the one with the 3000 watt element isn't it? Bet the lights go down when that gets plugged in.

What are you making?

[kiwi_brewin]

Yeah i wouldnt mind trying the recepie something different. just making whiskey and vodka really but havent quite got it qutie right yet but getting there...still finding my way through all this infomation and learning..

as for the still nah i dont notice the power going at all but im guessing it does suck a lil bit out of the grid lol. Ways around that though lol

[heyhaychapman]

Just getting some early shares in the power company before they flog it off. Cheers bro !

[kiwi_brewin]

haha yeah might be a good idea lol. I am also looking at buying a reflux still just for while im building mine. Am currently using a pot still that isnt the greatest but a good way to learn.

[New to distilling]

Good to see kiwi's mixing it with the big boys, my still is a mish mash of sorts but it does the trick. Like the use of fruit and not just a sugar wash, the old fella next door has a massive pear tree, someone gave me the receipe for pear cider a couple of years ago now, so we thought why make 2ltrs when we had enough pears to make 200 ltrs (what a balls up) Lost about 16 dozen big botts, let all the rest out to save the exploding bottles in the shed (and what bottles I had left)! boy I wish id kept it now and ran it throught the still? need to learn a bit more yet though.

[heyhaychapman]

Yeh I imagine that pear distilate would have been tasty. Maybe you should give it another go? Having access to a tree or an orchard sure helps. Renting holiday homes is a good way to find them. They are often old family houses or farm cottages. Got a place with a couple of big plum trees lined up for the new year... Slivovitz yeh !

[2495robert]

I wish it was legal hear. I fill like the dont sell dont tell and since i product such a small amount."personal drinking stock only" i am a little safer than the people cook up 100g batches . But it would be nice to one day enjoy my hobby with out any fear