Another Newbie...

[ginfiend]

Yes, another one! Feel free to roll your eyes!

I have been reading the site for a while, thought I'd introduce myself - before going back to reading & remaining silent... Well except for the occasional dumb and inane question I'm sure.

So, being completely mechanically and electrically un-inclined (was a decent chemist back in the day though), I took the easy way out and bought my still: 8 gallon, reflux (2" wide, 40" tall, packed with copper mesh and ceramic saddles), electric element, from MileHi. Hated to get it dirty, it looks so nice, but alas I did!

My primarily interested, as you can probably tell from the name, is gin; though to be fair while that is my tipple of choice, I also like Limoncello and a good vodka. Basically anything that can be made from a good neutral - been using Everclear and Graves as the neutral before, an I hope I can do much better. Not a whiskey fan at all - though that may be sacrilege here!

Already run a water run. Then fixed my leaves with PTFE where the element was screwed in... Duh, should have done that the first time, but hey, like I said... Not mechanically inclined. Also ran a vinegar run, which stank up the back yard a little, but whatever; sacrifices must be made.

Two batches of Birdwatchers fermenting under the stairs, one started last week, one yesterday. That's the reason to posting more than anything - to thank you all, and this forum, for possibly the most idiot proof recipe I can imagine. First attempt (the one from last week) has been bubbling among nicely, down from SG of 1.07 to 1.002 (as of yesterday). Some comments on here pointed out a lower starting SG and lower temp produce better results - so I tried not too much sugar, and it's been running at 66F without a problem so far. So thanks you that all of you!

I have to wait it out now, probably should have waited in the vinegar run until the first batch of Birdwatchers was done, but I'm a bit stuck in time limbo now. I guess I do have a question: should I run another batch of water through to clean out vinegar residue (rather than let it sit in the column), or just wait another week (or however long) until the Birdwatchers batch is done, then run a sacrificial alcohol run then.

With that.. Hello, and thanks!

[Aquafish]

Welcome aboard ginfiend. I very new at this stuff also. I did a water run, vinegar and then a SAC run as suggested on this site. As I build mine from scratch I cleaned as I went. Never hurts to be to clean. I'm sure you are aware by purchasing the still you may have been put on a list reported to the gov. Anyhow's best of luck.

[MoonWhisky]

If you have not ran a alcohol sacrificial run them the birdwatchers wash will need to be thrown away as well. Running a sacrificial alcohol run will clean it even more and get nasties out that water and vinegar didn't. If you want to keep the birdwatchers wash mix up a quick turbo wash and run it for the sacrificial run. Even tho turbos are a no no I believe there okay for sacrificial runs.

[moosemilk]

I have to promote whiskey a little lol. I do enjoy neutrals, don't care for gin tho. But don't sell out whiskey until you have tried a good batch of white dog with UJSSM. I have a few who didn't care for whiskey end up wanting more after they tried some. And I'm a total rookie so it just keeps getting better. But welcome and happy distilling! We all have different tastes right? Enjoy!

[cranky]

I would run a water run after the vinegar run then dry it good and wait for the birdwatchers to finish for the sac run. I wouldn't use turbo even for a sac run, especially if any copper is involved. I assume since you bought the still it is probably all stainless but if you run turbo with copper packing it is asking to have to clean all over again.