Hi from Hunterville, NZ

[Richie_T]

Hello all,

Richard from Hunterville signing in.

Been out the distilling game for a close to five or so years now and thought it was as good a time as any to pick the hobby back up.

Nothing to large scale, I'm not a big drinker at all, but family and friends are and distilling was a hobby I thoroughly enjoyed.

Will be starting from scratch, was really interested in people's opinions of the Copperhead Still from Barnicol here in NZ. They look sweet in copper and a little cheaper than the Turbo 500's

Anyways...give us a shout if you have an opinion...on the Copperhead from Barnicol, else I'll be searching the shit of of this forum so see where the best place to start is.

Cheeers

[MoonBreath]

Welcome to HD!
Glad to have ya back ..You got some catchn up to do ..
Haven't yet found the 'copperhead', but I'll let you know when I do ..
Anyways, Good Luck.

[HDNB]

welcome, there is tons of great info here.

had a quick look for the copperhead, not a lot of info or pics out there of it...if it is what i found, looks like it has an uncontrolled reflux cooler taking the output water of the product condensor. kind of a glorified pot still...but it looked nicely made.

have a look at the build thread, maybe you can find what you want there and save a few bucks.

[Axdelmar]

Welcome Back!!!

SOME of us like POTSTILLS...

Good luck and only smoke them 50 feet away...any closer and you're tempting the angels to get their share early!

[tim_nz]

I'm running a Copperhead pot still -- I've only done 4 batches (8 runs), but it's been fine so far. I can't speak to the reflux still, but if you're doing pot-stilling you'll definitely want a speed controller with the Copperhead. It has a 1000w/2000w switch but I find you need more fine-tune control than that or you'll get smearing on the spirit run. Other than that it works great and the craftsmanship seems fine.

[HDNB]

Welcome Back!!!

SOME of us like POTSTILLS...

Good luck and only smoke them 50 feet away...any closer and you're tempting the angels to get their share early!

i LURV my potstill!

the little external reflux coil i put on the outside has turned into a useless bit of copper. but it looks cool.

[Richie_T]

Wanted to start with a simple set up that was relatively easy to operate. This would let me get the basic technique sorted as far as the wash goes, cutting correctly, stripping ect ect. Spend a year or so and find what works for me and get the best from the still I buy and work up to experimenting with washes, adding cirtus, oak shavings and the like.

Saw a nice still on some Australian sites Pure Distilling make a nice reflux still called the "Spirit Maker"...a lot of thought went in to the name although I do question the claim that says "automatic temperature control - virtually runs itself"

I'm on the look out for a good starter still, the copperhead being locally made seems like the way to go.

This forum has been so useful as has the parent site, in saying that, there is a a lot of information to take in, lucky my job allows me the odd hour or two a day for "research"

[NZChris]

Welcome to the forum. I can't be much help with off the shelf stuff, cos I built mine before any of those companies existed and haven't felt a need to upgrade/downgrade my hardware to their latest offerings.

Enjoy your journey

Chris

[InglisHill]

Copperheads use rubber bungs to seal the lynearm to the condenser. Solder it up rather.

I don't much like them myself, but then, I am biased. Don't trust a word I say.

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

There is a guy on trade me from katikati that sells good stills. Check him out.

[Richie_T]

There is a guy on trade me from katikati that sells good stills. Check him out.

Anyone know this guy in Katikati ? Or his contact details ?

[NZChris]

PM InglisHill

[InglisHill]

Yup, I know the bloke

[Richie_T]

I'll PM him now.

While I'm at it, I have considered building my own too, I can fix an aircraft, I'm sure I can build a still.

Any advice..from Kiwi's...where to find a good supply of copper pipe, found a few tube suppliers.

Thinking of a Boka with a 50mm column width and height depending on the cost of pipe.

The Boka looks straight forward to make, I know a few metal workers that can help with the condenser coils and any soldering.

The more I look at contributors designs the more I want to build one...lots of shinny copper...

[InglisHill]

I tell you, you will ALWAYS get more satisfaction from building your own and running it rather than having one built for you.

Scrap dealers are the way to go when you are building for yourself, they have a bounty of various bits and peices. There are only a few suppliers of stainless in NZ, depending on where you go you need an account or cash sales are real expensive.

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

Scrap yards are the best. I got a keg and 1.5m of 50mm copper tube for $80

[Stillernz]

I've only heard good things Bout the copperhead stills, he used to be the manufacturer of t500s before they were outsourced to china.

[Richie_T]

I've only heard good things Bout the copperhead stills, he used to be the manufacturer of t500s before they were outsourced to china.

Will stare clear of the T500's knowing they are made in China, nothing against Chinese made goods, but I'm the type to support local industry where I can.

[InglisHill]

What are you trying to make, vodka, rum?

That will have an influence on the type of still you are looking for

[Richie_T]

A bit if both really, but if I had to choose I'd say rum, but with a reflux I could simply use flavouring to get what I wanted ?

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

If you build a boka. You can make vodka then detune it and make rum.

[HDNB]

A bit if both really, but if I had to choose I'd say rum, but with a reflux I could simply use flavouring to get what I wanted ?

don't think about adding "essence" flavour to make a rhum or whiskey... the store bought shit is awful. if you are going to add to a neutral do kahlua or cherry pantydropper or some such... use your mash/wash to carry the whiskey and rhum flavours!