Hello from Panama

[policedog1]

Hello, I am a retired Military guy/ Pilot who has decided to retire (the wife says part time lol ) in Panama. I have a couple of cabins near the beach and a small , brand new still near Las Tablas Panama. I am as new to this as you could possible be. I have this dream of opening a micro- distillery one day here in Panama! I am watching , reading and writing notes on mostly you tube channels "barley and hops" "still it" and others in hopes of being good student. Id like to reach out to some of the members here and ask technical questions and recipes. Yall as we say are invited to come visit! Not sure if we can post our personal E mail here, but i could sure use some help with my equipment design ideas- remember were not in Kansas Dorothy, I will probably have to build most anything I need. Dave

[Corsaire]

Aww man, living the life. Hope I can retire in the carribean someday as well
What are you planning to make? I know there's a panamese rum I like .
You'll find there are a lot of builders here, and they like helping people out with good advice.

Welcome, and best of luck with that distillery dream!

[policedog1]

the flavors here are all over the map....mango....pineapple.....tamarindo, you name it , it grows.....suprising no apples...very few grapes....great coffee....i guess it would be nice to invite someone down who has a Macgyver spirit, and lots of experience in this field- there are no Lowes or home depots....lots of metal craftsmen....a couple even stainless steel guys.....we have to build everything from scratch ......its fun....honestly at night I try to have a compfire every night just to unwind...40 cent beers make it easy....lol....have you been distilling for a while? know any good recipes?

[Corsaire]

A while, yes, not very much though. I'm away for work a lot.
I live in Belgium, so grains are easy to get. I've only made whisky, genever and gin so far. I'd love to do an apple brandy someday. Planted a couple of apple trees, I'm planning ahead
I love rum. But I'm a snob I guess, I don't want to make rum from sugar. I might have a lead on bulk molasses so come summer time I want to make a big batch of rum. It's too cold for bakers yeast to do its thing around here atm.
Check out the tried and true forum and the recipe development. A lot of good stuff in there.
I hear you on the lowes and home depot. Copper tubing here is rare and expensive.
I'm making my new column from stainless steel that a welder had left over from building a railing for stairs. Boiler is an old beer keg, like so many here have put one to good use. Look around, you're bound to find something.
As for mcgyvers, take a look at the build threads here. There's some crafty people on this forum who might give you an idea or two

[Black Hearts]

Heeeey, greetings! I live in Panama too, Bocas. Where about are you?

[HDNB]

damn, i wish i could get away...i need flying lessons, you need distilling help...we could have a lot of fun.