Hello from an accidental distiller

[Poitín Sue]

Hello- I've been reading a lot, learning a little and enjoying the recipes....but struggling with builds and understanding stills etc. I'm a poor reader, more of a visual learner who relies heavily on not learning from catastrophic screw-ups...in most walks of life.
I got into distilling by accident. My bastard of a life partner cleared off with some floozy leaving me with a load of debt, kids, a falling down money pit of a hole of a house and an unused kit, one that he got me to buy him- the still spirits stuff that everyone here hates- t500 column and the pot still.
I've made a load of stuff but I've 4 main recipes- ujssm, a tsffv which I make with a oats/wheat/barley/rye museli base, a sort of pineapple sugar rum and odins rye bread whiskey...which I love so much I'd nearly forgive the bastard of an ex - since he left me the still, even though I paid for it.
You people are great. You scare me so much because you know so much. But I want to go all grain and I think i really want to build a ccvm ...because the still spirits pot still is pants. So basically I need you to hold my hand- I'm so confused
(I'd actually rather buy the ccvm, I've enough to do....but the money pit is calling...!)

[Saltbush Bill]

Welcome aboard Sue, stick around and you will learn plenty. For that matter it seems that you already have.
Of the HBS off the shelf stills the T500 is one of the better ones , so don't give up on it.
If you have both the Pot head and reflux column there is not much you cant make.
A cheap power controller would be of benefit when running in pot mode.
Anyway this isnt the place for Q and A......plenty of folk will help out if you ask in other areas of the forum.

[Poitín Sue]

Thanks, I like the column but the pot just takes too much water for my supply. I'm maybe wrong in thinking that a bigger condenser would hold more water and do more cooling

[Wildcats]

Welcome to HD. Nice introduction. It's all here. You in the right place. Have fun.

[Bolverk]

Welcome aboard

[Poitín Sue]

Welcome aboard

Much appreciated

[The Baker]

Welcome aboard Sue, stick around and you will learn plenty. For that matter it seems that you already have.
Of the HBS off the shelf stills the T500 is one of the better ones , so don't give up on it.
If you have both the Pot head and reflux column there is NOT much you can't make.
A cheap power controller would be of benefit when running in pot mode.
Anyway this isnt the place for Q and A......plenty of folk will help out if you ask in other areas of the forum.

A typo I think, Bill.

Geoff

[Bradster68]

Welcome to the club . Sounds like you can handle anything life can throw your way. Making AGs will be a breeze with our help

[jonnys_spirit]

Welcome to HD Accidental Sue and sláinte!

-jonny

[8Ball]

Welcome Aboard! You’ve come to the right place. Looking forward to seeing you post your very own all grain Poitin recipe.

[MooseMan]

Yeah, sounds to me like you've proven you can handle pretty much anything life throws at you Sue, so I think you'll boss it.

Go ahead and start asking in the right sections and you'll get plenty of help.

[Poitín Sue]

Thanks for all the kind words. I suppose the first ag should be a typical Irish whiskey effort....I suppose that's what most poitin was back in the day? Then again ii haven't thought about it much.
There does seem to be some sort of potin club nearby.....they don't seem to have a website though...?

[zach]

Here's an old recipe for poitin I found yesterday, after seeing your name in a post.

For 30 gallons, they malted 3/4 bags of oats on page 194, with an option to use 2 stone of sugar on page 195.

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5070770/5061147

Not sure how many bags, but I usually shoot for 2 to 2.5 lbs of grain per gallon of water. Malting your own grain adds another level of complexity to the process. Many of us less ambitious still hands use synthetic enzymes to convert raw grain rather than malting or paying for malted grains.

[Poitín Sue]

Here's an old recipe for poitin I found yesterday, after seeing your name in a post.

For 30 gallons, they malted 3/4 bags of oats on page 194, with an option to use 2 stone of sugar on page 195.

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5070770/5061147

Not sure how many bags, but I usually shoot for 2 to 2.5 lbs of grain per gallon of water. Malting your own grain adds another level of complexity to the process. Many of us less ambitious still hands use synthetic enzymes to convert raw grain rather than malting or paying for malted grains.

Thanks zach...I'd say that would be a very smooth sip?

[Poitín Sue]

Here's an old recipe for poitin I found yesterday, after seeing your name in a post.

For 30 gallons, they malted 3/4 bags of oats on page 194, with an option to use 2 stone of sugar on page 195.

https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5070770/5061147

Not sure how many bags, but I usually shoot for 2 to 2.5 lbs of grain per gallon of water. Malting your own grain adds another level of complexity to the process. Many of us less ambitious still hands use synthetic enzymes to convert raw grain rather than malting or paying for malted grains.

"Don't get drunk and when you have it complete take a little to the tester."

I might struggle with this recipe

[zach]

Thanks zach...I'd say that would be a very smooth sip?

Yes. I'm tempted to give it a try, but don't have a suitable floor to dry the malt. Some here use a sack in the clothes dryer to dry malt , but I'm not that brave, as I would never hear the end of it if something went wrong.

Welcome to the forum !

[Saltbush Bill]

but the pot just takes too much water for my supply. I'm maybe wrong in thinking that a bigger condenser would hold more water and do more cooling

You could partly get around that problem by having a small pump and recycling the water, cheaper than a still upgrade I would think.