Botanical basket - T500 saddles - bit confused . . . . .

[Fincheeei1]

I just bought a Botanical basket for my T500 and I'm a bit confused about the saddles.

Ive removed the Stainless steel saddle and placed the Botanical Basket in its place.

It's just the wording saddles , implying there are more then one ? !!

Anyone ? !!!!

I can only see the one that needs removing ,

[Saltbush Bill]

The saddles I have seen in a t500 are small and the column is full of them.
For the record you don't need a gin basket to make good gin.
Learn to make a quality neutral first, then just add the neutral along with desired botanicals back to the boiler.
You can make or buy a small pot still head to run on the t500 boiler for that part of the process.
Your other post identical to this has been removed. No need to ask twice.

[Fincheeei1]

Thanks for clarifying that.

After carefully reading the instructions I found that the alembic dome just has the one saddle unless I'm mistaken.

Ive started by making a half decent neutral and I'm attempting a type of absinthe which I'll post at a later stage.

Apologies for the double post . . . . . .

[Yummyrum]

After carefully reading the instructions I found that the alembic dome just has the one saddle unless I'm mistaken.

Ive started by making a half decent neutral and I'm attempting a type of absinthe which I'll post at a later stage.

Ummm T500 used to always be a reflux still …. With saddles in the column as packing .

Then in the last few years , they bought out a fancy copper lid for the T500 boiler and called it the Alambic dome . It was a Pot still
not a reflux still . It can cause a bit of confusion .

I am curious where in that alembic still , where are you ment yo insert a single saddle

[Saltbush Bill]

Ive started by making a half decent neutral

Making a half decent neutral won't be easy using a pot still.
An Alembic is only a type of pot, it just sounds fancier.

[Yummyrum]

Ive started by making a half decent neutral

Making a half decent neutral won't be easy using a pot still.
An Alembic is only a type of pot, it just sounds fancier.

That was my thinking too Salty . Alembic Pot stills a great for stripping a wash . but then , if you want to make a neutral , you need to run the stripped wash through the old school T500 reflux still or the likes .

Can’t make a Neutral with a Pot still .

[Reefer1]

Fincheeei1
I started out with aT500, when i figured it out done some runs and got comfotable ballacing the temperature and so on, got a good neutral wash recipe and got a half decent neutral spirit, that's when i thought about making gin, i ended up buying a airstill basically because you can make a bottle at a time if it turns out unpalattable not so much to drink or redistill they are a great experimenting tool, your dome will work good with the gin basket, just be aware you may need to get a power controller for the boiler otherwise it will run a bit too fast.
Have a great NY

[Fincheeei1]

Okay , so my next purchase will be a voltage controller and then I'll buy a reflux column by the end of this month.

Ive really taken a shine to this hobby , it's really good fun. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Thanks , everyone , for all of the pointers and advice , it is much appreciated

[Reefer1]

Okay , so my next purchase will be a voltage controller and then I'll buy a reflux column by the end of this month.

Ive really taken a shine to this hobby , it's really good fun. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Thanks , everyone , for all of the pointers and advice , it is much appreciated

Fincheeei1
Just out of interest, if you bought a t500 you should have a reflux column that comes with it out of the box.

[SW_Shiner]

Going by whats been said in this thread, he didn't buy a t500. he got the alembic done on the t500 boiler. I purchased the boiler separately (no column or dome) and it still says t500 on the box. I think that may be where the confusion has stemmed from.

Edited to add pic

[Reefer1]

Ye, understood, SW. Not clear on the post.

[SW_Shiner]

Yeah, still not clear on what the "saddle" they removed actually is.

[Reefer1]

I think it may be the big nut that holds the column / dome condenser onto the lid.

[Fincheeei1]

I think it may be the big nut that holds the column / dome condenser onto the lid.

Yeah , that's correct - I'm just getting used to the terminology . . . . .

[Fincheeei1]

Okay , so my next purchase will be a voltage controller and then I'll buy a reflux column by the end of this month.

Ive really taken a shine to this hobby , it's really good fun. I'm enjoying it a lot.

Thanks , everyone , for all of the pointers and advice , it is much appreciated

Fincheeei1
Just out of interest, if you bought a t500 you should have a reflux column that comes with it out of the box.

I did , in fact , buy the kit with the alembic dome. I didn't realise there was another still with the same name or I would have made the distinction.

I think I'm going to buy their reflux column for neutrals

[Saltbush Bill]

The rules keep changing with these things, once upon a time the boiler came complete with reflux column only.
The entire kit was sold as a "T500" from my experience.
My son bought one of these about 13 years ago, and that is what lead me to being here today.
Boilers , reflux columns and Alembic / pot sill heads all seem to be sold separately theseday which is what leads to the confusion.
When us older distillers read T500 we automatically assume reflux still T500.

[MarkChap]

Not just you older blokes Salty, I am very new to this and I always think of the Reflux column when someone says T500,

Makes it hard when Still Spirits label all parts of the system now as T500

[Reefer1]

Ye, when i bought mine the T500 still kit was a boiler and reflux column, and the copper dome and condenser where a seperate part. As was the gin basket.
It's good you can get all the components seperately now, i use the T500 boiler as my main boiler but with my own columns if it goes pop i can get a new one.

[Fincheeei1]

I bought the voltage controller so I'm ready to try a spirit run this week

I ran Teds Fast Fermenting vodka and even though it won't be a true neutral I enjoyed the taste of another similar recipe in my pot still.

I'm buying the reflux column in just under two weeks and I'm fairly set on the T500 , it looks very good

Thanks again for the advice , it's helped me moving forward

[Saltbush Bill]

Think hard before you buy the T500 reflux head, ,,,,I'd be looking at a similar reflux head based on the slant plate design and marketed as the " alcoengine".
It could be marketed under more than one name , but it's easier to use and produces a high abv spirit of equivalent quality or better.
It runs a very similar boiler which can also be adapted to fit a pot still.

[Yummyrum]

Think hard before you buy the T500 reflux head, ,,,,I'd be looking at a similar reflux head based on the slant plate design and marketed as the " alcoengine".
It could be marketed under more than one name , but it's easier to use and produces a high abv spirit of equivalent quality or better.
It runs a very similar boiler which can also be adapted to fit a pot still.

Agree Salty . Would be so much easier to run . No stuffing around with coolant flow management .
And the alcoengine can pull 95% whereas the T500 is closer to 93%


https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/16470795880 ... 1LEALw_wcB

Also sold as Pure distilling .

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/23547010103 ... kvEALw_wcB

These are also 2”
Columns whereas the T500 is only 1.5” IIRC .