New to this forum

[Van Stiller]

Hi all.

Firstly thank you for accepting my registration. It took me a while but finally found a place to call home

I live in NZ and have been stiller for a little while but still consider myself a novice. I stumbled upon this site in my quest for more and more trustworthy knowledge, not the bullshit found on YouTube and other wannaby sites.
I'm not a big fan of reading but the info on here will be worth it

I look forward to hopefully connect with some others from NZ too.

Cheers

[MooseMan]

Welcome to the forum Van.

You'll find quite a few NZ distillers here, amongst a right motley crew from all around the globe.

Avid reader or not, you'll enjoy it here.

Moose

[bilgriss]

Welcome! Glad you found the forum.

There's so much good information here it's well worth the effort.

[SW_Shiner]

Welcome aboard. Theres plenty of us Kiwis hiding around here.
What sort of spirits are you mostly making? and what kind of still are you running?

[Van Stiller]

Welcome aboard. Theres plenty of us Kiwis hiding around here.
What sort of spirits are you mostly making? and what kind of still are you running?

Thak you SW Shiner, also thanks to everyone for the warm welcomes.

So I have actually been using my still for the last 20 odd years but ashamedly been doing sugar mash and flavoring after distilling. I say ashamedly cause I do personally feel it has been cheating but in saying that I have been able to make some great tasting whiskey's after aging them.

I have attached a photo of my still.

All that aside last year I did a feijoa wash which turned out amazing and since then I am very keen to learn how to make more the original way especially whiskey's..

[Yummyrum]

Welcome van stiller

LOL , that was my first still too , the Still spirits “Reflux Still” with the single marble in it . Hee hee , I could only afford the 5 litre boiler at the time , but after having to do 5 runs a week , the finance minister agreed and I ended up with the boiler like yours .

Good onya for joining , hope you learn heaps .

Some important things I learned here was that the rubber bung where the Thermometer goes is not a great idea as it can be degraded by the solvents in our distilling .

Also I always wondered why the plastic hose on the output would keep going all cloudy . Apparently it is also due to the solvents .
I figured I was drinking that shit and replaced the rubber bung with a natural cork and stuck a short length if copper pipe on the output spiggot ( wrapped in teflon tape so it would push on there )

One thing this forum is strong on is safety .

[Van Stiller]

Thanks Yummyrum.

This still definitely seen a good number of washes go through it,. Thanks for the tips, Ive been vigilant in replacing the little output hose regularly but will definitely look into a copper replacement, also i never even thought about the rubber bung, which will be getting replace with cork this week.

[SW_Shiner]

Man seeing that still is a blast from the past. My Dad ran many a sugar wash through one of them when i was a kid.

[Van Stiller]

Yeah real quick and easy for sugar wash