How did you start?

[stillin]

Spent years trying to get good shine and every time some one gave me "good shine" it was the most rancid crap I ever put in my mouth, like ass in a bottle. Don't ask how I know what that taste like. So I figured if you want something done right do it yourself. That's when I found HD, got setup and now I know what good shine taste like.

[heartcut]

Great quote from your Dad, Stillin.

[scuba stiller]

Pear trees matured 4 or 5 years ago. Ran out of storage space for the wine. Googled "making pear brandy" and found this site. After more than a year of active study, built the first still; 1" X 5' on a 10gal SS pot. Mrs. SCUBA encourages this hobby to keep me busy at something I truly love doing.

[IrishEnigma]

None of my stories are as cool as your guys'. I'm only 24, no family history of making any alcohol of any sort. Love whiskey and came up with the idea I wanted to make my own some day. After countless hours of reading, I ended up reading more,.and more, and finally I read some more. I think I've been reading for a couple years now.

It wasn't up until a few months ago a friend of mine had brought some shine up from NC. Peach shine. I was in disbelief that it was a decent product. Tasted really fruity, had no kick, tasted like it was more fruit than anything. That's what pushed me to make a still and make my own alcohol. I want to show my buddy what I'm capable of making, and enjoying my own spirit, trying all the different flavors and recipes of this hobby.

My buddy from NC has brought some more shine up a couple times. Still tasted to fruity and no kick. Last couple times there was a slice of peach in each jar. I ate them and that's the only trace of decent alcohol I got out of it.

Looking forward to the hobby though. So close to doing my first batch of UJSSM. My wife and I both want to try different things then eventually make our own recipe.

[PhatFil]

I found this place too late, ive been brewing beers for over 30yrs.. last year i finished upgrading my brewkit to a upto 80l final gravity volume (4 x 20l kegs). the inaugural brew wasn't the best im still maturing it with hope, but before christmass came up with the brainstorm to still it for spirits.. a quick google told me all i needed to know (OH YEAH??) and ebay provided me with an off the shelf CM reflux tool... which couldnt run in potstill mode, hmmmm perhaps i hadn't read up enough??

NOW im slowly learning how not to solder while i make a total mess of a boka build.. and enjoying both the research i didnt do before and the build immensely..

when finished i bet my boka will have had the most man hours put into it 99% of which has been cleaning off the bad blobby solder drips .. last night re-reading some of the soldering info ive bookmarked it dawned on me the 20 yr old pot of dirty ol (on the approved list) flux ive been using might perhaps not be doing as well as it should.. HA- luvvin it ...

[T-Pee]

I notice nobody has mentioned being influenced by "The Show".

I attend a week-long event in Georgia occasionally and folk from NC show up with a case of jars in the motorhome to share around the campfire every evening after dinner. It's always a highlight and got my interest in home distilling cuz it tasted so darned good and everyone always looked forward to it.

Yes, I enjoyed watching the dummies on "Moonshiners" every week but now it's to critique what they do. It did reignite my interest but I also know what kind of inherent dangers the hobby has. While at a friend's place I noticed a copper water heater liner in a junk pile and managed to talk said friend out of it if I'd just haul it away. In the meantime, I found this place and read until my eyes bled which resulted in my making some good stuff without killing myself in the process.

Thanks, HD!

tp

[Drunken Unicorn]

Didn't really drink in college. My father talked about wanting to make whisky. I decided to learn as much as I could. After sampling and drinking a lot of Scotch and whisky, found out the brand ambassadors don't really know much. A couple years go by and I discover my father wasn't talking out his ass. He bought and memorized a ton of books on home distilling and starting a distillery.

The one thing he needed was a final push. Needed someone to get him a still or help him make one. We live pretty far apart, so I bought one from a classified and made mine with help from this great forum. He's experimenting with corn whiskeys and I've become infatuated with Rums. Not sure if him and I will ever open a family distillery, but we have bonded more now in this past year of distilling then any other time.


-Unicorn

****Update: Another reason I got into this hobby. My father raised me to think, "If you don't like how someone else is doing something, do it yourself." Many of the rums on the shelves kind of suck, so I thought, "I can do better!" Then I built 2 thumpers...

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

My dad and grandad have been distilling for years. Always been interested in doing it myself too. Both of them use turbo (yuck) for a simple sugar wash and a store bought reflux still. Not bad results. But not to flash either. Neither of them make any cuts, just toss fores. I always wondered if I could make a better drop if I was driving the still. Started doing some research about it but it slowly lost pace. I moved out of home, got married, and now got a little girl. Recently started talking with a friend at work about it so thought I would try give it a go again. Been reading lots, and starting to gather materials to build my first still.

Looking froward to making my first batch.

[T-Pee]

Looking froward to making my first batch.

And showing your elders up. You aren't kidding me.

tp

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

Yup. That's the plan. Haha. They both just make neutral and add store bought flavors. It's quite hard to drink by itself, even diluting half and half with water.