Home Distiller

So, finally got my controller from the elec engineer mate. Its all very purty and looks very professional. kinda makes me feel regret that I've upgraded my still to a keg + propane... Any kiwis use electric kegs, or does the 2.4KW max thing make you stick with propane for the grunt? I'm thinking about having a propane keg for stripping, and a electric for the spirit runs. Shame to let the controller go to waste...

kiwi

kiwistiller wrote:So, finally got my controller from the elec engineer mate. Its all very purty and looks very professional. kinda makes me feel regret that I've upgraded my still to a keg + propane... Any kiwis use electric kegs, or does the 2.4KW max thing make you stick with propane for the grunt? I'm thinking about having a propane keg for stripping, and a electric for the spirit runs. Shame to let the controller go to waste...

kiwi

If NZ is the same as Australia it is a routine matter to get your electrician to install a heavy duty 15 amp outlet. Make sure your connection electric cord is also rated for the 15 amps, with a wide-earth-pin plug. This setup will handle 3600 watts rather than the 2400 watts for a standard 10 amp outlet.

Australia and NZ use the same electrical wiring rules manual.

The Baker wrote: If NZ is the same as Australia it is a routine matter to get your electrician to install a heavy duty 15 amp outlet. Make sure your connection electric cord is also rated for the 15 amps, with a wide-earth-pin plug. This setup will handle 3600 watts rather than the 2400 watts for a standard 10 amp outlet.

Sound advice... But I'm a poor postgrad student who lives in other people's houses who generally are unaware of my hobby yet another reason to buy a house I guess.

kiwi

kiwistiller wrote:Rude boy, I have dug up the photos and the name of the plant I was talking about. it's called Horopito. here's some thats not completely... ripe? the leaves haven't gone as red as they go.

P6010169a.JPG

I reckon this would be a good component for bitters.

KS

How funny. Last year (roughly about the same time that this post was last active...)i steeped some Horopito in 50% ethanol and then redistilled it in a small benchtop glass setup I have, just to see what would happen. The result is quite interesting. The first "taste" you get is the warmth from the ethanol, but as that dies down the warmth from the pepper comes through, creating a very long warm sensation that blends between the two 'heat' modes.
I thought the heat from distilling would kill the heat from the polygodials, much in the same way that frying curry paste does, but it held up quite well.

I was in the Kaimanawa's over easter, I've grabbed some Horopito to experiement with. I'll dry the leaves I think. looking forward to seeing how it goes in gin.

How about fijoa? Not sure if its native but it would frment great! and tastes amazing. I once had a vodka mixed with fijoa pulp. mmmmm

Blacksheep wrote:How about fijoa? Not sure if its native but it would frment great! and tastes amazing. I once had a vodka mixed with fijoa pulp. mmmmm

I always make a batch of Feijoa cider every winter, and if the wort goes south, I strip it to make feijoa schnapps. Awful stuff before you add the sugar, great once you've added a good whack of sugar tho.
I finally ended up making my own AC power attenuator a few months back. After buying a few old 1kW light dimmers and looking at them timidly, I went to surplustronics at the top of Queen St in Auckland and bough a $14 bulb dimmer kit. After reading a blog where a guy had made a coffee roaster http://www.toomuchcoffee.com/index.php? ... 7117013889 of the same power rating as what I needed (1.5kW) by merely replacing the triac in a lower rated circuit with a higher rated one (he also replaced the lower rated indutor, a part which is only necessary to stop interference with TV receptions etc - which the $14 kit circuit didn't have anyway). The replacement Triac cost me another coupla bucks, bought a 10A fuse and soldered the lot together housing it in an old metal box that housed a simmerstat that I had lying around.
Being safety conscious and a first timer to making any electrical kits let alone anything using mails power, I plugged it into the wall and got my old man to touch it with a multi-meter, and then with the back of his hand, then plugged a 60W bulb into it and tested - working fine, then with the still for a prolonged period - again working perfectly with the metal box sinking away the heat from the triac fine. It does drop off suddenly at one point in the sweep of the control pot, and I will prolly add a trim pot later, but as of now I can find the sweet spot for a nice slow pot run, so it'll be easy enough to find the same spot when I use my column too.

Next project - Malt kiln/Smoke house and a 200L all wheat wash - sweeeet as.

Malt kiln, eh? That sounds like a cool project. You're in Auckland, right? We should catch up for a drink some time.

Check out my photobucket link in my new and improved signature. just to give you guys an idea of my mickey mouse improvised techniques. Aside from malting more feed, I'm currently about 70% off finishing an electric keg boiler which I plan on using as a tun/wort boiler/still kettle. I'll keep adding pics now I've finally gotten around to etting up a host for pics. it's quater to 4 in the morning and I'm halfway through a slivovitch run... yay

I know this topic is pretty old, but I am also loking for that NZ made taste am gonna try toasted manuka Never thought of it before. I assume for the manuka you would split some old dry branches and char them?
I have tried Kauri, my mate got a 20l keg made from Kauri (agathis australis) after due time ageing in the keg the neutral spirit tasted really astringent and remaniscent of kauri gum.it was a nice yellowish colour and we managed to drink the lot but it wasnt really a success.

Hey mate, I reckon Manuka requires a really soft touch eh. Select heartwood if you can. Toasted or charred... You'll need to experiment. please report back though! If it's not really old dry wood I'd suggest a nice low temp kilning for a while first though - hold it at 100C ish for a couple of hours to help dry it out without imparting much toast, then either take it out and char or ramp the temp to toasting levels. Better would be to just used well dried wood.

I reckon you'd be better off to use manuka in the spirit as a "finishing cask" after oaking to add a gentle touch of manuka or as a charcoal filter - turn it to charcoal, grind, and filter the spirit through that after you've made cuts before oaking. I've only ended up with overly manuka spirits from using it as a main aging wood. A little goes a long way.

Also, a shoutout to kiwis, if you want to harvest kawakawa berries for gin, they're getting ripe but still green (at least in wellington they are) so it's the perfect time if you still want that pungent leaf flavour in a gin or something.

Going to be smoking some pale malt with Pohutukawa wood shortly and experimenting with it in both a Bock and a kiwi smoked whisky. fun fun, hopefully that distinctive smell (salty seaside smoke?) comes through.

I was up at one of the old Dalmatian Vineyards today, Looking at one of the huge old bulk wine barrels and talking B.S with the owner turns out that Totara was the wood of choice for oaking wine before vineyards started importing used burbon barrels. Unfortunately these Totara barrels are huge. so Podocarpus totara (tōtara) might be an oaking timber worth trying.
Also was guided to this research on NZ timbers for oaking wines
http://aut.researchgateway.ac.nz/handle/10292/2559" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Full thesis here
http://aut.researchgateway.ac.nz/bitstr ... sequence=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Acknowlegements: Kaushal, Mona

I have just been gifted some Rata,

Smells awesome when burning on the fire and has a lovely smell fresh.

I was wondering if anyone had used it charred before, I thought it wood (heh) be nice in a maltexo type whisky I am doing

Rata and pohutakawa are closely related, the article in the previous post has some research on pohutakawa for oaking.
I haven't tried either but give it a go with the rata and let us know the results.
Maltexo whiskey is a great idea

Well the Rata is in the goods

I shall let you know how it turns out......... in like a year or so

aliced wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2013 7:58 pm Well the Rata is in the goods

I shall let you know how it turns out......... in like a year or so

how did it turn out?

Aliced hasn’t been on here since 2013 Mate