Jambo Habari to all.

[Resasi]

First started producing alcohol in Libya in the late 60's. I arrived as Col Ghadaffi took over from King Idris, then banned alcohol. I began by making beer and wine, while steering clear of 'Flash' which some people made. I was pretty amateur and it was pretty rough.

After three years deciding that I had had enough and went back to Kenya where it was freely available, and, tasted much better than mine. I was flying for the local airline and in 1976 the three states of Kenya Uganda and Tanzania broke up the East African Community they had inherited from the British closed East African Airways and began their own airlines. I found a job in Jeddah Saudi Arabia.

I went back into brewing and began producing some pretty reasonable beers and wines before becoming interested in home distillation. 'The Blue Flame; produced by ARAMCO for its employees was my first primer.
http://www.expats.org.uk/features/alcoh ... flame.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I began with an 18 Lt pot still and had good results producing (Sidiqi) various spirits and liquors over the next few years before I then decided to design myself a cracking column and cutting down on the time consuming 2 day 4 runs I was having to do. I did so but just as I was finished I lost my kidneys, my licence and my job, and no it was not due to my hooch, but a very bad flu that was complicated by pneumonia and the beginning of organ shutdown.

It is now been a few years since that all happened and am now up and around again. A friend in Kenya and I wish to resurrect my reflux column and begin seeing what we might be able to produce.

The design I came up with and had made for me is now outdated, as sadly I followed the old method of passing cooling lines through the column in an effort to control the temps within the column before product take off. The set-up was of stainless steel and extremely well made as a 'rabbit' by the aircraft maintainance facility I was having the company jet serviced by. I daresay it can be re-modified to improve it and it was with that in mind I joined this Forum.

It appears that there have been huge improvements in all fields since I stopped in 2003 and so look forward to getting back into what was a very enjoyable hobby, with benefits, and to I look forward to meeting and interacting with members along with all the expertise and social benefits that a forum such as this provides.

[bentstick]

Nice intro! And welcome,as far as being different since 03, hell it has changed since I joined last year.
Be safe and enjoy!

[Braz]

That is a very interesting story. Welcome.

[Prairiepiss]

Mzuri sana.
Kenya nchi nzuri

Spent a little over 2 months in Mombasa in the early 90s.

I also hooked up with some ARAMCO guys when in the desert. One made beer the other distilled. Had a very nice thanksgiving dinner with them. Had a few nice drinks. It was a nice short getaway.

Yes there are some improved designs around now. But you can still improve the performance of your cm still you already have. Take a look at the cm mod link in my signature.

Good luck be safe.

[Bayou-Ruler]

welcome to the forum.

[Andy Capp]

Welcome to HD Resasi

[Resasi]

Thank you all for your kind welcome. Yes Kenya is still home though it has changed mightily over the years. I have a place down on the coast between Mombasa and Malindi.

As there is an active brewing community down there I will not be too specific as it is frowned upon. The Changaa, or Pocheen, White Lightning, Flash, Sid, Moonshine that is produced is pretty deadly. Hygine is non existent the brewing vessel generally a rusty old 44 gall drum. Equipment is rudimentary and they have no knowledge of Methanol or it's side effects. There is still wonderment/bewilderment when they have big blow-out parties and the bulk of the party die or are blinded. Witchcraft being cited as a common cause for the aftermath.

Prairiepiss I most certainly will. I have only just started digging my stuff out and am looking for my plans to see exactly how I rigged up that center section in the reflux column in order to see what we can do about changing it.

Our present priority is to make ourselves a boiler. I am looking at modifying a 7.5 gall Keg, or a milk churn. On either of these I will be looking to put in a couple of heating elements with one that we can control the temp of the mash having got it up to the boil. I think we may try to put a tap on it to enable us to drain off the spent remains.

This last item due to my pie-balled right foot. I had returned from a game of squash and was closing down a three hour run on my 18 Lt Pressure cooker. Having removed it from the hot plate I was balancing it on the bathroom bidet when I became distracted. It overbalance and spillt over my foot. The thick sports socks held the boiling liquid nicely. I spent some painful months as the skin sloughed off. Lots of pain blisters and memories. The booze however was just great.

We used to have a guy who brought in Bourbon Barrel chips, (BBQ chips to Saudi Customs) and I had a huge great Demijohn with these in the bottom. Sidiqi was left to age in this and we would draw off and top up continuously giving us a wonderful smooth and very mellow 'Brown Sid'. Delicious distinctive and hangeoverproof. Those were the days, but they did end sadly.

Thanks again and looking forward to learning lots.