opinion of whiskeystills.net stills

[iamatt]

Hello,

I was looking at getting a traditional pot still from whiskeystills.net located in Texas. The reflux stills do not really intrigue me that much (yet). I'm looking to make bourbons and flavored whiskeys over 190 proof knock out juice..

Their stills look pretty nice on their site but was curious about functionality as well as where they are made? They look like the copper stills on ebay. I hope I'm not going to ruffle any feathers by asking for opinions on a particular company. I did do a search for their name on the boards before I posted but did not get any results. Thanks alot for any info.

re,

MB

[buckwild1]

for 190 proof your gonna need to go with a reflux system. Pots will get you in the 120-160 proof range.

[jholmz]

There are at least a half dozen sites that sell the same line of products as still drinkin. I think they are all the same people. They all do the same scam, take your money and you never hear from them again. If you do you just one excuse after the other and you still don't receive your order. The excuse I got from Jack was that his daughter had moved back home and had bedbugs and they had to move out of their house. The second was he had to pick up more shipping boxes. When you complain the first time they block your name and phone number so it goes to another numbers voice mail that is always full so you can't leave a message. Crooks from the word go. Some of the other sites - moonshinestillinc, bootleggerstills, turbostomper, distillingschool and a couple of more I can't remember. Check out who ever you are planning to deal with good before you do.

dont know about them personally but this didnt sound good
heres another from same poster

quote="lmemarine"]Kind of an odd coincedence after the post I placed Saturday night about crooked websites that I got a e-mail today (after 6 weeks) from Jack at Moonshinestillsinc saying that my order had shipped and had a usps.com tracking number with it. Itried to track the number and usps says they can't track it through their site. Thats the same thing that happened with the first number he sent me 6 wks ago. both are apparently fake #'s. I sent a reply to the e-mail I got today about it and he replied back that he would have to check on it when he went to the shop tomorrow(same as last time). His phone # 303-719-5040 (Colorado) his associate at distillingschool is Shirley and also Bootleggerstill.com and who knows how many others. Will be lucky if I hear from him again. Be careful if you do business with them. [/quote

[blind drunk]

Looks similar to these stills -

http://www.copper-alembic.com/index.php?lang=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[JYBC2009]

Interesting, has anyone ordered from them before? Nice looking pots if legit.

[Sabatour]

I was looking at them as well. I sent two emails asking the length of the copper used in the worm and got zero response.

Anyone else?

[rad14701]

That link currently goes to a musical flute site, if that is any indication as to how legit they might be... Or it might just be a DNS resolution issue... As I recall, it used to appear as though the stills were made over the border in Mexico, but I could be wrong...

[JYBC2009]

I believe he meant http://www.whiskeystill.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow With out the plural S, if I had to guess, they are ordering from over sea's and reselling

[Uncle Jemima]

I noticed it says their stills make cognac. I thought cognac was brandy distilled from a grape wine/must from grapes grown in a specific region in France. Is that not correct? I guess technically if you can get those grapes or wine made from those grapes then you could make cognac.

They are good looking pots. Too bad it's so hard to know who you can or can't trust when it comes to this hobby.

[Rivver]

I have to say Mile-Hi is a no BS company. I ordered my still from them when I first started. Said it could take 30-45 days to get it to me and it did, but it did arrive, and IMO is an excellent still. Also, their products are easy to work with if you decide to build a different column later on down the line like I have. I've also ordered several other products from them, and they all show up quickly if in stock. Good reputable company.

[Uncle Jemima]

Agree Rivver. I ordered a tri-clamp from them and a plastic cap for covering my keg when not in use. Shipped fast. That's a pretty minor purchase though. Sure the builds and bigger stuff would naturally take longer. I'd vouch for them based on the one small buy though.

[okie]

My brother lives in Houston. I'll ask him to check them out. I think they are Texas made. Just my opinion.

[iamatt]

I have had some chatter with the owner over the last week or so but it was very hit and miss. Now that I am thinking about it (and I live in Houston proper) I'm going to pull trigger on mile hi hybrid still. Even if whiskey still net guys are legit the lack of email response is not sitting well and last thing I feel like doing is hunting down some folks who owe me money, even worse if we live in the same town If I am wrong I sincerely apologize but that is just my gut feeling and 500 bucks is alot of $$ to me to go around taking chances.

Thanks guys.

[JYBC2009]

Meh, I'll be the goat and give it a try. Ordered a 10gal. will let you know how the experience goes. Cross your fingers

[skeeterbite]

I ordered one from them on Feb.5. Their site said that it was out of stock and would be back ordered,
so I expected it to take a while.

They never returned my calls or emails and I finally started to worry after four weeks and
initiated a dispute with Paypal for fear I had been taken. I originally paid them with Paypal.
The very next day I got a returned email from Jason and a call from their PR person.
One week later it was in my hands.

I just received it today, 3/14/2013.

It is as good as the pictures on their site. I am very happy with their quality.
I can't wait to do the vinegar clean and throw away run of some old rice wine.

Skeeterbite

[blind drunk]

Glad it worked out for you but I hate threat based customer service.

[skeeterbite]

Glad it worked out for you but I hate threat based customer service.

I do too. I was really getting worried that I had lost my money.
They should make a better effort to communicate if they are running behind.

[kwozzie]

I have had one of these stills I got as a scratch and dent. It has a tiny little dent on the crease between the round sides and flat bottom on the pot. Other than the little dent, it looks just like the pictures on the website. The stills are made in Portugal and they are shipped to a freight forwarder who just happens to be located in Houston. Jayson brings them over by the shipping container load. I personally saw stacks of boxes of brand new stills in the Houston warehouse.

I have had good results so far. Been getting around 55% abv doing stripping runs on UJSSM. Got 79% abv on spirit runs. The likker I got out of first spirit run totally amazed me. I would never have thought I could do this. Thanks to all the contributors on this site.

Kwozzie

[keithw]

I ordered one from them on Feb.5. Their site said that it was out of stock and would be back ordered,
so I expected it to take a while.

They never returned my calls or emails and I finally started to worry after four weeks and
initiated a dispute with Paypal for fear I had been taken. I originally paid them with Paypal.
The very next day I got a returned email from Jason and a call from their PR person.
One week later it was in my hands.

I just received it today, 3/14/2013.

It is as good as the pictures on their site. I am very happy with their quality.
I can't wait to do the vinegar clean and throw away run of some old rice wine.

Skeeterbite

I ordered one from them on February 7th and received it on March 16th. Jason was only delayed for about a week in responding to one of my requests for status. The other two status requests were answered the same day. He must have been taking off during the delayed request.

Anyway, the still is a work of art. The brandy made from homemade wine came out excellent. There were no leaks, except where the swan neck outlout attaches to the condenser. There you are supposed to use flour paste for a temporary seal. I do hate to use such a beautiful assembly, it almost seems criminal.

[Beavercreek]

I ordered the 5 gal and it came was delivered Monday after about a 4-5 week wait. I have done a ton of reading here in the last 4 months, but am a complete rookie and this (full disclosure). I've done two cleaning runs and 3 stripping runs and so far so good. I had 25 gallons of 10% UJSM saved up when the still finally arrived. It starts out pretty consistently at 65%, and I'm collecting just under a gallon per run down to 20%. I've had several people say it's the best moonshine they've had (which isn't saying much based on some of the stuff I've tried), I'm excited to see how the stripping run goes tomorrow.

The pot seals up tight with no "distillers paste". My only complaint would be that the flake stand ( I hope that is the right term) is a little small, and requires a lot of babying to keep the water from getting too hot. Going to get a aquarium pump & cooler to make an ice bath I can circulate water through it. The one thing I can say for sure is that is pretty, and I have no quality of craftsmanship issues so far.

[epd242]

I bought a 5 gallon still from wiskeystills.net. I had no problems with them. The still came as described. Its my first still, so i'm not sure how it compares to those of others, but I had no problems getting it delivered or anything like that. they are not a scam.

[iamatt]

Ok thanks the replies very informative to hear people actually ordering and receiving the shipments... I already purchased mile hi still and milkcan with the intent of making my own tower later after I get more involved. I will keep the whiskey still guys in mind. They are close to me so I may just pop in one day cash and carry.

[1fishkeeper]

I ordered the 2.5 gallon still from them. It said it was on back order from ordering it. I had it with in 4 weeks and it works great. I have done a couple of cleaning runs on it and this weekend Im going to do a full run on it. Im very happy with it and I just wish I would have gone with a bigger one. Oh well Im glad that I have one.

[Beavercreek]

I think you could send it back and he would exchange it for a 5 gallon. The warranty says 90 days no questions asked. I've read on here that 5 gal is the minimum to be able to make good cuts. Mine has seen a lot of action since I got it a couple of weeks ago. Making my second spirit run this weekend.

[mendodistilling]

What temp inlet water do you need in order to keep the distillate from getting too hot on the way out? Mine is pretty hot, I don't think.my 5 gallon has a big enough condenser. I may have to call Jayson about this.

[Bigbob]

Hey mendo, I have one of these in 21/2 gals. I was having some problems with cooling also but bought a small submersible pump and run that in a cooler recirculating the water.works great!

[bearriver]

I can't imagine a 2 and 1/2 gallon still working great. Most consider a 5 gallon minimum boiler, so cuts can be made effectively...

[Bigbob]

I meant the pump works great, when I got into this hobby I wasn't sure if I would like it as much as I do,so I went with a smaller pot.now with hindsight I readily admit that it isn't perfect,but, that being said, I enjoy the product that it produces!

[whitewolfrun]

I got the 5 gal one from them few yrs back. I run a hose to the bottom of consider and hook it up to kitchen sink turn on slowly then just let the hot flow in the sink.

[mendodistilling]

I ran my 5 gallon and it is not made very well. The hole which you would need to drain the liquids is not big enough to keep up with the volume of water you need to transfer to cool the coil properly. The condenser is not big enough either, its smaller than the still instead of 1.5x or bigger to give it ample subtle cooling capability. This causes run away temperatures and essentially not a fine spirit distillation. Things will work but its not going to be its best for sure.

I asked him some questions about this and he told me he doesn't give distillation advice. I told him I didn't need advice I wanted to know why his equipment was pourly built.