Greetings from Madeira

[KenMac]

Hi All,
I am new to this Forum, but not new to distillation. Some years ago I contacted Tony Ackland directly, and he introduced me to the site of home distillation of alcohol. I bought a small potstill, about 30 litres capacity, added a thermometer and started distilling wine lees. A number of locals here in Madeira grow grapes and make their own wine. Much of it is not that drinkable, but they manage, and I got enough wine lees to distill about 65 litres of spirit which I reduced to 45% ABV. I added glycerine as suggested and also some caramel. Then left it aging in an oak wine barrel for 5 years after which I bottled some VERY drinkable Brandy.

At that stage I was still living in Cape Town, South Africa, and only coming here to Madeira for about 4 months each year. During one of our absentee periods our local village crook hopped over our wall and stole my still, so I have been inactive for some time. We now live here permanently and I am about to buy a new still. Depending on the price I would like one a little bigger, perhaps about 50 or 60 litres capacity. I already have the temperature gauges to fit, as it is always nice to know that as one reaches 85 deg C the distillate will start to run. I then taste every half litre, measure the ABV % and record all this for future reference.

I have already fermented about 30 litres of apple juice into cider, and with a new still will try my hand at distilling Calvados. Wish me luck.
Bye for now.
KenMac

[Bigbob]

W,elcome to the forums KenMac, you'll find as you explore here that a lot has changed since the parent site was made. It might be a good idea to check out crankys post in novices called a little spoon feeding for new distillers. I know you've been distilling for a long time, but some protocols have changed. One is using thermometers on pot stills. Do some reading and enjoy the forums!