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A novice’s start to distilling – My story.

I have decided to chronicle my “story” to date, and describe how I have gotten to the point that I am at, in an effort to help other new comers and give something back to this website that has helped me so much. To all those that have answered my questions and to those of you who read this and think “he’s referring to my post or suggestion”, thankyou. I couldn’t possibly remember all the posts I have read, who wrote them and the tips they gave but you'll know who you are.

I started reading the parent site and this forum about 18 months ago in an effort to find out what was involved in distilling beverages at home. Like a typical Aussie male, I read about 2 pages, figured I was an expert and made up my mind what to do next. Luckily I changed my mind and elected to keep reading. Various factors meant I was unable to get started with building what I thought I wanted, when I wanted to, so I kept myself interested by continuing to read these forums.

Beamophile’s Rule #1: Read, read, read and read some more.

There is no need to make an inordinate number of mistakes when starting out in this hobby. Most of them have been made before by others on this site and they have been kind and humble enough to share them with us all. Read and learn!

I started out thinking there is no way I will remember all this stuff, and I couldn’t. But two things helped. The first was, by continuously reading, common themes and ideas came up over and over again. These are the basic principals and after you have read them written different ways half a dozen times they start to sink in. The second thing that helped was a notepad and pencil whilst I was reading. I started noting down the things that related to what I wanted to do so I could reference them without having to go back and search the whole site over and over again.

Beamophile’s Rule #2: Start with a simple plan of what you want to make.

There is such a huge wealth of information on this site that it is easy to get sidetracked. You can overcome this by starting with a simple goal and sticking to it. Mine was to make my favourite spirit, Bourbon. Every time I got distracted with stories of Strawberry Panty Dropper or smoking peat or making the worlds purest vodka, I’d remind myself to stick to my plan of starting out with a nice Bourbon. Once I have mastered that to my own satisfaction I will move on to how one remove panties with Strawberry Liqueur.

With this plan to make Bourbon, and by sticking to it, I was guided on all the decisions I had to make from that point on. My initial idea was to make a reflux still like one I had seen at a friend’s house. I downloaded the plans, took the shopping list on the back page to the plumbing store to get prices, I was all set to go. Then I discovered the Bokabob plans and started planning ways to bend all that tube. Then I found the Purestill unit that is the same as the Bokabob unit for sale at a home brew store and decided to buy one of those. Thankfully with all the reading I was doing here, I realised that to achieve my goal, I only needed a simple pot still.

Beamophile’s Rule #3: Keep your first still simple. The second one will be easier.

Don’t kid yourself that the first still you build will be the last one you build. It doesn’t need to last you for life because as your skills and knowledge improve, your requirements for your still will change to. After all, you are not still riding the first bike you ever got are you? Keep it simple, get started, take it from there.

Beamophile’s Rule #4: There is a huge margin for success.

Being a person that is particularly pedantic about details, I thought to myself “I want to get this right the first time with no stuff ups so I better find the right way to do it”. The surprising thing is that there are a hell of a lot of right ways. In fact, if you follow Rule #1 in particular, it’s actually harder to stuff up than it is not to. I spent a lot of my early time on this site thinking “that bloke is contradicting that bloke and this other guy is saying his way works but it is different to how others are doing it……”
Then it dawned on me that there are a lot of right ways. You just need to choose one, or a combination of ones, that best suit your goal.

What I ended up with is a simple pot still. It has a copper tower, copper output tube with a copper lieberg condenser and is mounted on a keg via a stainless steel bowl. It was made with copper tube from a scrap yard, tee’s and joiners from the plumbing supply store and soldered by a plumber for a six pack of beer and the promise of a bottle of produce. It has a stainless pot scrubber up its spout, half a dozen marbles in the bottom and some garden reticulation fittings attached with hose clamps.

That was it, I was ready to make bourbon and I wanted to do it right now.

Beamophile’s Rule #5: Patience young Skywalker.

I wondered if you really needed to do all those leak checks and vinegar runs or if you could just tear right into it. I decided that the advice of the knowledgeable ones here had not failed me so far so why tempt fate. I’m glad I did. After plugging a few annoying leaks and getting the gas ring fired up, my new toy spat out some of the foulest smelling puke you have ever smelled. And I was only distilling water!

I am now glad I did all the cleansing runs with water and vinegar as I am now a hell of a lot more confident going into my first run of UJSM. It was great practice and I now know mostly what to expect.

When I fire it up it grunts and groans and creaks whilst it settles in, then it quietens down and gets on with the job of heating up. I have read a lot of quaint descriptions of how people’s stills communicate with them on this site and I have come up with one of my own. When it is time to turn the cooling water on, the marbles in the boiler “start to dance”. It sounds like that are tap dancing in the bottom of the keg. I start the cooling water then at a low rate and about 5 minutes later I see my first drops of output.

Beamophile’s Rule #6: Your still is an individual.

It was at some point during these cleansing runs that I realised my still was doing things that no one else’s stills here were doing. It made sounds and spat out product at weird times and did things at weird temperatures when it wasn’t supposed to. I remember thinking “everything I have read here means nothing because my still is a unique one of a kind still that had its own quirks and peculiarities. Shit! I am going to have to teach myself how to do this. I can’t just copy “Uncle Jessie” or “Tater” or any of the other knowledgeable people here. I had to learn how to run my still because it was a one of a kind and totally unique.

But in saying that, I could not have achieved what I have thus far without this site. What it did for me was teach me the basics and give me the confidence that I wasn’t reinventing the wheel and if I had problems, there was a group of like minded helpful individuals ready to give me some advice.

So if you are just starting out and in the place I was 18 months ago, I hope my story helps and gives you the confidence to carry on and get involve in a really rewarding hobby.

Beamophile’s Rule #7: Play safe and have fun!

Next weekend I will post some pictures of my new toy up and running with it's first batch of Uncle Jessie's Sour Mash on board.

Cheers,

Scott.

Well said, sir. The only rule I would question is Rule 3. There is no reason that the first still you make shouldn't last your lifetime. One of the advantages of forums like this is that you can learn from all the mistakes others have made (see Rule 1), and get it right the first time.

I agree entirely HL.

If you know what you want 100% and you have the skills and resources to build a life long friend then go for broke and build it. But don't let lack of money or metal work skills hold you up.

I suffer a bit from "Tim the Toolman Syndrome". ie. if your gonna do it, do it big, bad and best. I was hanging out to build the fanciest all singing all dancing unit the world had ever seen , urgh urgh urgh (in the words of Tim).

What I have found is that by just starting out simple using easy to get off the shelf materials I have learned more about what I really want and how I want to do it. With hindsight the super big fractioning reflux unit I was hanging out to build isn't what I need.

I now have a simple 45 liter pot still and it was inspired by the folk on here that start out with a second hand pressure cooker and a length of copper tube in the kitchen sink.

Sometimes you just have to get started on the journey and the destination becomes apparent as you go.

Remember Rule #6!!!!

No argument there.

With hindsight the super big fractioning reflux unit I was hanging out to build isn't what I need.

I think some here would report the same experience.

You new guys on hear don't know how lucky you are when I started there was no or very Little information out there ,just gossip and hard Knox. books were hidden./censored
so digest all the info you can. as fair as stills go , reflex is by far easier to master but harder to make. pot stills are the opposite easy to make but harder
to master and it makes a difference in what you want to make. it is a art ( and science mixed in)do not thank that that the first time you will make top notch hooch if it is drinkable
at all. but not give up it will come to you. I thank I speak for most on hear we are willing to help. but you have to be willing to do for yourself. and you have to remember some of us has bin doing for 5 -10 and even 50 years to cram that in a few days or months is hard.

Brilliant post, mate. Should be stickied in the front of the basic distillation 101 or on the front page for all to read.










OneOfTheBestAndMostCommonPostsI'veSeenOnHerePunkin

Punkin,
I second your motion.
All in favour say aye.
Cheers.

Aye.

Aussie Beamophile wrote:Like a typical Aussie male, I read about 2 pages, figured I was an expert and made up my mind what to do next. Scott.

Should be like a typical male period..........Aussies are no different than males everywhere. Good on you that your patience prevailed. I had to learn the hard way because I'd had some very bad lessons and advice from an old timer who's since passed on. I can't believe what we considered acceptable refreshment. Had to cover it up with all kinds of mixes. He didn't have a clue what was actually happening or how to make cuts. He passed before I found this forum. We used to keep everything right down to early tails......foreshots, heads, hearts, all went into the collection jar. He'd of been thrilled at the insight you folks have provided.

I like Rule #6. It's an important point not often made. Your still is an individual. You must get to know it. This site is a great guide to learning and understanding your own still and why it may do what it does. Nothing can replace the experience and knowledge you gain from your still.

Another thing on that note is that it is like cooking at someone elses house and using their stove. Some stoves are low gas, some are really hot gas, some are electric, some people don't have sharp knives. In other words, your still on your stove with your water (might be a different temp) and your wash, mix that with your ambient temperature and if the fan is on or the wind blowing...yada, yada, yada. It is so individual that everything is different than what everyone says. Like following a recipe, it is the guide, you have to make it work for your situation.

Name your still!

Oh yeah, AYE!

I agree with all of them, especially rule#6. Compare it to driving a car. I can't tell you exactly how far down you need to press the accelerator to get to 55mph or how many degrees you need to turn the wheel to make the turn. You have to experiment and find out for yourself. The most we can really do is tell you to "turn left!" when your right tire is about to fall into the ditch at the side of the road. You need to be the kind of person who likes to tinker, experiment, and play around with things to get them to do what you want to. As with rule #2, you need to have an objective in mind when you start tinkering around with this hobby.That's why we usually get a lot of the engineering type around here.

I have a little more to add:

Remember: no "mistake" is a "failure" in this hobby, it's a learning experience. Even if you burn down your house, at least you can say, "well, next time I'll try the "flame test" a little further away from the collection jar!" If you screw up a recipe or make bad cuts, you can salvage it and make girly drinks with it.

Read the "tell us about your mistakes" and "Safety" threads first thing. It may save your life.

Keep the results of your first run. It's a reminder of where you first started, and how far you've come. I took a whiff of my first spirit here recently and just about puked.

Your definition of "good" is different from everybody else's. Where somebody may say, "it has a light, apple like overtone, with smoky and earthlike notes, and a grainy aftertaste", another may drink the same and say "it tastes like the dirt under a burnt apple tree with some stale cornbread mixed in."



Excellent thread. AYE!

[quote="MountedGoat"]Name your still! quote]

I sat staring at it last night with a glass of Knob Creek in hand and thought "bloody hell, it looks like one of those robots off of Dr Who".

So with a quick Google search this morning, an even quicker cut and paste into the avatar, I here by name my new toy.......<drum roll please>.....

"THE DALEK"

Now lets wet the baby's head!

My current guy is long and skinny so he is the Big Unit, or Randy Johnson...fast, skinny and delivers a serious punch.

I'd love to put Gonzo (the muppet, not the still) into my profile too, but i couldn't bear to part with Go-go.










SoUntilSuchTimesAsTwoAv'sGoInPunkin

Excellent posts, I never thought to name my still.

"grounds for divorce" comes to mind... Wife found out the project I've been working on was a still and not the racecar like she thought. All bent out of shape because I "hid" it from her. My bad! I wasn't "hiding it" from her, just never told her explicitely what I was doing.
Doesn't know I bought 55lb's of corn,big bottle of yeast, 10 bags of sugar, yet.....

Maybe I'll call it "Bubba"

"I'll be in the garage with bubba, dear"

going for a drink with Randy Johnson, RJ, out in the shed