Home Distiller

Evening all,

I am new to distilling and have only just received my new copperhead still in the post. It has changeable heads, with a shotgun pot still distilling top or swap to a reflux head. It’s similar in style to the Turbo 500, but has the benefit of changing easily from pot still to reflux. So hopefully it will serve me as I grow into the craft...
Whilst waiting for a delivery of turbo yeast, I did more reading and have discovered BW’s. So glad I did...
Last night I started my first ferment, a BW following the recipe, I went as follows:

5.1kg white sugar
70g bakers yeast
1 tsp citric acid
Pinch Epsom salts
240h Tomato paste
Topped to 25l

SG was 1078

I was planning to use 6kg sugar, but I didn’t want the SG over 1080.... is this Ok?

The wash is smelling great with a tight lid but no air lock yet in our storage room, reading 26 deg C,

What an easy, affordable and no fuss recipe!!!

Now I just need to run a vinegar/water wash to clean the still before I can then run my BW as a first crack at distilling.

A little bummed that I need to discard my first wash run as a sacrificial one..... So, I am thinking I will mix another BW tomorrow so I can follow the sacrificial run shortly with the first keeper run

Watch this space, I will let you know how I get on.
Cheers BW for an awesome recipe!

Nice way to wet your whistle
It’s definitely a good one to get you started.

Good luck with your new Still .

And welcome to HD forums .

What is a "shotgun pot still distilling top" ?

Congratulations. It is really smart to start with tried-and-true recipes. For a little extra insurance, it doesn’t hurt to put a couple of oyster shells into a sugar wash before adding your yeast. This will help buffer any unwanted PH crashes.

Good luck on your new hobby. I hope you find it very satisfying.

LWTCS wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2020 6:11 am What is a "shotgun pot still distilling top" ?

Hi, sorry I am new to all the terminology.....
I have attached a pic of both heads, on the still is the reflux column and on the bench is the pot still condensing head...
What is the correct term for my pot still head? Thanks.

Cheers.

I would describe it as a 2”copper Riser , 6” long , attached to a Liebig condenser .

nice work mate. Copperhead still combo off trademe?. Isnt that boiler outlet 1.5 inch?, so would be 1.5 inch column?

Listed on trade me, but I purchased it direct from their website as it’s marginally cheaper.

I went for the combo as I figure that I will start with neutral spirit runs on the reflux and then grow into rum, gins, whiskey etc on the condenser as I learn and progress.

I just finished the vinegar cleaning run this evening and that was a good learning experience in itself! I realised my original water tank with pump volume was way to small at 40 odd litres as it got warm really fast, I had to quickly Re position, hook up and fill the 200l barrel which I luckily had... all sorted now and waiting for the BW wash which is fermenting nicely.

I also started a second sugar wash so I can follow the sacrificial run with a first keeper run.

Exciting times!

Nice combo kit . Right from the outset practise stripping runs with the pot still. Think of a stripping run as a very quick first run through where you extract as much alcohol as possible from the low purity wash with all the muck and dead yeast. In a stripping run there is no effort to refine the spirit. The result called low wines is low in alcohol say 30% and it won’t smell pretty but it also won’t have any muck and dead yeast. You might do a few stripping runs before you have collected enough low wines to do a spirit run.

When you do a spirit run with low wines the raw material is much purer than the wash so it is much more efficient to do the spirit run this way than with a wash. Most of us here, have ended up doing stripping runs before spirit runs, you might as well benefit from our experience by starting out on the most efficient practises besides you’ve got the right tools for each job!

So....
After a week long ferment, last night the wash appeared to be finished, so I transferred it to our outside shed for the night, thinking the cold air temperatures would knock it down…?
In the morning I racked it off to a clean container. Unfortunately, first real rookie mistake… I didn’t check the gravity before racking off. Too late once it was in the new container I checked and the finishing gravity was 1023… (SG had been 1078)
From my novice understanding this suggests it has not fully finished fermenting yet. Is this correct?

Anyways, I can’t continue fermenting in the clean container I put it in, as it is just a storage vessel and I had already washed out the fermenter and started my second birdwatchers wash....

Any tips on what to do with this wash?

It is just a sacrificial run anyway.... am I right in thinking that I can run it through the still, but I do worry that I will have boiling over issues with the left over yeast…?

Any help is much appreciated.

googe wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 12:02 am nice work mate. Copperhead still combo off trademe?. Isnt that boiler outlet 1.5 inch?, so would be 1.5 inch column?

It is the copperhead combo

Yes, it looks like 1.5 inch, but I haven’t got any caliper’s to measure accurately sorry.

You need to lose the plastic take off tube.

acfixer69 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 5:56 pm You need to lose the plastic take off tube.

Yes, I agree.
Unfortunately New Zealand is in total lock down due to Covid-19 so I can’t leave home (other than to go to the supermarket) or access suppliers to get some copper pipe.

Just finished running my first wash (BW) as the sacrificial run through my new still.

It was a 25l wash which I don’t think I fully fermented out due to rookie mistakes...

Everything went well and I stopped collecting after 3 and a quarter hours with about 2.75l of distillate saved for cleaning only purposes.

My second wash is now fermented out at FG 920 so I am looking forward to my first stripping run tomorrow night.

Party on

Sounds like you're on the right path... keep practicing.

I also have a Copperhead pot still. My first run was on the 24th. Was your flow a drip drip spurt or more of a fast flow drip?

Dazza wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 4:14 am I also have a Copperhead pot still. My first run was on the 24th. Was your flow a drip drip spurt or more of a fast flow drip?

In pot still mode the first drip happens at about 70 min mark and the first run about 20 mins later I.e about 1.5 hrs after turning on.

On the 1000w setting it runs at a slow run (not drips) until the 4.5 hr mark when it eases back to fast dripping and the ABV is around 30. I usually turn off at that point.

I am hoping to purchase an analog power controller, so that I can slow down the pot still mode to 2 to 3 drips per second, rather than runs. So that my spirit run is slower, for improved quality.

Your local refrigeration/air conditioning installer may find you a suitable length of copper tube in his scrap bin if you ask nicely.

WhistlerKiwi wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 1:17 pm

Dazza wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2020 4:14 am I also have a Copperhead pot still. My first run was on the 24th. Was your flow a drip drip spurt or more of a fast flow drip?

In pot still mode the first drip happens at about 70 min mark and the first run about 20 mins later I.e about 1.5 hrs after turning on.

On the 1000w setting it runs at a slow run (not drips) until the 4.5 hr mark when it eases back to fast dripping and the ABV is around 30. I usually turn off at that point.

I am hoping to purchase an analog power controller, so that I can slow down the pot still mode to 2 to 3 drips per second, rather than runs. So that my spirit run is slower, for improved quality.

Yeah I ran it by watching the temperature I had a small stream the size of a pencil lead. It would run slow then taper of and run faster again. I couldnt test the proof as I dont have an alcometer yet due to limited deliveries and so on. I discarded the first 140ml to be safe. I Stopped collecting at 95°C as it started tasting less alcoholic.

I have ordered a PID controller and will a controller that has 2 power sockets then I can heat 2 mashes at a time and run the still through it.

I am waiting on proper fermenting buckets that should be here next week hopefully.

Cheers

Dazza wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 3:19 pmI have ordered a PID controller and will a controller that has 2 power sockets then I can heat 2 mashes at a time and run the still through it

What makes you think you can run your still through a PID, Dazza?

NZChris wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 3:41 pm

Dazza wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 3:19 pmI have ordered a PID controller and will a controller that has 2 power sockets then I can heat 2 mashes at a time and run the still through it

What makes you think you can run your still through a PID, Dazza?

Hi Chris

Just something I am going to try. I will build a controller that has the PID, SSR and two power outlets. I will clamp the temperature probe to the curve at the top of the column. Because I have an existing internal temperature probe I will just use this as a baseline to what my PID will need to be set at. The still will then plug into the controller that will switch the power to the still to maintain the temperature set on the PID.

In theory this should work. Do you have any additional stuff that I have missed regarding this?

Daryl

Where did you get that theory from?

NZChris wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 4:04 pm Where did you get that theory from?

I work in the Automation industry so thought that this would work. Its just an experiment.

It's a pretty Mickey Mouse way of running a pot still. It's easier to run by watching the output stream and adjusting the flow rate with a power controller.

NZChris wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 4:36 pm It's a pretty Mickey Mouse way of running a pot still. It's easier to run by watching the output stream and adjusting the flow rate with a power controller.

Noted thanks