Hi from SW France

[Sam001]

Salut/Hello
I'm a Brit living in SW France, an area with a tradition of distillation to make eau de vie. I've had some rough stuff and I've had some simply wonderful stuff.

A few years ago I started to look into alambic stills made in Spain. I thought making my own spirits would be fun. I started to do some research and realised these were simple pot stills, ideal for making my favourite spirits, namely rum and cognac. Further research and I developed a very basic understanding that to make neutrals and vodka (which I also like) I needed a reflux column.

More reading and I realised there were several types of still designs. Finally I decided that a modular CCVM which I could convert to a pot still was an ideal solution for me. DAD300 detailed thread was a tremendous help.

So I've received some parts from ali, some locally and I'm slowly getting it together to build. I've built the SCR controller to power my 3000w element, I've got the 30l keg (very difficult to source 50l kegs here), taken the financial hit with the 2.5m 2" copper tube and am looking forward to getting into the build proper.

Planning on making a shotgun condenser (got the Harris silver solder and flux coming from USA as impossible to source here and similar products are very expensive). More reading to do, especially wrt the soldering. I've done my own household plumbing several times but copper to SS is new to me.

Anyway, I've more reading to do. Plenty of information here, I've yet to not find an answer to a question I might have. This is a great site and I hope to be producing my own spirits in the months to come. It seems patience is a key ingredient and Im determined not to rush anything.
Cheers!

[Bushman]

Welcome, sounds like you’re well on your way!