Home Distiller

Hello from somewhere in the woods of northern Europe. Looking forward to learn more about building and using stills. I have some years experience in creating beer, mead, fruitwine and cider.
Due to the fact that customs in this country are so overcontrolling, I can not just order a still (or parts) online without customs putting me on the "person of interrest" list. So, I am building something from materials that I can buy locally.

Thanks for having me here and nice to meet you.

Welcome to HD. You have many helpful skills to help you. Building your own is best.

Hello and welcome!! There is a great build thread on here to give you tons of ideas!! I really wanted to make my own, but hubby beat me to it and bought me one. It's awesome though and then I didn't have to wait. 2 point for him.

what is it you want to make as far as booze goes?

Welcome aboard! From your experience, you lean towards making flavored drinks which means a pot still will be your friend (to start).

Your fermenting knowledge will shorten the distilling learning curve greatly.

vintagedude wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2024 4:19 am Due to the fact that customs in this country are so overcontrolling, I can not just order a still (or parts) online without customs putting me on the "person of interrest" list. So, I am building something from materials that I can buy locally.

Welcome to HD! Good luck on your build, lots of great information here.

Rusty

Thank you all for the welcome.

sadie33 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 29, 2024 7:58 am Hello and welcome!! There is a great build thread on here to give you tons of ideas!! I really wanted to make my own, but hubby beat me to it and bought me one. It's awesome though and then I didn't have to wait. 2 point for him.

what is it you want to make as far as booze goes?

There are some very nice thing to buy from the internet, but the customs in this country are 100% sure to follow up on what I will be doing with that equipment.
Instead I am fitting a 3" tri clamp on the lid of my boiler/mash pot, so I can put a cap on it for when I am brewing. When I will be distilling water or anything other then alcohol, I can put the column and condenser on the lid.
I have been reading this forum for a while, and decided to start with a 3" column and a 3" shotgun condenser, made from ss304 exhaust pipe. Copper is too expensive here.
I will give this a try first, and can always add more afterwards. I bought a 2m (6,5ft?) exhaust pipe, so after building the 60cm (24") column and 40cm (16") condenser, I still have plenty op pipe over to build an extra smaller condenser and some more extras.

At first I want to try something flavory, and when I get the feeling, I will be upgrading (or maybe not). My favorite spirits are dark rum, gin and a spirit made in the Netherlands, named berenburg.

Welcome to the club . You've been making all the product that loves mingling with a still.
Your still will thank u. And you'll be happy to.