StillSmart

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-09-21T09:35:32+00:00

Ok, I bit the bullet! I bought a T500 today and the first wash is I the fermenter now. I went up the road and got some spring water for the wash and have just finished setting it up now. Can't wait to get it into bottles!

Thanks for the advice along the way guys, I appreciate it.

Cheers,
Damo.

Statistics: Posted by Damo — Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:35 am

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-09-18T21:42:16+00:00

That's all a bit suprising to me. After watching their (Pure Distilling) videos online and watching the T500 videos I though the opposite. It appeared much simpler to run the T500.

Maybe they really just botched the videos at Pure Distilling from an 'explanation' point of view?

Cheers,
Damo.

Statistics: Posted by Damo — Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:42 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-09-18T09:01:43+00:00

I've recently had the dilemma of choosing between these two stills and in the end I have opted to go for the Pure Distilling one. Mainly because it sounds less fiddly to get it working, made of copper and has no perishable parts.

I will be buying it in a few months. Want to get my money's worth out my air still first

Statistics: Posted by Jedmau5 — Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:01 am

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-09-18T08:41:54+00:00

Hi Damo imho the Pure Distilling still sounds like the better option
check this

http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic ... ing#p28470

Statistics: Posted by billmcc — Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:41 am

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-09-17T23:58:19+00:00

Hi Guys,

It's been a while since I posted last, I have been sick! Anyway, I am still doing my research and still wish to buy a T500. I did see the 'Pure Distilling' still online which they certainly rave about and call the 'most advanced' but aesthetically I find it far less attractive and their videos are... well... let's just say they put me off! Has anyone used one?
Any advice re: T500 vs. Pure Distilling?

Another question, there is one place I found who offer an upgrade price to go to a copper condenser instead of the usual T500 condenser. Is this advised? Seeing as the T500 one has copper in it anyhow, is it necessary?

Right now to tie me over on the 'home brewed drinks front' I have started some mead (which is bubbling furiously right now) but I am itching to make some spirits!
I will start with flavoured neutral spirits and I think I would be keen to make a pot still head for the T500 when I wish to move on.

Cheers,
Damo.

Statistics: Posted by Damo — Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:58 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-29T20:35:04+00:00

+1 on CC.

25 litres seems like a lot when you start but after a while you find it is quite limiting.

As you are in NZ I'd suggest maybe getting the T500 to start but planning on selling it and getting something bigger made (or making it yourself) at some stage in the future - if/when you get hooked.

Statistics: Posted by MrCat — Wed Aug 29, 2012 8:35 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-29T17:25:11+00:00

+1 on everything Mr Cat said there. Its definitely not as clear cut as that.

All I was suggesting with the keg was you could run a column other than the t500, on a boiler other than the T500 to create your neutral to add essences to, and the extra volume is great if you want to try pot stilling, or even just use it as a stripping still further down the line.

Unless you know exactly what you want to do when starting out, like "I want to make a single malt whisky" then essences are a great way of getting tasty drinks in a short period of time.

I run a vapour management (VM) still on a beer keg to produce neutral, that if I added essences to would work as well as the T500. I usually use the neutral to make gin, which I do with my T500 boiler and a pot head.
The VM has also made nice potato vodka for sipping and lots of silver rum - you could do this with a T500 too.

Statistics: Posted by Capt-Cudellez — Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:25 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-29T15:35:28+00:00

John51 wrote:
For making neutral spirit with the least hassle, the t500 is hard to beat.

For making spirits that rival (or beat) the top commercial brands, there are better choices than the t500.

It's not as clear cut as that. It would be better to say

For making neutral spirits to be flavoured with essences the T500 is hard to beat

For making flavoured spirits without using essences a pot still is potentially better.

There is no guarantee that with a pot still you will be able to rival (or beat) the top commercial brands as it is down to the end users expertise in making the wash, skill in running the still and knowledge of cuts etc. You might get lucky first time and make something that it better than commercial stuff. But the chances are that you won't - and it might take quite a while before you do.

Have a look at this thread on Artisan about how people rate their own products

http://www.artisan-distiller.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=3887&start=0&

Statistics: Posted by MrCat — Wed Aug 29, 2012 3:35 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-29T12:34:31+00:00

This thread has answered a lot of my questions too.

Is this a fair summary?:

For making neutral spirit with the least hassle, the t500 is hard to beat.

For making spirits that rival (or beat) the top commercial brands, there are better choices than the t500.

Statistics: Posted by John51 — Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:34 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-29T09:07:47+00:00

And remember mate if you go the T500 route and dont fancy making pothead yourself SS make one I believe.
And as the C'ptn says the standard T500 is a one trick pony BUT some of the essences released recently are really so much better than the original 'top shelf' range

Statistics: Posted by Admiral Toad — Wed Aug 29, 2012 9:07 am

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-28T17:35:58+00:00

Hey Damo, how much room do you have to set up in? The T500 boiler is 30L, and that is a bit on the small side for pot stilling - but doable if space is at a premium.
Being in NZ has its advantage that you don't have to hide the still away from prying eyes. If you have the space a 50L beer keg is all the boiler you'll need for a good while.
Have you checked out the Aussie forum, there are a few still builders on your side of the world that would be able to build you a decent still. No idea of the costs, but if may be comparable to buying an off the shelf unit.

Not trying to put you off the T500, but you have some options.

Statistics: Posted by Capt-Cudellez — Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:35 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-28T00:02:31+00:00

Awesome, so it sounds like with a pot head the T500 will do just about anything I want. I will start with standard brews and essences but would love to produce my own whiskey, bourbon and rum when I am ready.
I'm keen to go shopping and get started now but I just have to convince SWMBO. She's not a spirit drinker so I might have to mix her a few cool cocktails to try and convince her!

Cheers,
Damo.

Statistics: Posted by Damo — Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:02 am

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-27T21:49:05+00:00

The T500 column produces neutral largely flavourless spirits so if you want the spirit to taste of something other than nothing you have to add an essence or put the neutral on oak etc etc. The T500 will produce 94%+ ethanol. As ethanol does not taste of anything there can only be 6% flavour carried over from the wash.

A pot still allows you to carry over some taste from the wash as a by product of not producing the same high ABV or purity. For instance today on a run with my pot head on my T500 boiler I was getting 80% ABV at most which means that 20% of the flavours in the wash were being carried over to my final spirit. As the run progresses the ethanol content of the wash is depleted so the amount of ethanol in the spirits falls and more and more flavour is carried over from the wash.

So - higher ABV = less flavour. Lower ABV = more flavour.

Now, you can make your wash a number of ways. You can aim for neutral - yeast, nutrients, sugar and water. Or Rum - molasses, sugar, yeast, nutrients, water. Or whisky (errr someone will come back with how you do that) etc etc. But if you distil the wash in a column (such as the T500) then you will get less flavour from your wash than if you did it in a pot still.

This is a generalisation as some tastes do carry over even in that 6%. The taste of molasses is pretty hard to get rid of and does carry over into 90% + spirits even after triple distilling.

And yes you can get a pot head for the T500 boiler or you could even make one once you are ready

Statistics: Posted by MrCat — Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:49 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-27T21:27:20+00:00

Hi all,

Once again, thanks for your comments.

So, I am getting a little confused now. The T500 being a 'one trick pony' for instance. I understand that a pot still is used for brewing spirits from scratch. I have also seen the pot still heads on the internet that fit a T500. When I have learnt a bit and want to progress, can I not just get one of these or have one made for my T500 and brew from scratch like that?

Cheers,
Damo.

Statistics: Posted by Damo — Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:27 pm

Re: Will a newbie be impressed with the T500?

2012-08-27T18:01:05+00:00

I believe it's easier to make good home made spirits, but if you follow the instructions with the T500, you will end up with gut rot spirit that is no better than a badly brewed beer.
You can make some very good spirits with the T500 - but it is a one trick pony, that produces high proof ethanol that lends its self to being filtered neutral, then flavoured.
If your a fan of neat 10yo Rum or Scotch, then the flavourings will seem a little off, but you can then age this on wood, and make it better, you will have tasted much much worse off the self.
If you drink your drinks with a mixer, then the results will be more difficult to distinguish from the store bought stuff. (or so I think)

If you decide to go the authentic route, AG whisky, pot stilled rum, then this is much much more difficult to get good results from the off, I'm glad I started with a T500, as I doubt I would have stuck with it if I had produced some of the rubbish I made trying to do things more authentically. I now think I can produce some products that are now miles better than the essences I started with, but there are also a few things that I've done that are no where near as good.

Statistics: Posted by Capt-Cudellez — Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:01 pm