StillSmart

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-12-01T09:06:53+00:00

You could use marbles as biol thingys
I was given a nice sized bag of old
pennies by father in law, about
3 shillings 6pence worth, so I use
them

Statistics: Posted by gaza the instructor — Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:06 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-12-01T01:25:14+00:00

There is a pretty comprehensive user manual. The rest is up to you ! I don't buy the still spirits turbo yeast, Alcotech 48 is better. Check out this on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wd-Oan4NmQ video also.

Statistics: Posted by srpsrp — Thu Dec 01, 2016 1:25 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-11-18T05:42:31+00:00

This refers to grainfather boiler (essentially same as T500 boiler until now in this context) and alembic pot condenser so is not totally relevant, but it's nice to see still spirits discussing heads and tails, double distills etc
[url]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIx5dX8AFGE[/url]

Statistics: Posted by Curmudgeon — Fri Nov 18, 2016 5:42 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-21T01:02:08+00:00

Maybe I am real bad, and when I die will burn in hell forever, but that link showed me the dark side where I do not want to be.

And Pennies make great boil pieces.
Lots of stuff makes boil pieces in the boiler, why not use copper?
And have the edge?.....

Robert.

Statistics: Posted by Easydrinker — Fri Oct 21, 2016 1:02 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-20T22:19:42+00:00

vino-tinto wrote:
brewhunter wrote:How many pennies are you guys using in the boiler?[/quote

Why do you need any, ear it's got copper saddles already in, all you need are boil enhancers

Hi VT I read somewhere pennies were still nessesary in the boiler to stop it over boiling I bought my T500 second hand and the top of the column seems to be packed with small copper saddles and the rest of it with stainless steel ones, loose in the box were half a dozen ceramic things that look like teeth I'm assuming there should be more of these?

Statistics: Posted by Brewhunter — Thu Oct 20, 2016 10:19 pm

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-20T14:24:16+00:00

I came across this thread on HD, maybe of interest to some folk
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 33&t=62783

Statistics: Posted by Squint — Thu Oct 20, 2016 2:24 pm

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-20T11:57:40+00:00

[quote="brewhunter"]How many pennies are you guys using in the boiler?[/quote

Why do you need any, it's got copper saddles already in, all you need are boil enhancers

Statistics: Posted by vino-tinto — Thu Oct 20, 2016 11:57 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-20T11:03:14+00:00

about 50p's worth here...

Statistics: Posted by inspector gadget — Thu Oct 20, 2016 11:03 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-20T10:10:01+00:00

How many pennies are you guys using in the boiler?

Statistics: Posted by Brewhunter — Thu Oct 20, 2016 10:10 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-15T06:36:00+00:00

I knew there was a post/photo of a T5 column stripped down to its parts, Vino Tito did it here...scroll down to VT post..#3

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2799&start=15

Now you get to see what is inside..

Statistics: Posted by Icefever — Sat Oct 15, 2016 6:36 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-15T06:00:58+00:00

Back the truck up a bit guys...

I'm not sure where to start with this....the link is from 2009 and it's talking about the early T500.

I've seen one when on a meet & greet in Aus with one of the guys from the Aussie forum.
It had a lot of plastic and the then thoughts from these guys were, don't try to do a strip run because there was a chance of melting parts of the column/PC.
In fact, some folks were posting about damage to the column ie bits melting & leaks because of the heat.

This is a post by SBB on this subject....I'm sure he won't mind me letting you guys read it...it's from Feb 2015.

The advice came from personal experience as well as that of others who have tried to use the early T500 still heads for stripping. There is no reason you can't use the boiler as long as it's fitted with a pot head or maybe one of the later all copper T500 designs.
The problem lays in the synthetic top of the older columns, it simply gets too hot and the still then starts leaking where the synthetic material meets the stainless column. I know some people have got away with using them for stripping, but many have not. If your happy to take the risk go ahead and try, see what happens for yourself.

Because of the above, I replaced the plastic tube at the top with a short length of copper. I've never run my T5 as a stripper with the original column, this was why I built a pothead from VT's plans....and as SBB said the boiler does the job, with my pothead fitted I now have no worries about anything melting.

When the still is heating up I can tell what's happening by the heat from the column...when it reaches the top elbow I know that's the time to turn on the water

brewhunter wrote:
Curmudgeon wrote:http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11265 refers to the previous model.

Correct there C...

So would I be best having 3 X 23litre washes ready to strip for a single spirit run?

Yes & no....to that Q BH.
You could do 3 washes and wait for them all to finish...strip them one after t'other...then a spirit run.

I do a wash, strip, store in glass DJ's (at 30%) until I have enough to run a spirit run.
It's all down to what you feel is best for you matey...so my 2 cents is just enjoy learning, we're here to help if anything goes tits up.

Statistics: Posted by Icefever — Sat Oct 15, 2016 6:00 am

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-14T20:31:27+00:00

Sorry for any misunderstanding. I'm agreeing with you Gaza that T500 should NOT be run as a potstill with the copper/ceramics/steel taken out of the reflux column.

It is possible to replace all the potentially dodgy bits with teflon, but the T500 pot head kit(without copper dome) is pretty good value imo as was indirectly pointed out to me in another thread here earlier, as the copper materials alone to build a pot head connector, column and condenser could be £50, not counting soldering, hoses, connectors, thermometer.

edit @Brewhunter I imagine you can run a spirit run with 7 litres or whatever without waiting for 2 more washes to be ready. It's 2 runs (strip and spirit) instead of 6 + 2 with an airstill. I'm jealous

Statistics: Posted by Curmudgeon — Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:31 pm

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-14T20:11:42+00:00

Curmudgeon wrote:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11265 refers to the previous model.

I've read here and elsewhere that de-tuning (taking the packing out of the column to run the T500 as a pot still) is a really bad idea because the tube at the top and maybe some gaskets won't be able to handle it.

Thanks that's a handy link, so would I be best having 3 X 23litre washes ready to strip for a single spirit run?

Statistics: Posted by Brewhunter — Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:11 pm

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-14T19:00:51+00:00

they (who??) do say you should not run above
70 c or damage to plastics etc could happen.

Statistics: Posted by gaza the instructor — Fri Oct 14, 2016 7:00 pm

Re: T500 best practice guide?

2016-10-14T16:59:57+00:00

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11265 refers to the previous model.

I've read here and elsewhere that de-tuning (taking the packing out of the column to run the T500 as a pot still) is a really bad idea because the tube at the top and maybe some gaskets won't be able to handle it.

Statistics: Posted by Curmudgeon — Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:59 pm