StillSmart

Hey RJ, just checked my inbox but no PM from you in there. Must have got gremlins in the system but thanks for posting the recipe

AM

RumJohn wrote:Am on my eighth straight day of distilling. Need to get about 500L of final product ageing. This will keep me off the streets for a while.

Good man!

Have you described your set up in an earlier post so I can have a gander, please?

If not, would you care to share?

Catch you around.

Attn: Voddy. I have in the past posted a few pics of the facility I put together when I was attempting to get licensed. But after paying the rent, staff and all for 2 years and still not have a license forthcoming I had to let it go. And moved the lot into my house.

Bit cramped now. One bedroom contains about 4,000 empty bottles, refrigerator, unused milk cans, bags of corks and my bottling machine which I am not using at the moment.

Another bedroom has my fermentation tanks. 90L each. I generally only use 3-4 at a time. I used to run up to 7 in the old place.

I have a huge kitchen and that is where I run the still. Plenty of windows - I heat on propane. I plumbed it so I have water to the still.

I store in 50L stainless milk cans of which I have 20. These run down the hallway. All are tagged as some are for ageing the various rums and others have low wines waiting for a spirit run.

The living room resembles a wharehouse. I maintain around 750 bottles filled (some labled) and ready to go. All in cases. It used to be around 1000. Somewhere in there is a TV for my wife.

It's not the way I had planned. Just cant get the Chinese govt to see things my way. Cheers.

Wow, RumJohn.

Even though you paint a vivid picture, I can't imagine the hair-pulling frustration you clearly have gone through.

Thanks for the description - in a funny way it has helped me somewhat - but primarily I do hope you get to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

I wish you well form the bottom of my heart.

Christmas is over and time to get back to work. Fired up the boiler at 7:15 this morning for a stripping run. One more tomorrow and then into several spirit runs. By New Year will have put 100L of my Navy Rum aside to age for a couple of years.

Christmas was good. A bunch of us took over a Thai restaurant. An Australian chef headed up the cooking of a massive Christmas feast with turkey, ham, beef, steak, fish, crab, cheeses, beer and wine. The only thing not imported was my rum. Great food that you can not get here. Went through way too much of my Apple Rie.

Sounds like a good time was had by all

I too am doing stripping runs today. I have 100lt of wash that I just put off until Christmas was over....and it is ow so I'll just have to get on with it

On Saturday I'm taking the whole day for 2 Spirit Runs starting a 7am and should be finished 8pm. That's what I call a good day's work

AM

Made Beer, slight diverson from what I normally do,, just showing my oldest son how to do a homebrew,,
I do have 2 litres of Agave syrup and some lyles golden syrup that I will use to make something,, tequila flavoured rum and some cachaca perhaps

I spent yesterday and a good part of today washing bottles, filling and labeling for an order going into the hills as soon as possible. But it was work. Thanks to Chinese quality.

Each bottle has to be tested for strength as many are very thin. I bounce the point of a screwdiver on the shoulder. If it sounds thin or breaks it is rejected. About 30%.

Eack cork has to be tested. About 50% fail.

But all compleat now and ready to go.

RumJohn wrote:I spent yesterday and a good part of today washing bottles, filling and labeling for an order going into the hills as soon as possible. But it was work. Thanks to Chinese quality.

Each bottle has to be tested for strength as many are very thin. I bounce the point of a screwdiver on the shoulder. If it sounds thin or breaks it is rejected. About 30%.

Eack cork has to be tested. About 50% fail.

But all compleat now and ready to go.

Not sure how you'd test a cork........ but if the bottle failure rate is that high maybe test in a bucket so any liquid can be recovered and the filtered for re-bottling ?

Today is in the workshop building the slant plate section of my new still and the double condenser coil.
There will be plenty of swearing as I burn my fingers or drip hot solder on my feet and lots of demands for cup's of tea. I will play lots of ENYA on the MP3 in an attempt to calm the frustrations.

vino-tinto wrote:Today is in the workshop building the slant plate section of my new still and the double condenser coil.
There will be plenty of swearing as I burn my fingers or drip hot solder on my feet and lots of demands for cup's of tea. I will play lots of ENYA on the MP3 in an attempt to calm the frustrations.

Not only building a section of a new still..where's the photos??
but listening to Enya..

Icefever wrote:where's the photos??

I'm compiling a DPF with guides and pics, but not publishing until finished

vino-tinto wrote: I'm compiling a DPF with guides and pics, but not publishing until finished

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Looking forward to it already...

Finally got round to fitting a pressure reducing valve to the water supply for my T500.alan

vino-tinto wrote:

Icefever wrote:where's the photos??

I'm compiling a DPF with guides and pics, but not publishing until finished

Add me, pretty please!