StillSmart

As part of my 'Back to Basics' programme I have been building a 25l Carbon water filter because, although my water supply is free from limescale, I suspect there may be something in the water that is having a slowing effect on my ferments

Having stripped everything else, in my ferments, back to the wire the only thing left that could be slowing the fermentation process is the water I'm using.

Hopefully this simple solution will have the desired effect

AM

All my ferments (not just the ones that I distill) have been much more vigorous since I stopped using our tap water. Even when I dechlorinated it and tweaked the ph, there always seemed to be something in it that put the damper on fermentation.

Big July 4th party (only 1 American there) cleaned me out of gin. Heaps of rum consumed along with some cachaca.Today will start fermenting to replenish stock. There is always somebody that wants a gin but its not a huge mover.

I sat on the shed concrete floor and dismantled my 450000km-travelled 4WD, front wheel hub...
to get to the wrecked swivelhub bearings.....(blah blah) just think LOTS of knuckle-bark, dirty grease everywhere and some swearing.

Anyway, it was a great time to realise just how easy/rewarding distillation is, per se
(Yep, its time for 'a drink')

Today I bought 5 used barrel staves at a pound a pop. 5 seemed to be a large order so he threw in a 6th for free.

I gave him a £20.00 note that he could not change, he he told me "to pay the next time I went there". This was the first time, but I am sure there will be a next one.

Sounds like a good place to go. What was the barrel originally used for. I'm looking to get my hands on some from a barrel that being used for sherry.

AM

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aidanmac wrote: What was the barrel originally used for?

Aidan,

In my excitement at having found some barrels, I forgot to ask. I was to busy looking at the charring.

Now that you asked I have been to give them a good sniff - nothing. But what I did see is that the charring is on the outside of the barrel. The barrel has been in a fire. WTF?

I will be passing his way in a couple of weeks I will call in and see him and demand my money back. Next time I may have my head screwed on a bit better and I will see what I can do for sherry barrels.

Today I screwed all the bits of my still and the new head back together and stared the cleaning runs. I have made 5 or 6 litres of distilled water and it is still coming out cloudy. I think it is going to be a long night.

The water eventually came clear so I put in a couple of gallons of vinegar, £2.00 a gallon from the Chinese wholesale shop.

Now I am getting cloudy distilled vinegar. On the 2nd litre now. Definitely falling behind schedule.

I have 3 gallon of 15% cleaning alcohol all lined up for tomorrow.

After the excitement of building and testing my new set-up, it's back to mundane things. I spent this morning changing my shed from a workshop back into a brewery.

I put on a Cornflake wash, 1 kg of cornflakes and 5 kg of sugar. It is so hot today the wash won't cool enough to let me pitch the yeast. At this rate it will be tomorrow before I can.

Try using your condenser coil in it

I have a wort chiller but I wouldn't use it for cooling a wash as it's too difficult to sterilise so I use the condenser coil instead, simples

AM

That's one advantage of having hoses on your coil, copper pipe is not as flexible.

true but if you had a little 6 or 8mm pipe you could easily knock a small one up and connect it with some hose. A couple of winds will chill a wash pretty quick

Bloody hot over here too. Here we are complaining about the heat we're never satisfied We're surrounded by high trees and our garden is in a bit of a dip too so it gets particularly hot at times like this.

I currently have 50lt of wash cleared and waiting to be stripped, two more 25lts that are finished but not racked or degassed and I've the product of the spirit run last Saturday still in the Kilner jars waiting for final cuts. I put the lids on the jars to stop the angels having the lot but it's too bloody hot to spend any time in the 'brewery'

AM

Made an audible overpressure alarm. Now this should never be needed, but I have been running some thick mashes recently, and also added some copper mesh to my potstill riser for removal of sulphur compound on the stripping run. So I "suppose" with a puke I could could up the column with bits of grain.

And it lets you build something else



Added a 12v output to my power controller.


Soldered a few components together and put them in a box.


Calibrated the switch to 2 psi. Click to see video

I like that a lot.

Something similar is on my list of things to do, but it is a very long list.

At the moment I rely on a simple pressure relief system using a weighted cup. I did make it today but seeing your post today made me think of it today so I posted it today. - does that qualify for this thread?

I made the empty cup which sits and seals a 22mm tube on a Silicone sheet on the bottom of the cup. I ran the still and blocked the column, the cup bounced up and down with steam hissing out. I added some old nuts and bolts etc. into the cup until it sealed for a couple of seconds longer.

I run the column now and it has relief valve has never popped. A bonus is that the cup just lifts off the tube to leave you with an opening for recharging or syphoning the boiler.