StillSmart

Okay, it might be slightly late to say hello as I have already posted a couple of questions, but better late than never eh! :-)

I have been a home brewer for many years. Back in the day, I started out making beer from kits. Very quickly, this bored me as I didn't see it much different to making a cup of coffee. So, from there I quickly moved on to partial mashing. I used DME and steeped grains. Again, I didn't get a lot of satisfaction from this so I moved on to All Grain brewing, which I loved.

For some reason, I slowly stopped making home brew, finding I had less and less time. Shortly after a separation from my wife, I decided to visit the local home brew store to get some supplies and start again. Whilst there, I was introduced to the Airstill which very quickly made its way onto my shopping list.

Unfortunately, despite having more free time, I never got back into brewing the way I wanted to.

I have made several batches of spirits using my Airstill, and have always been happy with the results and enjoy the different flavoured essences on offer.

When brewing beer, I very rarely followed a recipe and instead opted to try something different with each brew, my favourite being a 'breakfast stout' I made which included 3 boxes of different breakfast cereals. Now, I want to start experimenting with my own spirits. I have followed the instructions from the Airstill and as mentioned have been happy with the results, but I want more. So, I searched and found your forum.

Hopefully I will have the time to be an active member and learn as much as I can from what you have to offer (which at the moment is an awful lot and slightly confusing to a beginner).

I've been extracting all the information which I find valuable and putting it into a single document that I can quickly refer to when I need - I imagine that is going to become quite big rather quickly :-)

Good to be here,
Pie

Hi PieOPah

Welcome, sometimes like today it's quiet on here, but I'm sure you'll find everyone very helpful.

I guessing you've read the best practice guides for the airstill by now, you'll get much better results than following the instructions that came with it, it's surprising how many HBS just pedel the info given to them by manufacturers but you can rest assured the info on here is tried and tested.

I've got an airstill but I did things the other way round to most, I jumped straight in and build a 2" Boka on top of a 50lt boiler! But there's a lot of work involved to run the big still, I have to strip at least three 25 litre wash's just to have enough juice to run it in reflux mode, the beauty of the airstill is you can play and experiment as oftern as you like because it's so small and safe to run.

I too used to make AG beers but I find this hobby far more interesting and I haven't brewed a drop of beer since I started, most of all have fun, I know I do :-)

Welcome indeed.
It seems from reading your post that your beer brewing style is the very thing that sets you up for distilling,your instructions aren't simply read from the back of the packet.
I'm sure you are going to have fun.
And you can usaully find someone here to help with any problems.
Robert.

[quote="PieOPah"]Okay, it might be slightly late to say hello as I have already posted a couple of questions, but better late than never eh! :-)

Never too late around here

There are some people here who can offer sound advice and answers to any questions that you might come across as you learn your way around this fascinating hobby - OK! That's just my opinion, about the fascinating bit I mean!

I'm at this donkey's years and I'm still learning new things

AM

Welcome

Learned loads and shared a fair bit of my findings over the years


Despite the odd hiccup (not through drink ) still the best forum by far

Hello and welcome to the forum PieOPah.

Much like yourself I started out brewing beer and wine a long time ago in the 70s
I was just a boy then of course!

Stopped brewing in the late 70s for some reason, must have ether been to lazy or to rich, somehow I don't think it was rich!

This a friendly forum I have learnt loads on here,enjoy your stay.

Regards Luckyshot.