The SS Turbo 500 (T500) and Me

[Andy]

The Good:

Easy to use.

Easy to erect.

3.5 liters @ 96% (I don’t lie)
The Bad:

Very tall.

Temps hard to control.
The Story.
I started with 6kg Sugar, 21 liters water and 1 pack SS Turbo Classic yeast.

After 3 days the wash had finished.

Day 4 I added the SS Turbo Clear.

Day 5 I ran the SS T500.
I managed to get 22 liters of wash out before it started looking cloudy, so that’s what went into the still.

After 1 hour exactly the temp shot up and it started to produce the goods (or bads) and I started the water flowing.
I didn’t measure the water flow at first, I just ran it till the temp came down to 50 deg C

I collected 100mls and discarded (better to be safe than sorry)

I watched the temps continuously and it was a real job over the next 4 hours to keep it around 50 – 55 deg C.
Every 500mls I tested the Alcohol content and it was always 95 or 96%

After the 3rd 500ml check I decided to check the rate of water flow, in the instructions they say 500mls per minute, to my shock I was running 850mls per minute.
By hour 5, production had slowed to a couple of drops per minute so I switched off and begun cutting the spirit.
After cutting I did a quick taste test, now I have hard decision to make – to filter or not to filter.

I decided not to filter as (in my opinion) the spirit is better than what comes out of the filter after the air still – I might try filtering with the next wash.
So, I made a 2250ml batch of Calypso Gold Rum and started drinking LOL.
Summary:

I spent AU$600 on a new still that saves me 2kg of sugar, saves me about 7 hours distilling and tastes better and as a bonus I get a better yield.

I am happy with this still, much happier than I was with the end result from the Air Still.
Sorry for rambling.

Cheers

Andy

[Opus 27]

Andy

In your Pictures you show a plastic jug under your collection tube, 95% ABV may cause you a problem with leeching nasty stuff from the plastic. Nice bit of kit though.
Opus 27

[Andy]

The plastic just was just to collect the first 100mls.

I then used the glass demijon to collect the good drinkable stuff.

[hoppinmad]

Andy, thanks for the post it sounds amazing, I am using an air still at the moment and am very much a newcomer to this distilling lark, nice to see what\'s ahead tho once I\'ve learned a bit and don\'t some saving, cheers

[hoppinmad]

Done some savin rather, grrr bloody spellchecker

[Andy]

I was a little apprehensive about using the reflux still, you hear all sorts of stories.

For a first time user, I must say it was not as bad as I thought it would be.

The hardest part was keeping the water flow hence the temps correct.

If you have the room hoppinmad, I would say do it.

[Bottleofrum]

Nice one mate, Great review, Ill deffently be getting one of these!

[Andy]

I have just completed my second run, the results are exactly the same as the first with one exception.

I had a little extra time and managed to get 4 liters @ 95%

The last 500ml took an extra hour.
With this batch I am going to run it through the carbon filter (making vodka) to see what (if any) difference it makes.

[Phantom]

I have just completed my second run, the results are exactly the same as the first with one exception.

I had a little extra time and managed to get 4 liters @ 95%

The last 500ml took an extra hour.
With this batch I am going to run it through the carbon filter (making vodka) to see what (if any) difference it makes.

Well done. Nice info.
when you say it's "very tall", how tall are we talking here ?
Only, because I've been using my "normal" SS super reflux, as per the instructions provided by the "kiwidistiller" over at homedistiller.org and while I'm ready to do a distillation run, before I do, I decided to pack my reflux chamber with copper mesh and do a "single" run i.e. run a batch of wash that\'s ready for the still for the first time. I did this before and it took a long time to get to a point where I wanted to finish.
So yesterday I packed the mesh into the reflux chamber, to a height approximately to the top of the reflux water jacket. I just tamped it (the mesh) down gently with a wooden spoon as I have absolutely no idea how "dense" the packing mesh should be.
Using copper mesh instead of rashig rings or saddles in the reflux chamber is a little strange, it seems to take a lot longer to distill a bucket (25ltr) of wash, but it also seems to be much easier to control the temperature. I managed to keep it at about 79 degrees C for the most part. I started it at about 1pm but switched of the still at midnight. it's given me about 3.75 litres at 88% ABV. So I'm guessing that the superior refluxing facility and temperature control offered by the the T500 is proof that it's probably a better still, though it does seem a hell of a lot more money for the superior control.
Next weekend I'll be running a "distillation" run i.e. of the 3 gallons of lower strength spirit I've got, I'll let that down to 40% and then run it. Hopefully it will average over 90% as the quantity of alcohol in the run is that much greater.
I'll post back then........

[Legless]

Woopee! I am female and blonde - But I did it!

I started with the Turbo 8 kg production pack

After 8 days the wash had finished (we had a couple of coolish days)

Day 9 I added the SS Turbo Clear but I waited 3 days for it to \'clear\'

Day 13 I ran the Still Spirits T500. with fingers crossed.
Plugged boiler in at 9,30 am - off at 2.30 pm

Got a full! demijohn of 96%

Carbon filtered - then made up Vodka, Gin, and triple Sec and still have 2 full demijohns of 40% left - Party anyone!!
I had to keep an eye on the temps though - the outlet temp slowly creeps up...

I do it all in the kitchen - but the kitchen is \'out of bounds\' whilst it is all running...
All in all - a good days work

Ps Hubby doesnt know yet - he\'s been away!

[Andy]

Great work.

Next run try Vodka Star yeast pack and 7kg Dextrose and you will see the difference.

The Vodka Star does take longer to ferment though.

I figured why my temps were all over the place, it was the kitchen window being open and a breeze coming in.

Have since closed the window during runs and all is fine but yes, it creeps up slowly.

[wld trky]

Hey Andy do you know if this is available in Australia and if so what shop.

[Andy]

If your asking about the Vodka Star, yes I get it from my LHBS but I had to ask him to stock it now its the best selling "turbo" yeast.

If you cant find it give Craig a yell http://www.tru-brew.com.au/ I am sure he would be happy to post

[MrCat]

I gave my T500 it\'s first run at the weekend.
I used a Alcotec 48 with 7kg of sugar, 6 days to ferment to 15%, racked, turbo cleared and left for 4 days.
I had some issues with surging (despite two pot scrubbers in the boiler) but once resolved (I addded the ceramic rings as well) the T500 ran well.
The temp was farely stable - I was running at 52 degrees on the output water for most of the output only letting the temp rise a bit on jar 8.
I dumped the first 100ml, collected into 400 ml mason jars and then left them to air for two days before testing. (smell / cut with water / taste)
Jar one - smells quite fruity - the telltale smell of ethyl acetate. No taste test

Jar two - still a slight smell of fruit. No taste test

Jar 3,4,5,6,7. No smell at all. Nothing. A good hearts run Increasing \'burn\' on the taste test jar by jar - indicates to me that the difference between the ABV and 100% (the 7% of \'other\') is increasing in impurities.

Jar 8 - a little smell of tails... No taste test
Ok, Jars 1,2 and 8 will be carbon filtered, cut with filtered spring water and go back though with the output previous stripping runs.
Jars 3,4,5,6,7 will go through again as part of a second distill hearts run.
IMHO the T500 is much easier to run than a modded SS reflux and produces similar quality much quicker. On the SS reflux I was lucky to get 400/500 ml an hour of 90% + but the T500 was kicking out about 800ml an hour.
I think I\'ll pack the column with copper for the next run - not to increase the ABV but to minimise the impurities in the 7%..

[Legless]

Has anyone put a tomato paste wash through the Turbo 500? if so, what was the result?