Finally I join the T500 gang!

[Jimmy]

Well, it's been a long time coming but I have finally bitten the bullet and joined the T500 gang. I paid a visit to see Richard's new-ish shop in Liverpool (Richard from Wineworks/Love Brewing) - it's a great place, a large and well stocked shop with tons of great products that I wanted to grab and stuff into my car until it was full! Definitely worth a visit if anyone is able, and their wallet can stand it...

Anyhow, Richard kindly sorted me out with a T500 so I will soon be attempting a run. I just thought I'd post on here and see what the old hands have to say about it - anything I need to be aware of or double check before I start that isn't in the instructions? It all seems to make sense so far, famous last words...

I need some sort of adapter because I have a stupid kitchen tap with a hexagonal end on it, there's a spare washing machine outlet under the sink and I believe there's an adapter to connect to one of these, wonder if they have something similar at Wickes?

[i dont drink]

wooooooooohoooooooooo... you did it lol..

i searched wicks for ages to find some kind of adaptor and found nothing... then my hbs told me of an adaptor that fits on the washer tap but in the mean time, id soldered a 6" bit of copper pipe into the end to fit a hose pipe and i use that perfectly..

hth.
al.

[Jimmy]

Cheers Al, I spoke to Richard and he's sending me an adapter so that side should be covered - I like your hosepipe mod though, if I ever manage to get a 'spirits shed' in the garden then that will be a good plan!

[Capt-Cudellez]

Nice bit of mod bating there Aidan

[Jimmy]

...and just when he least expects it....

[dctaschler]

I just got mine last week and started a batch fermenting on Nov24.
Man, the wealth of info here is incredible! My thanks to all who contribute, I hope to do the same soon.

[Jimmy]

Cheers, good luck with it - keep plenty of notes and enjoy yourself, if you get stuck this lot will be happy to help if they're not too tipsy!

[dctaschler]

It took about 7 days to finish fermenting a sugar wash with Liquor-Quik Triple Vodka 14%.
Then a day and a half to clarify the charcoal out of it. I started it up about 8 am on Sunday and finished about 2:00 the temps got really touchy toward the end. It would spike suddenly an even small adjustments would make it dive back down. I tried to keep the outlet water temp about 140F - 145F which makes the head about 170F - 175F.
I divided my cuts into 400ml jars except 200ml of foreshots, but everything else looks and smells pretty good and as expected. I got about 3.1 liters total. Averaged about 94% ABV. I'm letting it air today and I'll cut it down to 40% and do some tasting tonight to see if I want to include some heads and tails or just save them for a feints run later.
(a couple of weeks ago I didn't even know what a feints run is)

[lyonacre]

Congratulations!

You will need to step up your drinking habits to keep pace with the alcohol production.

From my perspective the T500 was all pretty straight forward and the only words I can offer are:

Don't insist on fitting all the saddles in the column - it will be too tight.

Make sure you connect the flow and return pipes the right way round - That was a disaster!

Be prepared to watch and twiddle to maintain the column temperature - I find winter much harder!

I run at 55 which seems to give a nicer spirit

And on a final note, how do people clean their columns? I connect the water flow pipe to the spirit outlet and run copious amount of clean water through. If it gets smelly - which it hasn't done - I would take the packing out and clean it.

Have fun

[Jimmy]

I agree with lyonacre, but would also add that you should remember to fit the thermometer probes BEFORE testing the water supply, especially if you have the adapter in a cupboard under your sink. If you don't, you might find you're under there thinking 'what is that strange noise, sort of sounds like a high pressure water jet drenching everything in the kitchen' before putting two and two together and banging your head on the pipes in the hurry to get out and see what is happening, only then realising that you need to shut off the water IN the cupboard where you were in the first place. I would never do that sort of thing of course, being a seasoned professional and all...

[Capt-Cudellez]

Can't imagine doing that
Also can't imagine doing what lyonacre suggested and running water up the spirit output after a run to clean the column, while draining the hot slops - forget to un-clip the lid and vacuum collapse the boiler - nope, never done that