Turbo still 500

[Bottleofrum]

Thanks for that info optic.

[Kred]

I finally had time to run a wash through my new T500. Very impressed and happy with my purchase. I\'m more impressed that I don\'t have to borrow one any more.

I had been using a supper reflux and was no different to use.

The main difference was the better smell of the spirit. I also liked the boiler as it can sit straight on the bench and doesn\'t get hot and it has a tap to make empting easer.
The water output temp varied between 55-60 and quickly, but never went over or under this temp. I think the digital thermomotor sensor is a bit touchy. I was running about 700mls through with ambient temp about 25deg. This is 100mls more than the reflux still. Once set it never altered. The top temp was 73deg. The water temp started to drop when I had 3.5L so I assumed it was done and shut it down. I tested it with the spirit sill a bit warm and the Hydrometer disappeared, so I assume it was 95%+.
I tried to recycle the water as I\'m on tank water by running the output water up and into my gutter. Not a good idea.....as the water had to head uphill it pressurised the water and the sill had leaks everywhere. Ran it back into the laundry tub and all was good again. Was worth a shot.

[freelancement]

love my new still, had the still spirits air still, sold it to a mate and upgraded to the super reflux then upgraded to the new T500 last month, gotta flog the old one to another mate now lol. Soooooo easy, I use the triple distilled packs as it has no metho in fermentation like the classic yeasts which means no disgarding the first 50mls, so all i have to do is set and forget, hits the ceiling temp and floods the reflux, i come back 4-5 hours or later turn off water and power and spirit is sitting there pure at 94%, then i split it to 42% and filter it.

only thing is i let mine age once mixed with the flavours to infuse for a min of a week
I got mine at one stop bar shop in mornington, down in melbourne. great guys to deal with

[url=http://www.onestopbarshop.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=1548]

[marc83]

I dont use a T500 but im sure you should still discard the foreshots.Someone else can hopefully back me up here...Dont think i could ever \"set & forget\" my still,haha,Just in case something happens.

[Phantom]

I dont use a T500 but im sure you should still discard the foreshots.Someone else can hopefully back me up here...Dont think i could ever "set & forget" my still,haha,Just in case something happens.

Yes, concur there. With all ferments/distillations, there will be a small amount of methanol produced - and while (with sugar) it\'s probably a clean enough ferment, the distillation is a filtering/purifying process so the little bit there is concentrated a little more (still probably not enough to cause an issue) and that can, along with the other "lighter" elements, still cause off flavours.
While the idea of "set&forget" is nice, it\'s not the safest thing to do is it...... anything that might cause a blockage, or snagging a pipe causing a kink and blocking that way, has the potential for problems - hot/steaming alcohol vapours are as volatile as petrol vapours.......
I\'ll let you work out the possible results........

[BundyRed]

STEP 7

VERY IMPORTANT – Collect and discard the

first 50mls of Alcohol that flows.

The first 50mls of Alcohol must be collected

separately and discarded. Your fermentation

may have produced a very small amount of byproducts

that will evaporate at a much lower

temperature than Ethanol (the alcohol we can

consume).
This is out of the manual, which I do. The still dose seem to hold its temp well, but I like to keep an eye on it as well. I still havet got around to runing my brown sugar wash. will have to soon, running out of stock. At least it has settled well, water is a little brown though.

[Andy]

I get ridd of the first 100ml and my wife use\'s it for cleaning around the house so it\'s not just wasted.

[marc83]

Hey Andy,havent seen you around here in a while.Oh and thanks guys for agreeing with the aforementioned.

[Andy]

Hey Mark, just been really busy working etc.

[freelancement]

quality of the spirit comes back to the ingredients during fermentation, the still will only refine what the original ingredients are.
I was lucky enough to have a look at the spectrometer results of the still spirits classic and the triple distilled, providing that its fermented under the right conditions (not above 25 degrees) the impurities are 1/10th of that of the classic when both are in optimum conditions during fermentation, with majority of the alcohol with a boiling point of ~78. Now combining this with fermentation carbon to absorb the impurities during the fermentation process, this leads to a healthier environment for the yeast to work in, in addition consume more sugar and a higher %.
the still spirits classic yeast requires the discarding of the first 50ml @ 80% (metho), as the triple distill yeast is 1/10th means you have less than 5ml @ 80% of metho in a 3.6L volume. Now, those figures are going off what i had with my old reflux, which use to also carry accross metho into the main mass as a result of the lower % to the new T500, not that it matters now because i collect everything and gets filtered out with the EZ carbon filter. but i strongly recommending having a look at the optimum conditions for the triple distill yeast, should be on the site, i use the 6kg triple distill production packs, they have the still spirits turbo sugars and the liquid carbon used for fermentation etc. Ah and another thing i see people always not doing is using the clearing agents and distillation conditioners. If you boil the yeast cells they explode and release toxins, and the distillation conditioners stop the foaming of the batch it doesnt take heavy elements and high boiling point elements up into the reflux. all these little things all add up and add to the quality and ease of use.

if your using the middle grade yeast then yes collection of the first 50-100ml, use it for anything really as its metho, awesome window cleaning products haha, but yeah dont drink it, as thats where we get the phrase moonshine .... makes you go blind
Now, as for operation of the still, it would be stupid to leave the house, but providing its cleaned, maintained, correctly setup and you follow the instructions you can handle other things, stupid to leave the area. the batch before i got my new still, i was studying for exams, one batch i had to redistill 3 times because it keep catching the tails of the batch as it bounces so quickly thro the upper range boiling points because its mainly at 78 degrees.

the last hour of operation only really collects about another 100ml, so you can shut it off early if you wanted to
but yeah food for thought, excuse any english expression or spelling mistakes

[freelancement]

brown sugar wash? isnt that just white sugar sprayed with molasses ....

what benefit do you get out of that? could only think what is staining the ceramics in the reflux, was talking to a guy who decided to put some essential oils thro his still (super reflux) i cant clean it out now, all the alco is tanted with a cloudiness and a background taste .... very annoying if you only drink gin as it emphasises all impurities and anything that isnt ment to be there haha

[BundyRed]

I had a spare packet of brown sugar, so I used it so not to waste it.

[makum101]

Anyone know where in the UK I can buy a Turbo 500?
I notice SS website has a registration page (to register your T500) but doesnt seem to be selling them :-(

[foRUM warrior]

sure i read september some where in this thread

[turps]

G-Day

Im new here, just thought Id share my experience with the (still spirits) 25lt Turbo 500. firstly Im also new to stills, I finished my first wash today & run it through the still, ended up with 3.9lts of 95% alchohol with barely no odour after running the still for 5 hrs. Im very happy with end result. I run the water outlet at between 53 & 57 degrees, took me about 10 min to fine tune the tap & basically never had to touch it after that, top of column was at 78.2 most of the time, I kept the first 250 ml for cleaning windows etc, & turned of the power & water after drips were at about 20 to 30 drips per min.