StillSmart

chill wrote:The Escensia is really nice and the cat's, er, meow if you can afford it. But a large, chemical resistant funnel (HDPE plastic, glass, stainless steel) with the mouth packed full of cotton wool and with a couple cups of activated carbon in it will do quite well at much less cost.

Yes that was my original intention but they didn't have the dry carbon might try and find some online, any recommendations?

I am in Canada so my recommendations are unlikely to be of help to you. I will note that it is not exactly a rare and precious substance.

chill wrote:I am in Canada so my recommendations are unlikely to be of help to you. I will note that it is not exactly a rare and precious substance.

Are you sure Chill? That's not what they told me in the LHBS

brewhunter wrote:

KerryW wrote:i would not say it is bad information, I started with the info from my LHBS and she just went by the info for the product they are selling,, I used to drop in her store once a week but not so much now since starting to use the hints and tips from here

There has been a number of things I've been told by them like how it is possible to make gin cheaper than you can buy tonic water, how you don't need to worry about heads,fores and tails, just turn on the airstill for two hours and it's done etc etc.. On the plus side I never leave without having a drink or two so it's not all bad

.

Ok,
I think this is quite a worrying post.
I think brewhunter is being told absolute crap by his HBS.
Mate, do some reading here,and stay safe.
I hope the brew that they offer is merely fermenteted, as they seem not to know how to distill.
You should find all that you need to know by using the searchey button thing,top right.

Robert.

Yes and that's just the tip of the iceberg, If I'm offered any distilled product I just have the tiniest of tastes to be polite. The worst thing about it is I know some of the other guys who go there are doing as they are told

The guy in my local HBS advocates the StillSpirits guide to using the AirStill - in fact he gave me a printout of a page he's written based exactly on it. I've had a couple of arguments with him about Best Practice, turbos or not, etc., and he has always stuck to his guns. By his own confession, he doesn't normally drink spirits, so it won't make much difference to him.

At the end of the day his job is, I suppose, to sell stuff - it's only going to be an enlightened few who will take the time to learn how to use that stuff better - like we all have.

I did take samples of WWW neutral and an Odin's gin in for him to taste before Christmas, and he has kind enough to be blown away by the difference in quality between his and mine.

But will he change? Nope, he couldn't even believe that you could make gin in an AirStill because he thinks the still 'strips everything out, leaving vodka'.

We aren't going to convert the world - we can however strive to educate ourselves and learn how to get the best results from our kit. Which is why we are all here. Meanwhile, take care drinking spirits in the HBS!

Cheers

Hampk

brewhunter wrote:

KerryW wrote:i would not say it is bad information, I started with the info from my LHBS and she just went by the info for the product they are selling,, I used to drop in her store once a week but not so much now since starting to use the hints and tips from here

There has been a number of things I've been told by them like how it is possible to make gin cheaper than you can buy tonic water, how you don't need to worry about heads,fores and tails, just turn on the airstill for two hours and it's done etc etc.. On the plus side I never leave without having a drink or two so it's not all bad

I have had my hands in my pocket so far on this thread, but now my dander is really up!

My inner Yorkshireman and I have costed my kale & sputnik gin and its £1.27!
Tonic water is only 39p in Aldi.

This man is clearly talking fiddlefaddle and rot :-)

He was clearly referring to a much larger bottle of Tonic!

chill wrote:He was clearly referring to a much larger bottle of Tonic!

You can't get 4 litre bottles of Tonic Water in the UK.
AFAIK.

Robert.

That's a great idea Robert.
We need Schweppes to start selling it is 5l. In a nice heavy glass bottle. With 2 ring handles

I think that the 'expert' who did those wine works YouTube tutorials has got a lot to answer for too

Mash wrote:That's a great idea Robert.
We need Schweppes to start selling it is 5l. In a nice heavy glass bottle. With 2 ring handles

Then you wouldn't mind wasting that that had gone flat and fizzless!

Robert.

I was thinking of the Dr's.

I was thinking of DJ's
Read before submitting mate
Not even next to each other on the qwerty keyboard....

Robert

Nothing to with next to each other its hyper-predictive text. C'mon keep up with the tech.