Back to the grind, t500?

[Distillingchris]

Hi, I'm back after a year out due to moving but going to start a wash and get some wine on the go ASAP, I've still got my air still , still, but thinking about going for the t500 and also getting the ambelic pot lid, now I wouldn't want to modify this straight away unless it's something plugging into it, ie not drilling /damaging the still, any suggestions ? And also i want to get a neutral wash going and probably a grain whiskey straight away, any suggestion for the neutral /vodka

Thanks in advance

[Icefever]

Hi and welcome back into the fold

The T500 does the job it's built for, I went down that road and it's well worth the money.

For a neutral wash you can't beat the lentil wash....can't help with the whiskey one, I'll leave that to someome else..

[Distillingchris]

Thanks yeh I've only ever done sugar and water for neutral but saw people use tomato purée, il check out the lentil , whiskey should be ok done one in the past think it might be on here somewhere and turned out alright

[packapoo]

As Icefever said, lentil is good. Equally so, is Googe's Goo - kale wash. Recipe is on site here.

[Easydrinker]

Sometimes members here come and go.
Most often they come back,so welcome back.
I really can't think of another site where the members will try to help you out of a hole,like the members of this one will do.
Regarding a neutral wash,I can recommend the lentil one (substitute any pulse of your choice,they all seem to work).
The T500 boys that use one seem happy with the alembic lid,without mods.
HTH

Robert.

[John51]

Being blessed with the lazy gene, I use Vodka Star and 6Kg of white sugar for the wash. I have 5 fermenters plus an extra one that is used just to get the wash from the workshop to the still. By the time I'm ready to run a wash, there isn't much gas left in it. Pouring it into the still takes care of whatever gas is there.

I've been absent from the site for various lengths of time. Not because I've stopped distilling but because, like the T500, I'm a one trick pony. Same run every time and nothing new to say.

[Still Brewing]

A T500 is something I'm thinking about buying at the moment. It will be a while before I can afford it due to family life, the festivities coming up and kids that will want everything. I've started saving so hopefully will have enough early in the new year.

I see there is an ambelic lid for it. What is its purpose.

[Distillingchris]

Yes that's my problem but think I might bite the bullet so I can drink cheap at Christmas haha, I think the purpose is that the reflux strips all flavour and just gives a basic plain spirit, and the alembic lid is like a pot still and keeps some of the flavour and can be used for gins and whiskey as I believe, anybody feel free to correct me il not sure

[Easydrinker]

Yes that's my problem but think I might bite the bullet so I can drink cheap at Christmas haha, I think the purpose is that the reflux strips all flavour and just gives a basic plain spirit, and the alembic lid is like a pot still and keeps some of the flavour and can be used for gins and whiskey as I believe, anybody feel free to correct me il not sure

You got it right.
The alembic lid should make the still that was built for reflux act more like a pot still.
Good for any flavoured spirit.

Robert.

[Admiral Toad]

firstly I concur with others and make hassle free neutral with Vodka star and 7 kg sugar. Works for me
As to whisky these days I only use the T500 for the spirit run having stripped the wash in the keg boiler. That said the 500 can do this too.
Sorry if you already realise this but with the alembic head you don't use the T500 column so you need some sort of condenser.I think Still spirits make one or there will be a how to somewhere on here.

[Phantom]

For the lazy and/or unskilled amongst us, the copper lid is currently listed @£142 and the liebig condenser is £112.

So no cutting, drilling, soldering etc.........

Just the pain of freedom for the wallet moths.........

[mikew41]

I got a T500 earlier this year after 3 years with the Air Still. What a difference. Double distilling a 25 litre wash with the Air Still took 10 days or so doing 1 or 2 runs per evening after work and was becoming a real grind. The T500 takes it all through in around 3 to 4 hours and the stuff that comes out is really smooth after a quick poke through the filter. I'm not an expert on the ins and outs of flavours....I tried and failed at the gin a good few times but the T500 for me is well worth the money.

[Phantom]

I got a T500 earlier this year after 3 years with the Air Still. What a difference. Double distilling a 25 litre wash with the Air Still took 10 days or so doing 1 or 2 runs per evening after work and was becoming a real grind. The T500 takes it all through in around 3 to 4 hours and the stuff that comes out is really smooth after a quick poke through the filter. I'm not an expert on the ins and outs of flavours....I tried and failed at the gin a good few times but the T500 for me is well worth the money.

Concur. Many of our US cousins moan like hell about it, but it seems they're trying to do stuff it wasn't built/designed for i.e. flavoured spirits like corn whisky etc. And yes, I'd agree. It's designed for neutral/vodka, which IMO, it does.very well...........

[GrunthosTheFlatulent]

Double distilling a 25 litre wash with the Air Still took 10 days or so doing 1 or 2 runs per evening after work and was becoming a real grind.

I think the beauty of the airstill is that, for stripping runs, as long as you use conditioner and ceramics or copper offcuts in the pot and have de-gassed the wash, then you can leave it on a timer and let it do its own thing.

I still like my little droid for stripping runs or recycling past-their-best or disappointing wines.

T500 is the mutt's nuts when you've sussed the water control.

[Phantom]

T500 is the mutt's nuts when you've sussed the water control.

Seems that the easiest way is to use one of those "caravan water pressure valves" on the mains, then the needle valve. Otherwise, with mains pressure straight into the needle valve, the tiniest of adjustments creates quite wide swings in temperature of the column (depends on yer house plumbing set ups too - the shower temperature change if someone flushes the bog thing).