Hows the weather? (he chuckled from Canada)

[goinbroke2]

You guys are getting dumped on pretty good in europe eh? I thought all the extra taxes old \"climate change brown\" collected would of saved you? hahaha
Sorry, can\'t help myself, the whole climategate crap has me wondering whether to laugh at the absurdity of co2 being a poison or cry because some people eat this crap up.
As the cooling trend carries on in a few years you can skate on the Thames again, maybe have \"frost fares\" like a couple hundred years ago. (you know..when there was more co2 then now!)
It\'s only -6 or so here today so I was out plowing with the four wheeler. Considered putting a batch on but I\'ve still got more stock then I thought I would after Christmas. Course too much is never enough though. LOL!
Seriously, hope you guys make out ok in the cold/snow. Always carry blankets/candle/shovel/powerbars etc in the car for emergency\'s.

[HangOver]

Do I know the feeling !

Its only 26oC here today, didn\'t even have to put the air-conditioning on, bloody freezing; still its forcast to 38oC by end of the week.

[goinbroke2]

Your in Austraila eh? Love to go there someday. Don\'t know how I\'d get back though with all the 302 and 351 parts I\'d get in the junk yards...I could bring a sea container of copper and sell it all I guess, then load it with car parts...hhmmmm

20,000lb\'s of 2\" and 3\" pipe/fittings/connectors.

THEN there would be some new members on the distilling boards! LOL!
This is your \"summer\" right now, right? What does the temp go to in your winter?
Coldest I\'ve been was in CFB Alert way up north. -72c! I kicked a cast iron pintle hook on the back of a 5 ton truck to try and open it. It shattered like glass! Yes all veh\'s are towed inside and let thaw out at least 48hr\'s before you can work on them.

[HangOver]

-72? damn i didnt think anywhere got that cold brrrrrrr, not for me that

Yes im in australia, you should visit Oz at least once, I did then emigrated.

The coldest it gets where I am in the middle of winter is maybe 8oC average overnight, at a guess. I think it gets colder than that now and again but not by much.
copper is bloody expensive here, but then a lot of things are getting that way now but i suppose that worldwide.
Yes theres some big motors here, im from the UK and thought anything over a 2L engine was big, here my daily drive is a 4L stright six and the weekender is a 3.5 v8

good job fuel is cheap here. but thats the norm here, even the father in law has a 4L engine, its pretty normal for 4-5L then the bigger 6L+ but not so many of them but they arent un-common

[optic]

Hi im in the UK and yes we have had more than enough snow,and as always everything justs grinds to a halt,i agree Goingbroke2 all this global warming is a load of crap,blimey mate cant imagine what -72c feels like i spend a fair bit of time inside coldstores at work and they are about -20c and thats cold enough if you are in there for an hour or so,car wise i drive a 1.5 ltr which is tiny compared to your 4ltr plus engines,bet you would not run one if you lived here seeing as unleaded is now £1.10 a litre.

[Bottleofrum]

All talking about the cold weather reminds me that my wash has a lovely new brewbelt

keeping it nice and warm thoughout the blizzards of uk. haha
Oh and im not falling for that global warming scam.

[goinbroke2]

Well the wife drives a 4.2L freestar ford minivan and I drive a 4 door one ton diesel ford pickup with a 7.3L engine. (I love my truck hehe)

[goinbroke2]

http://www.jproc.ca/rrp/alert.html
CFS Alert, Nunavut is the most northern permanently inhabited settlement in the world. It is situated on the northeastern tip of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, approximately 817 km from the geographic North Pole at coordinates 82°28\' N, 62°30\' W.
Those who do a 6 month tour there always make up t-shirts saying \"the frozen chosen\"

Mechanic\'s (like me) are in what is known as \"monster house\".
It\'s an experience.

[Jimmy]

That looks awesome, although it never ceases to amaze me what lengths people will go to in order to spy on each other.
I drive a 3.0 V6 and the missus has a 4.2 straight six. The current \'spare\' car is only a 2.6 litre so it\'s a bit feeble. And yes, these are in Yorkshire but I\'m not a Yorkshireman so I don\'t spend all my time grumbling about the cost of things! If you pay £500 for a car you can afford to spend a little more on fuel...

[Opus 27]

Regardless of awfull weather it\'s good to see your name pop up Jimmy. Thought perhaps the Aliens had done things with probes and you were out there lost.
Opus

[Jimmy]

No, but it\'s been too cold in my house for my washes to ferment, and I have no money for a brew heater at the moment (cue the violins) - hopefully come the summer I\'ll have more time and money for experimenting. Besides, you guys seem to be doing pretty well without me!

[goinbroke2]

Speaking of being back...Been nice and warm here pretty much since march break. So of course I filled the fermenters and ran two strip runs and last night ran a spirit run.
Did some calculating, I did my last run before Christmas when it got to cold to distill. I had a total of 81L of 40% whisky (a few liters of shnapps,etc) and I have not quite 2L left!! Holy crap! I never realised that I consumed so much or more importantly, gave away so much!

Damn near 18 gallons of whisky in 4 months!
Just refilled the 121L fermenter and the wife said I should buy a second lol. (she loves her whisky/7 up)

[hoppinmad]

hi goingbroke2 from the sunny uk, weathers pretty good here too at the moment 16-17degrees c and sunny today but that could all change at any time. sounds like youre cooking up pretty big washes, im impressed. ive tried to follow your still setup as i\'d like to build my own but cant quite work it all out. i would appreciate it if you could go into more detail especially sizes,fittings etc. and also for your whisky recipe,
cheers, hoppin

[goinbroke2]

Sure, here\'s a pic from last night with the parrot I made. (yeah it\'s crude but works excellent)




This was about 20L starting around 75% and going until 30%. I do 40L in a 58L Stainless keg.
So, 58L keg took the original valve out and silver soldered a tri-clover furrel to a 2\" piece of copper pipe. Made an adapter with a copper-to-copper 1/2\" connector to attach to my worm.

The worm is 25ft of 1/2\" copper tubing coiled up in a 30L pail.....actually, I\'ll do a new post with pictures.

[goinbroke2]

I\'m back...

So, 58L keg wrapped in silver insulation you buy at a hardware store. (helped with heat retention) I heat with a turkey fryer (propane) 72000btu

2\" piece of copper pipe with a tri-clover furrel silver soldered in. Got the furrel and clamps etc from a dairy outlet.

Here\'s the whole thing, cost $20.00

Soldered a copper-to-copper 1/2\" connector on for my worm. I made the top of the 2\" pipe by cutting off a couple inches and flattening it out. Then cutting it circular.

Here\'s the pail with garden hose attachments. Cold water in the bottom with a valve to slow the water to a trickle. Water flows out the top hose and runs outside with gravity.

Note that the hose outlet is not at the very top. This is because water will flow out faster when there is more volume(weight) above it. If the drain is at the very top the water just trickles out and everything runs hotter. Where it is I can turn up the flow and fill the bucket to the top then slow it down and keep it there. Flow is much higher. Also note the silicone around the copper tube, build it up strong because it will get bumped around a bit and will flex.

Looking down inside: I soldered on some uprights to hold the coil in a downward spiral so there is no pooling in the line. I used zap straps to hold the whole thing solid.

The lynne arm: 1/2\" pipe which goes down to the 1/2\" tubing. (pipe is measured inside dia, tube is measured outside dia)

Assembled: Takes about 10 seconds or less to assemble. Has a nitrile gasket so there is no dough goop to clean etc. Disassembly is just as quick. Unscrew the pipe fitting with 5/8 and 1\" wrenches then undo the clamp. Done.

Oh yeah, my fermenter (and the burner put away for winter)

121L HDPD High density (food grade) plastic garbage can. ($19.00 at Canadian tire)

So total it\'s cost $97.00 and some elbow grease. Dirt simple and works excellent. Could be made to take up less room with a leibig condensor instead of the worm bucket.

When you include corn/sugar/etc you get about 100L of wash out.

Oh yeah, recipe. I think I put it on here somewhere else but anyway,;

40lb\'s sugar

40lb\'s cracked corn

100L water

1/2 a small bottle of bakers yeast...just looked it\'s 113G bottle I mix up a gallon of warm water or so and let it sit for 20minutes or so then add a sprinkle of sugar then after about an hour pour it in.

This will come out around 12%abv. I find much more than that gives off flavours. 14% is definately the max I would go as it stresses the yeast and produces more fusel alcohol and cogeners that plain taste bad.
I strip this to about 40-45% then run a spirit run and it comes out 75-80%. Seperated in 500ml jars I do my cuts by smell and taste (teaspoon 1/2 and 1/2) after they have sat out to air for 24hr\'s. I dump the heads and tails in a feigns carboy to be distilled later and keep the heart in a heart carboy. I then cut the heart down to 40% with RO water. I fill 750ml bottles and add 1 cube of hungarian oak per bottle. Let it sit about 2 months and it is a nice golden/light brown and taste good enough to turn your nose up at store bought shit. hehe

Note there is NO CARBON INVOLVED! If you need carbon then you\'ve left crap in there which means your being too greedy with your cuts.

Other things that come to mind..I always watch the temp/humidity/barometer as it does effect when and how hard the wash gets up to temp.

Oh, for smaller batches I think I used;

5lb\'s sugar

5lb\'s cracked corn

30L water

yeast

I forget but I think it\'s about 10-12%