StillSmart

Royalty

If they seen my head they'd think I was a bush ranger

Cheers, novice....lol

Hi from New Zealand guys. You'll see from my T 500 post that I am running one and like it, despite the minor problems mentioned therein. I am experimenting with essences and find some tolerable, others terrible. A decent gin essence seems very hard to find.
I'd appreciate recommendations.

Hi!

My name is Miles from Manchester. I found the forum after some random browsing and decided to join.Hope to meet some nice people around.

Best regards
Miles

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superenalotto

Hi guys, welcome!

Hi welcome to the forum,you will find all the help you need on here, unlike some of the other forums.
alan

Hi All!

Very excited about my new hobby. Saw the SS at my local homebrew store, couldn't believe my eyes. After studying this forum for a while and weighing up the pros and cons decided to go for it. I've made wine from fruit from the garden over the years but this brings a whole new dimension to home booze. Dropped out of the rat race and retired early, so I'm now 'time rich but money poor'. Was waking up to the fact that I could no longer afford a bottle of Irish whiskey every week, but now all that has changed. Tra la!

My partner is also a major toper and it was she who encouraged me to bite the bullet as it would save her over £20 a week on brandy, so the SS should pay for itself in no time...

My first wash is nearly done after a fortnight fermenting, but while it has been brewing I've put through some homemade wine I was less than happy with. There's a lot of fruit in the garden this year so I'm really looking forward to making some flavoured vodkas.

This forum looks very helpful and friendly, so I look forward to learning a lot and sharing my experiences.

Dave

Welcome Dave - they are really handy for recovering the good bits from bad wine and cider. I have some really nice calvados that I got from some really bad cider !!

Thanks Mr Cat

Looks like I'll be having lots of apples this year so I'll be scouring the forum for ideas like calvados, apple vodka, apple schnapps. So much to discover...

Welcome to the newer members.

For the best brandy I've found so far, its a 50/50 mix of the SS vsop classic and the essencia one.

For gin, it seems to be the essencia blue sapphire one, though I'm quite happy with the SS classic one.

For favoured vodka, my big fave is Prestige cherimoya favoured one - if you drink it with cream soda, then its a real party drink........

Hi Im new to the forum and just wanted to say hello and well done for the wealth of information thats on here!
I found the site while trawling google and glad I did cause it has finally persuaded me to purchase my ss that should be here any day now - im like a kid at xmas and cant wait to try it now!!
Anyway im sure i will have plenty of questions for you all once i find out its not as easy as it looks (to get right that is!)
Ali

Welcome to the forum Alli99,feel free to ask any questions we are a friendly bunch here,it may at times take a while before you get a reply as it does go a bit quite here at times.The good thing about the air still is its easy to run if you stick to the instructions,personally I would recommend you stick with still spirits triple distilled yeast for the first few washes that you run,one important tip which I am sure others would advise is to make sure your wash is completely clear before you run it through not only will the finished product taste better,it has been known for the lid to blow off the top of the still if its not clear.Once you have a few runs under your belt then I would say experiment with different washes/yeasts and second distillations

Optic

As optic says, it's easy to over boil the smart still, but if you make sure that not only, is the wash clear, but also use some "distillers conditioner", which is to help with the formation of small bubbles while the still is switched on (and boiling) as well as some "boiling stones" (which are either "ceramic saddles" or rashig rings or even broken glass will do) in the bottom of the still, it helps to break up any large bubbles that may form and helps to prevent the over boil (it's like it burps - but burps boiling wash).

Also, while it's running, it's usually better if the still is out of the way of the kids and/or pets, just in case it did over boil.

When it comes out the smart still, the distillate is usually at about 60% ABV, but if you let it down to <40% and redistill it, you will get cleaner spirit and at about the 80% ABV mark.

Welcome to the forums!

regards

P!

Hi,

I am from Yorkshire, I have a fair bit of experience with brewing and wine making, this is my first sortie into distilling but one that I am looking forward too very much.

As part of my research before starting to build a still I have been visiting this site for a few months, I have now committed to the project, have started work on it and I have become a member of the forum.

Firstly - many thanks to everybody who has contributed to the forum - I and many others really appreciate the effort that it has taken to get this site to where it is now and the effort it takes to maintain it, thanks.

OK I have decided to build a 2" slant plate "Boka" with a removable column section to convert it ino a Stripping/Pot still. Space is limited and I would rather go this route than have a seperate pot still. I am not in a hurry to finish the still, as the site I will be using it at, will not be available until next June, so I am planning to add a few "Extras" over and above the ones normally found on a "Boka".

I have left a post and some pictures on the "Equipment and Sundries" board to show my efforts in prducing a condensing coil for new project.

Brian
(YHB)

Well its good to see that there's others building as well, though I'm still at the "making my mind up" stage, collecting materials, deciding how and what's gonna happen, so I'll be more than happy to read of your progress Brian.

Good luck with your efforts and of course welcome to the forums.

regards

P!

Hi Brian, welcome! This place might as well be renamed as t'StillSmart with the number of Yorkshiremen we seem to attract... funnily enough I was reading some of your stuff on HD just yesterday about turbo yeast, recognise the avatar. Hope you enjoy the forums, any questions just ask.