Howdy

I'm still working on my still, today I picked up a beer keg at a local metal
dealer, empty unfortunately, it does show a warning about contents under
pressure, anybody know how much pressure before I tap into it?

I took a trip to Ireland last year, if you ever get the chance to go there,
don't turn it down, fantastic place, fantastic people, any way this keg is a
Guinness beer keg, which I thought was pretty neet, having drank at least a
keg of the stuff while visting the Emerald Isle. and also for the fact that
there is just not that many Pubs here in rural Ontario,  just finding a beer
keg is pretty hard let alone one that reminds me of a place I really enjoyed
and plan to return too.  It will make a good boiler,,,, won't it?

I would like to polish it up real shiny, any suggestions?

I may never get a still built, I am always changing my plans with every new
item I collect, I am having fun though.

Catch ya later

Mel

G'DAY my name is peter I live in australia. I would like to know if there is
any difference between AQUARIUM carbon & TREATMENT carbon ?
Also would anybody know a good barley wash recipe & could I distill it with a
reflux still thanks.

i live near australia peter,in tasmania and as our two countries are not
currently at war i can answer your questions,  don't use aquarium products,no !
no! no!===== for real info on other question go to 
www.geocities.com/kiwi_distiller and   www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm
if you have a reflux still why are you thinking of using malted barley instead
of sugar,??????????? struth!!! malted barley is dearer than sugar,you have to
grist it ,mash it,separate the wort and then when you distill it in a reflux
still you will neutralise the taste,throw some sugar and nutrient in cobber!,
many many regards brian

I know this has all already been said, but I'd thought I'd toss my $0.02 in
(well actually, sit it on the fence!)

Aluminium - I'd agree with you all on this one.  Aluminium wouldn't be the
metal of choice for a commercial distillery, because it would quickly lose
its passive oxide coating, and quickly pit & erode, due to an oxygen
depleated environment.  However, for a hobby still it is ideal - light,
clean, and fairly easy to fabricate with.  Provided it is cleaned after
each run, and dried well, it will retain its protective oxide film.  Sure,
it bends a little easier, but just be carefull during cleaning.  It all
comes down to how often its going to be used.  I have trouble getting
through more than a couple of litres of spirit a month personal consumption,

so generally my still is left unused for months at a time.
The back-yard sellers i know,
who tend to produce up to 100L a week swear by the stainless steel stills -
more reliable for them (can take the repeated cleanings easier, etc).  I
chose aluminium soley from a cost point of view. (It was also easy to get
back through customs - when dissassembled it makes a fantastic retro-looking
lampshade)

Sorry for the delay - two weeks in Oz caused the email to pile up a little.
  The trip was well worth it - I now have a VERY nice 2L oak cask for Xmas.
  Interesting to see how much stuff is now available (in Melbourne at least)
- pot stills (in copper), yeasts, flavourings, etc, and good advice.

cheers,  Tony

congratulations to aaron and julie on your site lots of links well done
"moonshine" 99,i didn't look at anything else in the index,especially if it
started with S ,trust me,well done ,hope those url's i sent were of some help
many regards brian       === www.ozemail.com.au/~azamith/

www.homemadeautofuel.com        many regards brian

I have made my own still from a beer keg,everything I am
using is stainless steel. The only problem I am having is with
the thermometer I'm using (It's a meat thermometer) when I go
ahead and brew a second batch the thermoter reads way higher
than it should. Does anybody have any suggestions?
One other question I have is does anybody have any
recomendations for building my own reflux tower?
Thanks,
Tom

sounds interesting, but I don't send checks to a PO Box. I'll check back
when they take credit cards. I will put the link up at
http://www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm


Steve Spence
Renewable Energy Pages
http://www.webconx.com
ICQ 50073546
If we don't believe in freedom of speech
for people who we disagree with, we don't believe in it at all.

--

----- Original Message -----
From: "BJ & FM Poke" <bj-fm@...>
To: <Distillers@onelist.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 3:06 PM
Subject: [Distillers] steve spence -here's a good url for you


www.homemadeautofuel.com        many regards brian

I bought the download version of
http://partyman.se/HbBok/home_distilling_handbook.html

excellent read.


Steve Spence
Renewable Energy Pages
http://www.webconx.com
ICQ 50073546
If we don't believe in freedom of speech
for people who we disagree with, we don't believe in it at all.

--

----- Original Message -----
From: "BJ & FM Poke" <bj-fm@...>
To: <Distillers@onelist.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 3:06 PM
Subject: [Distillers] steve spence -here's a good url for you


www.homemadeautofuel.com        many regards brian

a very possible reason for very high temp. readings tom is the siting of the
thermometer,maybe a little back pressure is present and will certainly cause
this OR is your hydrometer giving you a wrong reading and you are loading a
weaker solution than you think==== sounds like back pressure to me,if it's a
worry you don't HAVE to have a thermometer just take the yield readings=== happy
millenium  brian

i am a member of another distillers news group and during a discussion on "bells
and whistles" on stills i mentioned that i had a 1.5 metre single tube and shell
condensor on a 20 litre still with a 1300 watt grunter ,this long condensor
caused some interest,it's to do with lack of thermal shock ===any one else using
a long system===happy millenium brian

our address while at n.z. is --  visteel50@...
sorry 'bout that!

They certainly were Brian,
thanx again

my page is also available at

http://www.go.to/distil

or

http://www.go.to/distillation

all of the S references were put there to get traffic when
I had nothing better to say ;-)

cheers for now

Aaron


----- Original Message -----
From: <bj-fm@...>
To: <Distillers@onelist.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 7:21 PM
Subject: [Distillers] new site


> From: bj-fm@...
>
> congratulations to aaron and julie on your site lots of links well done
> "moonshine" 99,i didn't look at anything else in the index,especially if
it started with S ,trust me,well done ,hope those url's i sent were of some
help
> many regards brian       === www.ozemail.com.au/~azamith/
>
> >

I am trying to make up a good imitation for Campari. So far I did not ger any
further than
kinine, orange-peel and perhaps gentian. Any ideas?
I would apreciate any help.
Ed

Hello Brian & Distillers everywhere

>I am a member of another distillers news group

  I would like to join this other news group, or subscribe.  Please send URL.

Thanks Mel

the original idea was for acknowledgement to be given to our hobbies
NON-COMMERCIAL sites in the form of awards from an active group of members who
have no affiliation to these sites,therefore total independant views were
guarenteed,but so many blues broke out because the standard is so high, so to
save armageddon arriving early in tasmania we simply
chose to list the sites,one of the names for the awards couldn't even be ageed
upon as it was felt only aussies and kiwi's would see the joke ,so out of
deference to our u.s. "cousins" we dropped the
name==downundermapoftassie===awards .
a special thanks to des zein of code imports in n.z. who owns and moderates this
site and does a bloody brilliant job,if you appreciate his input free of charge
on the members behalf ,send him an email to this site he at least deserves that.
the three best are AUSTRALIA    www.ozemail.com.au/~azamith

NEW ZEALAND www.geocities.com/kiwi_distiller/


NORTH AMERICA www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm

many regards to all ,happy millenium  brian

I tried to post a question, several times, and it doesn't
work out. I don't understand it, so here I am again and I'll
keep trying till it works!
I need help! When trying to imitate Campari, I get stuck in
orange-peel, kinine, and of course, cochenille for the colour.
But is isn't Campari. Any thoughts about this?
Regards,
Ed

apologies to kevin b. wilson,but instead of a bike for christmas i got a
renovated reflux tower ,diameter 80mm,new height 520mm from320mm,could only
resolve circa 80% now will bolt in 90% with 20 litres feedstock and a 1300 watt
grunter,maybe for hanukka i'll get lots of stainless scrubbers,sure need them
!!!!!!!!! ==many regards to all happy millenium brian

Does  anyone  have  plans.  for  a  still???
Roger
>
>

MEL ==thanks for your patience,the email for the other site/newsgroup is 
distillation@...   just send an email with the word subscribe in both
the header and the body,this will give you access i believe and as this
newsgroup is not moderated you will be almost instantly transmitted to all
members ,but thats not all ,no you don't get any steak knives,but you are also
auto-gen subscribed to www.kare.com.au/distill/   which has an email news
service.

ROGER===if you go to the three url's which were awarded the 3 best non
-commercial sites on the net by the tassie devil's just two days ago your'e luck
will change dramatically including the home pages and links you have 100 sites
to peruse many with still plans/diagrams etc.etc.

ED-=====how's the weather in holland about now ??? going down hill quickly i
guess!! ed,i think all round it would be better to just buy campari as the cost
of ingredients to make it and finding them if your not in the industry would be
prohibitive,the number beside the compound is the relative proportion     
===angelica oil 3
                                              angelica root 66
                                              calamus oil 5
                                              calamus root 100
                                              casscarilla bark 33
                                              chamomile flowers 33
                                              chamomile oil 5
                                              clove flowers 33
                                              clove oil 3
                                              coriander fruits 33
                                              galangal root 66
                                              gentian bark 66
                                              juniper oil 5
                                              majorum 33
                                              orange bitter peels 100
                                              orange bitter oil 5
                                              peppermint 33
                                              pimento berry 33
                                              wormwood leaves and tops 33
                                              ethyl alcohol 95% 156
                                              distilled water 156
to ed and every body,i rest my case t'is sometimes simpler to buy particularly
as i havn't included the manufacturing methodology which requires some
specialialised skills and equipment==== gezellig kerstfeest    gelukkig
nieuwjaar

many regards to all ,happy millenium brian

hello i am new to the list , had a question about grappa , what kind of
grapes are good,  and what is the process , do you add water to the
grape peel and stem before stilling and do you need to let the added
water sit and how long?
any other info on the subject would be great. thanks from tj

Brian,
weather? Snertweer! Rain, cold (4 C), gales! Dark in the
morning, dark in the afternoon, dark in the evening. Lights
on when you get up, lights on when you come home, lights on
at work. Thanks for the recipy. Will (let others) try out.
When finished, will let you know. BTW, a friend of mine will
try out. He is an amateur-distiller, and liqueurmaker, and
even writes articles for a magazine, called Proost (cheers).
This magazine is about making beer, wine, liqueur; about
growing grapes and the like and about country wines.
He is way ahead of humble me in this art, and I am convinced
that he will know how to do it. He has the skills, he has
the equipment, and he is curious. If there are some special
things he should know, I would love to hear from you.
Regards and thanks again.
Ed

No flowers, no bees
no leaves on the trees
no wonder
november!

BJ & FM Poke wrote:
>
> MEL <snip>
> ED-=====how's the weather in holland about now ??? going down hill quickly i
guess!! ed,i think all round it would be better to just buy campari as the cost
of ingredients to make it and finding them if your not in the industry would be
prohibitive, <snip>
> to ed and every body,i rest my case t'is sometimes simpler to buy particularly
as i havn't included the manufacturing methodology which requires some
specialialised skills and equipment==== gezellig kerstfeest    gelukkig
nieuwjaar
>
> many regards to all ,happy millenium brian

Hello

Since there is not all that much traffic on the list, I thought I would tell
you all a little more about my Still Building endeavour.

I started with a dirty, scraped up Guinness beer keg,  The first step was
cleaning the outside I started out with steel wool, course and fine, but did
not have too much success with either, I then went with Silicon Carbide
Sandpaper,220 then 600 then 1500, I'm very pleased with the results, I also
had great success with Scotch Brite pads and Comet cleanser together, I am
now proud to call this beer keg mine, I can almost comb my hair in the
reflection from it.  When all my work is done I will rub it all down again
using wet 1500 grit sandpaper. then maybe rubbing compound. It was suggested
by David Reed that I could have it Electro Polished but it looks pretty good
so I think I will skip this part, but If a can find a company locally that
will do it for a good price "cheap" I just may get it done.

The next job was to cut out an 8 1/2" hole in the top of the keg where the
original valve was, I cut out a cardboard template then traced around this
on the top of the keg. I then drilled a couple of holes and stuck my jig saw
in there and proceeded to cut but found I could not turn the saw enough to
follow the line, the side of the keg is about 3' higher then the top so the
arse end of the jig saw was jamming against the side and I could not cut the
curve that I wanted. Once I start something I am compelled to finish it, so
I drilled a series of holes around the inside of the marked circle, (about
7,549 holes but whose counting),(not really that many) I then took out the
little Makita grinder and smoothed the edges of the roughed out hole to the
required size  Why a 8 1\2" hole you ask. Well when I started this project I
was going to use a SS Soda fountain container as the boiler but then decided
it was not going to work out that well. This container was about 36" high,
and has a screw on lid, and you guessed it, it is 8 1/2" in Diameter.  I cut
a six inch peice off the container from the top down,(with a Hacksaw BTW)
and fitted it into the hole in the beer keg, a nice snug fit I might add,
and my buddy Stewart will weld this up tomorrow. It is an AWESOME looking
boiler let me tell you...

My first plan was to heat with propane but I am not to keen on that idea
anymore so I have been thinking of fitting in an electric heating element
the kind that you find in hot water tanks with the controls etc.  Will this
do the job?  The keg has a diameter about 15-16", and is 21" high, 27" with
its new top, and holds 50 Liters, probably only do 20 liter batches though.
There is a lot of hot water tanks available in my area right now as we just
got Natural gas service and a lot of people, myself included have switched
to Gas hot water tanks. I could even put in two elements, one opposite the
other downlow in the keg. What ya think?  If it is a stupid idea please tell
me before I do it. And if there is a better way let me know.

Next chapter, making the tower. I have the book "Illicit Distilling" and
ordered  "Making Gin and Vodka", hope it comes before Xmas, (Oh! BTW Merry
Christmas to all) I also looked at the copper tower in Bob Lennon's PDF
file, it looks interesting as well, oh another question would a 4" dia. SS
pipe be ok for the column coming out of the boiler, or is that to big of a
pipe?, length to be decided later.  I have been sipping Drambuie since I
started this Email and I am starting to have a bit of trouble finding the
proper keys, so catch ya later BYE

Regards Mel

OK, well I've been thinking:

My understanding is that "methylated spirits" as it is called in Australia, is
mostly ethanol with methanol thrown in to make it undrinkable.
So, anyone tried distilling it to get the ethanol?
Would this be feasible at all, do you think?

In message <385C3A76.F6D46E7D@...>, Yorg
<yorgsand@...> writes
>OK, well I've been thinking:
>
>My understanding is that "methylated spirits" as it is called in Australia, is
>mostly ethanol with methanol thrown in to make it undrinkable.
>So, anyone tried distilling it to get the ethanol?
>Would this be feasible at all, do you think?
>
From what I remember methylated spirits (a.k.a. denatured spirits I
think) is ethanol with various chemicals added to make it undrinkable
(well unless you're desperate). The whole point of denaturing it is to
add chemicals that can't be easily removed, then it can be sold without
excise tax and the gaugers won't have to worry about loosing tax
revenue. The additives chosen have vaporisation properties almost
identical to ethanol so can't be separated by distillation and/or
chemical methods. Maybe Brian in Tas might have more up to date
professional info, mind you I do remember tasting Phillipino whiskey
once & might be pressed to differentiate between that & meths. Have a
good xmas & even better Hogmanay. Lang may yir stills reek.
PS I'm assured by friends in the lower parts of Edinburgh that adding
milk to meths makes it more palatable but think about the colour ..... !
--
Dick on the Langwang.

Tom
I haven't made grappa, but it is my understanding that you make a wine and
then once you have pressed off the juice you rework the lees, pips, stalks,
skins etc with sugar and water referment and distil that. I don't think type
of grapes realy matters.
Ray

Tom Johnson wrote:

> From: Tom Johnson <tjohnson@...>
>
> hello i am new to the list , had a question about grappa , what kind of
> grapes are good,  and what is the process , do you add water to the
> grape peel and stem before stilling and do you need to let the added
> water sit and how long?
> any other info on the subject would be great. thanks from tj
>
>
--
Ray Toms Moonshine Supplies, Taupo. New Zealand.
http://moonshine.co.nz
Home Brewing Equipment and Suppliers.
Specialists in all aspects of Home Distillation and Wine/Beer Making.

Speaking of names I referred to David Reid for giving me tips and ideas but
I spelled his last name wrong and I am taking this opportunity to publically
apologize to him for that. It's Reid not Reed.

Regards Mel

ho! ho! ho! which one of you 5 is going to come down my chimney???? santa must
be issued with red thongs,red shorts and red t shirt when he comes thru
australian customs he wouldn't last 2 minutes today in the red suit and aaron
smith is laying on a queensland beach,i'm not envious[much]====
tom johnson==unless i read your question wrong you don't seem to have a
fermentation stage to generate the initial alcohol,at the end of this posting i
will list 4 websites[non-commercial] you can go to which have info and will lead
you to books ,many other sites etc. etc.

ed==yes your mate [btw]will need other info ,i will get you the name address
etc. etc. of a co. in holland who MIGHT assist and maybe not for free,but if you
buy the ingredients from them maybe free???? i will notify you soon this site,i
can't divulge any specific methodology/intellectual property.
when you are talking to btw again though tell him the words for the day in
tasmania are maceration, 7 days, expression and filtration ,you will then see a
glimmer of hope and delight overcome his face.

mel===tnx for xmas wishes,excellent project you certainly get into it,couple of
obs,1.leave room under elements to clean 2. 20 litres in a 50 litre vessel which
also has a reflux tower may be slow going depending on the wattage your'e
driving it with eh ! in the pot still commercial world we work on about 30/35 %
headroom with no reflux tower 3. 2 elements is an excellent idea plenty of
flexibility

yorg===no! no! no! we sell our foreshots as metho and we denature them with the
pyridine and wood naptha group[s] two of the most obnoxious,toxic/poisonous
compounds in that family, our bible the australian/new zealand food authority
act has chosen these particular ones for the previous reasons but because they
BOND in an ethanol/water solution most delightfully to the point that to
separate this evil concoction you would need rising/falling film distillation
equipment which worked under vacuum as well and then the result after one pass
may only be marginal,did i mention the cost of the equipment,,start around 6
figures, our co. would be delighted to build this just send money with that
bloke in the red shorts,thongs and tee shirt or tie it to rudolf's nose

tom url's=== www.kare.com.au/distill/       www.geocities.com/kiwi_distiller/
www.webconx.com/ethanol.htm      www.ozemail.com.au/~azamith

many regards to all happy millenium,mel i just wish i had hair so i could comb
it in my still and i wish i had a bottle of drambuie i'll just have to chew on a
gum leaf===
brian

tno nutrition and food research institute
zeist  N.L.       contact l.j. van gemmert

m.h.boelens
b.a.c.i.s.
huizen  N.L.


www.leffingwell.com/links.htm     go there and work with the links your area,but
take a razor to have a shave cause it's a huge link site.   ===b

Brian

please don't insult metho by drawing an analogy betwixt it and filipino
RISKY,have a bloody good new year,millenium etc. etc.as i know you will.

believe it or not thailand has an excellent whisky called mekong
[meekong]???????????? it seems to have a high corn[indian corn/maize]
component,don't know if it's a straight or a blend,any one tried or know about
it========by the way dick metho's much nicer if you put some raspberry flavour
in the milk as well ,mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!! --many regards to all happy
methoing,brian