homebrewandbeer.com

like tipsy said...avoid plastic.

even on the most efficient still you would need to throw away more than 50ml. Don't listen to only what the home brew shops tell you.
You would want to throw out the heads, other than the first 50ml the heads is where alot of hangover comes from.
Collect in small jars and smell the run at the ...

I was in the same boat. My first still was the air still. I didn't have tools or the knowledge, but I did alot of reading on home distiller and then I bought a $30 gas torch, some silver solder, hacksaw and some sanding paper and I had everything I needed to make a still.
I'm not a handy mechanicly ...

with prices like those your better off looking on home distiller.org for some designs and knocking yourself up something out of copper.
you could easily make yourself a still for $100

i'm currently doing this mash and will be running my still this weekend. it was really easy to do and once i have some back set in there it should be a nice sour whiskey i will tell you guys how it goes.

good stuff! the cordials that people use can replicate the bought stuff, but once you make ...

the other alternative is to use the brown unbleached coffee filters. No pieces of that will come off and may just do a better job than a tissue....I also hear people use cotton wool.

I guess you could use the water you put through to drink if you wanted? assuming you have nothing toxic in the make up of your cooling system.
if you got a 200ltr drum out of the quokka and a water pump you could use the same water over and over and not have to drink the water you use because you ...

the yeast has done its thing and clears out of the wash. just sits at the bottom. it will be fine

you can leave a wash a long time! I've left washes for months on end.

I've poured out three batches of gb and its kind of annoying. In each of the batches, I got this really scuzzy looking bubbly scum across the top of the wort and it stopped fermenting; last reading 1.020. During the first batch, the scuzzy crap foamed out of the air lock and made the top of my nice ...

just yesterday I made an orange alcohol.
6litres of 40% neutral spirit
Skin of 12 oranges
juice of 8 oranges

Threw it all in the still and and distilled as normal.
Very very nice! awesome orange flavour.
I only watered it down to 45% in the end because at about 40% it was going cloudy. I assume ...

A clean low gravity wash and good cuts will do away with carbon filtering.
Carbon filtering won't take the hangover out of your spirits....good cuts will.

mellows it out...some of the less desirable alcohols evaporate over time. Its not going to fix bad cuts though.....if you have alot of heads and tails in there it's still gonna be crap.

air it out by leaving the lid off and putting a tissue or coffee filter over the bottle/jar.

doesn't matter too much when you air it out so long as its before you drink it.

if you let the spirit air out for a couple of weeks that will help it.
It will matter if you leave it on oak chips for too long because your spirit will just taste like wood and thats about it.
but you can adjust it..less oak for a longer time works.

do some reading on this site..you'll improve ...

not sure where you would find one in your state but mine was from a valve and fitting place. T&S Valves & Fittings.
only cost $12. It says on the sheet Iv'e got that it's Triclover 316 Stainless Steel, and it's the 2 inch that you need.

http://www.tsvalves.com.au/

it's hard to make good cuts with only 5 litres.
once you get the frothing sorted...
If I only had a 5ltr still I would run it all through 5 litres at a time and run deep into the tails each time and then I'd put all of what I collected from each run and run it again. You'll get much better ...

While you have heard only bad reports, I have only heard good reports.
You might want to do some research and reading before you warn people off copper.
Keep your hat on i did say HEARD not that i have done scientific research!! Not to mentiom that i usually find my resources pretty reliable but ...

Well I found a keg. It was easier than I thought.

David, how did you couple the copper to the keg?
Think twice about using copper for your setup, i have only heard bad reports and some even say that the end product comes out almost blue, cant be healthy.
Copper is the best to use!!!! If you are ...

I'd use a keg.