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Offline bronzdragon  
#1 Posted : Monday, September 24, 2007 9:17:08 PM(UTC)
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"The Amazing Still plans piqued my interest. After thinking all day yesterday about building one ... a question stuck in my mind.

How would you cut out the bad alc parts, as in the foreshot, heads and tails in this method. It seems like you just get it all in the bottom of the bucket.

Keep in mind that I am new to this hobby and am still learning, before I purchase my equipment.

Am I missing something here?

~r~"
Offline brewhaha  
#2 Posted : Sunday, September 30, 2007 4:34:40 AM(UTC)
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"This is what I am using. From what I have read, if you use a simple sugar/water
wash, you will get no Methanol (bad stuff) only a small amount of fussal oils
which can be filtered out with a carbon filter."
Offline cpj  
#3 Posted : Tuesday, July 29, 2008 6:17:41 AM(UTC)
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"Hi,
I'm brand spanking new to all this.Thought of building my own ""Amazing Still"".
Could someone help me locate a good quality immersion heater / carbon filter supplier in the Toronto area.Any ideas will be appreciated.
Thanks
CPJ"
Offline rick2014  
#4 Posted : Thursday, May 14, 2009 9:11:55 AM(UTC)
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"The fore shots are in beer and wine anyway. The tails also. From my experience too much is made of fores being the cause of hangovers. OhMyGod

My thought is hangover is caused by drinking too much! Too simple to be true. It would wonderful if we could drink till we drop with no hangover.

I've tried many prevention and next morning treatments with no real improvement.

Drinking A lot of water while in indulging helps a lot and after. It's just a fantasy to drink too much with no problems, the piper comes reguardless.

Anyway"
Offline Arkie  
#5 Posted : Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:40:10 AM(UTC)
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It seems to me one could separate the fore and tail by making the leaning type with the washed gravel bottom. Simply discard a small quantity of the fores? I'm wondering this also. My stuff is supposed to be delivered today so I'll probably try it but have no personal experience to compare with.
Offline Arkie  
#6 Posted : Wednesday, July 15, 2009 3:17:27 AM(UTC)
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"Would also like to add another thought since I was browsing different distilling forums and found one that seems dead set against the use of the Amazing Still and pretty much won't even allow discussions on it or any plastics in distilling. ""We don't know enough about plastics"", I believe was the reason.

Here's a HDPE chemical resistance chart.

http://www.ineos-op.com/jscript...cal_resistance_guide.pdf

Your standard food grade plastic pails and such are marked on the bottom as 2 HDPE. According to the chart, HDPE performs ""Satisfactory"" on any of the alcohols one would be dealing with and within the temperatures listed on the chart when operating an Amazing Still.

I don't yet know the type of plastic the fermenter bucket is made from but it's always cool anyway and made for fermenting so I don't see any possible issue of any plastics in the Amazing Still if one follows directions and doesn't get out of the heat settings and makes sure to use food grade HDPE."
Offline Snidlywhip  
#7 Posted : Wednesday, July 15, 2009 3:34:13 AM(UTC)
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"I work at pfizer and was a lead chemical operator and have been in QA for ten years now. We use plastic all of the time in the production and storage of our compounds liquid and solid. We stor 200% ethonal in plastic containers. we package introvenious drugs in plastic.

The biggest issue I have seen with the amazing still is the heater and power cord. That is not rated for this use. but if you use a drum heater on the out side it should be O.K. Some people have gotten shocked using a heating element in side the amazing still. Snidlywhip."
Offline Arkie  
#8 Posted : Wednesday, July 15, 2009 7:44:57 AM(UTC)
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Is it not a submersible heater? How are people getting shocked?
Offline just_me  
#9 Posted : Friday, July 17, 2009 11:57:53 AM(UTC)
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once you start only drinking the hearts you will see a big difference in the morning. i don't get falling down drunk but i do enjoy a buzz. i drank grey goose one night and drank my own the next. i couldn't believe how bad i felt from the grey goose. i drank the same amount of each.
Offline Arkie  
#10 Posted : Friday, July 17, 2009 2:38:27 PM(UTC)
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"
Originally Posted by: just_me Go to Quoted Post
once you start only drinking the hearts you will see a big difference in the morning. i don't get falling down drunk but i do enjoy a buzz. i drank grey goose one night and drank my own the next. i couldn't believe how bad i felt from the grey goose. i drank the same amount of each.


So how do you go about getting just the hearts from your Amazing Still? I was thinking maybe sopping up the first bit of condensation drops with a paper towel?"
Offline just_me  
#11 Posted : Saturday, July 18, 2009 4:01:48 AM(UTC)
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you can't with the amazing still. you have to use a pot still and re distill multiple times or use a reflux still. but it is worth the effort.
Offline Arkie  
#12 Posted : Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:27:04 AM(UTC)
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"I would like to see Brewhaus carry the Better-Bottle.com line of PET carboys. I would buy from them if it available but I don't see them on the site. I think this bottle would make a much better Amazing Still than a fermenter bucket...

UserPostedImage

So I ordered one from elsewhere to try my idea. Looks like the stopper with the heater wire will fit the hole in top. I plan to cut the carboy at the edge of the taper near the top where it goes from flat to just starting the round so the cut-off top portion will fit into and rest in the bottom portion by that ""shelf"" at the bottom of that flat area. It will have a conical area in the top for condensate to run down the sides. Should be much faster than a fermenter bucket. PET material should also be more widely acceptable to those with fears of using permeable plastics in the distillation process."
Offline admin  
#13 Posted : Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:52:55 AM(UTC)
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Was thanked: 8 time(s) in 8 post(s)
Actually, Polypropylene (the plastic used for our fermenters) has an A (excellent) rating against ethanol, which is the highest rating possible. There has also been a lot of controversy recently over the plastic used to make most water-cooler bottles, even when just used for water.
Offline Arkie  
#14 Posted : Sunday, August 02, 2009 12:06:47 PM(UTC)
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"Yes if I'm correct, most of the controversy surrounds the water bottles made in China? I didn't intend to imply your fermenter buckets were not safe. It's just that a whole lot of people are ""unsure"" and bash the Amazing Still because of it. My only gripe about the AS is not being able to get the production rates as the directions say. I think my temps are good but I'm only getting about one pint per 24 hours.

According to the Better Bottle advertising, the plasticisers and such are not present in their PET that is common of other plastics. I would personally know if there were plasticisers present in the Brewhaus fermenter bucket if it were being leached into the distillate since I am hyper sensitive to plasticisers from making soft plastic fishing lures years ago. Just a little and I would know!

The end product I get from the AS using the Prestige Turbo Pure 48 is excellent. I have had alot worse in name brand vodka's. Just wish I could get it faster! I have an acrylic dome on order that I'm going to try and form the fermenter lid over with a heat gun. I would need three AS's to keep up with my personal needs along with a couple of others at the current rate. But I guess that's good for Brewhaus Tongue

I like doing business with one place if possible and have gotten great service from Brewhaus. Still think you should give the Better Bottle a look as for offering it, if for nothing else an addition to your already great products."
Offline Arkie  
#15 Posted : Saturday, August 08, 2009 4:33:23 AM(UTC)
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"Here's a Better Bottle Amazing Still just put together and starting to collect condensate...

UserPostedImage

So far I have not used a false bottom as I'm going to wait and see if one is even required. Got a 2 gallon glass jar from Wal Mart for the wash container and it sits right on the raised up bottom center of the bottle and balances there fairly well.

I cut the top off with a cutting wheel on a dremel. Have to go easy as it melts fairly quickly if you bear down, just kind of in and out real quick, then had to remove a bit more off the top part to get it to go into the bottom. It's a good fit.

I'll understand if you want to delete this post since it doesn't promote your fermenter bucket parts. Still got your heater and rubber bung though!

Will post later on the collection rate..."
Offline Arkie  
#16 Posted : Saturday, August 08, 2009 8:49:33 AM(UTC)
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A little over four hours in. It's very cool to see all the condensate collecting on the lid and running off to the sides and down into the bottom. I've got a suspicion that the thick glass is a better insulator than plastic and is holding in the heat well. Also should note I do not have the bung forced into the bottle neck but just sitting there. If any pressure was to build up it could easily go out around the bung rather than blowing the lid out but I haven't noticed any pressure. I didn't change the heater temp so it's keeping the wash at 113F but the collection is way faster.
Offline Arkie  
#17 Posted : Sunday, August 16, 2009 9:40:37 AM(UTC)
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For anybody interested, there is a new Amazing Still Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AmazingStill/. Far as I know this is the first of its kind to be dedicated to the Amazing Still but other topics of distilling interest are welcome.
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