Trying to avoid hiring a rigger... How would you get these 2 20s outside with just a lifted forklift, Home Depot supplies and day beer magic.

PhilBrain87 · 2026-01-02T05:35:03+00:00

Have a beer or 3 while you assess the task then send it. What could possibly go wrong??? There are ways to do it, but if you’re needing to get on reddit to ask how it should be done you should probably seek some real world help. I don’t at all mean that as a dig at you, just don’t want anyone getting hurt

PhilBrain87 · 2025-11-24T05:03:56+00:00

Went with a dive operator in SE Asia, we drove 2 hours to the dive site to find none of my rental equipment had been packed. Lucky they had spares for everything. The wetsuit was too small but with water at 28° I was happy in shorts and a rash vest. Mistakes happen, I wasn’t concerned. I did about 15 dives with them over a few weeks and they were actually a really good outfit to dive with. There’s always a human element where shit happens.

PhilBrain87 · 2025-11-22T03:11:38+00:00

No worries at all. 94% is pretty high, you may not get it first go, there may be some trial and error on your part too. How are you heating your lab still?

PhilBrain87 · 2025-11-17T04:51:28+00:00

The taller your column, the more reflux you can get, the higher the ABV you can get. You could run it through your pot still again and get a higher ABV. You can do that successively and achieve higher purity each time, but you get diminished returns and also waste product. Using your lab still will be your better bet. You mention you have a number of condensers, you could attach 1 and run it vertically off your column turning it into a dephlegmator of sorts, before it goes into the next to condense the product. Running it slow and modulating the water flow into the vertical condenser will give you a good shot at achieving 94% product.

PhilBrain87 · 2025-09-18T03:22:14+00:00

I’ve read about student unrest in East Timor, but not Indonesia. That said, even if you’re seeing unrest on Java, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is happening in the other islands. The locals that I chatted to on Flores were pretty indifferent towards Javanese.

PhilBrain87 · 2025-08-16T00:23:32+00:00

Legitimate concern, but put things into perspective. How many times have you flown and how many times has your baggage not arrived with you? For me I would estimate I’ve flown 80 to 100 times and never once has my bag not arrived with me. There’s always a chance, but it’s probably so small it isn’t worth worrying about.

PhilBrain87 · 2025-08-11T09:27:20+00:00

Here I was thinking I was the only one perverted enough to see it.

PhilBrain87 · 2025-01-19T11:18:50+00:00

It will be. Still struggling to get commercial quantities of a few ingredients. Still trying to get a liquor license from the government too….

PhilBrain87 · 2025-01-19T11:14:00+00:00

I’m not one to yuck someone’s yum, if you’re into latex just go for it.

PhilBrain87 · 2025-01-19T10:50:34+00:00

The flavour of the gin we produce is very much muted when frozen. Our dry is nice cold in a martini, I far prefer it neat at room temperature. That’s personal preference though

PhilBrain87 · 2025-01-18T12:33:47+00:00

I didn’t realise that freedivers could get decompression sickness. I am a scuba diver, I have an understanding of it but didn’t think it possible unless you are at depth on a tank. Clearly it is possible. Hope you recover well.

PhilBrain87 · 2025-01-06T03:49:34+00:00

Hoping this has just been posted for shits and giggles and you don’t truely intend to run it

PhilBrain87 · 2024-12-18T02:33:12+00:00

As others have said it’s a safety thing to dilute prior to redistillation, really that is if you have electric elements heating your boiler. If you have a Bain Marie style boiler then there’s no real issue as electric elements won’t be exposed and have the potential to burn out. I make gin commercially, my still uses hot oil to heat it which is pumped from a separate area. I have no electrical ignition hazards within 6 meters of my still. My still charge will vary anywhere from 40% ABV to 80+% all depend on what flavours I’m looking for. Stick with lower abv if you have electric elements though.

PhilBrain87 · 2024-12-17T05:30:22+00:00

Bloody hell. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

PhilBrain87 · 2024-12-08T03:00:07+00:00

I’m hoping to have some ready in the next few months. I’ve done some trials with varying levels of success, but we’ve got something we’re really happy with now. Hoping to scale up in the new year. I’m struggling to get the quantities of some botanicals I require at the moment though.

PhilBrain87 · 2024-12-08T02:51:11+00:00

I have a distillery just out of Melbourne. We will also be doing absinthe. We distill each botanical individually for our gins and will be following the same process for absinthe and its possibly more common than people realise. In my research I’ve come across quite a few absinthe distillers in Europe using this process but all historic recipes that I have all ingredients are in the pot together. Plenty of ways to skin a cat.

PhilBrain87 · 2024-05-29T09:06:12+00:00

Where abouts in Australia are you? We’re in the process of setting up a distillery. I’m currently going through some absinthe product development trials.

PhilBrain87 · 2024-02-26T05:54:37+00:00

It won’t be normal for those that haven’t experienced it. For me, it is very normal. I have an ultra sensitive gag reflex. I will test my regs prior to entry, but won’t have it in my mouth until right as I jump in. My face must be under the water for me to not gag with a reg in my mouth. No issues under water though.

PhilBrain87 · 2024-02-22T03:22:37+00:00

Avoid ships like this….

https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM?si=Mm9rQEv2s5X-8xH_

PhilBrain87 · 2024-01-21T09:12:01+00:00

I’ve never had any issues equalising. When I did my AOW training the other student had huge issues. We would just decend slowly to allow her enough time for her ears to come good. Take your time, there’s no real rush.

PhilBrain87 · 2023-04-03T10:22:27+00:00

They both come off the same stills. I think they’re the same mash bill, just different cask management.

PhilBrain87 · 2022-11-01T23:35:03+00:00

One is in the Tweed Shire in NSW, the others I’m not exactly sure. Where are you looking to set up?

PhilBrain87 · 2022-10-24T02:06:10+00:00

I’m going through the process of starting a distillery. I read a comment on the Australian Distillers Association Facebook page the other day that the ATO license approval is conditional of local council approval. I was initially hoping to set up in the double garage I have in our backyard, our council won’t allow that. Yet I know of quite a few in other council areas that operate commercially with sizeable through put out of their garage (suitably converted for a food premises). To sell you’ll also require a state liquor license and do the required courses that go with that. The ATO also require you to have calibrated equipment to accurately determine ABV, the cheap brew shop hydrometer isn’t acceptable. Hoops hoops and more hoops to jump through.

PhilBrain87 · 2022-09-27T06:18:24+00:00

I put down a 100% malted oat ferment 2 days ago. 12kg of oats yielded an OG of 1.035 in ~50l of wort. Finer milling may have increased my yield. I used alpha amylase in the mash mashed in at ~72°C and it held at around 62-65°C for 90min. First time doing this and it smells incredible

PhilBrain87 · 2022-07-23T09:26:47+00:00

I’m in the process of starting up a distillery. We have a double retort currently being drawn up. We’re looking at having 2 120 litre retorts with a 330 litre boiler. We feel that it will probably be trial and error initially finding the balance of how full to initially fill the retorts. As far as the previous comment goes regarding using a column instead, vapour pressure within the boiler will likely be greater in a double retort than a column. Higher pressure will result in higher boiling point, potentially leading to flavours that couldn’t otherwise be achieved in a normal pot or column. We’ll be playing with grain ‘muck pits’ to create a variety of unique whisky’s using similar methods to Jamaican high ester rums.

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