Today in the Shed

Kapea

It's been raining RFPs here lately. All I have time for is writing proposals.

Making hay while the sun shines is great, but I hear Joelle's siren call. That last run of all-in-one botanicals totally rocks my socks off now. Several weeks of resting have made dramtic changes in how the botanicals come together. I've left it at 110 proof and drink it neat. Awesome!

Found some grains of paradise at a local heathfood store (I call it the airy-fairy store). $38/pound! Yikes!

CothermanDistilling

but .1 or .01 gram per liter is plenty... I did 10g/l for a one-note-song as you call it, and it is hugely overpowering..

Kapea

I just discovered it is seeds from a ginger plant. Ginger grows well here. Think I'll buy a few grams of seeds and try it in my gin, and my garden.

TheMechWarrior

Successfully TIG welded copper to copper (using copper filler) and copper to stainless (using silicon bronze filler), a great day!

FloridaCracker

Nice. Unless I am welding mild steel my welds aren't very pretty. My friend calls them gorilla welds. Not sure what that means but it can't be good.

grim

My copper-copper tig welds are usually pretty ugly, it's so damn hard to control for the heat absorption. It's like you need to run on the edge of blowing straight through the metal to get a nice puddle. An old welder told me I should be pre-heating with a torch. I can see why, copper just sucks in the power - funny to see a big arc doing absolutely nothing. My poor baby tig needs to run near max, and a pretty fat electrode too, otherwise the thing just evaporates. I am using straight argon and stripped oxygen free copper wire for filler.

TheMechWarrior

I'm using a helium-argon mix and I have a foot control for variable power. The foot control is amazing.

CothermanDistilling

I tried pure argon and pure helium, foot control, 130A or so on the dial of my Miller synchrowave 250..

razerhawg

@CothermanDistilling said: Frankenchiller together and working, chilled 10 gal from 75 to 40 in about 7 minutes, in 90 degree ambient!

@FloridaCracker said: Nice. Unless I am welding mild steel my welds aren't very pretty. My friend calls them gorilla welds. Not sure what that means but it can't be good.

A gorilla weld is ugly but strong

Kapea

TheMechWarrior

Had a bloody painful session of welding copper and it all came down to my electric visor playing up due to a low battery. That's the end of that fracker! I'll be ordering a simple tinted lense and piss that electric bastard off.

FloridaCracker

Had a bit of arc flash back in 2000. Once you have had it, you never want it again. For those who haven't had it, it hit me after I went to bed. Woke up feeling like someone had crammed my eyes full of sand. Making my eyes water just writing about it.

Kapea

Never trusted them electronic shields. You only get one pair of eyes per lifetime...

FloridaCracker

IT LIVES!!!

Finally got my 5" assembled last night and just finished the cleaning run. Whole different ball of wax these ProCap stills from what I am used to. What took the longest to get dialed in was the needle valves. Once I had those pretty much set for fores, it was pretty easy to adjust for heads and "hearts". Not sure how many hearts are in junk alcohol but I tried to actually run this like it was a true run instead of just blasting it out to clean.

Tomorrow I plan to do 2 runs of TPW for neutral. My plan is to run it through the caps but with the defleg off for the first run then on for the second. I had no problem reaching azeo with the junk so hopefully I can do the same for the real stuff.

This is going to be a blast. Next on the list is a bigger boiler but that will have to wait a while.

Unsensibel

+1

bachman

Looks good Cracker

punkin

Tossing up whether to do a couple of strips today.

FloridaCracker

Just finished stripping 26 gallons of TPW. 10 liters per hour and ended up with almost 5 gallons. Tomorrow I hope to do the spirit run.

punkin

Took my lady to the pictures instead. Watched Spy and laughed like crazy.

Kapea

My brush with the BSOD on my desktop a couple of weeks ago left me feeling pretty naked, so I bought myself a new laptop as plan B. Today in the shed I am consumed with commissioning all of the software. What a pain in the ass! Installing software, downloading driver updates, authorizing this, connecting to that, user name here, passwords there. Figuring out why the laptop can't see my bluetooth speakers... Not that big a deal, just time consuming as all get out...

I need a drink!

FloridaCracker

@Kapea said: My brush with the BSOD on my desktop a couple of weeks ago left me feeling pretty naked, so I bought myself a new laptop as plan B. Today in the shed I am consumed with commissioning all of the software. What a pain in the ass! Installing software, downloading driver updates, authorizing this, connecting to that, user name here, passwords there. Figuring out why the laptop can't see my bluetooth speakers... Not that big a deal, just time consuming as all get out...

I need a drink!

As you type this I am going through the same thing with a new desktop. My last computer upgrade was about 6 years ago so I am reinstalling this, transferring that, etc. ALSO learning a new OS. So far I really do not like Windows 8.1 Pro

Unsensibel

Laptop, desktop - totally overrated! Just get an iPad or another tablet and be done

Kapea

I have iPads. There are things I do that cannot be done on a tablet.

Kapea

@FloridaCracker said: So far I really do not like Windows 8.1 Pro

Windows 8 is shit.
I was going to wait until a few months after 7/29 for Windows 10, but the BSOD encounter moved up my timetable. I got a machine running 7 Pro. I can upgrade to 10 later after they've chased out the bugs.

FloridaCracker

I will be dealing with this for WEEKS as I figure out exactly what I am missing on the new computer. @Unsensibel, small screens just don't work for me as I get older. Have a hard enough time with my Iphone

LocalGoat

Today in the shed I'm distilling some bee nectar I was given. Can't wait to try it.

Kapea

Six years ago right now I ran my first run, using Long Tall Sally (my packed VM column).

To celebrate I'm taking Joelle out for a gin drive, using neutral produced by Sally.

Happy Birthday USA!

Unsensibel

Set-up for running peaches.

punkin

Sad day indeed in the shed for me today. The business now takes precedence over the hobby and unfortunately the two can no longer coexist.

The bulk spirits were all gifted to friends, happier friends than ones with a beer keg full of bourbon or rum you'll never see. :))

But the feints collection from the last 8 years and all the was washed down the drain. A true shame to see the empty lockup in the shed.

You could smell the whiskey burning down copperhead road.

Good chance i'm gunna get drunk tonight.

jacksonbrown

Time to get those laws changed.