Angry Parrot Distillery

Angry Parrot Distillery Videos documenting my journey building and running various size and styles of alcohol stills on a limited budget.

Replied to a thread on a popular Home Distilling Forum recently, ... post was removed I think, merely tried to illuminat...
24/04/2021

Replied to a thread on a popular Home Distilling Forum recently, ... post was removed I think, merely tried to illuminate the nightmare of setting up a small distillery for some folks with rose tinted glasses before they shot their wad for naught and wasted time and money chasing a very heavily regulated rabbithole, ...

I think the post was removed for whatever reason so I'll stick it here ... 🤣😂🤣
___________________

"Hey got a few PM's from ppl following the post above, it wasn't s'pose to inspire.

To make it real clear, ...

Some may have fantasies of standing outside their boutique gin distillery, wearing their waistcoat, tweed flatcap, quirky small show dog under one arm, posing for a photo with the latest hipster lifestyle magazine, ... that is a fantasy.

Setting up a small distillery is akin is being tied naked to a pole in the middle of a field full of hungry bobby calves with tongues made of razor blades, whilst reciting the first chapter of "genesis" from the old testiment Bible.

Everytime you falter in your recitation a government aperachik appears in drag to clock you in the n**s with a clown malet and everytime you get a verse wrong jacinda ardern appear dressed in a nuns habit, holding a pair of pliers to administer an epic t***y twister and scream in your ear that "you're a bad little poppet".

In between verses you are briefly, time allowing, able to attempt to get some brewing/distilling done.
.. there, think I've painted a little more realistic picture for folks."

19/03/2021

Thinking of buying a Chinese made still online?
May be cheaper on paper, but when something goes wrong you are left dangling.
Two pieces of Chinesium I'd said I'd take a look at for clients that had bought some gear from me and some online, ...

Client job going out tonight/tomorrow for a man that has acknowledged his profound love of distilling and is ready to te...
24/01/2021

Client job going out tonight/tomorrow for a man that has acknowledged his profound love of distilling and is ready to test the tolerance thresholds of his marriage when his missus finds the dragons-hoard of distilling gear he has been amassing! 🤣

58L "keggle" with 2x 2kW ultra-low-density elements, bottom drain, 4" fillport, 6" column ferrule with 4" reducer and thermometer 'belly port'.

My last bottle of heavily peated full grain whisky I'd put down a few years ago before I got any commercial certs.This w...
30/12/2020

My last bottle of heavily peated full grain whisky I'd put down a few years ago before I got any commercial certs.
This was what I originally got into distilling to make, - massively peated whisky.

Managed to hold off the temptation most of winter when it coulda been preventative cov-cov medicinals!

Alas my resistance wore too thin ...

D̶A̶R̶K̶ ̶C̶H̶O̶C̶O̶L̶A̶T̶E̶ ̶R̶U̶M̶ ̶C̶A̶K̶E̶RUM (with some cake and chocolate bits).*edit for recipe*Rough measures co...
28/12/2020

D̶A̶R̶K̶ ̶C̶H̶O̶C̶O̶L̶A̶T̶E̶ ̶R̶U̶M̶ ̶C̶A̶K̶E̶
RUM (with some cake and chocolate bits).

*edit for recipe*
Rough measures coz in the words of Dana from NZ Distillers forum regarding quantitative measurements "I'm not that kinda guy". 🤣

CAKE
4x cups flour
4x tspn baking powder
2x tspn baking soda
4x eggs
1x cup of caster sugar
400gms dark chocolate
2x cups coffee (espresso or instant)
2x cups of olive oil
A metric s**t-ton of overproof rum.

Melt chocolate, oil and coffee gently in a pot and let cool a while.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the eggs and then the cool chocolate/oil/coffee.
Add a good splash of overproof rum and wave goodbye to the alcohol.

Mix it well.

Pour into 2x buttered cake pans and bake on 150degC for about an hour or whenever its done.
Don't burn it like I did the first time.

Once baked turn out the 2 cake wheels onto a wire cake grid to cool.

Once cool drizzle the cake wheels will a s**t ton of overproof rum but not so much that they go soggy.

ICING
Fresh cream maybe 750mls
400gms dark chocolate.
Another metric s**t-ton of overproof rum.
Some fresh blueberries ... coz fruit is good for you and makes things healthy! 🤣

Melt the dark chocolate into the cream gently and cool it slightly.
Whip it along with a lot of rum, whip until stiff then cool.

Throw icing between the cake slabs, ice the outside and decorate with blueberries, ... for health and nutrition.
Chill in fridge and then serve, ...with some rum.

Can halve the amounts above to make a smaller single tier cake.
(But don't skimp on the rum!!!)
_________________

*Original post*

Birthday cake I cooked up for someone yesterday, I love baking almost as much as distilling.

Recipient is one of those poor unfortunates that almost shares a birthday with the great J.C. (no not John Cleese!) and usually gets Xmas fruitcake re-tasked and re-served as birthday cake.

Not this @ #$%^&ing year ...

Dark chocolate rum cake, made with the last of a bottle of high-octane overproof rum I bought in Wellington a long time ago.
Come to think of it I haven't seen overproof rum on a store shelf for ages now. 🤔

Freshly baked and cooled cake wheels were drizzled with more rum before being sandwiched and coated in an icing made from melted dark chocolate, cherry juice, folded into freshly whipped cream and ... more rum, then topped with fresh blue berries. 🥳

"Happy Birthday Ma'am, now please recite your name and address into the device ..."

Upgraded my larger still a month or so ago in the downtime waiting for parts to arrive for other jobs, went from 4" colu...
28/12/2020

Upgraded my larger still a month or so ago in the downtime waiting for parts to arrive for other jobs, went from 4" column to 6" 🤗

The 6" stainless tube/elbows I've had for a few years sitting on the racks, it was pulled out of a candy factory.
I had to wash the soggy lining of spun cotton candy out of the sections before I could store them.
I bought the 6" 304 stainless stock from a scrap dealer buddy, initially I'd thought the soggy candy was some hideous industrial waste (it looked pretty nasty), I guessing others who'd seen it in the scrapyard assumed the same.

Had the 6" ferrules sitting around waiting to do this for over a year now but had never had the downtime or spare argon in the TIG tank to do it.

Took the time to add a 4" fill port on the top of the kettle as well as the 6" column ferrule.
The two have made a HUGE difference to the access and being able to get in there more efficiently with the water blaster.

First photo is difference between the newly welded up 6" elbow and the existing 4" elbow!

"Christmas Corn"Full corn whiskey, double pot distilled.Tempered back to 100 proof with artesian water and 'marinated' w...
26/12/2020

"Christmas Corn"

Full corn whiskey, double pot distilled.
Tempered back to 100 proof with artesian water and 'marinated' with cherries and cinnamon.

Internal consumption only at the moment unfortunately.
(Well, could be used topically in emergencies but may be a bit sticky.)

Cask strength, double distilled, full molasses rum.Put down on oak two Christmases ago... dangerously sippable, dangero...
26/12/2020

Cask strength, double distilled, full molasses rum.
Put down on oak two Christmases ago.
.. dangerously sippable, dangerously sneaky-upperish.

Might be commercially available 2021 in some iteration all going to plan. 🏴‍☠️

Merry Christmas 🎅

One of my standard 58L keggles with copper stillhead/column/condenser/parrot that went out later in the year.Had problem...
26/12/2020

One of my standard 58L keggles with copper stillhead/column/condenser/parrot that went out later in the year.

Had problems getting parts for this one due to the cov-cov nonsense, scr controllers, element housings etc.
Ended up refunding the initial client when the job couldn't be finished ontime and later onselling it reduced once parts became available.

2020 been a bad experience, some core parts I've ordered have taken months to arrive.
I've heard its been the same in other industries, ... has forced me to become more resourceful and find workarounds. 😊

Custom 120L kettle with 4" copper column.Column used up my last piece of heavy copper pipe I had stashed and weighs a to...
25/12/2020

Custom 120L kettle with 4" copper column.

Column used up my last piece of heavy copper pipe I had stashed and weighs a ton (well ok, not a ton - but a hell of a lot more than 4" tube. 😊 )

Client for this still is wanting to make whisky/rum and has a desire to ferment and distill on the grain, hence the 2" drain port in the kettle and the second 4"port in the kettle for a mechanised agitator and motor.

This went out just before Christmas and client had it assembled Christmas eve (who needs a Christmas tree when you have a 2.3m tall copper still and 120L kettle?

The whole kit and kabootle comes in just under the clients ceiling height, ... if he goes with a dephlegmator at some point we can get the column back and cut it down to build the dephleg' yet still stay under his ceiling. 😊

Was great to have something like this out the door end of year after what has been a hell of a year with workshop getting flooded, covid downturn, trouble sourcing components, ... I know I'm not alone in that respect - Merry Christmas all! 🎅

120L kettle, 4" column, 4" relux condenser down too looooong 2" product condenser.Needs polishing and prettification whe...
25/12/2020

120L kettle, 4" column, 4" relux condenser down too looooong 2" product condenser.

Needs polishing and prettification when I'm back after New Years and then off to the client!

Reflux condenser has 16x half inch internal tubes, product condenser has 5x.

Kettles are made as still kettles to purpose - nice squat dimensions.

This one is heated by two direct immersion low density elements.

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Wellington
5045

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