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Maggie’s What's Your View II

Fire pit for @oneshot86 ...
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I know all about the brown inside of a walnut. Many days helping my grandfather pick then up in the yard before mowing and sitting in the driveway with with the walnut board. 5 wholes drilled in it knock the walnut through taking off the outer part.
Taking 5 gallon buckets to the basement to set them out to dry. Bring up last year's crack them and dig out the meat.
 
I know all about the brown inside of a walnut. Many days helping my grandfather pick then up in the yard before mowing and sitting in the driveway with with the walnut board. 5 wholes drilled in it knock the walnut through taking off the outer part.
Taking 5 gallon buckets to the basement to set them out to dry. Bring up last year's crack them and dig out the meat.
Easier than using a board. Dump walnuts in driveway. Drive over them until hulls come off. Pick up and crack.
 
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Work finally gave up arguing and bought me the Turbo T 500 fractionating still kit, picked it up today. Looks like the new workbench Pam bought me last week is going to become "moonshine central". 2 gallons of Bourbon a week should keep me going. Anyone got any ideas for labels for Barney's Bourbon??? Squirrels need not apply.....
 
Need to be real careful, even for personal use our government expects us to pay excise....

Is it illegal to distil alcohol in Australia?
NO! It is NOT illegal to distil alcohol in Australia. Distilling is like driving, it's perfect legal so long as you have a license.
People presume the license has to do with safety, that the government wants to make sure we're distilling spirits safely. This could not be further from the truth. The license is actually issued by the Australian Tax Office (ATO). It's completely free, and the catch? You have to pay tax on the alcohol you produce, even if it's for personal consumption in your own home. This is because of a law passed in 1901 where the government at the time decided it was OK for beer, cider and wine to be produced tax free at home for personal use, but spirits were not. Crazy right? But hey, the law is the law and taxes are important.
This tax is built into every bottle of spirits you buy so it's not a special tax on home made spirits. If you do the calculations, you'll find your favourite spirits cost up to 90% less when you take the tax off. Based on the February 2018 excise rate of $83.84 (it goes up every 6 months) a 700mL bottles of 40% alcohol has $23.48 of excise attached to it. If that bottle costs $30, there is also $3 GST. Total tax is $26.48 which means the distiller, distributor and retailer share the remaining $3.52. That's how much that bottle of liquor actually costs.
There are a couple things to go over here. This first is permission for your still. If you buy a still 5L or under, you don't need permission from the ATO to buy it. We also don't need permission from the ATO to sell it. That's why we only sell one still, the Air Still, which is 5L. If you intend on using the Air Still to distil water, make essential oils, herbal tinctures or anything else that is not for drinking, you don't need a license from the ATO. Go for gold. If you use the Air Still to produce alcohol for drinking, you need an excise manufactures license from the ATO and you need to pay tax on that alcohol.
But 5L is pretty small right? As our mothers always said, if you're going to do something, do it properly. That's why we sell 25L boilers and condensers that can be attached to each other to make a still, like the Turbo 500. Because these two things are not attached when you purchase them, you don't need permission to buy them and we don't need permission to sell them. You will however need permission to "manufacture" a still before attaching a condenser to a boiler over 5L. You will need this permission even if you're not using the still to produce drinking alcohol. If you're going to use the still to produce drinking alcohol, you need an excise manufactures license from the ATO and you need to pay tax on that alcohol.
There is some good news. From 1st July 2017, you can claim a refund of 60% of the excise duty you have paid on spirits you have distilled. The maximum refund you can claim is $30,000 per financial year and it must be made within 12 months of paying the excise duty.
In summary:
The most important thing is, don't be scared! The ATO are really friendly and helpful. Make sure you buy the right equipment and use the right ingredients to ensure you're distilling safely. Using our equipment and distilling yeasts, you'll only be producing safe to drink ethanol, rather than poisonous methanol.
 
Need to be real careful, even for personal use our government expects us to pay excise....

Is it illegal to distil alcohol in Australia?
NO! It is NOT illegal to distil alcohol in Australia. Distilling is like driving, it's perfect legal so long as you have a license.
People presume the license has to do with safety, that the government wants to make sure we're distilling spirits safely. This could not be further from the truth. The license is actually issued by the Australian Tax Office (ATO). It's completely free, and the catch? You have to pay tax on the alcohol you produce, even if it's for personal consumption in your own home. This is because of a law passed in 1901 where the government at the time decided it was OK for beer, cider and wine to be produced tax free at home for personal use, but spirits were not. Crazy right? But hey, the law is the law and taxes are important.
This tax is built into every bottle of spirits you buy so it's not a special tax on home made spirits. If you do the calculations, you'll find your favourite spirits cost up to 90% less when you take the tax off. Based on the February 2018 excise rate of $83.84 (it goes up every 6 months) a 700mL bottles of 40% alcohol has $23.48 of excise attached to it. If that bottle costs $30, there is also $3 GST. Total tax is $26.48 which means the distiller, distributor and retailer share the remaining $3.52. That's how much that bottle of liquor actually costs.
There are a couple things to go over here. This first is permission for your still. If you buy a still 5L or under, you don't need permission from the ATO to buy it. We also don't need permission from the ATO to sell it. That's why we only sell one still, the Air Still, which is 5L. If you intend on using the Air Still to distil water, make essential oils, herbal tinctures or anything else that is not for drinking, you don't need a license from the ATO. Go for gold. If you use the Air Still to produce alcohol for drinking, you need an excise manufactures license from the ATO and you need to pay tax on that alcohol.
But 5L is pretty small right? As our mothers always said, if you're going to do something, do it properly. That's why we sell 25L boilers and condensers that can be attached to each other to make a still, like the Turbo 500. Because these two things are not attached when you purchase them, you don't need permission to buy them and we don't need permission to sell them. You will however need permission to "manufacture" a still before attaching a condenser to a boiler over 5L. You will need this permission even if you're not using the still to produce drinking alcohol. If you're going to use the still to produce drinking alcohol, you need an excise manufactures license from the ATO and you need to pay tax on that alcohol.
There is some good news. From 1st July 2017, you can claim a refund of 60% of the excise duty you have paid on spirits you have distilled. The maximum refund you can claim is $30,000 per financial year and it must be made within 12 months of paying the excise duty.
In summary:
The most important thing is, don't be scared! The ATO are really friendly and helpful. Make sure you buy the right equipment and use the right ingredients to ensure you're distilling safely. Using our equipment and distilling yeasts, you'll only be producing safe to drink ethanol, rather than poisonous methanol.
So it's basically a Form 4 for their 5l and under and a Form 1 for their bigger one?
 
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View attachment 7413345

Well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the High School football season got started last Friday night. They say it is week-to-week. We have already been moved to a different game for next Friday as one of the teams we were to work has the Covid.

This season is going to be jacked up.

BTW ; It appears that stripes add several pounds.

Good thing you wear longitude not latitude.
 
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I am somewhat peeved. I know I have been scarce lately due to trying to finish the cabin, but one of you assholes could have advised me about the skwerling of Larry. Hell, I might have been able to send a live one!
I was gonna put a roadkill one in a vacuum lock bag and send it, but the little inside voices said “way too far rooster, way too far.”