Builing Plans for Reflux Stills
- One of the simplest and most effective designs is that from
John Stones "Making Gin & Vodka" book - the "offset head"
design. Theres heaps of photos of this, including detailed
dimensions etc from Matt, on the Offset Head Photos page. I have one of these myself, and its bloody
fantastic. It should be your first choice.
- Many different designs & their construction are covered in
Mike Nixon and Mike McCaw's "The Compleat Distiller"
(Dec01), available from http://www.amphora-society.com.
- Another resource on how to make a Reflux still is
Bob Lennon's Moonshine-Still.com site. Informative
& very good. Heaps of details, illustrations, &
explanations. Check out the Photos page
for the modifications Rob van Leuven has made to his Stillmaker -
its now puting out 95% purity too. Update
! Site recently (Aug01) updated to include a new valved
reflux design, using a beer keg for the pot. Download his site and
the still plans, Moonshine-Still.com/still.pdf.
- Jan also has put together
some really good construction instructions at his http://www.geocities.com/homedistilling/ page.
- Peter in Holland has a diagram of his reflux still design, and
the trays he uses in another still (see the photos page). Click for larger pictures :
- Ian Smiley's book "Making pure corn whiskey" has very detailed
instructions for building the Offset head design: http://www.home-distilling.com
- Riku has published how to make Liquid Management (LM), Vapour Management (VM) and Cooling Management (CM) at
Harry's Alcohol Library -see the "low cost stills" link.
- UPDATE Alex (BOKAKOB) has provided some excellent drawings of different
designs for reflux columns in Bokakob designs. These are incredibly simple, but very effective.
There is a lot more discussion on them in the home distiller's at FORUMS
- One example is Alex's (Bokakob) mini-still:
For a very simple reflux head design, Peter offers:
This design uses a collection method
similar to Alex's (Bokakob's) ellpitical head. It is
not as pretty outside but is easier to build. The
operation is similar to a Vapour Management Head as
seen in the great book "The Compleat Distiller" by
Mike Nixon & Mike McCaw.
You cut the column at an angle and insert a thin plate
plate which only was 1/11 the area of the column area
and no needle valve, this would ensure a constant RR
of 10 (seal the outlet during stabilisation). This a
simple design which is easy to build. A thermometer is
optional as I feel I could run this column without
one, using taste to determine when heads are finished.
The onset of tails is noted by a reduction in output
towards the end of the run, just like a Vapour
Management still head.
There are a few optional extras. A thermometer is very
useful but is extra cost and building, it is not
essential and if you run a standard size & % wash you
will get to know when to make cuts. An extra larger
plate could be installed to do stripping runs, which
could be plugged for slow runs.
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There is plenty of information too on stills for making fuel
alcohol. The
Journey to
Forever site has the following plans ..
- see also
Distillation of Alcohol and Denaturing by FB Wright, 1907 - available as a free download.
If you're looking for a supplier of small needle valves to use in these stills, try either hardware shops, or supliers of gas fittings for BBQ's or camping equip.
