About to build my first pot

[WallyGator]

Hi Guys,
After lots of research I think I'm about ready to build something. Gonna start with a more simple pot still so I can learn the basics and still have something to use while building a column.The jury is still out on type of boiler - ss pot versus ss half keg inverted. What I was thinking of doing is using 2 1500w elements close to the bottom with a voltage regulator and a thermometer port. Also considering a port for agitating the wash. Here's the part where I may be overthinking things. I was considering tigging in a 1 inch lip around the inside of the boiler a few inches above my heating elements. I would then drop in a screen of some kind like a modified false bottom that wash could get through but not heavier particles. The lip would have 8 points countersunk into it with inserted rare earth magnets and then tinned over with silver solder so the the screen would "stick" without coming out of place too easily. I planned on doing another identical screen a few inches down from the top of the pot. My theory would be to be able to control the wash from puking solid bits into the column, and maybe even get a bit of reflux in the pot so I can come out with something a bit higher proof and still have a decent flavor. Thoughts?

[MoonBreath]

Yes, you're overthinkn it abit ...Just use a stainless screen with a clean cotton dishrag and filter all wash, not clear, but spotless clean and no extra worries Or cleaning ..Any scorched anything will be hard and sometimes stubborn to be rid of.
No reflux gained as I can determine ..
Pics if possible.

[Kareltje]

Ingenious thoughts on your screens/false bottoms.
But if I remember correctly, I read some experience that these will hardly help. I remember some discussion some time ago and I know der wo stated somewhere that grains seems to stick and scorche and a screen will hardly help.
And I understand you wish to use a screen to prevent puking, think of it sometimes too. But you must be very sure the screen will nog get clogged completely and so block the outlet of your boiler.
When I was young we had a milk cooker with a special lid, that prevented overcooking. It had an opening in the middle, a bit rising above the surface of the lid and then some smaller holes around it. When the milk started cooking, it would flow out of the top opening and than flowed down like lava, returning to the cooker through the smaller holes. Maybe such a screen could work, but I suggest testing it before you put it in your boiler.

[DBCFlash]

I'd be concerned about what those magnets are made of and if anything nasty could leach into the wash. Straining your wash before it goes into the pot seems like an easier solution than a false bottom. I stuff a copper scrubbie in the bottom of my column to help prevent puking, but the sight-glass has helped me learn to control puking much better, I think.
I wouldn't waste time installing a thermometer port. Very little useful information to be gained in knowing how hot the wash is. A thermometer in the vapor path is slightly more informative but that's damn near useless as well.

[WallyGator]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. This for me is like a trip to the candy store when I was a kid. I look around and see all this mouth watering copper candy, and I hear my wife's voice whispering" you can have ONE...."how to choose, how to choose....

[Kareltje]

Do not choose, cheat!
Take one candy and lick it, than drop it in some other and take it out, lick the two you now have and drop them again in some other box, take it out again and repeat until you have the whole shop in your sticky fingers!

[skow69]

Sometimes it's better to beg forgiveness after the fact than to ask permission up front.