Variable temp tea kettle pot still - thoughts?

[Jebaque]

Hi team

I had a thought the other night about making a small pot still out of one
of those new hipster kettles. They have variable temperature settings for
making green tea vs oolong etc etc. I thought they might be an excellent
way to get a dirt-cheap pot still up and running with excellent temperature
control. With something so small and efficient I thought it might be a
great way to get into blending and play around there before I get some
recipes down and up-scale. So I thought I'd come to the experts and see if
anyone has tried this and whether or not it was an unmittigated disaster or
the best thing you;ve ever done (for small batches)

Things I'm concerned about:
- there's a lot of plastic in them and I see this as a recipe for ruining
everything - how much plastic is too much plastic?
- the temperature control won't actually be any good
- I should harden up and just borrow a torch to make my own unit

[zapata]

Just no.
Distillation doesnt work like that. Look around, you wont see a single temperature controlled boiler anywhere in the distillation world.
Any plastic is too much.
Size is ridiculously small.

Btw, I have one, use it everyday. Dont call me a hipster, hipster.

[Saltbush Bill]

harden up and just borrow a torch to make my own unit

Sorry to say but thats about the best out of a bunch of bad ideas.

[Pikey]

You can make a decent still from a 25 litre tea (coffee) urn. Just bypass the temperature controls and make a hole in the lid for a column, find a way of holding the lid on firmly and put some flour paste over the vents.

Just make sure you get one which is all stainless.

Then get a power controller.

[NZChris]

It sounds like a great device for making a nice hot cup of tea. When I go teetotal, I shall get one.

[The Baker]

You can make a decent still from a 25 litre tea (coffee) urn. Just bypass the temperature controls and make a hole in the lid for a column, find a way of holding the lid on firmly and put some flour paste over the vents.

Just make sure you get one which is all stainless.

Then get a power controller.

Bypass the temperature control IF IT IS A THERMOSTAT that cuts in and out. (The still does not work properly unless the power supply is even).
You do not need to, nor NEED a power controller, if it is the type that has two elements, and is switched thus:
Off; Low (connects the smaller element) ; Medium (connects the larger element) ; High (connects both elements.

You would use 'high' to warm up and probably switch to 'medium' or even 'low' to distil.

The elements are not that powerful anyway....

I have two of these I will use in a while; the low power is an advantage because I have solar panels so they won't draw much from the grid, but will use the solar power that would otherwise go to the grid and for which I get practically nothing.

Geoff

[Pikey]

You can make a decent still from a 25 litre tea (coffee) urn. Just bypass the temperature controls and make a hole in the lid for a column, find a way of holding the lid on firmly and put some flour paste over the vents.

Just make sure you get one which is all stainless.

Then get a power controller.

Bypass the temperature control IF IT IS A THERMOSTAT that cuts in and out. (The still does not work properly unless the power supply is even).
You do not need to, nor NEED a power controller, if it is the type that has two elements, and is switched thus:
Off; Low (connects the smaller element) ; Medium (connects the larger element) ; High (connects both elements.

You would use 'high' to warm up and probably switch to 'medium' or even 'low' to distil.

The elements are not that powerful anyway....

I have two of these I will use in a while; the low power is an advantage because I have solar panels so they won't draw much from the grid, but will use the solar power that would otherwise go to the grid and for which I get practically nothing.

Geoff

I run one as my own still, two element type. It had two thermostats , one to switch the bigger element off just below boiling. That then stayed off and another to run the smaller element in "Keep hot" mode. There was also a themal overload cutout in there, which if I remember aright is still intact. All were the normal "on/off" types.

I do not think there is any type of temperature control which is appropriate on a still boiler.

I suppose what you could just switch the big one off and let the little one do the work when you reach boiling, but personally, I like to heat up a little slower and then reduce my output to around a pencil lead stream. Just switching one of the rings off would not give me the flexibility to run it my way. I like analogue

One of the little Chinese power controllers is around £10.