Copper stills for making Rakija

[Irishgnome]

No Videos, but a good read.
Link: https://journeymacedonia.com/rakija/intro-rakija/
Take a look at the links on the left side of the page as well.

Cheers
Irish

[StillerBoy]

The video on " La frabrication du cidre " is the demonstration on making cider the old fashion way in Europe/France .. using a press, with layering the mashed/chopped apples with straw which helps in holding the mashed apples together.. once the juices is all pressed out which will take a day or sot, it is filtered, then barrelled, and allow to ferment for about six months base on the weather before it is bottled..

That's is pretty well the basic of the video..

Mars

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

If your proud of being lazy and like efficiency.
You got to watch this one
He drained, Cleaned and recharged the boiler in under 2 minutes, Without even rushing

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

[Beerswimmer]

Man, I'd love a 120L tippable with a stirrer! Such an efficient stripper! We need to find a manufacturer that will ship to the US.

[nerdybrewer]

Glad I decided to watch all of these.
In this one they are picking the fruit, I recognized it because I have 60 - 75 of those trees growing on the back of my property.
I never knew I had a gold mine growing back there, 30 years and I have not taken advantage of what is just growing like weeds.
Now I have to make a plan for next season, I need to be able to get to the fruit before it all drops on the ground.
We have always called them Italian plums but I have no real idea what they are.
The neighbor has some that look just the same except the fruit on them isn't purple it is yellow/gold.

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

Check this one out
It's different than all the others, the pot is tall and skinny
And it has a interesting way of stopping the pot from puking.

[NZChris]

That is a great find Shady. Keep it simple is working for them. I hope that the newbies who are thinking about building expensive bain-maries find it before they get their wallets out.

[Fredistiller]

Very nice videos! I travelled a lot in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. I tasted the best white fruit alcohol ever (and very bad stuff also to be honest), it is actually the reason why I started to distil. It's sad that, everywhere in those countries, people told me that "it is the old gran'pa who is distilling we actually don't know how he makes it". The young generation are proud of their spirits but are loosing the knowledge and tradition.

[Fredistiller]

About the French guy's, I'm not a professional translator but I'll do my best to explain/summarise what they say.

They are called the "bouilleurs de cru" literally, it means that they "boil the wine of the region". It's legal, they have to be registered and pay taxes to the government. People make their own wine from the fruit they have, plums, pears, cherries, grapes and the "bouilleur de cru" will distil it for them.

They use a still with a rectifying column, George Galante said it has 5 plates, Regis Ouvrard (the steam guy) has two columns. About his still: The steam goes through a cross pierced with small holes, and the steam turns the cross. He said that mixing gives better flavours.
They talk about the past or how they started. Here are some "advices" I thought would be useful:
-Their output has to be between 15-20 °C for better quality ( I known that in Cognac they want between 13-15 °C)
-50 Abv gives better flavours
-In the past people would distil the "unused fruits" (pomace or bad quality). Nowadays they use good fruit for better quality.
-They put the juice in the still then a grid with (oat) straw on top, then the fruits.

The cider guy, makes (hard)cider "like the ancients":
He selects the best fruits, crush them and let macerate for one night. The days after he makes what he calls "the cake" with (oat) straw and wait again until next day. The day after, he press the fruits. Pressing takes two days. He poured the apple juice in barrels cleaned with boiling water, and ferment during 2 weeks. Then he racks the cider leaving the lees and the hat in the barrel. In Mars or April the cider is ready to drink.

[shadylane]

Here's another

[shadylane]

Darth Vader is the Camera man

[shadylane]

This boiler is different than the others.
It has a wood fired Baine Marie operating under pressure.

[bluc]

If your proud of being lazy and like efficiency.
You got to watch this one
He drained, Cleaned and recharged the boiler in under 2 minutes, Without even rushing

that plate in his boiler is it false bottom like in mash tun?

[shadylane]

Similar in design, with perforated holes.
It keeps the solids from settling to the bottom and scorching.
I figure it also uses convection currents to keep the pot stirred.

[The Baker]

'that plate in his boiler is it false bottom like in mash tun?'
'Similar in design, with perforated holes.'

What size of holes would be suitable, anyone know?
I need a plate to sit above the steam inlet for a vessel set up to use as a steamer
or maybe a big thumper or to ferment and distil grappa.
Saw some on google but they were not cheap. Around $90 plus freight and I can't see the exact size I want anyway.
Don't need it yet so I will look out for something cheaper I can use or re-purpose.
Geoff
P. S. I have a big, heavy lid thingy that I could cut down though it would be heavy cutting.
Then maybe I could drill a small number of BIG holes (small ones are lots too much work with this thickness of stainless).
Then maybe I could lay heavy stainless mesh over the big holes? G.

[shadylane]

Sounds like a good idea.
Maybe start a new post, so the info doesn't get lost inside this one.
That will make it easier for folks to find in the future.

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

[shadylane]

I like this still.
Very well thought out and portable.

[Saltbush Bill]

Yep a still you would be proud to own. Not much the old fella hasn't thought of, he's even lined with fire bricks down the bottom.
Think he might have run a still or two in his years.

[BrewinBrian44]

Thank you for posting these videos. Love seeing the old world way of doing things. Pretty cool fire powered stills are still the way of making spirits over there! A friend of mine lived in Croatia for a few years. Her boyfriend’s family has an annual tradition of making Rakia when it’s plum harvesting time.

I also recently discovered there’s a fellow distiller in my workplace. He has an Italian family tradition of making Grappa with all their used up grape solids from making wine all year long. They do it every fall. Apparently they make A LOT of wine, so no sense wasting anything. They prefer to leave it at the proof that comes right off the still, crazy bastards haha. He said they drink it at 80%ABV!

That last still is very nice! Awesome craftsmanship.

[Twisted Brick]

Fantastic videos. Love the community involvement and sharing.

Back in 2016 a member from Bucharest, Romania posted an inquiry here regarding boil ball dimensions for the rakija still he was building. We traded PM's, then emails, and via an online translator was able to follow his build somewhat. I never saw the finished product, but he obviously knew what he was doing. Here are several pics he shared.