pot still verse reflux for fine full bodied whiskeys

[Kiwi-lembic]

Hi there ,
I am very interested in making some full bodied fine quality scotch and american whiskeys ..i have been researching on the net and am little confused to wether a reflux still is really not suited for an all grain whiskey and maintaining premium flavours etc in the brew .I love the classic look of the alembics and and would love to build one with all those beautiful bulges and lines they have and am exhausted in finding some good plans that will work super effeciently .
can anyone advise on this ,,cheers ...pete

[rubber duck]

Welcome aboard Pete.

Reflux stills are about as worthless as tits on a bore hog for whiskey making. A big alembic, not one of the 5-20 litter jobs, is ideal for malt whiskey making. That is if you can build or afford one. If it where me I would build a keg still with a thumper, With that you can do a whiskey, rum, or brandy in one run.

A simple keg still and a double run would work just as well but I learned on a thumper so I'm bias.

[olddog]

My plated column works well too.


OD

[kiwistiller]

+1 on the potstill. It is possible to make whisky on a reflux column (you can always combine what has been separated) but it is much easier on a pot still, double run, just like the scots do. There are some templates for an all copper pot that have been made up by pintoshine around somewhere, but a keg and a worm would be a very easy way to get started in a hurry.

[Kiwi-lembic]

hey cheers guys ,
very kind of ya's ..i found the pintoshine one... hes done a great job of that one was really tryin to find a design thats like the Glenfidich still or the classic roundy alembics ..livin in the mountains here and librarys arnt that common in the bush ...so would be great to find somethin on the net ...thanks again ...pete

[blanikdog]

hey cheers guys ,
very kind of ya's ..i found the pintoshine one... hes done a great job of that one was really tryin to find a design thats like the Glenfidich still or the classic roundy alembics ..livin in the mountains here and librarys arnt that common in the bush ...so would be great to find somethin on the net ...thanks again ...pete

We're very pleased to be able to assist you pete, and welcome to the forum. Very interesting that you chose that particular still, your skills must be excellent. Lucky you.

And what really impresses me is that you live in those mountains, away from libraries and such, yet you have picked up the Australian way of refering to the woods as the bush, particularly with you having such a strong southern accent.

You probably have spent some time here, haven't you or maybe you have a lot of Australian friends - in the bush? Or perhaps you picked up our way of speaking in Nam?

Have fun but more importantly, have a really nice day.

blanik

[olddog]

livin in the mountains here and librarys arnt that common in the bush

Could be the Blue mountains.

OD

[blanikdog]

That's what I thought, OD.

blanik

[kiwistiller]

Well then, Kia ora bro
Where are you at? I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say either Arthurs Pass or St Arnaud Looks like an awesome shed / cabin you've got your setup in. That's an interesting looking still head, looks like most of the CM stills but copper? what make is it?

[Kiwi-lembic]

Ki Ora to you too bud ,im in the kiakoura mountain range ,the sheds me log cabin im building ..this part is where the lounge was gunna be ,always reckoned id turn it into a blokes shed if the wife left ...voila lol ..kitchen and dining room right next door ....b....ger
Umm the still head i got off a mate he had it stored away ,,im unsure what brand it is ,,it was a nz company makin them i think it fits into a 20 liter bucket..its been run up a couple of times but i really want something that looks like a piece of art as well as doin a fine job ,,,

[blanikdog]

Gawd another kiwi. It's beginning to look like Bondi Beach here.

blanik

[kiwistiller]

Nice part of the world you're in mate, some awesome country up in the kaikouras. Had some mint times hunting in the inland kaikouras, and great diving on the coast!

[marc83]

CHOIIIICE,another NZer!!welcome,welcome
Man that part of the Cabin looks great,if the rest of it looks that good,i could holiday there!! Very nice mate.

[Kiwi-lembic]

cheers guys ..beginnin to think this is an ausy site lol havnt even looked ..bondi beach ...not round here mate anything in a bikini would have instant headlights ...thanks for all your help and answers guys ..still on the search for the plans

[kiwistiller]

As far as I'm aware, the only all copper plans around are pint's. If you want to go the alembic route instead of the more moonshiney design, I think you'll be on your own.

[Kiwi-lembic]

what about one of these (just a little outside the square lol) It "is" off a bike and its all stainless,its an expansion chamber off a motox bike ....mmmm

[Kiwi-lembic]

This ones getting closer in lines maybe not as funky as the twirly one ,,wondered if you walzed into fox racing and handed them a bit copper they would squeeze one out .for you... bang 2 smacks in the press and shed be all over lol

[Kiwi-lembic]

So today i fell upon this ,lying in the grass in behind a shack in theses mountains ,i have many coppers around but this one i feels a rarery (no corrigations) i feel this could be a good start the the boiler bowl ..is the science of the bowl real important ..i read somewhere if ya heating with gas the bottom has to be rounded to disperse the heat..i choose to go electric as gas is not so easy to get here

[Kiwi-lembic]

And i kinda found this at the same time but its not copper ....kinda like the look of it ....l

[Kiwi-lembic]

Then if i glued something like this on top (Rumballs beauty) ..for a starter ..what would we have and need as far as dimensions etc .

p.s might use somethin else later when the glue lets go lol

[olddog]

p.s might use somethin else later when the glue lets go lo

Don't use glue, you don't know what poisonous crap is in it.


OD

[Kiwi-lembic]

spose rubberbands are out too .
just kiddin Olddogg no dissrespect.....do you remeber Fred Dagg from New Zealand the commedian (John Clarke ) i think you got him over there in Aus now ..that little saying comes from one of his clips ..its a bloody classic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcU4t6zRAKg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

gunna try me ol mates theory of welding this up to rid all the white lookin solder thats on most ....above this post

[Kiwi-lembic]

wanted to add ,i met this old fella that lived on a high country station here ,hes an old wizz with welding metals the old way ,,instead of the expensive silflos etc for welding copper he used good old telephone wire (solid copper type) he reckons it makes a beautiful weld ..may help someone here dunno ...havnt tried yet guess i will be very soon ..

[Kiwi-lembic]

From a previous post talking of available copper vessells ,i posted this thinking it may help someone looking for a copper thumper ,an easy fix to a sphere or a ball with a simple cut and weld ..
This is an under kitchen sink ..water cylinder inner.
They are quite common here in N.Z as they save alot of power not having to heat your mains house water cylinder all the time for dishes etc ..
this wee puppy is solid copper and is a low pressure vessell .they usually have a screw in one killowatt element (as in hole in pic') and a thermocouple inlet to take the thermostat probe (take this out and it takes a pocket thermometer ) it has an in and an out ....one rod going to near the bottom like a thumper and another feeding just as it enters ....
i work with metals both precious and semi precious and understand how much it takes to spin things on lathes ,build dyes to press cones ,form complex shapes ,forge or cast them and polish them to a gleam etc ..(there ya go Wolf)so im pickin for a D.I.Y chap at home this could be an easy solution or find .If ya got one in ya kitchen just send the wife away for the weekend and wreck the sink out .....
It is a wee treasure hiding in an old boring galvinised casing that is insulated with insulfluff to keep the heat in ..take the screws out the top cover pull out the insulation and youll find one of these .copper eye candy
.do hope this helps someone

this one is about 9 litres (whats that 2 gallons maybe for the u.s.of A)
For an idea of its size thats a blue bic lighter next to it

[Kiwi-lembic]

Futher too the copper vessells ..These were very common all around new zealand as the first real way to get your washing clean ..
they came in several forms some of them a stand alone concrete shell with a cast iron door on the bottom of which you lit the fire in ,,the heat rose to the coppers underside which was exposed inside its concrete shell and heated the water you filled them with .at the top they had a chimney outlet were the smoke was exhausted out the roof .
others were built in to the old farm washouses ..i have seen many of them and used them ,they are weapons at heating water and i still love them .
you could wash your clothes in them ,scald pigs in them,cook crayfish etc ,,people still use them in many batches around this country .
my father used to ferment beer in one ..so heres another copper vessell that is very common around here.
Massive metal presses and hugely expensive dyes were used to make these ,they are in the form of a top hat as per picture ..
its quite simple ,wreck out the rim that holds them in the concrete outer @ the top..give a wiggle,shudder and stick ya gumboot quietly up the 'OLe under it and out pops another very solid beautifull copper vessell ..

Another piece of copper eye candy..i have polished a few of these up and put cast legs on them, they make a great fire side wood holder ..but here in this forum it may just help someone to simply form a shape they are lookin for without the huge expensive of the copper let alone the beating annealing ,dolleys etc to get this final shape ..
im personally hooked on those beautiful old alembics what would happen if you got 2 of these and stitched them together .or cut its bum off and attached to another shape or form ...
in kiwi land thats what its all about ,its called the number 8 wire theory ..being a very small country ..on farms we were often miles from anything that ressembled a hardware shop let alone havin a pub close buy ..so we made do with whats around us ..
like the Britten motorbike that whipped the worlds motorbike races ,Burt Munroes bike ,The fastest indian ,the hamilton jet unit the farmer that wanted to get up his rivers ..a tiny wee country producing back yard legends ,built off a shoestring ,if we didnt have it we had to figure out how the stuff to make it ourselves ,,i have many very clever freinds here that surround me just like the above and knew them ..so here goes ..
Ive read and read and read in here posts on builds ideas and the wonderfull resources on actually stilling the goodys ..
Quite often some folks cant afford to just go out and buy one of those beautiful 2000 year old hand built alembics off the sites out there .or the materials .
they might have to wait a while ,cause the kids need some shoes etc .
So having lived the kiwi build it ,do it yourself type life and using what you have around you and personaly loving thoses alembic still shapes ,im hopin that something something really ,simply beautiful that is hugely effecient might grow from this stuff ive found in the grass ..with the knowledge of the actual stilling part that so many in here have kindly helped with so far .
i brew several nice all grain beers but know not very much of the stilling process yet ,... dream of making fine whiskeys .
SO...
If I Add pictures of copper parts that people could easily lay ther hands on for not very much and with the help of the pro's and alike in here could we come up with a beaut ..it may grow ,it may not lets see .....very much appreciate any advise on the finer bits untill time taeches me ...onward and upwards ...pete

[Kiwi-lembic]

Woke up screamin dreamin this morning at 5.30 am and took that wee underwater cylinder as below and tipped it upside down and sat it on the next bit for a visual ,im yet to photoshop it and cut it into a ball or a sphere .it might fit the classic alembic look
based on my post below and the distilling knowledge thats out there
-is the neck of the boiler in good proportion to the cylinder above it ie necked down for the rising vapours enough to do thier trick
-the boiler bottom cylinder measures approximatley 84 liters as it is ,whats a good proportional head
space to have in this part if i ran a say 50 liter wort to distill ,to maximise on effeciency of the stilling vapour
-would a nice roundy sphere be more effecient for the rising entering vapour
without dissapearing into this boiler book me mate gave me last night ..i wanted to see what knowledge hides in here

cheers

[olddog]

You could turn that into a "Humper Thumper"like LWTCS's rig.



OD

[Kiwi-lembic]

[quote="olddog"]You could turn that into a "Humper Thumper"like LWTCS's rig.

[LWTCS]

Here:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 16&t=11436

[Kiwi-lembic]

Without attacking the vessels yet with the cut off saw another mock up of my existing cylinders below

wonder if this neck would work better ?