new to forum, kinda new to distilling

[ushutuppicard]

hi folks. so i just joined here.

my ex's father had a coolant management still... one of the old designs... that i was able to use, until she became my ex, haha. so now im looking to get myself setup to start my own setup. which is kind of a good thing because of a lot of reasons. his setup was ok, and the product was ok, but there was a lot of stuff he did that i know wasnt really smart.

first, his setup was a keg, with a homemade tower... the old CM design... with the water that gets pumped through the tower, and then through the condenser... the product would would drain into a charcoal carbon type filter, and drip into a gallong jug. for one, he would change the activated charcoal about once every 50 runs, if that. his cooling setup was a 55 gallon drum that he would dump ice into as it melted. pump on full speed. he would wait till the temp got up to a certain level, and then collect until it reached a certain level. the first cup or 2 of product he would set aside and pour into the start of the next batch. his packing was all stainless, tower was stainless, and he never cleaned it.

i tried to get him to put in some copper, and to clean it, and to replace the charcoal, and to get rid of the first bit of product, but he has been doing it for a while, and has gotten compliments on it, so he just said nope. a bit frustrating, but he let me use his still, so i didnt have much say in it. i did, however, insist on getting rid of the first bit of product... which he was fine with, cause he got to keep it for his runs.. lol.

so yeah... im mostly here to re-learn the good way to do things. im not trying to make super good stuff. just some strong stuff that is a nice novelty to have around. that said, if i can take a few steps to make it taste better, and to up the efficiency, well sure!!!

i tried posting to the still building forum about a boka vs an economy CM setup, but was instructed to post here first. please keep your eye out there for more questions.

thanks!!!!

[nuntius01]

welcome, sounds alot like my rig. it works just great. although, i do clean it frequently and i use pint jars during my run. but that's another story. there's plenty of info here and tons of different rigs. find oit what works well for you and have fun with it. i'm always learning here.

[ushutuppicard]

thanks! that is the question im really getting at... the page on still types makes the cooling management style sound like its not very good, and pushes you towards liquid or vapor management. seems like building a boka is easily within my abilities, but the supplies cost way more than a pre-built cooling management style from milehigh...

https://milehidistilling.com/product/2- ... ece-tower/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

which is like 230 after shipping... and a style im a bit more familiar with....

i just dont want to cut corners to save $100 if it makes a huge difference in efficiency and quality.

[nuntius01]

don't know about the costing more bit. i'm dirt cheap. you would be amazed at what you can find for free. takes a little digging and asking around a bit. but of you are handy at all and are patient you can build a rig that would cost a couple of grand for next to nothing. as far as the tower goes, nothing wrong with that one and it's fairly inexpensive. if you can read up on the forums. the link on my name has a ton of still,pics. sometimes it helps to see different things and then decide what you think will work well for you. either way, good luck

[johnsparrow]

Welcome to the site.

[acfixer69]

don't know about the costing more bit. i'm dirt cheap. you would be amazed at what you can find for free. takes a little digging and asking around a bit. but of you are handy at all and are patient you can build a rig that would cost a couple of grand for next to nothing. as far as the tower goes, nothing wrong with that one and it's fairly inexpensive. if you can read up on the forums. the link on my name has a ton of still,pics. sometimes it helps to see different things and then decide what you think will work well for you. either way, good luck

Watch out on that topic link. If it wasn't posted by the builder or at least the owner/buyer approach with caution. There is some crap stills pictured there.

AC

[nuntius01]

don't know about the costing more bit. i'm dirt cheap. you would be amazed at what you can find for free. takes a little digging and asking around a bit. but of you are handy at all and are patient you can build a rig that would cost a couple of grand for next to nothing. as far as the tower goes, nothing wrong with that one and it's fairly inexpensive. if you can read up on the forums. the link on my name has a ton of still,pics. sometimes it helps to see different things and then decide what you think will work well for you. either way, good luck

Watch out on that topic link. If it wasn't posted by the builder or at least the owner/buyer approach with caution. There is some crap stills pictured there.

AC

without a doubt, there are some bad ones. but all of them are on this site. all i did was consolidate a bunch. my point was to get a visual. this way you can see what works well and what clearly is sketchy and hopefully ask questions accordingly. by no means do i endorse some of the stills in the pics ie pressure cookers for one, or some of the glass jars. however, the ingenuity in some is down right brilliant. good catch by the way on the clarification. thanks

[acfixer69]

don't know about the costing more bit. i'm dirt cheap. you would be amazed at what you can find for free. takes a little digging and asking around a bit. but of you are handy at all and are patient you can build a rig that would cost a couple of grand for next to nothing. as far as the tower goes, nothing wrong with that one and it's fairly inexpensive. if you can read up on the forums. the link on my name has a ton of still,pics. sometimes it helps to see different things and then decide what you think will work well for you. either way, good luck

Watch out on that topic link. If it wasn't posted by the builder or at least the owner/buyer approach with caution. There is some crap stills pictured there.

AC

without a doubt, there are some bad ones. but all of them are on this site. all i did was consolidate a bunch. my point was to get a visual. this way you can see what works well and what clearly is sketchy and hopefully ask questions accordingly. by no means do i endorse some of the stills in the pics ie pressure cookers for one, or some of the glass jars. however, the ingenuity in some is down right brilliant. good catch by the way on the clarification. thanks

We are trying to clean that up. This is not making it easier. That is all

AC

[Dantuss]

Welcome.
Have a look at the CCVM still, it can be run in pot and reflux modes very easy to build and apparently easy to run as well. This is the still I have built just got done doing my first cleaning run on it this week.
Here is a link to where it is discussed.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =1&t=41579" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Heres a link to the one I built.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 17&t=68341" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
If you search "CCVM Still" on youtube there is a guy who has a channel and he built one of these and shows it running.

[Still Life]

Hey, welcome to the club, ushutuppicard!