Home Distiller

Hello all. Did my first run last night. See my still picture attached. used a 7lb corn 7lb sugar mash in 6 gallons of H20. The run seemed to take a while and I think I have too many coils in my worm and my worm copper is to small. The worm is 3/8th soft copper with about 10 turns. We seemed to have clog of somekind. We had flow completely stop,but we heard distillate coming into the worm. We blew through the end of the worm and it seemed like there was liquid backed up. I dont know what could have been clogged we filtered the mash before racking it into the still.

Also we produced about 40 cups total from 6 gallons of mash is this normal?

what size copper tube is correct for the worm and how many recommended turns? Any other advise on our design is appreciated. happy distilling!

as for coil diameter you should be just fine with the 3/8th the blockage is one a few things. it could be kinked or pinched or you could have a flat or upturned coul making a j trap in the cooling line.

my advice though would be take that nice long 45degree arm and turn it into a lebig condenser and ditch the coil all together. easier to use maintain and looks better to.

id make a spacer of some sort o hold the coils in place.

I think we are going to take out a couple coils and add some spacers for the next run, Going to mash tomorrow should distill again midweek. I will let you all know. Thanks for the input.

I think your "blockage" was merely condensate settling into low spots in the worm... You need a constant downward slope... Any sags will cause puddling (blockage) and surging...

/startgoingofftopic

Get the ice out of that worm bucket too. You shouldn't be using ice to cool your water, just use tap water and if it starts getting hot scoop some off the top and add more tap water. Alternativly, it appears you are stilling in your garage. If you don't mind a wet floor stick a garden hose down to the bottom of the bucket and add cool water to the bottom and let the hot water float out the top.

/endgoingofftopic

I would not cut any off of the worm. You can make it to short. But a little ling is not going to hurt anything. If it has low spots and up hill angles. That is your problem. And that's what needs to be fixed.

Do not cut! I have almst same setup as you and my 3/8" worm is 25' long and it works AMAZING! I simply took 1/2 copper, made rings about a half inch long and then put them between each coil and ran some wire throught it nice and tight...this will force the worm to make a downward spiral! Goodluck......

Kegger4now wrote:Do not cut! I have almst same setup as you and my 3/8" worm is 25' long and it works AMAZING! I simply took 1/2 copper, made rings about a half inch long and then put them between each coil and ran some wire throught it nice and tight...this will force the worm to make a downward spiral! Goodluck......

+1. It works.

Above looks just like mine!! only his is a tad cleaner...i need to solder mine up perminant like his!