My first

[sunshine1101]

still head and condenser all made from recycled potable water piping. plan to refine over time but wanted something to learn with and then put more time and effort into the next build. I have done my cleaning/sacrificial runs and have had a few successful spirit runs. I am working on controlling the speed of my run and with each I have been throttling down the heat to slow the process.

[heartcut]

Looks good, shine. Ought to make a fine drop.

[googe]

Looks good mate, should serve you well ,

[shadylane]

Looks like you've been doing some studying.
Ya did a good job. May I suggest adding another union on the column side of your 45'
That way you can adjust the condenser angle.

[sunshine1101]

threw together a thumper. i know this is very "rustic" but i plan to refine everything once i figure out exactly what is working and what i like. i chose to add the thumper because i would like to refine the product some but not quite as much as running it twice. plan to do a clean run this week and run a batch i have cooking right behind it.

[Prairiepiss]

You really haven't done much research here about that have you?

Glass jar thumper. Get rid of it. Not safe. (heat glass break fire) Not big enough. (Fill up and puke) And the lid is made of materials not wanted in a still. (rust out and fail plastic coating fail)

Look around here on HD. See how many times this has been posted. And you will see why I said this.

[sunshine1101]

Looks like you've been doing some studying.
Ya did a good job. May I suggest adding another union on the column side of your 45'
That way you can adjust the condenser angle.

shadylane can you elaborate please? im not exactly sure i follow what your saying. i am up for any suggestions, this is my trial and error and then i will rebuild a pretty one.

[bellybuster]

As Mr P said above, consider the glass jar an error. It's not safe and not even adequate size.

[Halfbaked]

Your were lookin real fine till the glass hit the screen. +1 on no glass. Don't get to close to the house vinyl is not a pretty site when it melts.

[shadylane]

Looks like you've been doing some studying.
Ya did a good job. May I suggest adding another union on the column side of your 45'
That way you can adjust the condenser angle.

shadylane can you elaborate please? im not exactly sure i follow what your saying. i am up for any suggestions, this is my trial and error and then i will rebuild a pretty one.

The easiest way I can explain is to suggest using the search feature in the upper right hand corner.
Type in the words angle and union. while your at it type in glass thumper.
The glass thumper is very likely to break and spill high proof alcohol on your propane fired still.

[sunshine1101]

so essentially i can come out of the boiler with the 2" still head and then add 2 90 degree elbows back down to a ( 2" going into the pony keg) pony keg and come out of the top of the pony keg with the 1/2" line that runs through the Liebig.

that being said is it more or less efficient (time and quality) to run a fast stripping run and then a slow spirit run opposed one slow run with the thumper.

[Prairiepiss]

so essentially i can come out of the boiler with the 2" still head and then add 2 90 degree elbows back down to a ( 2" going into the pony keg) pony keg and come out of the top of the pony keg with the 1/2" line that runs through the Liebig.

that being said is it more or less efficient (time and quality) to run a fast stripping run and then a slow spirit run opposed one slow run with the thumper.

Yes you can do that. There are examples of it all over the forum.

Efficient isn't really a term I would use.

A strip followed by a spirit is two runs.
Most say a thumper run is more like 1.5 pot still runs.

Some do a stripping run before a thumper run.

Some just do a single pot still run.

They all will give you something a little different. ABV and taste wise. You have to figure out what makes the best product for you. Because what works for me. May not for you.

[sunshine1101]

understood thanks for the info!

[Cardinalbags]

Oh and watch out for your neighbors seeing whats happening in the back yard...... Looks like they are only about 15 miles away!!!! Nice vista.

If you get a chance perhaps upsizing your water reservoir too. The vinyl tubing for the liebig will fail if it gets too hot. ask me how I know this..... my last few runs i needed to use a barrel fir cooling water rather than my normal supply and when the tubing got too hot it sprung leaks and i had to shut down in the middle of a run to fix.

[sunshine1101]

carolinabags i was worried about the tubing but it barely gets warm. i agree on the reservoir and planned to go bigger on this next run. i have been using ice to cool and since my last run read that you can actually cool to much and shock the spirit. for the majority of the run the distillate comes out cold to touch and towards the end is warm. how are you cooling your condenser?

[Cardinalbags]

I usually use my underground cistern, 1000 gallons of water at about 4deg c. I can never overheat that much heat sink capacity. Unfortunately the suction line to the pump is frozen this time of year and I have to use a 120 litre barrel for recirculating water. I have to drain the water part way through the run and refill with cold water from my well otherwise i fail any vinyl water supply tubing.

[sunshine1101]

i have a well pump in addition to my piped in city water. i have been thinking about using a barrel with a bleeder valve on the bottom, as it warms i could drain from the bottom and fill from the well. i chose the ice because i have access to all i want for free and cant bare to waste water......... how warm do you let the water you are recirculating get. i am going to search for a differential temp between the vapor and cooling water to effectively condense.

[shadylane]

Add cold water to the bottom, drain hot water off the top.