Check out my new super simple 15 gallon pot still

[mason jar]

I've been making shine for around three years now using a small still I built from a cheesy
little 5 gallon Wallmart stock pot, but now it's time for something a little bigger. I love
all the beautiful copper creations some of you guys have built here but most of that is beyond
my skill level. My goal for the new still, apart form bigger capacity, was to build something
that was much better quality but keep everything as simple as possible, given my aforementioned
lack of skills. I decided to stay with a simple stock pot based design. I went down to my local
homebrew shop and found this giant 15 gallon stainless stock pot with a built-in heat spreader
in the bottom:

That sucker is over 18 inches in diameter and it is HEFTY. It wasn't cheap, but it will
certainly accomplish my goal of more capacity and I figured it would make for a simple build.

The pot came with a very nice sturdy lid so I figured I would just use that for the cap instead
of building a new cap. The only thing I needed to do was drill a hole for the take off pipe,
which is just a piece of 1 inch copper tube. I broke out my trusty stepped drill bit and drilled
the hole:

Next I needed to figure out how to attach the output pipe to the lid and clamp the lid to
the boiler. I wanted the take-off pipe connection to be as simple as possible. No fittings
or soldering/welding something to the stainless steel. I chose to combine the pipe attachment
and lid clamping function into one assembly by putting a small "shelf" on the bottom of the
output pipe that would allow me to place a "strap" across the shelf and press the output pipe
down onto the lid and at the same time apply enough pressure to the lid to keep it securely
clamped in place. Here is what the little shelf looks like:

The shelf was made using a 1 inch copper coupler and a two flat pieces of copper that I
made by flattening out a piece of scrap copper pipe with a hammer. The top shelf is for
the clamp to hold everything in place, and the bottom one is to press against the gasket
to seal the connection between the pipe and the lid. I slipped all three pieces onto the
bottom of the 1 inch output pipe and soldered everything together. Here is how the this
assembly sets in the hole on the lid:

I will use a simple gasket I made from some thin cardboard to seal the pipe connection to
the lid. I used this method on my old still and it worked pretty well.

Oh.... I guess I can only attach 6 pictures, but I'm not done yet
Give me a few minutes and I'll submit another post

[mason jar]

Next I made a strap out of a piece of L-shaped aluminum that will press on the output pipe
shelf and clamp everything in place, like this:

On each end of the L-shaped aluminum strap, I used a couple of threaded bolts with J shaped
heads to grab onto the existing pot handles. I tighten them down with a couple of wing nuts
like this:

Here's what the whole assembly looks like. It was all very simple to build and it makes setting
up the still for a run very quick and easy.

Of course the last thing I needed to do was figure out how to seal the lid. I thought about
trying to make some sort of gasket out of PTFE somehow, but quickly found that it would be
either too difficult or too expensive to make a gasket for an 18 inch diameter stock pot.
So I guess I will stick with the tried-and-true flour paste method. It's cheap, effective and
safe. Since the edges of the pot and lid line up perfectly I think it would be difficult to
paste up the outside of this joint without the paste popping off once it started to harden.
I didn't ever try it like that but it seems to me like that might happen. Here is what the
seam between the lid and pot look like when it was new. You can see that the edges of the
pot and lid both line up perfectly:

What I wanted was some way to make a "ledge" to hold the flour paste in place better so that
it won't fall off the edge. I chose to simply trim off about 1/8 inch of of the lid all the way
around so that the lip on the pot would stick out farther than the edge of the lid, thus making
a little ledge for the paste to set on. The stainless lid was too thick to cut with tin snips so
I broke out my electric jig saw and cut a small strip off of the lip all the way around the lid.
Now when the lid sets on the pot, there is a nice little ledge to hold the four paste in place.
It now looks like this:

So that's pretty much it. Everything was super easy to build and it's really easy to set up.
Here's of pic of the still all assembled and ready for a water test run:

Next I will be finishing up my new air cooled condenser. I will post a write up on that
once I test it out to see how it works.

[ben stiller]

Rather than using flour paste, I put a couple of wraps of ptfe tape on the pot rim and lip of the lid. I use an inverted bowl but same idea. Binder clips hold it together with no leaks and the ptfe tape seal is reusable several times. Very simple and really fast setup and break down times. I also used Pyewackets thread to solder a 1 inch copper cap to my
lid and seal my 1 inch column into the cap with ptfe tape.

[mason jar]

Rather than using flour paste, I put a couple of wraps of ptfe tape on the pot rim and lip of the lid. ... Very simple and really fast setup and break down times.

Hey Ben, thanks for the ideas. I actually did try the PTFE tape on my previous still, but I couldn't get it to
seal well for some reason. I should have asked about it here and maybe I would have gotten some help,
but I didn't. I'm not sure if it would work too well on the new still either, especially since I cut the edge
of the lid back. Since it's so easy to do, maybe I'll try it anyway. Nothin' to lose, right?

[ben stiller]

The tape is a bit quirky to get started and stick to the rim. With some practice you learn to stretch the tape a bit and with patience and time it becomes second nature. If I try and separate my top from the pot when still hot the two are actually stuck together by the tape seal. Works so well, Cutting back the lid might make it harder to use this method.

Really should take a look at this thread. Super easy way to attach the column.

http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... r#p7085137" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Brutal]

Looking good man. That is one hell of a nice pot!

If I could make a couple suggestions, I would turn that old 5 gallon boiler into a thumper. Set it up so you can run with or without the thump. Secondly I would not spend a lot of time on the air cooled condenser. That pot with a 5 gallon thump and a standard liebig is going to be extremely versatile. It looks like you could even potentially run it in the kitchen. Stillin' in the house adds a level of comfort and privacy like nothing else. My set up is too big for that.

[mason jar]

Looking good man. That is one hell of a nice pot!
If I could make a couple suggestions, I would turn that old 5 gallon boiler into a thumper. Set it up so you can run with or without the thump. Secondly I would not spend a lot of time on the air cooled condenser. That pot with a 5 gallon thump and a standard liebig is going to be extremely versatile. It looks like you could even potentially run it in the kitchen. Stillin' in the house adds a level of comfort and privacy like nothing else. My set up is too big for that.

Thanks Brutal.

Yes, I do actually run in my kitchen (when the wife is gonna be out for a while ). My garage is *WAY*
to hot most of the year and I don't have any land so I kind of don't have much choice.

I didn't even think of making the old pot into a thumper. Good idea! Maybe I will give that a try.

As for the condenser, I have nice liebig that I built a couple years back and it works very well, but I
wanted to try something different. It turns out the new air cooled one works great too (see my other thread).

[rad14701]

You went to a lot of thought and work on this... More than needed... I don't get the trimming the lid thing at all because the flour paste should be on the inner edge of the lid where the rounded step down from the lip is, not the very outer edge... The seal is made between the rounded lip of the pot and rounded step-down of the lid... The flour paste will remain moist, like thick gelatin, and will only dry on the outside of the boiler... Any external excess can be wiped off before firing up the boiler...

[mason jar]

You went to a lot of thought and work on this... More than needed... I don't get the trimming the lid thing at all because the flour paste should be on the inner edge of the lid where the rounded step down from the lip is, not the very outer edge... The seal is made between the rounded lip of the pot and rounded step-down of the lid... The flour paste will remain moist, like thick gelatin, and will only dry on the outside of the boiler... Any external excess can be wiped off before firing up the boiler...

I see what your saying, I think. Put the paste on the pot lip and then put the lid on and squish
it together. Right?

I never did it that way on my previous pots. I was thinking that would not work very well, but I
guess I was wrong. What I have always done is to put the lid on the pot, clamp it down and then
put the paste around the outside edge. If I would have tried this on the pot the way it originally
came I think it would have just cracked and fell off. So I made the little ledge around the whole
pot and that gives something for the paste to set on. I did this on my previous still and it actually
works quite well.

[rad14701]

You went to a lot of thought and work on this... More than needed... I don't get the trimming the lid thing at all because the flour paste should be on the inner edge of the lid where the rounded step down from the lip is, not the very outer edge... The seal is made between the rounded lip of the pot and rounded step-down of the lid... The flour paste will remain moist, like thick gelatin, and will only dry on the outside of the boiler... Any external excess can be wiped off before firing up the boiler...

I see what your saying, I think. Put the paste on the pot lip and then put the lid on and squish
it together. Right?

I never did it that way on my previous pots. I was thinking that would not work very well, but I
guess I was wrong. What I have always done is to put the lid on the pot, clamp it down and then
put the paste around the outside edge. If I would have tried this on the pot the way it originally
came I think it would have just cracked and fell off. So I made the little ledge around the whole
pot and that gives something for the paste to set on. I did this on my previous still and it actually
works quite well.

No, I put my paste on the lid, where it rounds from lip to lid and then set it down on the boiler... Just works better from me that way... I fill the entire area from that rounded step to the outer edge of the lip, beveled at a 45 degree angle, or filleted... But whatever works...

[mason jar]

No, I put my paste on the lid, where it rounds from lip to lid and then set it down on the boiler...

OH.... that makes much more sense now. Don't know why I didn't think of that. sounds easy. Maybe I'll
try it that way on my next run.

[mason jar]

....As for the condenser, I have nice liebig that I built a couple years back and it works very well, but I
wanted to try something different. It turns out the new air cooled one works great too (see my other thread).

Oh sorry, I forgot to post the link to the other thread I was talking about
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 87&t=54596

[mason jar]

You went to a lot of thought and work on this... More than needed... I don't get the trimming the lid thing at all because the flour paste should be on the inner edge of the lid where the rounded step down from the lip is, not the very outer edge...

Rad, I don't think I did a very good job explaining why I trimmed the lid and how I use it so here's a pic:

You can see that the paste sets on the pot lip and goes up over the trimmed lid nicely. That's how I do it.
It actually works quite well. It seals so well that I sometimes have to sort of chisel it off with
a butter knife in order to crack open the lid at the end of a run.

Anyway, I agree that your method is certainly simpler from a construction standpoint.
Thanks for the advice!

[W Pappy]

When I used a little pot I would take the lid an flip it upside down an take a butter knife
and get a some paste on it an kinda mortar it around the lip as I turned the lid.
Got perty quick and handy at it I must say.Looks good but ya really didn't need
to trim it.The whole idea is to seal inside and out.Like rad said.

[Haus]

For my seals, I take a paint stir and put a nail in one end as a pivot. Then measure out the diameter of the inner and outer edges of the lid lip. Divide that in half. Transfer the measurement to the stir from nail point and drill the two holes. Then use a pencil to trace the two circles on single ply corrugated and cut it out carefully. Wrap the ring 3 or 4 times with PTFE tape, over lapping each wrap, 1" wide tape is fastest. Works perfectly and lasts for a long time. Save the stir and so you don't have to do it all over again.

[mason jar]

I see what your saying Haus. That sounds like Samohon's everlasting PTFE gasket but just a lot bigger.
My pot is over 18 inches in diameter so I didn't think a thin ring of cardboard would hold up very well.
How big is your gasket?

[Hound Dog]

You can probably find this cheaper on eBay or someplace if you look, but ptfe tube, slice it open and slip it around the lip of your lid. You just have to seal up the splice or do a fancy overlap with it. It's not that cheap but not terribly expensive either.

http://www.amazon.com/Zeus-White-PTFE-T ... B003TJ9YLA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I have never used a stock pot still, so I am just throwing out an idea.

[Haus]

I see what your saying Haus. That sounds like Samohon's everlasting PTFE gasket but just a lot bigger.
My pot is over 18 inches in diameter so I didn't think a thin ring of cardboard would hold up very well.
How big is your gasket?

It's exactly that. My ring is just over 15". I've used the same gasket for around 5 months now. Just take real good care of it.

[S-Cackalacky]

I see what your saying Haus. That sounds like Samohon's everlasting PTFE gasket but just a lot bigger.
My pot is over 18 inches in diameter so I didn't think a thin ring of cardboard would hold up very well.
How big is your gasket?

It's exactly that. My ring is just over 15". I've used the same gasket for around 5 months now. Just take real good care of it.

I do the same. After a run, I clamp it between two plywood panels to store it. Next time I use it, it's nice and flat and lays on the lip of the pot without having to wrestle around with it to get the lid on.

If it starts showing some wear, I just put a couple more wraps of ptfe tape on it. I've been using the same one for about a year and a half.

[mason jar]

Well, I will have to give that a try. The paste works great but it is a bit of extra work to clean up.
It would be nice to not have to do that.