using wood to run your still

[Deerhunter]

Does anyone here run there pot still the traditional way using wood as a heat source?

[Boda Getta]

I used gas for several years and just went electric, but have always want to go ole school for a run or two. I still may try it with a stripping run.

BG

[Truckinbutch]

I have experience with other wood fired boilers and , as a kid , thought my name was 'Get Wood' for a wood fired still . Both the boiler I currently use and the 'more than hobby' boiler I hold in reserve for SHTF are adaptable to wood firing .
What questions do you have ?

[goose eye]

It ain't what you see but what you don't see.


So I'm tole

[Snackson]

I used gas for several years and just went electric, but have always want to go ole school for a run or two. I still may try it with a stripping run.

BG

How you liking your switch over to electric?

[Truckinbutch]

It ain't what you see but what you don't see.


So I'm tole

And there endeth the lesson . Rekin how many will figger that out , goose eye ?

[Boda Getta]

Snackson:

"How you liking your switch over to electric?"

Love it!! I run a 15.5 gal keg w/ 2" column in pot still mode. Went with a 240W element with controller and wish I had done years ago. I do my distilling in the summer in the deep south in my garage; that gas burner would heat the garage to +110 F, so its much cooler. Heat up time is cut about in half. The best thing is the control that the controller gives me. The control during the run is incredible, especially on spirit runs. If you are thinking of going electric I strongly recommend it.

BG

[Swedish Pride]

use seasoned hardwood, seasoned as it smokes less, less of a chance to get spotted, hardwood as it burns for longer

[Deerhunter]

Just curious to see how many do run on wood or have tried. No questions, other then wood must be pretty hard to hold a steady temp on a spirit run. From what I've seen, many use a burn barrel as a firebox. Did they heat the still from the side or did the boiler sit on top of the drum?

[rad14701]

I did wood years ago using the trench method... Burned wood at one end to make a bank of coals and then raked/shoveled coals in and out from under the boiler to regulate heat input... Steel plates on either side of the boiler allowed fine tuning the draft when needed by covering portions of the trench... Would have been more efficient if I had used a shroud of some type but those were my early days and I was mainly experimenting...

[mtnshiner85]

I always used a draw thru furnace made from stone and red clay dirt and use a big metal trash can for my fire barrel, u can drag the wood back and forth to regulate output once hot it smokes very little, Makeing likker on wood is addictive, it just won't be as fun if you go back to gas

[Boda Getta]

mtnshiner85

Was that your actual still? Very old school, I would would love more details.

BG

[goose eye]

Your dick spout coming out.
You can solder a 11/2 piece bout 2 inches on can then get a rubber reducer to size of dick spout it come with hose clamps then take it apart when it ain't on blocks.

So I'm tole

[Brutal]

I always used a draw thru furnace made from stone and red clay dirt and use a big metal trash can for my fire barrel, u can drag the wood back and forth to regulate output once hot it smokes very little, Makeing likker on wood is addictive, it just won't be as fun if you go back to gas

Holy chit that's cool! Yes please start a thread or give us some more info here.

Dammit last thing I need is another project!

[city shiner]

It ain't what you see but what you don't see.


So I'm tole

I'll ask. Is this in reference to the smoke produced? As in you need a fire with plenty of air getting to it so very little smoke is produced therefore reducing your spot from getting discovered?

[Deerhunter]

where would your pot be sitting? Is it on top of the trash can or behind it?

[Truckinbutch]

It ain't what you see but what you don't see.


So I'm tole

I'll ask. Is this in reference to the smoke produced? As in you need a fire with plenty of air getting to it so very little smoke is produced therefore reducing your spot from getting discovered?

You are part way there . What else do you not want to see ?

[jb-texshine]

Fire?
Jbt

[Truckinbutch]

Fire?
Jbt

That , too .
Hint : you always walk to your still and establish a path ? Feds look for that trail .
How else they gonna look and what do you do to counter that ?

[city shiner]

Fire?
Jbt

That , too .
Hint : you always walk to your still and establish a path ? Feds look for that trail .
How else they gonna look and what do you do to counter that ?

Air cover. You need a way to disguise your rig from the air!

[city shiner]

So look for an area of natural cover that would shield you from view and diffuse smoke? Like inside the dripline of a cave?

[goose eye]

Ole boy always tried to set up under a hollyberry tree if one was close to the branch. Sound travels
Light too get a red lens cover. Rake all the brush away from where you set up. Man might not mind you makein likker on his property but you burn down his woods you gonna piss him off
Tired I'll try to give more thought later.

So I'm tole

[Truckinbutch]

There's wet hollers and dry hollers . Feds focused on hollers that had streams when they was ridge walkin . Ole boys would pipe water into dry hollers from a long way off to get what they needed . They was better hydraulic engineers than some that have been to college .

[Truckinbutch]

So look for an area of natural cover that would shield you from view and diffuse smoke? Like inside the dripline of a cave?

Good thinking Some of that worked , too .

[city shiner]

Thank y'all both for sharing your knowledge. And of course thanks to them ole boys that goose eye knows.

[Boda Getta]

"So look for an area of natural cover"

mntshiner85's still looks like it's set up in a laurel hell; anyone who's tried to bushwhack though a mountain laurel thicket knows why the locals call them hell.

BG

[city shiner]

There's wet hollers and dry hollers . Feds focused on hollers that had streams when they was ridge walkin . Ole boys would pipe water into dry hollers from a long way off to get what they needed . They was better hydraulic engineers than some that have been to college .

I wouldn't have ever figured out that shiners needed to route water to a dry holler. In my head they always set up by a branch. But in hindsight it makes perfect sense. Be where the Feds ain't.

[jb-texshine]

Dont take the same trail twice and dont ever walk through dead or wet grass as it wont recover or will but take weeks with live but wet grass

[Truckinbutch]

There's wet hollers and dry hollers . Feds focused on hollers that had streams when they was ridge walkin . Ole boys would pipe water into dry hollers from a long way off to get what they needed . They was better hydraulic engineers than some that have been to college .

I wouldn't have ever figured out that shiners needed to route water to a dry holler. In my head they always set up by a branch. But in hindsight it makes perfect sense. Be where the Feds ain't.

Savvy Fed would walk up a stream lookin for slops floating in eddies that was dumped by careless shiners . He'd also be lookin for the end of a water line he could follow over into a dry holler .
Listening on a still night , the sound of a big thumper could be heard for 2-3 miles if ya knew what you was listening for .

[goose eye]

They would walk to a saddle and sniff. Said there was one that could smell beer workin off and likker cookin. For all the good likker makers there was just as good law huntin em. Think I tole the story of a family that had one of both. They left there job at the road when they left the pavement for sunday dinner. They both knowed the other wouldn't give no breaks if they met up in the woods.
Them days is about gone. Ain't y left that had to shag ass away from a outfit. Theyd know it but couldnt prove it. Yup like the pass in of the mule in farmin ain't many left settin up on a branch at night. All y'all need to live it just once. Ole boys would take a old friend with em once in a while that begged to watch it done and you could see them start gettin happy feet. They couldn't sit still hearin what won't there and they would be miserable. Make for a long night.
So don't take no one with happy feet.

So I'm tole