My first still w/pic's

Simple pot still distillation and construction with or without a thumper.

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markophonic
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My first still w/pic's

Post by markophonic »

What can I expect from this thing? I new to distilling and just picked up this still.

What might it best be suited for?

I've started to gather up materials for fermenting and will probably start with a simple sugar recipe.

should I be able to coax some decent product out of it?

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Bujapat
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Post by Bujapat »

Nice potstill!
Surely ideal for whiskey, rum and fruit spirits...
I'm french speaking!

Boiler : 50 L (13 gal) beer keg, gas heated.
Reflux : 104 cm (41 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter withh SS scrubbers packing.
Potstill : 40 cm (15 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter without packing.
stoker
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Post by stoker »

The still looks good, you can make very good drinks with this one.
but this still is not made for sugar washes, it is good to do a test run and getting in contact with distilling, but it's not good for neutral spirit. But if you try, distill 2 or 3 times, and use activated carbon (before the last run)
And then switch to rum, whiskey, calvados, ...

(and read: http://homedistiller.org onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)
-I have too much blood in my alcohol system-
Rudi
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Post by Rudi »

Nice pot still. If you are interested in neutral spirit it would be easy to convert to a reflux column. The hard work has been done the boiler column union.Looks like you might want to do yourself a favour get some cracked corn and do a search for Uncle Jesses sour mash 8)
Such is life
rangaz
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Post by rangaz »

pot stills are fine for sugar washes. You've just got to be careful with cuts. It turns out a product much smoother than commercial vodka, with an almost undetectable but not necessarily bad tomato flavor. After carbon it tastes delicious.

It should also be easy to make an interchangeable reflux column for that keg once you get more serious, if its vodka you wanted to make
hornedrhodent
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Post by hornedrhodent »

How is it heated? I didn't see a power cord. Gas? - The condenser looks a little small but that depends on the heat input.
AfricaUnite
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Post by AfricaUnite »

Very nice still, try some uncle jesse sour mash in the recipie section.
markophonic
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Post by markophonic »

I have a propane gas burner for a turkey fryer that I might use though I'm considering buying a hot plate (I'm looking at the 1500 watt unit that Mile Hi sells). I think the hot plate might be a safer way to go?? I'd feel better about not having a fire burning in my garage shop for extended periods...just for ventilations sake etc.

Will a keg sit on a hot plate nicely??

I was wondering about extending the column...could i use another 2" piece of copper pipe to extend the column and fabricate something so it could be broke down to this smaller size...some kind of sleeve??? I don't know much about working with pipe so any ideas are most welcome!!!

I'm still trying to figure out what to use for my cooling lines...someone suggested an icemaker installation kit. Should I use copper lines or plastic/PVC type lines...again any suggestons welcome. It has compression fittings on the condensor.

I think that I'm going to use Uncle Jesse's simple sour mash recipe to get me started but if I can somehow extend the height of the column I would like to try some vodka recipes.

Here is another Picture.

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Fretman124
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Post by Fretman124 »

I built a still a couple months ago. Look for the post "built it myself" in the forum.

I use a 3 ring propane burner and since it's cold this time of year, I distill in my garage. I crack to double wide door a couple inches and have no worries about gassing myself. I've had my burner running for 15 hours with no issues. It sits on the floor so the bottom of my keg is about three inches from the floor.

I also use clear vinyl tubing for the condenser. Allows me to see if I have a leak by seeing bubbles in the line. I circulate out of a 25 gallon barrel thats sits outside the garage door.

If it was me (and it ain't) I would run the still a few times to see if I liked the product. Then I'd maybe think about doing the modifications you're thinking of. Also, that potstill column looks just fine. Instead of extending it (or trying to) just build a reflux column complete with bowl and have two seperate heads.

Nice still, by the way
theholymackeral wrote
Learn to use the search function... intellectual laziness is frowned upon here.
olcarguy
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Post by olcarguy »

Is that a exhaust header flange on top of the keg before the copper? Steel might give trouble. Other than that it looks good.
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take the special bus
or occasionally pee on yourself..
You hang in there sunshine, you're friggin' special
Rudi
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Post by Rudi »

If you can organise a little ventilation go the propane you wont regret it just be very careful.Whats your gasket under the bowl and flange made from? It may not be but in the pic it looks like rubber.Enjoy
Such is life
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