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If you read the comments they say its a fake. If you notice he is wearing a different shirt after the "explosion" and the lights come on right as it happens. Also, there's no smoke. So I agree, it's fake.

Hi Chunky, I have found with my VM, that there is not much happening temperature-wise during a run. I dont even look at it any more, except to see when the temps are up the column. I cut by smell and taste, hoping to get better at it.. :) I have had problems with the puffs as well, seems vapor can ...

Well, I'm back from another long hiatus. I haven't been able to run anything since last year and I finally got to run it about a week ago. My still now stands at 8'8" total with exactly 4' of packing. I was going to get a picture of the whole setup, because it's awesome, but I had no camera. On...

where did you buy your agave from? and how much was it? I would like to know this also. Any information you can give on the wash that you used would be appreciated. I've been wanting to get a batch of tequila going since it is my dad's favorite spirit. I need to repay him for making me such an exce...

Ok, new pics of the insert for my still. Some of these are cut off (especially the last one), so to view the full pic you will have to click on the pic. http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq229/chunkystyles83/IMG00026.jpg http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq229/chunkystyles83/IMG00024.jpg http://i4...

My dad came in this weekend and brought me some new parts. I lost my fancy smartphone so I can't take pictures of it right now, but the valve is beastly. There is one problem, though. It is a 1.5 inch butterfly valve but the seal is nitrile rubber. He said they make teflon seals but he didn't have a...

which part of the parent site covers that? i understand the basic concept of them both. vapor with impurities will be heavier, so as it's cooled it hits the point were it can no longer travel up the column and fall back down, and the vapor that doesnt have impurities well cool but still be light en...

Thanks a lot guys. I know a lot more about VM stills now and I think I can successfully design one now. I've been waiting until I felt that I completely understood how it worked before I tried to get the new parts made. As soon as I get it all put together I will post some pics. It could be a week o...

Since my last post didn't get any response, let me ask my question in a different manner. Is it absolutely necessary to have the valve after the turn down? What are the repercusions of having the valve before the turn down?

I'm not sure how tall the column is. I didn't build it so I never have measured it. If it were at my house I could measure it for you, but I don't know. If I had to guess I would say somewhere between 36" and 42". I've attached another diagram that shows how I interpreted your post, billy ...

Ok, there are quite a few pictures of my still in this thread but here I've attached a very rough diagram of it. The way that my still is made is it is all 3" stainless with ferrules. Each condenser has it's own T and all of the openings on that T are 3 inches. As far as I can tell, the only wa...

Ok, I have a few questions about turning my still into a VM still. Since I have a 3" column, how big does the valve need to be? The connection from the column to the product condenser is also 3". I talked to my dad and the valves that he can get in that size are ridiculously big and heavy,...

Haha, thanks. I hate to see it not get used myself. If only I could keep and use it at my house and if only I could have more time in which to do it.

I had read that post but didn't see the link to the other thread where it was explained. Ethanol vapour above about 50% strength is denser (heavier) than air, and so wants to fall. It will prefer to go into the product arm and fall down into the product condenser, rather than rise to the reflux coil...

I understand the principals behind CM and LM and how they work. I don't quite understand VM. From the diagrams that I have seen the reflux condenser sits higher than the valve that controls the vapor. What is it that causes the vapors to go out through the side rather than just straight up to the re...

HookLine wrote:LM works fine. But VM is generally regarded as being the easiest basic design to run that we currently have.

Easier than LM, really?

Well, I'm back. I haven't been distilling anything for almost a year now. Life has kinda gotten in the way. Anyway, I've decided to make a new head for this still. I'm pretty sure that I want to go with LM since I'm still very inexperienced and it seems to be the easiest to use. Since my still is al...

I would recommend that you avoid 90 degree angles if you can. It makes cleaning a lot easier. I posted a picture of my boiler that was made by my dad almost a year ago. It's really awesome. I know it's round, though. But there are a few things that I really like about it. No 90 degree angles and it ...

Looks like you have a fair bit of room there and it looks green in your are.. if i had the room i wood go with punkins sugestion on the 44's for cooling water.. I like the rainwater idea. I will have to talk to my uncle since it is his shop. It may be difficult to do with a high pitched roof. if yo...

I keep reading "Corner Creek" as coroner creek. I guess I should stay away from it.

Even before starting in on this hobby I have always hated Crown Royal.

Edit: A lot of the pictures are cut off when viewed in the thread here. I posted a link to whole image that will show the whole image. Ok, I have a bunch of new pics from yesterday. I ended up doing a small stripping run (that's why I was using the smaller boiler) and then a full reflux run. It turn...

** Link to PHONY process removed. **

Sounds almost too good to be true. Putting 8 years of aging on whiskey in only 30 minutes would be huge.

Is there a way that you could change the rubber tubing that connects the two condensers with copper? Just a thought. I don't like to have any vapor or liquid distalate come in contact with rubber or plastic. That's my only only thought on the beautiful still. cheers ~bd~ There is no plastic or rubb...

I didn't make cuts, really. I was collecting in one quart mason jars. Pretty much seems like the heads were in the first two jars and the tails started coming out in the last* two jars. I did let the column equalize for 30 mins before starting the collection. Well...kinda. I wasn't quick enough to t...

It's been a little over a month since my last post on my still and a lot has happened since then. Unfortunately I have not been able to get digital pics of the setup yet. I'm very pleased by the setup. We have an enormously powerful water pump to circulate the cooling water. I think it's 4914 gallon...

It seems like the heat treatment might be more effective since most of the conversion happens within 60 minutes. The time it takes to freeze it might make quite a difference. I was merely thinking that IF freezing disrupted the enzymes that you could freeze the fruit before juicing. :roll: Ah, good...

It seems like the heat treatment might be more effective since most of the conversion happens within 60 minutes. The time it takes to freeze it might make quite a difference.

Did two identical batches using the same 1x stripped turbo wash in my all glass lab still, one with a heaping teaspoon of sodium carbonate, one without. Wow! The difference in smell is amazing. The sodium carbonate run smells MUCH better... heck it practically didn't have any smell at all. I'm now ...

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-High-Pressure-Outdoor/dp/B000291GBQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1220015794&sr=8-1 There's a deal going on right now (at least when I ordered this two weeks ago) where you can sign up for some club they have for free (for one month, ...

I just got a 185,000 BTU burner and it really puts off some energy. I need to see how much of it is really coming out, though. It took about 20 mins to get 10 gallons of water to boiling. If anyone is interested I can tell you were to get this nifty little burner for only $39 US, shipped. Edit: had ...