Home Distiller

You guys hit the nail right on the head. It is true that mashing at a lower temperature will produce a more fermentable sugars. For a home distiller this is not really an issue since the amount of extra alcohol will be very little on a small scale. But jump into large scale production sizes and it m...

True, copper foam will work, but it would significantly retrict vapor flow. A honeycomb or lamella would hardly retrict the flow at all since 75% - 95% is empty space.

After studying the patent again I realized the catalyst is not a honeycomb like I referred to above. It is a lamella shape which is triangular and not a hexagon like a bee hive. See the picture I attached. Also, in the attached picture from the Bavarian Holstein website brochure you can see more cle...

I thought I would share this Holstein Patent info i found today for their catalyst that they mention on their website. It is European patent # EP0459310 It consists of a copper honeycomb above the dephlegmator which significantly increases the copper surface for reducing the cyanide content and thus...

Your fermentation has probably stopped, so you may just have CO2 still trapped in solution which is slowly degassing and preventing it from clearing.

I remember seeing a sketch of that shorter tube with a sight glass on one of the manufacturer sites. It did show that there was a single plate with a downcommer that extended down into the wash thou I think a J tube would be fine. I think it is only there to increase reflux in a shorter tube so it a...

Don't get me wrong. I have total respect for the research, designs and builds on this forum. I love reading them. Just saying that this flute is more complicated to build, and thus not "easier" Post quantity is not a reflection of time. I build my first still and reflux column over 10 year...

I realize that. I used the hillybilly as an example because it has fixed plates that are soldered in place instead of a center pipe or threaded rod holding the plates in place. Good design idea I thought. Yes, I know it was not KS idea first. I guess I should explain in more detail, but I think you ...

In regards to making this easier and cheaper to build as mentioned in the first thread, I think you missed the mark on easier. The downcomer design and bubble cap looks complicated and difficult to build. It would be much simpler and cheaper if a new builder (like me) stuck to the original sieve pla...

Bypass Valve Question. I noticed that in all the builds have seen so far, I have not seen one with plate bypass valves on the side of the flutes so you can either use all the plates, or just one or two. Is it because it would be difficult to install? It would make the flute much more flexible to use...

Pitch you forshot? Are you not supposed to save it and throw it back in with the next run. Hmmm, maybe with a high efficiency column that is not required.

Wow, great build. I just finish reading the entire thread from the beginning. I'm inspired to build my own now.