Home Distiller

Simple fluid mechanics, you have opened a path of lesser resistance. Vapor like liquid is lazy and will take the path of least resistance. There are also some thermodynamic's involved regarding the temperature diference in the take off path, but I dropped that class years ago. Some of it will still ...

Sounds like you are on the right track. Pot stills are fairly east to build just remember Stainless and copper only! No plastic, rubber, steel or aluminum in the still.

Good luck! Welcome!

Hello back from Northeast Ohio!

Read and learn, thats what this forum is for.

Do a search before asking though, there are some out there who will flame you if you don't!!!

Tater, what yeast did you use in this? I have always used EC-1118 in my fruit wines but none of them have been distilled. Just wondering if bakers yeast would work or not. Also did you add any additional water to your puree or did 300# fill the barrel?

Tater, what yeast did you use in this? I have always used EC-1118 in my fruit wines but none of them have been distilled. Just wondering if bakers yeast would work or not. Also did you add any additional water to your puree or did 300# fill the barrel?

I ferment in a 32g that has a lid on it, it is not airtight and does not need an airlock. I open it a lot for the wonderful smell. I usually siphon off about 15 gallons of beer. I replace the grain I want too then put a gallon or so of warm water back in then do my runs. With my pot I have to split ...

Read all the safety stuff FIRST! (yes I meant to shout that) As for corn whiskey the Uncle Jesse Simple Sour Mash (UJSSM) is real popular, I haven't personally tried it yet. I would recomend the Sweet Feed recipee. Both are in the Tried and True section. Spend some time browsing and most of your que...

corrosion and porosity are the most basic. Steel is way more porous than stainless steel and you will not get all the lacquer thinner out of it by cleaning unless you use other chemicals you don't want to drink to do it. Steel will corrode at an extreme rate when exposed to vaporized alcohol. Mmmm r...

Now that's an ambitious undertaking.

Good Luck!!!!

Welcome and post some picts of the equipment you will be using, we love copper porn......

Monkeyb0y,

its the same on this side of the pond. But you can still make beer/wine/mead fairly cheap and easy and get a superb product.

Im still working on a superb product out of a still, even my distilled water tastes funny.

I keep trying though

I can picture it with a 36" Leibig coming off where that tap is

Depending on where it leaks you may still be able to salvage the column and put it on a ss pot?

If you already have the pot... You can get most of the copper you need to make a column at your local home improvement store.

Don't give up just yet!

Nice Job man, but that looks like a plastic testing cylinder. Theres a pic of one of those that melted on here somewhere. No heat was applied to melt it either..... That little ball looks cool and it may be contributing to the ABV you are seeing from a pot. I cant get that high with my pot on a firs...

SmokinDave, I imagine the amount of reflux you got with no packing wasn't worth the time it took to do it but to each his own. Let it air for a couple of days and making your cuts will be much cleaner. Also it depends greatly on what generation you are on it seems to get clearer and easier the highe...

Ran my first sweetfeed last night on my 2" boka......in detuned mode. No packing on a 5' column... Then, I collected about 8 jars of 250 ml each.......The 8th jar was really getting pretty smelly towards the end......ABV was around 30%, so I switched to my last jar, #9, and refluxed a while, a...

Soggy Bottom Boy wrote:.

I had to do this on the chalkboard in grade school once.......




.

Wish Id gone to that school....

Well Mrbean you really stepped in it here didn't ya.... You said you were using a different strain of yeast this time what is the alcohol tolerance of the new yeast? As for the nutrient, if it smelled like ammonia I wouldn't use it. Ammonia is for cleaning floors not for food. Toss it and get new. J...

Youve come to the right place!

I suggeest the "Tried and True" for your recipees, the skills are everywhere.

Welcome!

Or you could be one of those conspiracy guys that converts everything to throw us off the scent....

And you get the BBC on your satelite....

I buy all my stuff with rupies but convert to $ cause I hate typing all those zeros...

.... or do I .....

Welcome!

As I understand it the Air still is a water distiller with a smaller heating element. It only has a one gallon volume in the boiler. This small amount will make it difficult to make any cuts in your end product. In some cases larger is better. IMHO send the air still back and build rads stove top re...

Keep reading until your ready to build. You can't absorb enough knowledge. Once you absorb as much as you can then its a trial and error thing. As to meeting folks.. Well as this is illegal in all 50 states it may take some time for people to get comfortable enough to meet you.. Make sure you read a...

Welcome! Sounds like you have a functional rig. Only using 2 bolts to hold the lid on might not be enough, four or eight would put more even pressure on your PTFE Gasket. I get the paranoia, I suffer from it myself. But then again everything said on this site, except from the people in NZ is hypothe...

Midnight, did you do specific gravity readings before and after you added the sugar? While I agree that leaving it alone would have been fine, it will effect the final alcohol percentage of the wash. As long as you have around 1.o6 specific gravity you will have decent output on your still. you can ...

Making a gasket with PTFE tape for a stockpot is a royal pain. I know I make one for my 42qt pot.

You can buy rolls of cork at most office supply stores if you have a way to cut a gasket from that, and if the roll is big enough. Flour paste works well also.

Midnight there is no need to add more yeast unless you kill it.

Night if your going to add the backset for the next generation, don't bother squeezing, just siphon off the liquid available and run it.

You have come to the right place!

Read as much as you can and absorb the knowledge available here, weather you plan to build or buy, the info is available to those who can use the search feature above!

If you search and can't find ask.

Welcome and be safe!

There are some great ideas already on here that are all worth a shot. I have never used bananas, and never would as I HATE bananas but have used other fruits for wines with and without sugar. Talk to your local homebrew/wine making shop. They use chemical fining agents in wine that work well with fr...

What Sam says!!!

Read, Research and be safe!!

Welcome!

Mile High distillng sells the fittings you need I believe. http://www.milehighdistilling.com

Many pressure cookers are aluminum, do a search on this site and you will see why not to use aluminum in distilling apparatus.

Welcome!

Strawberries and corn, sounds like a pot still is in your future...

Strawberries make a really good wine but I've personally never gone the next step. Let us know how it goes and if its good share that recipe.

Welcome! Research and be safe!