Home Distiller

The faster the stripping run, the more water you are carrying over into your low wines... This could actually be beneficial, unless you are stripping a wretched wash to begin with... Water being a filter, fast stripping, and the added water retained, shouldn't present problems... Scorching, due to ...

So much has changed just in the short time I've been part of this hobby...if you go back to before the parent site the advances are even more dramatic. Thanks to all who paved the way. Convential wisdom said that larger than 3" packed columns were not worth attempting due to channeling With new...

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=64124 This is my very limited experience with a 3" CCVM running lava rock I decided to try lava rock before popping for the SPP. Havent made a drop of drinkable yet with it but the cleaning and sac runs have been very promising. I think a ...

Other than the song ending before you get all the customers cash is there an issue with.....oh wait, wrong forum..... :roll: Seriously, anyone every done any research into whether you can affect a final product with too fast a stripping run? Other than the obvious issues of overwhelming the product ...

So am I missing anything? I am looking at using a 2" jacket and 4 1/2" vapor tubes with 3 baffles for turbulence. I have this exact setup except 4 baffles. It knocks down 5500w of H20 vapor. Ethanol would be quite a bit more. Prob good for more, but that's all the power I have to throw at...

Saw one on eBay the other day for like $20, the whole unit measured between 90-100% so small increments were easily distinguished.

No idea how accurate it really was, but seemed interesting.

Yup. Need to get a narrow range alcometer so I can really see the nuances at higher proof, I have a standard 0-200 proof one and it works fine but 94vs95vs95.5 is hard to judge

Rinsed in hot water until the water was clear, then boiled, rinsed again 2-3 more times.

I'm very pleased, was expecting to add another 20" packed section.

I'll try and get pics, camera on phone is broken but it doesn't look like much, certainly nothing like some of the builds on here.

Finally got to do my sac run on a 3" condenser controlled vapor management a la DAD300 and others: 15 gal keg charged with 15% low wines/feints 5000w element 2-3" adapter from keg 3"x40" copper section packed with dime/nickel size black lava rock, copper scrubbie at each end of p...

Lol touche, I may be concerned about nothing. That said it seems fairly easy to try. Just gonna super size a standard magnetic stiring plate. I'm on the lookout for a simple electric motor which ill make the stiring plate out of, and I'll either wrap a large neodymium magnet in PTFE or encapsulate i...

A thin wash will begin to stir itself once it comes to boil. Exactly! However...... It will move according to convection, the way the system wants to move it. The whole point is we want every ounce of wash to heat as evenly as possible. So, no hot or cold spots As someone who cooks for a living I c...

Sorry for the necro-post but I'm revisiting this issue as I'm about to go electric and adding a stirring rod will be infinitely easier than when I used natural gas. I'm surprised by the resistance to this idea. Stirring while heating is standard practice for most labratory distillation regardless of...

T + elbow + cap inserted between the boiler and whatever its connected to = easy midrun fill port with no cutting involved

I see very little benefit at the hobby scale... Just more complexity for very little, if any, benefit... I prefer a well cleared boiler charge... True moonshiners only ran dirty because they fermented and distilled in the same vessel... I'd rather leave the yeast and their poop out of my boiler... ...

Anybody running a magnetic stirring rod or recirculating pump for stirring the wash/mash in the boiler during heatup?

Prob not much sense if you're refluxing but for pot stilling could make cuts more well defined?

I have run my SPP packed column as a pot still (top capped, no reflux condenser) and can achieve 80% easily during hearts. My column is SS Triclamp and putting an thin ptfe endcap (cut from a bucket lid) above the takeoff is easy. I also have no physical valve on the takeoff, so never an accidental...

Damn that looks familiar. Only I have a Liebig product condenser, workin on a shotgun cause I like the look of having it all the same size pipe. Makes a damn fine neutral and I can even do flavored drinks by having the coil way above the takeoff point. I have some very nice light rum on oak right n...

Despite conventional wisdom that packing a pot still head does nothing, I've noticed a minor ABV bump (a couple points) when I pack my 2"x18" section with copper scrubbies running 6-8% UJSSM I have some SPP on the way for a VM build. Do you think SPP in the section would provide a worthwhi...

Nutmegmooner wrote:I'll bet your stove is 220. Plan to use the barby that day.

this.

do you have a gas stove? remember, lift with your legs.... Edit. I'm not kidding. I run all manner of stills on 7.75 and 15.5 gallon kegs on a standard home gas stovetop. the kegs fit nicely on two burners. 10 gallons takes about 75 minutes to start producing. Not setting any records, but not too sh...

I have been trying to get this result with a pot still for some time. What I am really trying for is 70% in one pass with some heads compression. All the runs I have made with one pass on a pot results in about 53% after cuts. I am just trying to avoid the second run so I can run one pass and age b...

Yup, what prompted all this was revisiting manu's CCLM design. Then I realized I was starting at a crossflow condenser.

Hmm, I wanted to stick with the VM.

Any good way to keep this a CCVM in this position?

So I was playing with my modular setup and came up with this. Ignore the lack of column, as well as the length difference of the horizontal pieces, they would be made even for an LM setup or one would lead to a product condenser for the condenser controlled VM. you get to reuse your coiled reflux co...

Yes sir remember ya can shoot that thang with cream corn mashed fruit berries all kinds of good stuff. I messed with rerunning heads in the thumper and tails in the boiler, which does give you a significant ABV boost, but at the cost of purity. If you make good cuts, eventually, your heads are goin...

Smart plan and a lot cheaper than unions, especially if you already have the flanges around. What are you going to use off the thumper to condense? If you've got excess 2" (is there such a thing as excess?) You could easily use a couple more 90's and make a riser to a 180 to a shotgun.... Hmmm...

Original build can be seen in posts 5 and 6 here http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=45276 New and improved, heavy on the easy flanges :D I know most people are plumbing in and out through the same hole in the keg, but I wasn't about to change my design when I'm so happy with the...

lol gotcha. so I'm trying to reinvent a very old wheel :D Only asked bc I have a modular setup and could throw this together easily. Well not reinventing a wheel but experimentation is always fun. Try it you might just like what you come up with. I am of the opinion CM's are under rated because of ...

How does the amount of contact between the vapor and the thumper contents affect the final product? In other words, is it like a plate in that different liquid depths may have different characteristics? Some people prefer a deep bath vs shallow? Practically speaking, what would your predictions be i...

lol gotcha. so I'm trying to reinvent a very old wheel

Only asked bc I have a modular setup and could throw this together easily.

In my mind, a 2-3 plate flute is an enhanced pot still, designed to carry flavor cleanly and at high ABV. Not so, I think reading the post " Flute Talk " may answer a lot of your questions. That was dumb of me to say. I hear you 100% and I've read that thread many times over. It's a reflux...