Home Distiller

Hmmmm interesting. Maybe i can find a way to insulate the sides of the pot. The bottom is just about 3/4 an inch on all sides smaller than the hot plate surface but it maintains a solid boil at full blast. Maybe its the upper part of the boiler I should insulate to keep the vapor a higher temp? Whe...

It works perfectly and while the controller seems to cap out at max heat well before I go all the way up i definately have control and can do a slower temp increase and get a steady boil. It still doesn't come out in a steady stream but rather a steady drip but I now think that that may just be due...

It works perfectly and while the controller seems to cap out at max heat well before I go all the way up i definately have control and can do a slower temp increase and get a steady boil. It still doesn't come out in a steady stream but rather a steady drip but I now think that that may just be due ...

Awwwesssssssssome easier than I thought. Ill let you all know how it turns out tomorrow!

Ok so if I have this right I can just unattach the Xd out wires and move the lead to where the arrow goes and I should be good?

PS - sorry i dont know why the attachment rotates when you click to view it

If you have removed the cycler it will be on full power regardless of the knob setting. Depends on what you have removed from the cycler... An alembic has a very thin and perhaps not 100% flat bottom, that's bad. But copper is an incredible good heat conductor, that's good. I don't know if the setu...

And to answer your questions yes it does cycle at 12 I can hear the click Does it do that with a boiling pot on it, or only when there is nothing on it? While you are using a controller during a run, I doubt there would be enough heat to trigger the thermostat set to full. My 6.5l pot only gets abo...

If it gets too hot, it gets too hot... It is about the insulation of the wires. For the copper the heat is no problem of course. The two thick black wires look like they have a very heat stable insulation. Because it has a thermo sensor I think it will cycle after heating up even on 12. If you remo...

Now one other comment I had was someone saying they replaced their wiring with high temp wires because if its on all the time it can overheat or what not. Is that really necessary or should it be fine as is? I dont mind shelling out a little extra cash for safety.

thesource674, you'll get more responses if you post your images through the forums rather than relying on an external hosting site... I flat out refuse to visit external hosting sites because they are targets of malware and viruses... I get paid to clean other folks computers but get pretty pissed ...

Hopefully this is the best spot for this post but im looking to get rid of the thermal cycling on my hotplate as we are often told is necessary if you are going to use one. Attached should be an album of pictures of the innards of my hot plate. I highlighted where a piece actually moves to close the...

I think to start ima try what happened with maybe some boil chips and then use this https://www.amazon.com/TruePower-123-Variable-Router-Controller/dp/B00YEGVC6W/ref=sr_1_3?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1479678420&sr=1-3&keywords=router+speed+control" onclick="window.open(this.href);ret...

Ok maybe I can try (1) turning the hotplate to max with the controller (2) finding the thermostat and removing it or (3) even trying to just put the bot right on my electric stove top.

From all the reading it just seems copper is better if you are doing a pot still for removing nasty compounds n such. Since with reflux you can pack it with copper mesh but not so much with pot.

Just dont have the money for a larger one that wasnt a stainless steel boiler. Again thats why I went small.

Yea I see what you mean, but I guess good ratings from people on Amazon saying theirs worked well plus everything is hand made. Im not sure if its kosher but the vendor is Copper Brothers. At the very least it looks very well made.

Ok I thought it was pretty low already but I got some cheap vodka that i can keep putting in and playing with until it comes out right

Just to add to what has been stated already... You need a temperature gradient within your flake stand... That means cold water in the bottom and hot, even steaming, at the top... If you are recirculating your water, make sure the cold goes in as low as possible and take the hot out as high as poss...

StillLearning1 wrote:Pictures of your still?

Would likely be worth a thousand words here....

Ill get some up tomorrow for sure! Stay tuned!

Its a small pot only about a gallon. And the dealer is reputable. Figured it should be ok, so unless i want to find a way to make an entire new worm im unsure what i could do except return it.

cob wrote:could just be bad terminology but #1 the worm needs to run down hill, not level

And yes I meant that the can the contains the coil is level so that the coil itself is level and spirals naturally downward.

I say 3 things, maybe all 3: No good temp gradient in worm Low spot in worm Cycling hot plate If it were me, I'd make a Liebig and light a fire! Winter here so I like trying to stay indoors. Ill get a controller and try to fix the hot plate. The worm seems even so it should be ok. And as for the te...

Most hotplates try to maintain a constant temperature by cycling on for a number of seconds, then off for a number of seconds... if yours does this then you'll need to modify it - remove the thermostat and get a power controller. Mine don't. There are two types I know of. A simmerstat dial can be t...

Did a cleaning run with just water, then 50/50 water + vinegar, and now with some rotgut vodka as a sacrifice run and always it comes out spurting or dripping never a stream Things I have checked based on information here, 1. The worm is level 2. The inner diameter of the cooling coil is only 3/8 in...

Balls I thought I had avoided that with one that said it was built to maintain a constant boil/simmer or whatever. Guess ill have to figure out how to do the modification ><

The drops have only been from water and vinegar cleaning runs so far. Im not sure what the stream will be like on an actual alcohol run, since the still is so small the worm is im pretty sure about 3/8 inch inner diameter which i know is about the smallest you want it. hopefully with actual ethanol ...

Paulinka, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this whole thread...twice...as brandy is the drink that made me want to start distilling in the first place! I have a question I have not quite been able to deduce fully however, it appears that i DO want to do a stripping run of my mash (or in this case a...

So far it seems to provide even heat as far as I can tell. It kicks on once it drops below a certain point but the vapor temp remains the same. Think im good to go NZ?

674, is this what your looking for?? Jimbo Wrote' This thread started off as a description of my apple scratter build, but over the past years has been where I post all my apple cider and brandy related ferments, runs, experiments etc. I asked Halfbaked to rename the thread as such, thanks buddy! I...

Question for some of my fellow apple heads. I am just starting out with doing some apple brandy from low proof cider and during my research I swore I came across a comment on a thread (probably from this site) about the temperature you do your spirit run at. The person was saying that you want to r...