Home Distiller

OK, i built this just after my last post. I was cleaning up the shed and found it in a box, cleaned it up a bit, and posted pics. I added a tabulator. its a 1/2" tube with a 1/4 inch wire wrapped around it, and its ground down to fit the 3/4" pipe.

I just read this thread for the first time. I'm glad you've switched to a pot still design, because if good corn whiskey is what you're after, that's the tool for the job. :D If you cap both ends of that 5/8" for your turbulator you are creating a potential explosion. The air trapped inside wi...

If you add a 'turbulator', it should work fine. To make the turbulator, split a short piece of 1" copper pipe and flatten. Cut a strip 1.5"x6" and twist at least 180 degrees, press this twisted ribbon into the upper end of the condenser. This will break up any laminar flow long enoug...

That's pretty cool. I love it.

Hawke wrote:I see your potstill is using a union to connect the 'lyne arm' liebig condenser. (Good)

I am going to put a 90 on the condenser where the union is then i can control the angel of the condenser. is this practical?

Hawke wrote:
What is the 3rd tube I see coming out of the bottom of your condencer?

the tubes you are seeing are just there for for it ti sit on and hold in place for me to take a picture. they are not part of it.

My reasoning for using that long of an arm is so my water consumption could be minimal. I will make a little stand to fit my table. I also tried to use materials I had with minimal cutting, All else fails I can cut it up and use it for something else later. My thinking also was with the long condens...

I'm also going to go over to pot stills and see what some of those guy think.
I want it to be "THE GOOD STUFF" or I'm not going to build it.

All right guys, Here is my latest contraption. Other than the cap for the top ( plumbing store had to order) she is done other than seaming it up and putting my water out in my condenser. Before I solder it up, I wanted to see what you guys think. (any changes?) 2" column 11" tall 2" ...

The more reading i do the more the pot still fits what i want to do.

I remember drinking a white shine that an old black man had at an old back country bar. This stuff had the most unique flavor, but that is all i remember.

I do know he said it was corn liquor.

thanks guys.

After all this I think I'm going to build a simple pot still with a thumper.

now i just completely don't get it. why will my last drawing not work? What will cause it not to work? If i close the reflux return valve and set my coolant to only fast enogh to start condensation at the top of the condenser, where is the rest of the vapor going? if i take out the reflux drain back...

Rad what do you think? will it work? The plates aren't drawn correctly in the reflux control. The bottom one comes up about an inch above the opening so it can hold fluid above the inlet as not to let gas in. the reason for running the coolant through the feed tube at the top of condenser is to get ...

You'll only want one reflux return. At the top. Not two at different heights. Put up some pictures when ya get it built! looking forward to it. By the way, stills are like potato chips, you can't build just one! there is only one reflux return at 5" below the top of condenser. the top tube is ...

you are seeing it right. there is an elbow at the top of the down tube in the condenser the 1/2" pipe runs through a 5/8 hole drilled in elbow. the whole assembly drops in a slot at the top of the condenser and the cap is notched to fit around the 1" pipe to center thus hiding the notch. o...

have you seen the latest picture i just put up. I'm trying to make the materials i have
will this work?
its kind of a hybrid. What do you think?

Here is a re-design with the same materials that i have on hand.
Give me your opinion.

I want this still to work so bad. this is a picture of the internals.

Lets forget about selling stills for a moment.

If i wanted to build a personal still for good corn whiskey and high proof alcohol. what still would you recommend?

I guess this is more of a fractionating column.
All is Copper by the way.
the column and condenser are 2"

There are no differences in the two stills pictured other than the bottom cooling line in the column.

Is some one going to let me in on the theory?

Not harsh at all, That is why I am here. You are right. I have never run a still, I intend on running this still after fabrication. The parts are all cut fitted taken back apart and being polished today. Without seeing the internals of the design i posted it is hard to see how it works. It can simpl...

By the way, there are no fittings other than end caps. I have been building things my whole life and fittings seem to make things look more like a puzzle than a fitted show piece. Just my opinion. Craftsmanship is what i am trying to sell. How well does the LM column work with the coil sitting in th...

Oh yeah , in the pictured column i can remove the internals of the gate valves, and install mechanical thermostats and keep the column at consistent temps. I think?

Now im learning something. Tell me how im looking at this wrong. (cooling the bottom of the column manages the temp of the column. Cooling the vapor at the top of the column sends the vapor back down the column to re vaporize, thus managing the vapor.) My theory must be wrong or it contradicts the l...

I'm going to put the one I am building now on the market.

My next one will be a vapor management in a three inch tube. Or possibly a hybrid vapor management internal reflux simply to give more column temp control.

This is the internal reflux that I am building now. The trick is the feed water leaves the top of the condenser through the center of the tube that feeds the vapor to the condenser. You can completely kill all reflux, or open one or both lower and upper reflux valves that will give you complete cont...

This is what I am saying.

I am interested in designing and building high quality hobby stills that meet the needs of each individual hobbyist; be it, internal reflux, pot, valve reflux, fixed reflux, or what ever we can imagine.

Say in the 300 to 2500 dollar range.

Do you guys see a market at all.

Hi Guys, great site. In my search for a still that was designed and fabricated with quality in mind I soon realized that there must not be many manufactures or there just isn’t a demand for craftsmanship in the field. Is there a demand for well designed, high quality reflux stills? High end craftsma...