Home Distiller

esther87 wrote:...I own a small reflux still, homemade, looking for pot.

still_stirrin wrote: p.s.- With respect to those retail sales shops, I can't comment. I have no experience with them. But if buying a still, or boiler, they are serialized and the retailers are required to collect and maintain data on purchasers. That info is made available to the government if they request it. I think "building" will keep you off that RADAR screen.

Euphoria wrote:All my stuff is totally devoid of any written words or numbers.

Mos52 wrote:I'm looking to buy...Thoughts?...

Mos52 wrote:I'm looking to buy a "stove top" still. Something to learn the ropes on before I go bigger.

Any thoughts on the still at the link below? Made in China, so that's a little scary. I would test the solder for lead if I got it. But otherwise looks nice and the price is right. Thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/Distiller-Moonshi ... hine+still" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Euphoria wrote:No tags or stickers on anything I ordered. Just a copy of the itemized order billing sheet included in the boxes. I know that they, (all mfr's,) are required to record sales for the TTB, but earlier comments alluded to the stills having serial numbers. Rad cleared that up several posts back. Just treated myself to another 4" plated flute section from them which will arrive today. That will set me up with the ability to use up to 6 plates on my flute now. Don't always use them all. In fact, I usually use 2~3 of them for my whiskey and rum, but now I can try to make some good neutral too.

crosscreekmatt wrote:Anybody have any experience with Veagence?...

flying cowman wrote:...The first was with the lentil on. I found his just slows things down during a stripping run so I took it off for the next. I also used the parrot just to get a feel for it. Now i'm really not so sure these things are that great? It holds around 350 ml and though it was only a stripping run, I was testing as I went along to see how it might work on a spirit run. I found the volume it holds is too much, which masks the cuts. Maybe if it were of smaller capacity it would be better, but I think it's easier without and to taste test or use the spirit hydrometer in its test tube every so often. I also found the spirit hydrometer bobbed up and down a lot in the parrot anyway, making it hard to read.

esther87 wrote:Has anyone dealt with clawhammer supply from Colorado or Moonshine Stills Company from Ga. I own a small reflux still, homemade, looking for pot

der wo wrote:- The downer tube through the column only causes energy loss. The condesation must be at the top of the column to be effective.
- For controlling a cooling management still it is absolutely necessary, that both cooling lines (product cooler and reflux cooler) can get controlled seperately. Two lines, two valves.
- The cooling tube through the column on the top produces little reflux only. So you cannot use this still for neutral alcohol.

flying cowman wrote:The still I made last year worked very well. I was made from old SS milking parlour equipment. The pot is an old milk "dump" bucket. Full, it holds around 22 litres so I tended to run 15 litre batches. I cut a hole in the bottom for a "Burco boiler" element. Half successfully tig welded a 2" X 3 foot column made from SS milk line tube (leaked a bit but was able to seal with rye dough). It doesn't show in the pictures (pics taken after I started to take it apart to use elsewhere) but the top of the tube had a swage pressed insert with thread and threaded cup. This allowed access into the column. To introduce some copper I wound copper brake pipe into a coil that squeezed in tightly down about half the column height. The take of from the top was copper tube, as was all the tubing in the condenser. I've no idea what the reflux percentage was but my 7.5% Cider would come out initially at around 55% and I'd stop stripping at 25%. From the 15 litres, I'd get around 2.5 at an average of 40%. Once I had enough I put it through again.







I'm now working towards starting a micro distillery as I'm soon to be made redundant (the dairy business is in a dire state here in the UK) so I've just bought a 40 litre Alembic still to experiment with. If my plan works out I'd be looking at a 600 litre version of the same thing, so I thought it a good idea to use the small version first.



I used the new still for the first time last night and have a couple of observations. I did two stripping runs. The first was with the lentil on. I found his just slows things down during a stripping run so I took it off for the next. I also used the parrot just to get a feel for it. Now i'm really not so sure these things are that great? It holds around 350 ml and though it was only a stripping run, I was testing as I went along to see how it might work on a spirit run. I found the volume it holds is too much, which masks the cuts. Maybe if it were of smaller capacity it would be better, but I think it's easier without and to taste test or use the spirit hydrometer in its test tube every so often. I also found the spirit hydrometer bobbed up and down a lot in the parrot anyway, making it hard to read.

FC

flying cowman wrote:
.................I'm now working towards starting a micro distillery as I'm soon to be made redundant (the dairy business is in a dire state here in the UK) so I've just bought a 40 litre Alembic still to experiment with. If my plan works out I'd be looking at a 600 litre version of the same thing, so I thought it a good idea to use the small version first................
FC

Pikey wrote:a) When running in pot mode, it seems to me that the Boka will still have a significant reflux action, due to the overflowing of the plates, whereas the offset does not and all the vapour is condensed and comes out as product. I'm not entirely sure this is a valid point as the returned product in the Boka simply would seem to get redistilled and returns eventually to the output. However the output is likely to be slower for the same reason ?