Tonight is a stripping run of my first bourbon. After the breakfast cereal sugarhead piggybacked on the grains, I am planning on a vodka cycle before my season closes.
This will primarily be for gin. As such, I would like to start building my small gin still out of this stainless steel cylinder salvaged out of the scrap bin (on the left).
It is 9.25" in diameter. From an aesthetic sense I would like to make it 4" tall (making a mini version of a round scottish copper still), which would give me a 1.1 gallon capacity.
From a pragmatic sense a 12" height would give it a 3.4 gallon capacity, making it more versatile.
I would appreciate some perspectives from those that run small pots for gin. Would I be crazy to make a 1 gallon pot?
Cheers!
(If the pot works the rest of the cylinder will become a thumper....)
Small gin pot still boiler size?
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Small gin pot still boiler size?
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- Saltbush Bill
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Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
1 gal = about 3.7 L .....I often do 4 L gin runs....in a 25L boiler.
Id make it 1.5 gal....so that you have a bit of extra room for head space and if you ever want to do slightly more at one time you have the extra room.
Id make it 1.5 gal....so that you have a bit of extra room for head space and if you ever want to do slightly more at one time you have the extra room.
- Yummyrum
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Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
Agree with Salty , a bit bigger would be better .Gin doesn’t last long around here , a bit bigger helps
Dug out my little Gin boiler . It is 5litre , perfect for a little Gin run .
Its 9” diameter and 6” high . LOL , as you tell , I haven’t used it for a while
Dug out my little Gin boiler . It is 5litre , perfect for a little Gin run .
Its 9” diameter and 6” high . LOL , as you tell , I haven’t used it for a while
My recommended goto .
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
My largest mini is a 3l copper alembic I scored second hand at a very good price. The most I've run in it is 2.2l. That said, I have doubled up on the botanicals and made essence for twice as much finished product once it was diluted with neutral.
My smallest was 1300ml and I often ran 5* the botanicals and made 4-5l of finished gin, but only after I had a Bokakob that could make very fine neutral to dilute the essence with.
If you want to run a variety of small gin experiments, small is very good, but the same small still can put out a substantial amount of gin if you want to use the tricks available to you.
My smallest was 1300ml and I often ran 5* the botanicals and made 4-5l of finished gin, but only after I had a Bokakob that could make very fine neutral to dilute the essence with.
If you want to run a variety of small gin experiments, small is very good, but the same small still can put out a substantial amount of gin if you want to use the tricks available to you.
Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
I built (indeed improved) I recently my little still, I will make a short post, it is only 4 liters, more than enough for me. It also has a set-up bain-marie
Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
my dedicated gin set up is max 5l.
TBH most of my runs are only 1-2l.
after OEG, then experimenting with all the botanicals and trying to developing recipes, i thought i would scale up to 10l/20l runs.
but today was gin recipe #20 with only 1.6l, i'm enjoying the ride, and probably will never go over 5l.
a small gin still is so easy to use.
so a 3.7l boiler should be fine, especially if you become a 'gin tinkerer' (like me)
TBH most of my runs are only 1-2l.
after OEG, then experimenting with all the botanicals and trying to developing recipes, i thought i would scale up to 10l/20l runs.
but today was gin recipe #20 with only 1.6l, i'm enjoying the ride, and probably will never go over 5l.
a small gin still is so easy to use.
so a 3.7l boiler should be fine, especially if you become a 'gin tinkerer' (like me)
- jonnys_spirit
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Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
10l alembic here for gin, macerations, small batch spirit runs, and cleaning up feints. Run on a modified hotplate so a liter or two up to a couple gallons. For stripping runs I use the bigger boiler.
Cheers!
-j
Cheers!
-j
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
Something I have found really handy, is having a still about a quarter to a third of the size of my stripping still, so that I can do a spirit run from one strip. It's great for experiments, or if I'm given only enough fruit for one strip.
Re: Small gin pot still boiler size?
Thanks for chiming in everybody! 5ish inches would give me 1.5 gallons, while 9 would give me just over 2.5. The larger size would just about accommodate a strip from the keg, so probably makes more sense.....there's plenty of time to find and modify as my processes matures....
I really appreciate the insight.
I really appreciate the insight.
Through the magic of alchemy, our spirits live on.