HI from Sonny Plumb

[sonnyplumb]

That's my new handle, I'm accessing this forum using Tor/Tails to avoid leaving unwanted traces I started distilling about 3 years ago using a small air-cooled still. I've made gin and rum and some fruit and herbal infusion spirits with this. I've now made my own rig based on an electrically heated and variably controlled 33 litre beer boiler with up to 2.4Kw heating, from this using copper and silicon rubber tubing to a condenser made using a copper spiral in an unused beer barrel. It's worked fine on a couple of runs. As I'm also moving off malt extract towards mashing all grain beer, I'm interested in making whisky using smoked oak chips. I'm based in Europe.

[fizzix]

Hello Sonny! Wise thinking laying low through Tor, you just never know who's watching.
Good introduction, and I'm glad you've got your system up and successfully running.
I've done one extract beer and immediately went to all-grain, thanks to the grain knowledge gained on this site.

I will warn you that silicon tubing is frowned upon here as an unsafe material to be used with high octane alcohol.
You may want to consider an alternative. That concludes my soapbox duty.

Good luck with the whiskey and chips, and I welcome you to Home Distiller!

[sonnyplumb]

Hi fizzix, thanks for your advice and reply.

The rig has to be easily dismountable - I don't want all invited into the space at other times to know about this. The boiler and condenser are dual purpose for beer and wort chilling. The parts are heavy so flexibility in assembly is needed. The still specific parts (lid and piping) can be put away discreetly. https://shinetsusilicone-global.com/cat ... bber_e.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow claims silicon rubber to be alcohol and temp resistant within my operating parameters. Haven't noticed any taste or degradation problems yet. I might do some extended materials testing under pressure within hot alcohol to confirm or refute rubber industry advice about alcohol tolerance of materials in use. I also use a silicon rubber pressure cooker part for the lid gasket in preference to flour and water paste.

[Bushman]

Welcome, your link did not work for me but this thread is basically for introductions and welcomes.

[Mikey-moo]

http://www.shinetsusilicone-global.com/ ... bber_e.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Nothing in there, that I've found, relates to resistance to ethanol, methanol, acetone or mentions distilling at all. The only mention of ethanol at all is about changing volume after 168 hour immersion.

I'm sticking to PTFE.