first pot still

[tryingitout]

I finished my first pot still yesterday, after a lot of information I decided to go with a horizontal lyne arm, I figure if I don’t like the way it performs I can always cut the bottom of the 90 bend it down a little and solder it back together. I went with the easy flange which was easier to build than I thought thanks for the sticky. So I made the easy flange out of 2” with a 6” extension so later I can switch to a Bok VM column for versatility. The column is 1 ½” copper 18” tall, so altogether with the extension it is 24”. The lyne arm is 16” long with a series of fittings reducers from 1 ½ “to ¾”. I liked the idea of a gradual reduction instead of one sudden, maybe no difference in performance but it looks cool. Then a union to the Liebig, which is 36” long with a 30” cooling jacket ½” inside ¾” with a 12 gage spiral wire for turbulence. That is probably longer than I needed but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of distance from my flame. I put a gate valve in the bottom outlet to control water flow; I have well water so amount of water used isn’t a problem, but no sense wasting water for no reason. (I plan to catch water coming out and fill horse trough with anyway bonus) I plan to run vinegar and water today and have a 5 gal. birdwatchers fermenting to do an alcohol cleaning run when it is done. So how did I do for my first?

TIO
BTW kiwi thanks for your input, looking forward to running tips

[Kentucky shinner]

Looks like you did a really good job.. You have me thinking about reworking my pot / stripping column. I think that should work out very well for ya.
Good Work man. Your gonna enjoy today I guarantee you that.
I cooking a batch of Gerber wash with my bok today. I have a sweet feed wash working that should be ready to strip about Tuesday.
I really like the way you did your column. enjoy
Shinner

[rad14701]

Nice looking rig you've built there, tryingitout... Sure beast buying... Good luck with it... Keep us posted on its performance...

[vicrider]

Yep. Nice looking rig. You should be happy with it. V

[rubber duck]

That's a nice build, especially for a first.

[LWTCS]

Yeah, nice build.

Great illustration for a new member trying to cope with the realization that there are no plans for a pot still here.

and definitely nicer than a store bought.

[ct1870]

If this is your first, it looks great and I'm sure you will produce some fine spirits. I wish I had found this sight before I built mine. I spent too much on coupling, fittings and elbows for 2" tube and now I have been using one similar to yours. Looks great! Thanks for the pics.


ct

[tryingitout]

Thanks all for the praise, it was alot of fun building. I can't wait to build the Bok VM combo, but have to wait a couple months for my hand to get better. I kept notes on my water vinegar run, and that generated some questions but don't have time right now to type it all up. ( hopefuly Monday) ct it does get pretty expensive thankfuly I already have all the pipe so it is just the fittings that I have to buy.

Thanks again
TIO

[evilpsych]

Yeah, nice build.

Ditto. Looks nice and should make some good stuff!

Great illustration for a new member trying to cope with the realization that there are no plans for a pot still here and definitely nicer than a store bought.

There are no plans because it's dead simple. There are no valves to worry about, no fiddling with equalization and takeoff rates.. just a vapor path from boiler to final condenser. What you add between there (thumpers, slobber boxes, onions, scrubbers, etc) are pretty darn straightforward in operation and creation. Imagination is a good thing and no two pots i've seen on here are alike. There's lots of nearly identical reflux columns, because those designs require it for duplication.

[LWTCS]

There are no plans because it's dead simple. There are no valves to worry about, no fiddling with equalization and takeoff rates.. just a vapor path from boiler to final condenser. What you add between there (thumpers, slobber boxes, onions, scrubbers, etc) are pretty darn straightforward in operation and creation. Imagination is a good thing and no two pots i've seen on here are alike. There's lots of nearly identical reflux columns, because those designs require it for duplication.

Zackly my point.
But newbs with zero reference points often struggle with this.

[Samohon]

Great build man... Congrats... Let us know how she handles...
S.

[LWTCS]

Case in point,,,,,,,,again.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 71&start=0