First Build. 5 Gal Pot Still (Keg)

[j3hx]

Mostly Finished, minus some connectors/posts for the water hookups and cleaning. Looking forward to some cleaning runs! Soldering would have been way easier with something to hold the pipe.. It went decent for my first time dealing with copper i guess. I want to get out there and run some cleaning on it now but its windy and cold.. Sounds like a terrible combination for propane.. Hope to get some more done tomorrow.. Hopefully this will work out ok and get me on my way, eventually to a 15.5 keg. Thanks All!

[j3hx]

On a side note.. I may be looking into a 15.5 sooner than later.. With condenser attached the keg tips easily. Hopefully once charged it will be more stable.

[still_stirrin]

You may need to rig a ratchet strap (or cable and turnbuckle) to hold it steady on your burner. You don’t want to risk that thing falling over mid-run.
ss

[The Baker]

On a side note.. I may be looking into a 15.5 sooner than later.. With condenser attached the keg tips easily. Hopefully once charged it will be more stable.

It would be SO simple to brace the riser near the top. For example a clamp with an arm fixed to a wall.
A more elegant way would be to have a widish circle of light steel (on its edge) on the floor (sitting around the cylinder) with three or four light uprights rising to a clamp at the top of the riser.
Even two or three pieces of string from the top of the riser to fixed points...! It takes practically no 'effort' to prevent lateral movement when you have a high riser and so a lot of leverage.

Though it would be good to get the bigger keg and use the little one as a thumper (which doesn't do away with the need to brace your equipment).

Geoff

[j3hx]

Thanks Everyone! I will definetely brace it just to be sure.

Here is the whole setup.. Im a bit uneasy about the union not leaking, but maybe it will work out ok. We shall see...

Here is the full setup so far:

I will keep you all updated!

[j3hx]

@The Baker : I thought about using this one as a thumper one day aswell. I may go with the bigger keg soon and then later on look at adding in the thumper. Ill give this one a bit and see how it goes. But cant hurt to bave a larger keg in the closet waiting . Thanks!

[The Baker]

You could fix an upright to each of the legs of that stand
(OR you could drill a hole /slot in each corner for the upright to slip down through, with a fitting halfway down to secure the bottom of the upright in place, say a nut a bit oversized, sealed at the bottom)
rising to a clamp at the top of the riser. The clamp could be a half-circle fixed to two of the uprights and another the same, with a flat on each side of each half, with holes to insert a bolt and thumbscrew.

Geoff

[j3hx]

Thanks Geoff! Im super excited. Cleaning run going now. It took 1 hour 5 mins or so and I have 1 tiny leak but can see where i need to add a little solder. Smelled nothing until a stream started coming out then a cloud of vapor. Stinky Vinegar lol. I manually fed my condensor and it knocka the vapor down to a trickle completely so i feel good about that. Now to fix my leak and run her again. Then next stop is sac run and im set.

I am going to look into your suggestions for stability. When loaded its a lot heavier and doesnt tip at all. But i was less concerned with the vinegar water. Going to let it churn out for another 20 mins or so and shut it down. Thanks Again! Ill keep you updated. Will eventually start a log over in the other section. Ill add a link to that.

[j3hx]

Well, successfully over heated my 1 to 1/2 reducer and it fell off completely. smh lol. Good to see how solder fills the joint tho.. Heated it back up, applied a tiny bit of Flux, stuck it back on and put a little mpre solder in where the leak was.. cleaned it up a touch and its back on the fire with more water/vinegar. Shes starting to rattle and by the feel of the column i should have vapor in about 10 mins or so. I just added more water and vinegar to the already hot wash so boil time is a little quicker this go round. Hopefully we wont have any leaks!

[j3hx]

Well my notes helped. steam at exactly 10 mins lol. Glad i didnt drill a hole for a thermo now. as most suggested was not needed on one of these.

[j3hx]

Leak is fixed. However now i got one at the union. loosened and tried to make sure the liebig was straight and tightened back down.. so far so good..

[j3hx]

All went well. The union just needed adjusting a bit. Even then it was only getting a drop every 6 or 8 mins. I let it steam on through, tested condenser again and works great. I plugged the inlet with my thump and filled it with water and 100% of the vapor went away and out came a broken stream.

I took a page full of notes, observations, adjustments id like to make etc etc. I feel those will help as I go so I will continue writing everything down.

I am hooked and happy with my first build so far. Next will be a clean water run, and sac run. I will start fermenting in the next day or two as well (UJSSM most likely).Ive made wine in the past so feel pretty good about the fermentation process. Although its been a while..

Now its time to go mow the yard.

[j3hx]

Sac run is underway! Had some huffing/shock cooling issues but getting rid of some of the cold water in my resevoir and adjusting the flow from the pump fixed that. Lost some vapor off the bat due to that but but first 250ml came off at 130 proof, 12.5 abv box wine (3 gals in my 5 gallon).

Down to around 70 proof i imagine (time to check again).

So much fun this is lol

[j3hx]

done, got more wine to push through. Letting everything cool down then dumping and repeating the process but with more emphasis on cuts (for learning purposes). I dont know if its necessary to dump the boiler but im going to. (not drinking any of this run either). Dump, rince, repeat. Everything should be for sure clean at that point.Then to get my fermenting on.


Was interesting seeing the cloudy tails ive read about. i used a jar to collect and dump into a larger jar. all was crystal clear until the ends when i dumped into the big jar and noticed the swirly oil looking stuff. And that weird smell.. lol

Note to self. Water straight off the hose to my 30 gal reservoir is too cold, and too large it seems. It took me a minute but putting a valve in line which i all but closed and removing some of the water stopped the huffing completely. I noticed the better gradient in my liebig as well, cold at the bottom and slighty increased in temp all the way up to the input (which was bath water warm or so i guess.) yay for not having to pull my phone out to see what i needed to do. This is where the reading has benefited. Got a lot more to read but im excited and love this so far.

[Beovoxo]

looks nice

[j3hx]

looks nice

Thanks!

[j3hx]

Birdwatchers is in. Hopefully i got that right. Wife walked in and said. "Whats that smell!" lol, shes already threatening to kick me outside. Had it in my server closet but was affraid it would be too hot.. I really hope it comea out. Was having some issues with the Hydrometer.. But think i got it within the recommended ranges. I wanted to do a sweet feed wash, but my tractor supply only had 2 kinds and i couldnt tell if it was pellets.. felt like it anyway... will try the co op next. Probably better anyway. Also know a guy who has some white corn.. Evidently thats good to use? Or so ive been told.. Google time lol