Small still

Ankh Watep · Post by **Ankh Watep** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:47 pm

I want something small and cheap to make for distilling 2 or 4 liters into a fairly high concentration with as little alcohol wasted as possible.

I don't have any tools aside from a soldering iron and a basic tool kit. So I can't do any welding or anything requiring a vice or workbench or specialty tools.

Anyone got any ideas?

I'm thinking maybe like a stainless steel pressure cooker and drill a hole in it and solder a threaded copper fitting to it. Then maybe use alot of flexible metal tubing and stainless steel wool to make the column and condenser.

mikeac · Post by **mikeac** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:01 pm

This seems to be the in thing, the plan and a few photo's can be found on the main site too.[/url]

mikeac · Post by **mikeac** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:02 pm

[quote="mikeac"]This seems to be the in thing, the plan and a few photo's can be found on the main site too.[/url]

Ankh Watep · Post by **Ankh Watep** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:09 pm

that's really cool. but i don't have the tools to do it. it's also a bit big.

is there any reason the column has to be completely vertical? Could I use a spiraling column?

I was thinking for the condenser instead of using a radiator looking thing that guy has, I could bubble the remaining vapor through the condensed water and just put the distillate collection pot in a bathe of ice cold water.

CoopsOz · Post by **CoopsOz** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:25 pm

I think what you need is a cheap chinese stockpot, some 1/2" soft drawn copper (it comes in a coiled roll), a 1/2" compression fitting and a bucket. Make your coil (wrap it around a tree or something), drill the hole in the lid of your stockpot, drop in the compression fitting and attach the coil. Drop the coil in the bucket and seal the output with silicone. Seal the lid of your stockpot with metal spring clips. That is the cheapest easiest still you are ever gonna get.

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:37 pm

Ankh Watep, have you really thought this thing through yet?
2 litres of 10% wash will only have 300 mls of 75%abv total product in it.
I think that with the overlap experienced between the heads, hearts and tails and the 10% that you never get, you would be lucky if you could end up with 100 mls of drinkable product.

"Could I use a spiraling column?"
Why would you want that?

"I could bubble the remaining vapor through the condensed water"
This bit I do not follow at all.

If your space is at a premium and your talents are limited, a simple pot still is easily made.
Just run your wash through once, save all of your product then after a few runs, combine all you have collected and re-run them as a spirit run.
I believe that a 10litre boiler should be considered as a minimum size.
Cheers.

edit: Ya got me Coops, thats what happens when you get interrupted in the middle of posting.

Rudi · Post by **Rudi** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:03 pm

I agree with the ten litre boiler for a minimum bigger would be better making cuts from my 5l potstill SUCKS.

Ankh Watep · Post by **Ankh Watep** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:36 pm

Alright cool, I like that idea. I’m alittle lost when you say “Drop the coil in the bucket and seal the output with silicone.” I’m not really sure what you mean by that. And is the coil supposed to be the column or the condenser?

Tracker; I’m not really planning on cutting out the heads or tails. I was just gonna let the distillate sit out alittle to let the most volatile stuff evaporate. Then filter it.
"Could I use a spiraling column?"
Why would you want that?
To save space, it’s hard to transport/store stuff that’s tall and the stills I see on here have really tall columns.
"I could bubble the remaining vapor through the condensed water"
This bit I do not follow at all.
I meant to say the distilled alcohol. Because bubbles have a high surface area so I could cool the vapor without a big condenser.

CoopsOz · Post by **CoopsOz** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:16 am

Heres a pic for ya. From the parent site. Don't use silicon in the vapour path however. Just use the diagram as a guide.

Post by **HookLine** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:09 am

Ankh Watep wrote:Tracker; I’m not really planning on cutting out the heads or tails. I was just gonna let the distillate sit out alittle to let the most volatile stuff evaporate. Then filter it.

Doesn't work that way, you really do need to cut the heads and tails during the distillation run.

Ankh Watep wrote: "Could I use a spiraling column?"
Why would you want that?
To save space, it’s hard to transport/store stuff that’s tall and the stills I see on here have really tall columns.

Spiral, air-cooled columns exist and work (apparently, never tried one myself), though they do run V E R Y slowly, something like 2 days for a 25 litre wash, at around 250w heat input. I think our Scandanavian friends played around with that sort of stuff. There are some photos of them somewhere. Google 'spiral still'.

Ankh Watep wrote: "I could bubble the remaining vapor through the condensed water"
This bit I do not follow at all.
I meant to say the distilled alcohol. Because bubbles have a high surface area so I could cool the vapor without a big condenser.

Not sure I follow what you're saying either.

Post by **HookLine** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:18 am

Yup, thought so, here they are. Check to the third book, called (surprise, surprise) 'The Spiral Still'.

Definitely wouldn't recommend using a plastic boiler though. Stick to stainless or copper.

Post by **Dnderhead** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:58 am

Some Buddy was making a still out of a deep fryer looked like a good idea

Ankh Watep · Post by **Ankh Watep** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:37 am

That design looks perfect for my situation. Would it help if I put copper mesh in the copper tubing closest to the boiler, to act like a column? Or is there some sort of minimum height for a column to be effective? And is packing a column with more mesh better?

tracker0945 · Post by **tracker0945** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 4:08 pm

Ankh Watep wrote:That design looks perfect for my situation. Would it help if I put copper mesh in the copper tubing closest to the boiler, to act like a column? Or is there some sort of minimum height for a column to be effective? And is packing a column with more mesh better?

The design is a pot still (no room for packing in 1/2" pipe).
Packing is used in a reflux still (tall column usually 2" pipe).
At the risk of upsetting you, I really think you need to spend some study time on the home site. http://homedistiller.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow there is lots of good info there.

arkansas · Post by **arkansas** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:46 am

Dnderhead wrote:Some Buddy was making a still out of a deep fryer looked like a good idea

That was me Dnder, here it is http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6340

flyboy3b · Post by **flyboy3b** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:13 am

i have two larger stills using a 1/4 barrel as a boiler, so i decided to make a smaller still for testing new washes. i went to sams club and got two 12 qt stainless steel bowls. i went to menards and got a bunch of spring clamps (small and cheap). i built a small reflux still head (about 24" tall) and mounted it to the top bowl with some 2" copper nuts and a washer.
i fill the bottom bowl with my wash and clamp the top on and run it.
this still is easy to clean, easy to run (it itakes about 20 mins to bring it to temp) and it runs at about 80% (with no packing) at a fairly fast rate. i could probably get it up to 85% or a tad higher, but my goal is not to make ethanol,, im looking for flavor.

i would guess that you could make a different type of column without any soldering using 1 1/2" copper and threaded unions and come up with an acceptable product.
good luck,
mike

Ankh Watep · Post by **Ankh Watep** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:27 am

Is enameled steel a good material for the stock pot?

Post by **Dnderhead** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:44 am

enameled pots are OK but probably wont last long because of chipping
once chipped it is junk