Home Distiller

Combo LM, VM and a couple pot stills. Everything is modular and can be assembled in a few different formats. Not shown is the steam strip set up.

Cleaning runs completed yesterday!

5' packed column w/ moonshine distiller 8gal boiler

Posting a labour of love that's been many years in the making. Fooled around with this hobby using a stovetop still in my big city condo years ago and have been wanting to upgrade ever since. Put together a design for a 3'' VM a few years ago and have SLOWLY been accumulating parts and tinkering over that time while life's gotten in the way.

Finally assembled everything into it's full form and all seems to be in working order. I'll insulate the boiler and column but hopefully can get to a vinegar run this weekend or next. Thoughts or feedback are very welcome.

Also posting my controller box which this forum is entirely to thank. Went from being extremely intimidated and unsure by anything electrical to doing a ton of research over the last few weeks and relying on the wisdom in this forum. Worked like a charm first time I started it up.

A work in progress..

The set up.

All it is is a reservoir in top of the reflux condenser. Sort of only work with small batches of 25 liter with mash. Reservoir can contain approx. 1.8 dl (included reflux coil). Also for it to work I have about 50 cm with SPP above the product take off valve. It works as a buffer to ensure heads stay above the valve.

I made this 7 or 8 years ago. I would like to add a thumper , but after taking so long of a hiatus I have a lot of reading to do.

Just mind boggling how many variations there could be, the injenuity and skill to achieve it. My hats of to you all.

New fiberglass jacket saves lots of time, keeps the heat in, yet is easy to remove for cleaning and refilling. Am ready for a spirit run tomorrow.

Hats off to TwistedBrick for the shotty, Thanks Brotha!

Here's my new set up freshly built. What do y'all think?

There is one mine and another one friend brought to make it FOC. This is better? No gaskets!

Ok redid the rig got new boro glass 30in at 42mm (1.65in) id. removed silicone gaskets and wrapped what I couldn't. It has 10000w SCR running 2000w coil, 13.2gal stainless tank, thermocouple and 5in adjustable thermometer, 3 lbs of tumbled quartz, 3 stainless perforated plates, 8in whiskey helmet, reflux condenser, coragated copper shotgun condenser and (got bored and needed it extended) pizza proofing parrot. Have 3 more copper bubble plates with sight glasses add if needed but think it will be ran like this or as a pot still.

This is my pot . Also has a riser I can add for neutral.unfortunatley my water pressure is a pump so it fluctuates constantly. I'll be trying the packed column as soon as I figure out how to maintain constant pressure. But twice through the pot has made me some great sips.

This set up by a family friend,my mentor. This hasn't seen any new construction for quite some time. His grandfather made Racilla for my family. He doesn't quite get why I need to order so much crap to build a still. His 3rd third distillation of agave has such a rich bouquet and goes down like water. Sometimes the simplistic way is the Way...
Stay well,
JK

This is not exactly the still, but peripheral equipment that might be very useful for process. Can somebody guess what the heck is that? However, it is not finished yet, and some minor parts are missing. Top cover is not needed.

Spirit run tomorrow….

Just got in a few more parts to my lil flute config. First time running it with an actual spirit with some all grain mash in the kettle.

Here she is now after everyone's advice and producing 190 proof. Going to get rid of the bubble plate and make another 30in glass column to replace. Still think I might need a molecular sieve to hit 200 proof. But wet suit insulation cut heat up time by 20min. Thanks everyone!

Brand new still I purchased as a newbie.
Lot of research went into it.
Not enough though, because I destroyed the shine the same night I got it by giving it a vinegar bath

Picture is taken at manufacturers premise. My garage isn’t so organised.
Still runs like a dream though.

my 3" boka rig.

Taken during a vinegar run, getting ready for a sacrificial run as soon as I get time.