American Distilling Equipment? vs. Rocky Point or other options

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
Zoa
Novice
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2013 4:19 pm

American Distilling Equipment? vs. Rocky Point or other options

Post by Zoa »

Hey y'all!

Long time lurker, been cooking liquor on my keg still for four years now, have learned a lot from this forum. I have decided that I'd like to upgrade to an all copper traditional pot still, in an attempt to cook my great-uncle's recipe as close as I can to how he did it. My career is back in full swing now that covid is easing up, and given that I travel a lot building one isn't feasible for me at the moment. I am looking for a 20-30 gallon setup, with thumper and worm. Nothing fancy.

I am looking at 3 different makers. 1) Rocky Point Copper Stills, who come highly recommended on this forum. 2) A local-ish builder named Bryan Boye https://www.facebook.com/BryanBoy.CopperKing and 3) American Distilling Equipment https://americandistillingequipment.com/

Both Boye and ADE look decent to my eye (properly sized thumpers, worms etc) but I don't know what I don't know. If anyone with more knowledge than me has an opinion on any of these 3 (or another builder close to NC's) work I would love to hear it.

Much appreciated!
User avatar
rgreen2002
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1309
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 2:57 pm
Location: Northeastern USA

Re: American Distilling Equipment? vs. Rocky Point or other options

Post by rgreen2002 »

I would say that anyone that would offer a 2 mason jar (half gallon each) thumper is someone you do not want to deal with. ADE has this mess of a product here: https://americandistillingequipment.com ... ch-thumper

Rocky Point had no products I could check and while I did like the memes on Bryan's Facebook site, I'm not too sure about sizing, functionality, etc...

The fella who runs mile-high distilling used to be a member here and is a long-standing copper still maker. I think there was some bad blood back then but he has been fabricating stills for years.

my 2 cents...
HD Glossary - Open this
A little spoon feeding *For New & Novice Distillers - start here
BEST WAY TO GET ANSWERS FROM HOME DISTILLER
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."
User avatar
Saltbush Bill
Site Mod
Posts: 9648
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:13 am
Location: Northern NSW Australia

Re: American Distilling Equipment? vs. Rocky Point or other options

Post by Saltbush Bill »

I wouldn't go near one of those mason jar thumper things if you payed me to do it, they are just blingy trash marketed at the unwary newbie.
The only report Ive ever heard about the Rocky Point mob wasn't good.
User avatar
LWTCS
Site Mod
Posts: 12833
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: North Palm Beach

Re: American Distilling Equipment? vs. Rocky Point or other options

Post by LWTCS »

Chris Kelly is a very creative builder and imo a man of his word.
I'd say Rocky Point all the way.
Trample the injured and hurdle the dead.
User avatar
Euphoria
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 485
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:48 am
Location: Western WA

Re: American Distilling Equipment? vs. Rocky Point or other options

Post by Euphoria »

I've had good luck with Mile-Hi's products, (out of Denver,) and I'd say that over 90% of my stilling equipment came from them. I also don't feel that the added expense of going "all copper" is necessary either, unless you want to drop a lot of money on a still that you don't need to. Just use some copper plates and copper mesh in your column or Lyne Arm and you'll acheive everything that you'd pull from an all copper still, and at a much lower cost.
I have a 26 Gallon 4" plated column still and a 13 Gallon Lyne Arm pot still w/ 8 gallon Thumper, and the nicest feature is that it's almost like a lego set. I can mix and match and interchange components across the board to create the still I want for whatever I want to make. Just sayin'.
Still 006 (2).JPG
Still 006 (Custom).JPG
reflux_still 003.JPG
PotStillSetUp1 (2).JPG
"Government doesn't have the answer to the problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan
Post Reply