Small Still

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu May 19, 2005 12:57 pm

Hi, I was reading alot about pot stills, and stills in general. I was wondering about making a still thats of a smaller size, say about. Well... small... I'm not really a commoner on this site... So. I was wondering if it is at all possible to send me a message on AIM on btrip57. That'd be great. Sooner or later I'll be getting a name, I'm just short of time at the moment. Any help would be great. Thanks

dontfeelba · Post by **dontfeelba** » Thu May 19, 2005 1:59 pm

I got off my lazy butt and made a name, So... I was still wondering about a smaller still. I'll get the mesurements later tonite... I was thinking about nothing much bigger than a 2 liter, I dont want it to go fast, and I wouldn't mind if it took a long time... anyways... any help would be great.

Post by **Tater** » Thu May 19, 2005 7:11 pm

that should produce a shot glass of product

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu May 19, 2005 8:32 pm

[that should produce a shot glass of product]

By my calculations, if you start with 2L of 15% wash, there should be 300mL of pure alcohol hiding in there. If you're 90% efficient at getting it out, thats 270ml which watered down to 40% gives you 675ml of finished product. Thats pretty close to a fith(750ml). At 80% eff. you would have 600mL, and at 70% you would have 525ml.[/quote]

Post by **Grayson_Stewart** » Fri May 20, 2005 3:12 am

Guest,

Your calculations would come close to being correct if you did a stripping run on many "2 liter" washes and then combined them and redistilled repeatedly in a pot still. You will not get 100% of the alcohol out of a wash nor would you wish to drink anything that you collected down to 0% alcohol.

Since you are calculating in pure alcohol, I'll advice you in the same...When collecting nuetral product you will want to toss the first 30% collected as heads and toss the last 30% as tails...general rule. This would leave you with 120 ml from a 2 liter wash...close to what Tater suggested.

The idea that Tater was explaining is that it isn't really worth the trouble with a 2 liter still.

KatoFong · Post by **KatoFong** » Fri May 20, 2005 6:43 am

Out of curiosity, why are you going so small on this one? A 4-gallon pot still shouldn't cost you very much to make and, although it's a small size, it'll produce a lot more alcohol in a shorter time than your 2-liter deal.

Take it from me. I use a 2 liter double boiler still for making absinthe, and it takes FOREVER to get a gallon of the stuff.

Professor Duck · Post by **Professor Duck** » Sat May 21, 2005 4:24 am

Yeah, small stills really do suck. My still is about 8 litres and it's a pain to strip a 25 litre wash because it takes 4 stripping runs. A 2 litre still would be rediculous.

dontfeelba · Post by **dontfeelba** » Sat May 21, 2005 6:50 pm

Trust me, If I could have a bigger still, I would... I'm just having a hard time finding a good hiding spot from me mum... If you have any ideas for a still, that could be taken apart, and put in several different areas... That would work... But the main reason I want a smaller still is because of my mom. She'd flip if she found it... as always, Any help is Great. Thanks all

Post by **Tater** » Sun May 22, 2005 7:15 am

how old are ya

pangea · Post by **pangea** » Sun May 22, 2005 7:26 am

Hold on there Skippy. You have to hide stuff from your "mum"?

(ten foot pole)Pangea---------------------------------------dontfeelba

KatoFong · Post by **KatoFong** » Sun May 22, 2005 8:48 am

I don't think I've ever seen so many red flags go up at one time.

Professor Duck · Post by **Professor Duck** » Sun May 22, 2005 9:36 pm

Here's what you do, man: Get a large, watertight container with a screw-on lid, like a 60L fermenter, and bury it in your backyard with just a thin layer of grass on the lid. Then you can store a decent-sized still in there and whip it out when you're going to use it. You can make smaller containers out of 100mm PVC pipe with screw-on fittings on the top, for storing smaller things like bottles of your product. Actually this is a pretty rediculous plan but I guess it could work, unless you're a pom in which case you probably don't have a backyard.

level Joe · Post by **level Joe** » Mon May 23, 2005 1:35 pm

[quote="Professor Duck"] like a 60L fermenter, and bury it in your backyard with just a thin layer of grass on the lid. Then you can store a decent-sized still in there and whip it out when you're going to use it./quote]

That wont work in my area. When I was a kid my mom had the clever idea to burry an old, broken down deep freezer and use it as a form of root cellar. So I went and dug the proper sized hole and 4 of us gently dropped it in place. After backfilling and a good nights sleep (cant remember if it rained that night or not) we went out to work in the garden only to find it popped up like a cork.

dontfeelba (forgot the d)
Ive got a great idea for you.
Wait till your old enough, get a place of your own, make a good sized still and hide the parts where no one will ever look. Your mum will never find out

. Youll put your eye out kid.

dontfeelba · Post by **dontfeelba** » Mon May 23, 2005 2:41 pm

Professor Duck wrote:Here's what you do, man: Get a large, watertight container with a screw-on lid, like a 60L fermenter, and bury it in your backyard with just a thin layer of grass on the lid. Then you can store a decent-sized still in there and whip it out when you're going to use it. You can make smaller containers out of 100mm PVC pipe with screw-on fittings on the top, for storing smaller things like bottles of your product. Actually this is a pretty rediculous plan but I guess it could work, unless you're a pom in which case you probably don't have a backyard.

Thats just friggin crazy enough to work!

damfino · Post by **damfino** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 8:47 am

I'm just getting started into distilling myself, and working with a 2-liter tea kettle, it's a pain just to do stripping runs on the tiny 1gal washes I've been making. It's possible, yes, but hardly practical. So much of this hobby is learned through doing it, experimenting. As it is I can tell when the tails start, but heads are much harder... batches are far too small. I can't wait to get my 20l together.