after a recent trip to the romanian country side and sampling many home made wines and spirits (one made with plums is a real killer) im hooked on the idea. The wine side i know well, the still side i dont however iv done lots of research and i have a few questions before i start sourcing my parts. Id like to mainly make a flavoured spirit directly from my country wines this suggests i need a pot still (correct)? however id also like to be able to make neutral spirit/vodka this suggest a reflux still (correct)? What im thinking is that i can build an offset head still like the ones in the still.pdf, when i want neutral i run it as designed and when i want my flavoured tipple i remove the scrubbers and turn off the return needle valve repeating the distillation if i need more purity (making it work like a pot still)??? is this correct?
next problem i see is getting the copper pipe 2" is very hard to find and 3" impossible here in the UK. My plan is to use the largest ready available which is 28mm for the main body, then for the head section ill find a large copper jug (the ones u see hanging in for decoration in kitchens), the needle valves im unsure, but i feel sure iv seen automotive copper brake fittings that have a needle valves in them, i need to look into the valve options. boiler will be a tea boiler or a large stainless chip pan (just needs a gasket and spring clamps from the handles to the lid)
will this still design work as both pot and reflux as suggested? and any further advice is greatly appreciated?
for the boiler size you want to use (the tea boiler) 2" is too big, try to get a bigger boiler, like a stainless steel keg or a large pressure cooker, as for the cooper jug i think those are welded with lead soldering dont use any lead solder use silver or tig welding instead, for the pot/reflux, the offset head is a very good design but removing the scrubbers isn't going to do much try making it so the column can be detachable so you end with a two in one column, so if your going to make it 4' tall have 3 of them to be removable. good luck
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--Fishing and Distilling... What else is there to do???.--
the tea boiler i mentioned is actually a 3 KW 4 gall boiler with temp control and the 2" pipe is not so available here the larger sizes are 22 mm and 28 mm (thats like 0.8" and 1.1").
good call on the 2 in 1 detachable design.
out of interest with a 5 gal mash of 20% alc gow much neutral spirit are u guys collecting?
here is a link to a colection calculator from this site... http://homedistiller.org/dtw/collect" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
just out of interest looking at the site i found something a little confusing
Coulson, Richardson & Sinnott report that:
* aluminium, aluminium bronze, brass, copper, gunmetal and bronze, high Si iron, nickel, nickle-copper alloys, platinum, silver, stainless steel (18/8, molybedenum & austenitic ferric), titanium, tantalum, and zirconium
* nylon 66 fibre & plastics, PCTFE, PTFE, polypropylene, and furane resin
* hard rubber, neophrene, nitrile rubber, chlorosulphinated polyethylene, and silicone rubbers
* concrete, glass, graphite, porcelain and stoneware, and vitreous enamel
are corrosion resistant to alcohols, beer & water up to 100C.
Plastic
Plastic is basically fine at the low alcohol end (eg the wash, and even the diluted product), but if possible, try to avoid using it where it is likely to encounter strong alcohol. For alternatives, consider using copper tubing from the condensor to the collection jar, and using glass collection & storage jars.
So from this first part i would assume i can use polypropylene tube for the construction of my still (using copper scrubbers or small copper pipe of the main colum) Being a soil pipe this is available in larger diameters than the copper pipe and it is cheaper (UK) but then readiing the second part its not suitable as polypropylene is a plastic, isnt it? But i noticed somewhere there is a pic of one made from this material.. So whats the deal?[/quote]
That plastic still runs at a very low capacity - it's pretty much evaporation driven. There's hardly any heat involved and it's supposed to take several days to get anything worth drinking. And I'm sure it will end up tasting plastickey anyways.
It says 'corrosion resistant' not 'will not leach'. You know how water-bottles always end up tasting like plastic? That's plasticisers leaching out of the bottle and it will happen in your still too if you make it out of plastic.
Mind you SOME plastics are ok... teflon is resiliant against almost anything, so if you could find a pipe made out of it, you should be good. But it would cost much more than copper. Just forget about the plastic.
Yeah, plastic is no good. Not just for safety reasons, but the moment you start discussing the possibility of a plastic still on this forum, you will have several people ranting about the evils of plastic. And rightly so, in my opinion.
One more thought, Brett...your original question of pot vs. reflux - if you want the capability to do a neutral spirit, you must do a reflux / fractioning still. You can still get flavors from the base wash out of this type of still, it just takes some very careful cutting - collect in small batches, as you get towards the tails you'll pick up some more flavor, blend accordingly. It can be done from a reflux still...my first distillation was brandy from a friend's reflux still and we collected at about 93% for most of the run and just collected the last bit in 100 ml increments and blended in the "flavor" to taste...aged it with oak and it turned out great.
Remember, free advice is worth what you pay for it.
iv decided that being as i want to mainly make some flavours im going to start out with a pot still, boiler is a mix up between a keg (having a hard time convincing the pubs to let one go for its return price) and a stock pot which can be got in various sizes up to and above 50 ltr, ill fit twin elements inside, one kettle to get it up to temp n one smaller to keep it going n control it, the gas here will work out more expensive than the electricity. The copper section will be attached to the boiler via a stainless mixing bowl allowing for a change of heads when i finally build a reflux. My jacketed condensor is to be made from a section of 22mm pipe T,d n capped of with compression fittings and hose pipe clips for quick cooling connections on the water side, cooling water will be supplied from a large garden bin and a 165 GPH (UK) submersable fountain pump (jet head removed).
The question i have is regarding the tube size for the lyne arm i have laying around in the garage a coil of 8mm and a coil of 12mm will one of these be suitable as it will save me going out to buy some more pipe and which one would be prefered.
however iv done lots of research and i have a few questions before i start sourcing my parts. Id like to mainly make a flavoured spirit directly from my country wines this suggests i need a pot still (correct)? however id also like to be able to make neutral spirit/vodka this suggest a reflux still (correct)? What im thinking is that i can build an offset head still like the ones in the still.pdf, when i want neutral i run it as designed and when i want my flavoured tipple i remove the scrubbers and turn off the return needle valve repeating the distillation if i need more purity (making it work like a pot still)??? is this correct?
(the ones u see hanging in for decoration in kitchens), the needle valves im unsure, but i feel sure iv seen automotive copper brake fittings that have a needle valves in them, i need to look into the valve options. boiler will be a tea boiler or a large stainless chip pan (just needs a gasket and spring clamps from the handles to the lid) 
If Leonardo da Vinci had a video camera.