Piccies of my Potstill, Gonzo

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:02 am

Finally figured how to get the pics outa my new camera, onto my new computer and up on here, so a few piccies (as promised) of my still, Gonzo....

This is him. The missus kept putting a cloth over it overnight during the build, i said 'What are ya doin that for?' She reckoned it 'Looked rude'.

4" Coppermate fitting screwed down to 4 stainless studs,
A foot or so of 4" copper reduced to 2"
Then a foot or so of 2" at 45 degrees reduced to 3/4 on the bend down.

5' or so of 3/4 reduced to half inch for the worm.

Don't know how much worm is there, but product comes out cold even though the top six inches or so of water steams after a long run.

I think i get a lot of reflux happening with the large bore copper as it starts out around the 70% mark on a stripping run.
On my low wines it'll hold on 87% as long as i keep the temp just ticking over for litre after litre.

BW Redneck · Post by **BW Redneck** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:32 pm

Question: Why did ya decide to paint it? I like the look of polished copper...

This almost looks like plastic

(no offense)

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:41 pm

BW Redneck wrote:Question: Why did ya decide to paint it? I like the look of polished copper...

This almost looks like plastic (no offense)

No offence taken.
Your opinion is just that.

Too lazy to polish.
Y'all got polished stills.
Can't be bothered cleaning up my silver soldered joints to look respectable.
I like to be a bit different.
It doesn't look so much like a still when it's disassembled.

I'm just a bright coloured, loudshirted, in your face kinda guy.

You'd be suprised how many people don't know what the head is, i reckon if it was bright polished copper, they'd all know exactly what it was. LittleOlLadies an all

grainhopper · Post by **grainhopper** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:55 pm

I dont polish my copper after my initial build.

I see no need to polish it.

grainhopper · Post by **grainhopper** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:04 pm

It actually looks like it was dipped in grip dip for tools

Post by **bronzdragon** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:36 pm

I think you named it appropriately!

~r~

Cruiser · Post by **Cruiser** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:42 pm

I like it. Thanks for posting the pics.

What are you using to heat your boiler?

Cruiser.

Rudi · Post by **Rudi** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:34 pm

Nice still Man
thats a Gonzo if I ever saw one

. Great idea with the wheelie bin I'll be on the lookout for one of those. Thanks for the pics.

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:52 pm

Was the missus who named it Gonzo, she actually thought it looked like a dick when the build was on

Yes the wheelie bin is good, no need to chill the water or change it. It's one of the smaller ones too. The only trouble is i'm only using half the height for cooling, as i have to have room for the parrots beak underneath.
Don't matter i spose, as only the top couplea inches get hot. After a month or so when the water starts getting a little grody, i connect the garden hose to the tap down the bottom and water the tomatoes

Post by **bourbonbob** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:54 am

Hey punk, good shit man, although it's not exactly my colour. I reckon that should produce some mighty good booze. What are you heating with?

Post by **HookLine** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:17 am

That's danger red, ain't it punkin?

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:47 am

Heating with a triple burner gas camping ring. In a car rim burner setup (curteosy of you guy's and piccies i found searching trough old threads)
Works a treat, just came in from a stripping run, 43 litres UJSM in 3.7 hours.
Total of 7.4 litres tween 70% and 20% .

good bita gear

Post by **bourbonbob** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:28 am

punkin wrote:Heating with a triple burner gas camping ring. In a car rim burner setup (curteosy of you guy's and piccies i found searching trough old threads)
Works a treat, just came in from a stripping run, 43 litres UJSM in 3.7 hours.
Total of 7.4 litres tween 70% and 20% .

good bita gear

I thought you might do it faster than that with a 4" column. I stripped 45 litres (7x2" head, 2" line arm, 3/4" coil condenser) on sunday, got 7 litres of 65 to 15% from my UJSM starter ( 1hour 40min ) I should do much better on my next run. I know UJ says to add your first lot to the second ferment but I couldn't wait. I ran it through my valved reflux same day in pot still mode, added some oak for a few days then tested it. Not quite as good as a full flavoured sour mash (a wee bit sweet) but extremely drinkable. Cant wait for the second run.

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:13 am

bourbonbob wrote:
I thought you might do it faster than that with a 4" column. I stripped 45 litres (7x2" head, 2" line arm, 3/4" coil condenser) on sunday, got 7 litres of 65 to 15% from my UJSM starter ( 1hour 40min ) I should do much better on my next run. I know UJ says to add your first lot to the second ferment but I couldn't wait. I ran it through my valved reflux same day in pot still mode, added some oak for a few days then tested it. Not quite as good as a full flavoured sour mash (a wee bit sweet) but extremely drinkable. Cant wait for the second run.

Geez, you are doin well, Bob.

It took me 50 mins just to boil

I could run it faster i guess, i do turn it down once it boils to two burners half on, just that i haven't learned to drive it to it's full potential yet.

Ricky · Post by **Ricky** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:57 pm

bourbon bob i want to know how you managed to get that kind of time. that cant include heat up can it? i thought i was doing great when i did about 50 ltr wash in 3.5hrs and got about 11ltrs of 90 proof. boil time for me was a little over 45min with 10% wash and a turkey cooker on wide open for warm up. i am fixin to get a burner that will boil 100 quarts in 6 min but i would still take over 2.5hrs. teach us a new trick.

pintoshine · Post by **pintoshine** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:40 pm

I am able to get my 200 liter washes up to production temp in about 45 minutes. Of course I am using a 210 liter boiler and a 100K btu propane burner. I back it off and produce about 16L per hour.
So far I have only needed to run it twice this year.

punkin · Post by **punkin** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:43 pm

Sounds pretty to watch P/shine, i'd love to get involved in something like that. Could supply the whole town with free booze

I'm taking off at about 3-1/2 litres an hour with a strip run and probably two an hour on the spirit run.
I was having probs making my cuts on the first couplea runs, there was a real harsh, raw spirit taste through the whole run, and though i could pick the sweetness in the heads, i couldn't really tell the difference in the start of tails practicing on strip runs.
I figured after reading here that i was running too fast and dragging tails through the entire run

Might have been new still harshness though

Will have to experiment and see if i can run faster. Although i do have some probs with surging that gets worse at higher temps, as the worm has a slight incline in there somewhere that's annoying me and proving difficult to eliminate.

leeb72 · Post by **leeb72** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:57 am

I'm thinking about painting my reflux still flat black that way my the neighbors won't recognize it as a still but maybe think it is a Bazooka or RPG.

grainhopper · Post by **grainhopper** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:59 pm

I've thought about painting mine camoflauge.

Post by **Husker** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:13 pm

leeb72 wrote:I'm thinking about painting my reflux still flat black that way my the neighbors won't recognize it as a still but maybe think it is a Bazooka or RPG.

That'll keep johnny law away, 4 sure

H.

wineo · Post by **wineo** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:26 pm

Ive been wanting to build one inside a big smoker grill.You could have some meat smoking on 1 side,boiler on the other.The charcoal smell would cover everything.

Post by **bronzdragon** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:34 pm

I'm pretty sure that a bazooka in your back yard would get the police called faster then a still.

~r~

Post by **bourbonbob** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:33 pm

Ricky wrote:bourbon bob i want to know how you managed to get that kind of time. that cant include heat up can it? i thought i was doing great when i did about 50 ltr wash in 3.5hrs and got about 11ltrs of 90 proof. boil time for me was a little over 45min with 10% wash and a turkey cooker on wide open for warm up. i am fixin to get a burner that will boil 100 quarts in 6 min but i would still take over 2.5hrs. teach us a new trick.

Heat up takes 1 hour

cannon.co.tn · Post by **cannon.co.tn** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:13 pm

wineo wrote:Ive been wanting to build one inside a big smoker grill.You could have some meat smoking on 1 side,boiler on the other.The charcoal smell would cover everything.

I've got ribs on my side smoker right now and I was thinking that exact same thing earlier today. Build a platform over the firebox and adjust the height of the keg to determine how much heat is transfered.