1/4" copper tube good enough for spiral? Is teflon bad?

[milesdf]

Hi,
I want to expiriment with distilling, so I want to build a little pot still. I have a couple questions though.

If I want to just have a copper tube come out of my boiler and spiral inside a bucket of water, is 1/4" tubing good enough? Should I splurge for something better? Is 20' of tube enough? How quickly could I distill a gallon of mash?

Can one use a teflon coated pot as a boiler?

How dangerous is it to distill over a gas stove in my kitchen? I guess I could buy a hot plate and try it elsewhere.

Thanks.

[Dnderhead]

I'd go with 3/8 maybe 10" you do have to watch four fire ,alcohol
fire is hard to see but not to hard to put out have hoes fire extinguisher handy AND NEVER LEAV IT UNATENED

[MudDuck]

Hi,
Can one use a teflon coated pot as a boiler?

I wouldn't. The teflon coating used on cookware isn't pure teflon, it's a mixture of teflon and other chemicals. Some of those other chemicals have been shown to cause cancer. I don't even like cooking in pots with these coatings myself.

As far as the other questions I'll have to leave them for the experienced guys.

[riff42]

Hi,
I want to expiriment with distilling, so I want to build a little pot still. I have a couple questions though.

If I want to just have a copper tube come out of my boiler and spiral inside a bucket of water, is 1/4" tubing good enough? Should I splurge for something better? Is 20' of tube enough? How quickly could I distill a gallon of mash?

Can one use a teflon coated pot as a boiler?

How dangerous is it to distill over a gas stove in my kitchen? I guess I could buy a hot plate and try it elsewhere.

Thanks.

20 feet of 1/4" tubing should be fine. Make sure your water bucket is as big, and perferaby bigger, than your mash.

do NOT use teflon coated pot. Whilst there is always a debate on whether or not teflon parts can be used (gaskets, flex joints, etc), I can't see how it would be good to use a coated pan. Seeing that it's not virgin teflon.
Use copper or stainless steel. ONLY copper or stainless!