still .... and steel?

hounded66 · Post by **hounded66** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:59 pm

I know someone who is starting to make a still out of a 55 gallon steel barrel. He plans on making a pot still out of it with a copper reflux. How will the barrel not be being made out of copper or stainless steel effect the alcohol that comes out. Will it be safe to drink?

Post by **Dnderhead** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:28 pm

if it is clean" no oil etc" it will be alright but will not last very long
almost not worth making)

hounded66 · Post by **hounded66** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:52 pm

the barrels come from a food proccessing plant. All were used to hold molasses and the only thing that is wrong is that there is a little bit of molasses on the bottom. He can get the barrels for free whenever he needs them. He plans on making the reflux screw on so he can take it off and put it on a new barrel every time.

violentblue · Post by **violentblue** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:49 pm

do a search for "palm wine gin" on google this is a common setup in the third world, and they are able to produce some pretty good product with a very rudimentary setup.

myself, I wouldn't recommend too many runs on it though,

BW Redneck · Post by **BW Redneck** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:13 am

I expect that you'll only get a few runs out of a boiler made from mild steel. Boiling hot liquid at a pH of 4-5 tends to eat through a lot of stuff.