Boiler size

[harllequin1971]

Hello there guys from over here in the UK.

Have to say first off, what a brilliant site!!!!!!

I've got a little pot still from Still Spirits and while fun to play with and bought before I found you guys on here. It does not fit my needs. The need to put the produce through the still a few times to get rid of the unwanted flavours is a bit of a pain.

I've decided after much reading and re reading and changes of mind from buying one to make one to buy one again..........

Anyway I'm going to bite the bullet and construct a Bokakob still.

I intend it for use to make neutral spirit and then flavour using commercial or home grown flavourings.

The thing that has me a bit puzzled is the pot size for the boiler. Is there a minimum size you should use?

What I was considering is making my column fixing so that I could mount it to lids of varying size for use with different sized cooking pots. I can get hold of pots and lids from 10 litre to 50ltr and If I only have a small amount of wash to use I'd rather attach the 10ltr pot than the 50lts pot.

Thank you in advance guys.

Darren

[Oaty]

There's no minimum. it's whatever fits your needs. 15 gallons- 60 l - seems a popular size. Enough to run about 2-3 average ferments and big enough to make all the time of a run worthwhile. 60 l yields about 6 l. Anything less seems to be a bit time consuming. In fact I'm looking for something larger around 50 gal-200l . 15 gal should suffice for most 2 in columns though. Beyond 50 gal need to think about a larger column. It just seemed whenever I was fermenting I found I was fermenting 6 5 gal batches at a time. So, why not just run one 50 gal batch. 55 gal plastic drums are common. And now I'm fermenting 50 at a time .30 or 50 gal batches beg for a larger boiler.

[rad14701]

Quite a few members are using 25L stock pots with great success... Some even use larger stock pots... And there are some who use smaller 12 - 20 liter pots... It all depends on your personal needs... Some folks love beer kegs of various sizes as well...

[eternalfrost]

i wouldnt go under 20L...

remember you also need to leave a few inches of empty headspace. with the small boilers making clean cuts is much harder simply because everything tends to get smooshed together.

[HookLine]

"smooshed"

[vajravarahi]

I intend it for use to make neutral spirit and then flavour using commercial or home grown flavourings.

A lot of info here on how to make a flavored spirit from original materials. Whether it's whiskey or rum or what have you, you'll be able to produce a much better spirit than any flavoring can do. Probably more of a learning curve as a few folks might tell ya, but the reward will be worth it.

[harllequin1971]

I made some Chocolate cream liquor and some mint chocolate liquor now the boss has dictated that out of the next batch I'l allowed a small amount but she will be using the rest to make more of the chocolate stuff.

One day I might get the chance to try the recipees on here Vajravarahi however at the moment I will have to do as "Her who must be obayed" says

Ordered the parts and looks like the pipe work will be delivered on the 6th October.