Getting EasyStill.

[Fecus]

I hate being two faced so I'm fessing up and coming out of the closet

Just was a few weeks ago I started getting interested in distilling. Like many I have discovered, my first encounter was stilldrinkin.com. I ordered the plans, joined the forum and found not nearly the full support promised. I still drop by there from time to time and see newbies asking questions so I PM them and tell em to come here . Never have tried to make any of the stills from those plans.

The next thing I discovered was Brewhaus.com and the Amazing Still. Thought hey, this is something I can do so I ordered all the stuff to make the still and a fermenter kit and I made the still, fermented sugar wash with the Turbo Pure 48 and ran some in the still.

About my first batch from that still I found this forum and read all the nasty stuff about the still I just built so I joined under a different name so nobody would figure out who I was on that other forum and bash me for using a plastic still. Being stubborn that I am I did not want to give up on the Amazing Still but I did like the idea of getting away from plasticisers and such. So I then found Better-Bottle.com and seen their PET carboys don't have any plasticisers or BPA stuff so I got one of the 6 gallon size and made a better amazing still. It has a 2 gallon glass jar from Wal Mart on the inside holding the wash so there is none of the usual plastics involved plus it collects about twice as fast as the Swedish version having the better bottle dome lid. If I could have got my hands on a cheap glass carboy and cut it like I did the PET bottle I would have but the prospect of not knowing if I could cut glass outweighed that thought.



I'm still intent on moving on and to better things so I'm getting an EasyStill. As much as I would like a regular still, I'm very lucky to be doing as much as I am with my wife being in law enforcement. I guess as long as she likes me I'm ok

Having said that, I noticed something about the Swedish Amazing Still. I carbon filtered the distillate. It didn't taste bad at all but my butt itched for two days and my sinuses were kinda messed up. I don't notice any of that with the new version and the taste is definitely better since I have something with which now to compare.

Hey, I did what I had to at the time so bash me if you want. I'm looking forward to getting my EasyStill at least one step up and it's all I can do for now. I just hope I can sway others from making my same errors and in time before they figure out who I am at stilldrinkin.com forum and boot me off there

[LWTCS]

It didn't taste bad at all but my butt itched for two days and my sinuses were kinda messed up.

Hahahahahaahahahahhahhahah OMGoodness are you kidding hahahahhahahha.

Dude that was funny as heck...................can't stop laughing...........wiping the tears out of my eyes now....

Well good for you and no worries from me anyway.

Recon a build is out of the question what with your wife's proffession and all?

[olddog]

Looks like you are jumping from one bad still to another.

[Husker]

It didn't taste bad at all but my butt itched for two days and my sinuses were kinda messed up.

Hahahahahaahahahahhahhahah OMGoodness are you kidding hahahahhahahha.

Yup, from dog wipin his wiener on the grass, to owner gettin an itchy butt. Quite the pair there, lol

H.

[Fecus]

Looks like you are jumping from one bad still to another.

Care to expound on that olddog? Why is the EasyStill bad? Personal experience or just bound by tradition? Have not seen any bad remarks here other than it's slow. There have been some issues with surging that seem to have been cured and so it's a small air cooled pot still.

Yeah my butt itched right on the hole . Had to be the Amazing Still hooch since I'm pretty much a creature of habit and that's the only thing out of routine at the time. I do have the parts to build a four gallon pot or reflux still or a combo column. SS boiler and copper vapor path parts. Just can't do it at home and haven't located a reliable place otherwise.

[Husker]

Fecus, I have an easy still. You 'can' get them to work. I made some decent stuff with it, but it took practice (like with any still).

The problems I had with it are:

1. WAY WAY too small.
2. Plastic in the vapor path, unless you hack it apart and make mods to it. I had product that clouded and formed little floaty chunks when I watered it down, until I chopped the front part of the still off, and jammed a copper tube directly to the condenser output tube.
3. WAY WAY too small (repeat but important repeat).

Now, yes, the still is easy to run, and damn near bullet proof. It will run exactly the same way. every time. You could even figure out the wash, and set a timer on the power, and get it to work (if stripping). About the only thing I used it for after building a cheap decent still, was to strip with. A pretty damn small boiler, but safe and self contained, and set on a timer and let'r rip, and it will strip out the same 1.3L every time that I wanted. Also, being a small still like this, it works well for someone that is short on space (i.e. small apartment, etc)

The still will certainly work for you, but you are going to work 5x harder than you should have to, simply due to the size of that thing.

H.

[Fecus]

Dang. Well I guess I can wait a few more weeks and see how things go.

[MOUSE]

"The Amazing Plastic Still" lol
Been there and done that.
Some batches were very nice mixed with cola, others just tasted like rats piss. At least it got me interested in distilling and encouraged me to find a nice site like this, to get some proper information.

[Ayay]

Hey Fecus, no shame. You are walking the path to fine hooch and that's all that matters. Your path will bear fruit sooner or later.

[Husker]

"The Amazing Plastic Still" lol

The 'easy still' is not even close to 'the amazing (horrific) still'

The easy still is a countertop forced air cooled electric still. It is all stainless in the boiler with a stainless condenser. However, there is plastic that your high proof pours through (the end cap thing, and the boiler is tiny (4L, but you can only get about 3.5 in safely with no boil overs). The thing 'does' work (and is actually VERY consistent in runs), but it is simply way too damn small to get decent cuts out of.

H.

[olddog]

Looks like you are jumping from one bad still to another.

Care to expound on that olddog? Why is the EasyStill bad? Personal experience or just bound by tradition? Have not seen any bad remarks here other than it's slow. There have been some issues with surging that seem to have been cured and so it's a small air cooled pot still

I like many others here started with an easystill, the big limitation is size, taking only 3 1/2 to four litres of wash to produce only 750ml of distilled spirit, it is near impossible to make cuts to remove heads and tails. I was not being negative, just trying to save you the frustation of spending money and still not doing the job properly.

[Fecus]

Looks like you are jumping from one bad still to another.

Care to expound on that olddog? Why is the EasyStill bad? Personal experience or just bound by tradition? Have not seen any bad remarks here other than it's slow. There have been some issues with surging that seem to have been cured and so it's a small air cooled pot still

I like many others here started with an easystill, the big limitation is size, taking only 3 1/2 to four litres of wash to produce only 750ml of distilled spirit, it is near impossible to make cuts to remove heads and tails. I was not being negative, just trying to save you the frustation of spending money and still not doing the job properly.

Thanks, I appreciate that. It really helps a greenhorn like me with explaining rather than just remarks without substance. It's good reports of true limitations that keep me from wasting time and money

[olddog]

I wish I had found this forum before I bought mine, I have since built 2 new stills from copper, and sold the easystill.

[mjdtexan]

I somehow missed that site when I started investingating distilling. I reckon I got lucky and stumbled into here. I am lucky, one of the mentors has taken pity on me and is developing a plan and a parts list for me. I follow instuctions well. I might even do some designing once I get a good working knowledge of a still designed by one of the pros here.

You did make me go look at the site. One picture I did find interesting. I guess what interest me is the fact that you can see part of the process while it is distilling. I reference the glass jar on the pot type still

[olddog]

Glass thumpers are not a good idea

[mjdtexan]

Glass thumpers are not a good idea

How come? Are they prone to break easy or something?

[olddog]

The distilate from the still comes into the thumper as steam, the extreme heat could crack the glass in the thumper. Hot proofed alcohol spilling from a cracked thumper is definately not worksafe.
This is my still with the thumper made from copper.

[mjdtexan]

The distilate from the still comes into the thumper as steam, the extreme heat could crack the glass in the thumper. Hot proofed alcohol spilling from a cracked thumper is definately not worksafe.
This is my still with the thumper made from copper.

That makes perfect since.

By the way, nice lookin copper work there.

[LWTCS]

Nice looking????


Shiiee,,ewt. Thats beautiful (or the like)

[deepseajb]

The distilate from the still comes into the thumper as steam, the extreme heat could crack the glass in the thumper. Hot proofed alcohol spilling from a cracked thumper is definately not worksafe.
This is my still with the thumper made from copper.

And very nice looking copper at that.

Nice Work
J.B.

[deepseajb]

I also posted another fairly long story which has apparently went into space.