new to the distiller

[rebelbull]

Hello everyone
Im new to this
and I got a few questions I have not been able to find anywhere and i sure need some answers lol
OK Im making a 1 gallon crock pot still
Ok I know ethanol boils at 173 ok
how hot do you turn the heat up ? wide open? my pots got warm low medium high
im just not sure about this and have been looking for weeks and couldnt find it
also I made me a little sugar mash but im really looking to make me a corn mash i got meal and sugar but cant find a good tried and true reciepe i got a five gallon bucket and i want to ferment in that all the recipes i see are bigger or smaller than a five gallon anyone know of a old time reciepe that uses a five gallon? i want a exact reciepe so i know exacly how much stuff to put in and the exact times and stuff also is a thermometer really that important for a pot still?
if anyone can lend a hand i sure would appreciate it ive always been interested in this and its something i want to get into
thanks so much
sorry for the long post
rebelbull
Texas

[Dnderhead]

1) the pot is way to small. you will git about 1/10 of what you put in so that is about 14 oz,, with cuts about 5oz (125 ml)
2) you need to bypass the thermastat.

[CletusDwight]

the pot is way to small.

That's an affirmative.

On the other hand. my first shot was using a 1 gallon party beer can as a still and it worked (er... sort of )

ethanol boils at 173

That should be PURE ethanol boils at 173. We aint talkin about pure ethanol. It's all in the theory section on the main site but just to restate the basics:-

When a liquid (any liquid) boils, all the energy goes into releasing the vapour. NONE of it goes into raising the temperature of the liquid. So if you have a pure liquid (like water say) it will begin to boil at 212. It will stick there. It will continue to boil at 212 as long as there is any water left. Then the pan will start to burn.

You have a mix of water and ethanol in the wash. It will boil at some temperature between 173 and 212 depending on the concentrations.
With a mix, the boiling story is more complicated. One of the components tends to be more volatile and boils off more rapidly than the other. That changes the mix - so the boiling point changes.

In your ethanol water mix (assuming about 10% alcohol), the first vapours containing about 60% ethanol will begin to appear at about 185 degrees. As the 60% alcohol and 40% water boil off, the wash gets more watery so the boiling point will shift upwards slowly (heading to 212). The more watery wash gives a more watery distillate so your ethanol concentration drops. Eventually you get to pure water and a boiling point of 212 degrees.
Except that by now you will have switched off the still. No point going that far.

A thermometer isn't essential - any more than a speedometer in your car. Just damn useful. It tells you what the vapour temperature is and that tells you what the alcohol concentration is. Which makes it easer to make cuts.

As to the recipe - How long is a piece of string?
You'll just have to work out proportions for your size wash from other peoples' recipes. It ain't exact. This is an art not a science. Nobody's goin' to tell you how to paint the Mona Lisa to fit your piece of paper.

[Cornbread]

When I "tried" to use a crock pot still, I put it on high and got 178º. It was a disaster trying to "seal" it with flour paste. A DISASTER

[LWTCS]

Welcome rebelbull,

Cleatus gave you a pretty good starting point. And as Dunder pointed out, the work involved to render that teenie wennie amount will hardly be worth the effort. And your quality will suffer to boot.

This hobby is great. And if you like it, you will very soon regret not setting yourself up with at least a 20 liter (as per consensus) boiler.