Continuous Gin Stil

[Centimeter]

I had an idea for a continuous gin stil that I wanted to run by you guys before I started spending a bunch of time building it. From my research, it would seem that one starts with 50%abv neutral in the boiling flask and collects gin (inline gin basket) between 85-80%abv. My thought is that one could run the stil until the 85-80%abv range is reached and then use an addition funnel to add ~83%abv neutral to the boiling flask at the same rate that distillate is being collected. That way, the stil can run continuously in the 85-80%abv range.

It seems like this design would have several advantages:
The stil could be quite small yet produce large quantities of gin.
Loss of neutral alcohol would be minimal as the boiler volume could be as small as say 500ml.
Experimentation with different botanical mixtures would be more practical as very small quantities of gin could be made in the actual production stil.

My thought is to use a glass 24/40 jointed distillation setup with a claison adapter attached to an addition funnel and a copper gin basket.

Do you guys think this would work? Any suggestions?

[decoy]

you wont be able to make a continuous gin still

however it is possible to make a continuous vodka still, but for best quality all you want is a continuouse stripping still.

then you would combine your low wines and do a final run with propper cuts.

[Centimeter]

I would be using a finely polished neutral, not a ferment or a low wine.

[kiwistiller]

I'm not entirely sure of the benefits over using a larger boiler, especially with the complication of design, but the thing that sticks out to me is the gin basket part. It's going to have to be massive, isn't it, to hold enough botanicals? if you're after a heap of gin that is... mine is about 550cm^3, and it is normally piled high over that, and the botanicals come out completely spent after a 6 litre charge. and if you have to swap out the basket, aren't you back to batch??? Just my immediate thoughts anyway. Good Luck! look forward to seeing what you build.
Kiwi

[glassman]

don't like the idea of dripping 85% into a hot still. i have a 22 liter glass still i hav'nt used because i'm uncertain about the pyrex flask breaking with 40% in it. i'm a bit paranoid these days gman

[HookLine]

i'm a bit paranoid these days gman

A bit of paranoia is healthy when you are dealing with hot high strength ethanol and flames/electricity. Can't be too safe.

[Centimeter]

Especially when you're talking about a 22L glass flask... good god man how much did that set you back? Well, as long as you guys think it might produce a good gin, I guess I'll give it a shot. I have most of the glass already anyway. What can I say, I work really hard for my neutral-- don't want it going to waste!

[HookLine]

Especially when you're talking about a 22L glass flask...

Indeed.

[decoy]

I would recomend you water down to at least 55% abv or yoy will have nothing left in your boiler when you finally finnish