Made my first still today

[deliciousrum]

Hi, I just made my first pot still today out of a pressure cooker and 1 inch copper pipe (filled it with sand and bent over a post into a coil - I can confirm this will bend the pipe ok without kinking it)

Is 1 inch copper pipe to thick to use as a condenser? Also I have yet to drill the hole for the rubber gromet the thermometer goes in, but the lid of the pressure cooker has 2 safety valves, should i just remove these valves and use the existing hole for the thermometer? Because it's so rigid with the soldering I've done, I won't be able to take the lid off to refill it with wash, would it be ok to drill another hole and insert a steel bung to pour the wash into through a funnel then screw the bung back in to make a good pressure resistant seal? If I'm making a lot of Rum out of molasses and squeezing fresh can juice through an old school washing machine roller, is this going to leave a big mess in the bottom of the pressure cooker that I'll constantly be needing to scrub out? Sorry about the noob questions, it's just I've never seen this done in real life! It's an 8 litre pressure cooker, so I'd have to throw away about 5ml of foreshots to be safe right per batch right?

thanks.

deliciousrum

[cornwhiskey]

You need to throw away about 150mL of foreshots per 5 gallon batch. So if you are combining the beer stripping runs from multiple batches you need to discard 150mL of foreshots for each batch. Example, if you are combing the beer stripping runs of three batches you would want to discard 450mL (3*150=450). A beer stripping run is the first distillation you do to help concentrate the alcohol, you don't need to do any cuts on a beer stripping run.

[rad14701]

Welcome to the forums, deliciousrum...

I hope you've done some research before starting out on you venture into home distillation... We have an almost overwhelming amount of information here which is the culmination of centuries worth of combined experience by the membership... Here are a couple tips you may have missed during your initial research...

First, no rubber or plastic in the vapor path of your still... That means no rubber grommet for your thermometer...

Second, I hope your pressure cooker is stainless steel because high temperature high %ABV alcohol will have a caustic effect on aluminum and will pit it quite rapidly... If you are running on a gas burner you risk the possibility of a catastrophic explosion should the aluminum fail... Stainless steel and copper make the best boilers, as well as pretty much every component of your still...

With this being such a potentially dangerous activity it is very important that you think safety, first and foremost... Please read the Rules We Live By as well as the Parent Site before moving forward with your build... Also check out the stickies here in the forums...

Good luck and stay safe...

[deliciousrum]

Hey thanks for the advice, I'll have to do more reading and modify the still a bit for optimum and safe operation. Just as well I asked the right people before going ahead with such naivety! I have the Rum fermenting with fresh molasses from a cane mill that I bought at 50c a litre and few pieces of sugar cane which I have also added to the Wort, it smells pretty good too. Also going to try and ferment paw paw, coconut flesh and juice, custard apple, sour sop and guava - then update the community after distillation.

Cheers Guys.