I'm looking to make some tasty whisky and I was pretty sure I wanted to go with a Mr. Distiller for a still but after reading on this forum I have started to reconsider. So is the Mr. Distiller a good choice or should I go with something else?
Thank you,
Scott
Mr Distiller as my first still?
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kiwistiller
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Re: Mr Distiller as my first still?
Go with something else. In fact, go with almost anything else 
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rubber duck
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Re: Mr Distiller as my first still?
+1 Also stay away from stilldrinkin and turbo stomper.kiwistiller wrote:Go with something else. In fact, go with almost anything else
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. John Steinbeck
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Usge
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Re: Mr Distiller as my first still?
Scotty, I owned a version of such distiller and I also would encourage you to go with something else.
I could go into tech details about it, but there are older threads that cover it pretty well. So, lets start with this: Pardon if you already are aware of this, but a 1 gallon still doesn't produce 1 gallon of whiskey. The alc wash/mash you start with is "condensed" into a stronger solution through the process..ie., concentrated down. Think of it like cooking down a sauce. You start with a lot of water and let it simmer off till it thickens down. What you are left with is a fraction of what you started with only more concentrated. You start with 4L of 10% wash, you can expect to get back about 1 liter, of 35%, total volume from cooking off a run in your Mr Distiller. Plus, you don't really have much control over how this thing runs. Now, you have to make cuts (in case you don't know). You toss out the first 50ml as foreshots (nasty stuff). Then the impurities of the lower alcs bleed over into your run. These are heads. You cut them out. Then comes the hearts..good/keeper stuff. Then it gets nasty again (tailes) which you cut out. Out of that 1,000ml (1 liter) you start with, you'll probably end up with about 300-500ml of keeper depending on your cut. It's about a pint or less. And because there is so little, the cuts are very difficult to make. So, we'll start with that. For a stove top I'd recommend up to a 5 gal (20L) still. Anything larger than that starts to get really unwieldy.
As to still, you can make them from stockpots, bulkhead connector and some copper tubing. It's not that hard. If you want to spend the money, for the price of a mr stiller, you can get a very nice copper alembic. http://www.copper-alembic.com/shop/inde ... at&catId=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
I recommend the soldered unions over riveted ones. The advantage of making it yourself is you can mod it, fix it, work on it yourself. Valuable experience, if you are the experimenting type. It's hard to put the torch and solder to your $$$ copper you bought. So, something to think about.
I could go into tech details about it, but there are older threads that cover it pretty well. So, lets start with this: Pardon if you already are aware of this, but a 1 gallon still doesn't produce 1 gallon of whiskey. The alc wash/mash you start with is "condensed" into a stronger solution through the process..ie., concentrated down. Think of it like cooking down a sauce. You start with a lot of water and let it simmer off till it thickens down. What you are left with is a fraction of what you started with only more concentrated. You start with 4L of 10% wash, you can expect to get back about 1 liter, of 35%, total volume from cooking off a run in your Mr Distiller. Plus, you don't really have much control over how this thing runs. Now, you have to make cuts (in case you don't know). You toss out the first 50ml as foreshots (nasty stuff). Then the impurities of the lower alcs bleed over into your run. These are heads. You cut them out. Then comes the hearts..good/keeper stuff. Then it gets nasty again (tailes) which you cut out. Out of that 1,000ml (1 liter) you start with, you'll probably end up with about 300-500ml of keeper depending on your cut. It's about a pint or less. And because there is so little, the cuts are very difficult to make. So, we'll start with that. For a stove top I'd recommend up to a 5 gal (20L) still. Anything larger than that starts to get really unwieldy.
As to still, you can make them from stockpots, bulkhead connector and some copper tubing. It's not that hard. If you want to spend the money, for the price of a mr stiller, you can get a very nice copper alembic. http://www.copper-alembic.com/shop/inde ... at&catId=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
I recommend the soldered unions over riveted ones. The advantage of making it yourself is you can mod it, fix it, work on it yourself. Valuable experience, if you are the experimenting type. It's hard to put the torch and solder to your $$$ copper you bought. So, something to think about.