Greetings from the Pacific Northwest

[chemisophmatician]

I found this site a few weeks ago and it has been an invaluable guide as I start out on this hobby. I am a home brewer (currently extract, but hopefully will start all grain soon) and it seemed to me that distilling was a natural progression. My wife is pregnant (read: sleeps all the time) and I've been looking for something to pass the time. It seemed to me that constructing my own still would be a good project. I found this site while searching for still plans. I've done a few distillations before in my organic chemistry labs, but that was several years ago, on a much smaller scale, and with glassware. As I primarily drink whiskey, I figure a pot still is the way to go. My budget's a bit tight and I'm in no rush, so I'm just cobbling pieces together a bit at a time. I've put together a 2 foot liebig condensor and obtained a 15.5 gal. sankey keg to use as a boiler. I'm planning on mounting a 2" copper column onto the keg using a triclamp so that if in the future I build another column (I like gin, too) swapping them out will be a breeze.

From what I've read on these forums, it seems to me like the typical workflow for a simple pot still goes something like this:
Mash (grain bill dependent on desired product)
Fermentation (similar to beer brewing process - will end up somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10% ABV)
Stripping Run (discard fore shots, producing low wines - about 35% ABV from a simple pot still)
Spirit Run (from several batches of low wines, make cuts, blend, dilute to 120 proof and age or 80-100 proof and drink)

Please let me know if something above looks horribly wrong. Also a couple of questions:
If I am using 5 gal. washes, say, in the neighborhood of 10% ABV, about what volume of low wines should I expect from a single run in a simple pot still?
Also, is it worth making cuts on my stripping runs and saving some low wines for drinking, or should I exercise some self control and save them all for spirit runs?

[rad14701]

Greetings, chemisophmatician...

Keep reading... You have more questions than you know about at this point... You've scratched the surface and things will start to come together as you proceed... Those "Ah Ha!" moments will start coming as you start making connections between formerly disparate pieces of information...

Good luck and stay safe...

[Bushman]

Welcome, we have a large membership from the PNW. Sounds like you have a good start, if money is tight I have found a lot of grat deals through Craigslist and garage sales, pot still is probably one of the less expensive designs to build. Good luck!

[LWTCS]

Welcome
Sounds like you are on track.

[Coyote]

Welcome from the Pacific Northwest!

Read Read READ, oh yeah then read some more.

Where abouts in the NW are ye?

Good Luck and have fun

Coyote

[chemisophmatician]

Craigslist has definitely been my friend so far.

One advantage that my slow build has afforded is the opportunity to spend a lot of time reading. I've been absolutely glued to this forum since I found it.

I'm just a stone's throw (almost literally) outside Seattle.

[mash rookie]

Welcome aboard! we are probably neighbors.

[OlympicMtDoo]

Welcome to HD chemisophmatician from another PNW raingear wearer, after the recent raise in Washington State liquor prices I suspect there will be many more new distillers from our region. Good luck and as many others have said read read read, the info is free and it is all written here. OMD

[Frosteecat]

Move along, Coyote. He's from Washington.
Just kidding man...welcome!

[heartcut]

Welcome. You should be able to buy copper from recyclers in Seattle- I've found some good deals in the ones in Houston. Have fun with the build.

[pfshine]

Welcome to HD. This is an addictive hobby so get your check book out your always gonna want bigger and better, its just so much entertainment that your old lady will be jealous of your still.

[wildrover]

Welcome! I'm on the Idaho side of the PNW.

[madmonk]

Greetings! I, too, am from that taxified state, but over on the dry side of the mountains. I am getting active again; I haven't been on in quite a while. been doing a lot of reading in the forum, tho. Excellent advice here! just don't get paralyzed with all the info intake; build something eventually!