Packing in a pot still column

[paramedic68whiskey]

This may have been answered before, but if one was to put copper mesh in a 1.5"x 30" column on a pot still would it make a cleaner spirit or even a little reflux?

[HolyBear]

Yea its been answered, and the answer is not really a noticeable amount. Though it might slow down a puke a little, or screen a missed piece of corn from clogging your outflow pipe... want higher abv? Dilute to 40% and rerun but you'll loose some flavor...

[paramedic68whiskey]

Thank you!!

[CR33G3R]

I'm pretty new to the forum but I run a pot still as well.So from what I have read packing a column in a pot still doesn't do anything except maybe slow the flow down since there is no cooling in the column to condense the vapor which makes sense also there is no valve to control the take off (amount of reflux) That's my basic understanding.

[Prairiepiss]

I'm pretty new to the forum but I run a pot still as well.So from what I have read packing a column in a pot still doesn't do anything except maybe slow the flow down since there is no cooling in the column to condense the vapor which makes sense also there is no valve to control the take off (amount of reflux) That's my basic understanding.

I don't want people to get cornfused from your post. There is a lot more to a reflux still then just adding a valve. Because if you add a valve to a pot still you would have a potential bomb. So if a reflux still is what you want? Do the proper research before its attempted. Yes we have had people do this in the past. Thinking they were doing good. Only to get told otherwise. Thankfully they were corrected before they had a bomb problem.

Now packing needs forced reflux to work. Without forced reflux. The packing will just heat up with the vapors and do nothing but take up vapor space. Yes one or two in the bottom can help hold back puking to an extent.

[CR33G3R]

Yea prariepiss you are correct! Sorry for adding any confusion.I guess I should leave the advice to the people with more experience.

[Hawk_]

Copper in the tower cant hurt anything at all. If anything its is a benifit as it cleans your vapor of sulfites. I didnt notice an ABV increase but my product was more trust worthy.

[Tater]

Copper in the tower cant hurt anything at all. If anything its is a benifit as it cleans your vapor of sulfites. I didnt notice an ABV increase but my product was more trust worthy.

+1

[paramedic68whiskey]

Copper in the tower cant hurt anything at all. If anything its is a benifit as it cleans your vapor of sulfites. I didnt notice an ABV increase but my product was more trust worthy.

+1

Thanks, thats what I thought. Wasn't expecting reflux, but did think it would clean a little and prevent burps coming into the column.

I am still enjoying working and learning ith my pot still, can't even think of jumping into a reflux yet. Thanks for the answers even though it was answered before. sorry bout that....

[myles]

You CAN induce a little bit of reflux with external cooling. It isn't new, some of the big old onion whisky stills did just that that external water collars on the cone. It is also similar in principle to the water cooled lentil on an alembic still. In the typical hobby style pot still a small reflux condenser above a packed section of the riser will allow you to do two things.

1. You can temporarily increase the reflux ratio of the still to aid in heads compression and then switch off the cooling. Once the packing has heated up again it has no further effect on your product for the remainder of the run.

2. You can do the entire run with a small amount of induced cooling, just enough to slightly increase the product ABV. Usually this is to adjust your output ABV so that you can get your hearts cut to cask strength in a single run from wash.

The truth is though that both of these are very primitive versions of the CM still with just 3 or 4 plates. You can get the same results from a thumper, and the thumper is far more versatile. I played around with one of these "hybrids" for a short while and then discarded it as an inferior tool.