small scale sub pot

[Hurley]

I want to make a small 7-10 gallon sub pot to ferment and distill my only consern is how do I seal the edges or do I just nail my sheet to my sides?

[shadylane]

Submarine stills were used to make large amounts of low grade shine.
They were simple and cheap to build. Running a submarine was normally done Black Pot
In other words, fermenting and distilling in the same pot, with many of them in production at the same time.
The stills didn't last very long.

If I was making a small submarine still.
I'd use thin copper sheet on the inside of the wood.
And all the seams would be rolled and soldered.
The wood on the sides would be for structural and cosmetic reasons.

Instead of fermenting in the small submarine still, I'd recommend using buckets to ferment in.
Wash/mash is very corrosive, it will eat your toy copper submarine still.

[LWTCS]

If you are planning on a skillful build then by all means please do.

It's just that traditionally a sub is not really noted as a skillful build (for the era) or for making a high quality product. Especially if you are going to stick to taditional submarine processing methods.

A fella on another forum built one and did a really nice job.
Good luck.

[Halfbaked]

If you are planning on a skillful build then by all means please do.

It's just that traditionally a sub is not really noted as a skillful build (for the era) or for making a high quality product. Especially if you are going to stick to taditional submarine processing methods.

A fella on another forum built one and did a really nice job.
Good luck.

I saw the post that LWTCS is talking about. The guy did a beautiful job of building it, really beautiful. . It had wooden sides and I remember me posting that there was no copper behind it and there was.

[Shine NOLA]

is it possible that it will produce a lot more methanol?
from the wood fermenting?
we no longer use wood barrels to ferment in.
maybe for the same reason?

[rad14701]

Fermenting in wood presents no issues as far as methanol goes and some distilleries around the world still use large wooden vats... And as far as wooden sides on a boiler, that wouldn't present issues either because the wood never gets to the temperature required for the distillation of wood... Having copper behind the wood just makes the boiler more durable because the wooden sides of the old submarine pots dry rotted rather quickly... Not to mention that many were made with galvanized or other cheap sheet metals...

[ShineRunnah]

One question: WHY???

Unless, as previously noted, you plan to line the sides with copper/SS, you're going to invest time, money and effort in what will inevitably be a low-grade still.

Build an all copper/SS pot, buy a keg, just don't build a still with wooden sides....

[shadylane]

Check this submarine out.

[ShineRunnah]

Check this submarine out.

Shady, there's no wood on the sides of that submarine, so its really just a different shaped copper pot. Pretty nice too. I'd be proud to call it mine.

[Halfbaked]

Thats the one that I posted about. He made wood sides for it for the look. I like it better with all copper but it looked really good with the wood.

[Hurley]

I have access to white oak and maple and I can get a sheet of ss for a 7-10 gallon pot ordered easily from my work so I only need to soder 1 seam instead of 10. Plus I am a lot better wood worker than metal worker and a sub pot is easier for me to build. Also if I can get apple wood what's your thoughts on that for the sides?

[ShineRunnah]

White oak is supposed to be pretty rot resistant.

I guess if you are set on making wood sides, go for it. Its not what I would do. And as a woodworker myself, I understand your train of thought. However, I learned how to solder pretty darn well in a few hours, as its not hard and totally worth the efffort to learn.

[Ted]

Check this submarine out.

That's a good looking still. Do you have a link so I can see more pics of it and how it was built?

[Red Rim]

I just rewatched the movie, "Lawless". They had four huge sub stills. Curious how their little tiny fire was going to heat that ginormous tank! Also did you notice how far away from the stills they had to park? Hell it would have taken a football team to pack enough corn in to run that much volume from that far away. And not a single bag of grain left laying around.
Damn Hollywood!

Sorry to get off topic.

[T-Pee]

My wife hates it when I yell at the TV during "Moonshiners".

tp

[moosemilk]

My wife hates it when I yell at the TV during "Moonshiners".

tp

My wife got mad at me because I ruined that show for her telling her about bs this and that isn't true.

[1965 wite]

in my opinion the first moonshiners season was the only one even a little bit realistic (if you know nothing about simple distilling). That being said i still watch just for the shits and giggles. I like the scenery and nothing better than watching Lance shake a jar of liguor. That submarine pot is bad ass! I love the old looking rigs and being a woodworker and metal worker i love seeing the mixture of the two. Kegs are practical but not much to look at. i can appreciate the more traditional setups. Wouldn;t the wood on the sides of a submarine that come in contact with mash just harbor all kinds of bacteria? i dont think i would waste my time finding out.

[sltm1]

Yeah, I point out flaws in the Moonshiners show to my honey too, fortunately she's learned how to tune me out. My biggest bitch, is that if any of this show was real, why aren't the "shiners" arrested....duh. Don't they have Cable TV in the Ozarks?

[Highshots]

I want to make a small 7-10 gallon sub pot to ferment and distill my only consern is how do I seal the edges or do I just nail my sheet to my sides?

The trick is you must use white oak. That's how it seals, and lasts so long. White oak is now so expensive we're better off just sourcing a stainless steel pot, and build a copper cape and lyne arm, etc. I'm liking the old beer keg idea, and thump can be stainless also because the thump-out and worm are copper..
I know. I would like a 4' x 8' sub too.. Run off about 500 gal, but we have to keep it small so the rents don't get roused

[Adaylate]

A. Bishop is involved in making submarine stills. He had a few videos up on running them.