Copper Pennies in Stainless steel pot still

[Ghostpepperman]

I was looking at my many pennies that are pre 1982 with 95% copper content.
It got me to thinking about adding the copper pennies to the bottom (just enough to cover the bottom) of the Stainless steel stock pot that I'm using, hoping that the amount of copper in the pot would help in the process of distillation.
We all know the benefits of copper, and I'm thinking of a cheaper way to increase the amount of copper in my setup with out totally rebuilding from the ground up.
The pennies have been cleaned with Vinegar and salt and rinsed twice.

Any good or bad thoughts come from this?

[Hound Dog]

If you bought a 2' piece of copper pipe from Home Depot and cut it into pieces, you would have 100% copper pieces at the bottom of your boiler, no guessing if the other base metals are doing anything.

[Dan P.]

The study I read said that copper had most benefit to the taste of the spirit in the strip run condenser and/or the spirit run pot, which I guess means you could/should put your pennies in the spirit run pot.

But I think I would look elsewhere for copper than pennies, for various reasons.

[Ghostpepperman]

Well the only reason I would want to do copper pennies is that I have 40 lbs of copper pennies saved up for a rainy day

[thecroweater]

you best look into USA pennies before thinking of using them. I'm not from the US but from memory you have to go back to the 1840s to get anything like pure copper pennies and the 1870's to get anything resembling 95% copper. I'm guessing your pre 1983 ones are some zinc copper alloy . As said forget the idea and chop up some copper pipe

[Ghostpepperman]

Yes anything PRE 1982 was 95 % COPPER 5% ZINC....I'm not that concerned of the 5% of zinc in the pennies.
The Main reason for this post is to utilize what I already have and not spend more money on extras and copper pipe.

http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fu ... fun_facts2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[pfshine]

I was about to post that link when you did. Have you looked at all of them? There is some really expensive Penny's out there. I got one once from a gas station worth about $75. You might have more money in your pocket than you think.

[The KYChemist]

I'll just leave this here... Also, there are already some good threads on this.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 15&t=39951

[ReekieStill]

This is a good article on the role of copper and the impact of its placement. In short, for a malt whisky, copper impact is greatest in the condenser for the wash and the the pot for the spirit. Not sure what your setup is like, but for copper, you want to maximize your surface area, so food grade (ie pure) copper wool (potscrubbers) is your best bet. Wedging some in the neck of your still is ideal, but you can just toss it in the pot. I would strongly advise against putting pennies in your still, as there is no guarantee that they do not contain traces of other metal besides copper and zinc, and I'm not sure what the zinc would do to your spirit anyway. For that matter, anytime copper tubing that you use should be designed for drinking water. Copper made for other purposes will not necessarily be free of potential toxic trace elements.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 0450.x/pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[thecroweater]

Zinc is not considered to be a safe material in a still simple as that, I got a great heap of lead sheeting here for free but I ain't about to drop it in my boiler. No one can stop you putting the zinc alloy coins in your boiler if you got in in ya head that damn the advise I'm doing it anyways but it wont be endorsed here
Edit posted same time as above

[sweeps]

Yes anything PRE 1982 was 95 % COPPER 5% ZINC....I'm not that concerned of the 5% of zinc in the pennies.
The Main reason for this post is to utilize what I already have and not spend more money on extras and copper pipe.

http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/fu ... fun_facts2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

40 lbs of pennies adds up to around $70 or so. Take it to a Coinstar machine and buy some nice clean copper with the proceeds.