The trader is Dibosh. They trade only in homebrew products. My order came under a week to Australia. Trader declared it as STEEL PIPES. I chose the option with copper mesh but I don’t recommend buying copper mesh from this trader. There are ZERO instructions included with the product.
Semi assembled still looks like this
Copper mesh is thin and does not fill the pipe completely. They are also covered in some oily substance. These two complaints are common as can be seen from most other buyers. Other traders give you more copper for this much price.
I dipped all the parts in hot water + dishwashing liquid. Oil came out and floated on top after few hours. You can see this in the photos. There is substantial oil so don’t skip this step. I rinsed the parts and then soaked the in hot water dish washing liquid again.
You can see oil on the tissues here.
I used my beer bottle brush to clean all the parts from inside.
I made a big mistake here. I dropped the pipe with digital thermometer in hot water. I was able to take it out, open up the PCB etc, wash in fresh water and then dried it using a hair dryer. It was working OK. I may buy a spare soon.
Later, I rolled up a small piece of scotch brite, dipped it in dishwashing liquid and forced it through all the holes of the condenser and dephelgmator using a copper tube.
This seller normally ships the largest pipe with 1.5” on one side and 2” on another. I requested them to send the pipe with both ends as 2”.
As the copper rolls were very thin, I added my own copper mesh and made one roll out of three strips sent by Dibosh. It is that thin. I was able to breathe through tube without any problem.
I assembled the still and then poured boiling water down it few times to clean it up. I got burnt by hot water in this process slightly. As I still don’t have the pipes, pump, 2.5” to 2” reducer, I can only run it in few weeks.
Steel parts look good. Thermometer is accurate. Still is very hideable.
