Robobrew Pot Still Attachment Question

[tomzo]

Greetings,

I have been using one of the cheap stainless pot stills you see on Amazon that was a gift from my wife a few years back. It works, but it is a really janky system. I recently got a Brewzilla (robobrew) and saw that it can also serve as a pot still with this attachment:

https://www.morebeer.com/products/copper-pot-top.html

Have any of you out there used this system and, if so, how well does it work? I use a thumper with the model I have so I am not sure how that would compare to a single shot system like this. I would love to ditch the turkey fryer burner and go all electric.

Thanks

Tom

[cayars]

It's a lot of money for what you get.
For about the same money you could get this:


And if you didn't want to run reflux could remove a couple components and do this:


Got you covered for reflux or pot still.
Check out the following thread if this is of interest: (pics swiped from that thread from Charcoal):
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=76373

This is why I love these modular CM stills from China. Cheap and very versatile!

[tomzo]

Thanks Cayers - I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post.

I understand that it will cost a few bucks, but time is money, so I am OK with the cost. The question is whether one of these can actually outperform the cheap still I own now.

Any advice there?

thanks

Tom

[cayars]

Hard to answer because we have no idea what still you presently have and how well you run it. Just because it was cheap doesn't mean it can't make good spirits.

What I linked to above will certainly make good spirits safely and give you a lot of options (pot or reflux) so you can make anything from whiskey to vodka.

What's actually wrong with your current still?

[tomzo]

My current rig is similar to this (but not this exact model):



I can make decent spirits with it, but the issues I have with it are:

- I would like to go electric as regulating the temperature with a bil old turkey fryer burner is tricky
- The cheap silicone seals at every opening are quite finicky
- If I am not super careful on the heat it performs poorly so I end up running really, really slow
- I would like to be able to run inside my shed in the back and that is not possible with this setup.

The reason for my post is to see if anyone has actually used one of the devices that I linked in the first post.

Thanks

Tom

[cayars]

I've got a 5 gallon version of a similar still to that and it's one of my favorites. I changed out the connecting tubing to copper, but basically the same still.
Easy to use on the stove and I use the thumper for making gin. The worm is a bit on the small side so you can't run it super fast but you can strip with a steady stream.

Have you thought of just adding an electric element to the pot itself, would not be hard to do? If not I certainly understand you wanting a bit better built still.

One tip I'll give you is that removing the boiler and just using the thumper as a gin still works really great, nice and small. I just put a cap on the boiler inlet side to close it up. Could probably just use a cork as well.

The head you listed will work and do the job. It's just a bit expensive for what you're getting is all.

[tomzo]

Thanks. I have comtemplated getting a hot plate and a control system to use the one I have, but since I have the Brewzilla I already have the electric heater and control system, so my thought was to just finish it off with the pot still attachment.