Ideal 4" still?

[Big L]

Hi All,

A buddy of mine is an industrial welder - with access to lots of cheap/free copper pipe. He's got the next month or so off and wanted to build a crazy still for me.

If price of copper and level of welding/soldering skill was not an issue what is the best design to go for? I think looking for as clear a neutral as possible - although if we could make it modular with parts for whiskey too that would be ideal

I have a 50L keg which has a 4" triclamp ferrule i currently reduce down to 2" for a VM column still.

All the best

L

[Saltbush Bill]

How long is a piece of string......what spirit do you wish to make?
The answer to your question is more complex than you might think.

[Big L]

How long is a piece of string......what spirit do you wish to make?
The answer to your question is more complex than you might think.

"I think looking for as clear a neutral as possible - although if we could make it modular with parts for whiskey too that would be ideal"

edits above too. Thanks

[MichiganCornhusker]

Sometimes simpler is better:
https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65801

[Stefunk]

Maybe you find this polish tutorial usefull, if google translate can't handle it, photos should be enough

[tiramisu]

I'm not entirely sure 4" and a beer keg make a lot of sense. You can do anything of course but 3" seems to be the sweet spot with 8 foot ceilings and say 6kw as a constraint

Alternatively have a look at the calculators for reflux etc on the wiki. IF POT still ignore me completely

[zapata]

Agreed. A 4" neutral still demands a giant boiler, a stupid tall column, and more booze than I would know what to do with, and I typically celebrate more booze than one knows what to do with.

Stills are columns, not magic teleporters. You gotta fill the column with liquid and vapor for it to work, and still have booze left in the boiler to drive the separation.

I don't think the premise is valid, but if my arm were twisted and the only requirements are 4" and neutral, then get a huge boiler and build a 30 plate flute about 17 feet tall.

[RC Al]

There would be plenty to fill a tall 4" packed column with a keg boiler if you use 10-11g of 40% strip for a neutral set up, it would take a few hours to process even then

And lets face it, running neutral is nowhere near as intresting as brown spirits. It really depends if your trying to fill out a extensive cocktail mixing list or cant be bothered running more than once or twice a year.

Im not going to disagree that a bigger boiler would be better. If the copper is cheap, make a nice 30G boiler while you are at it.

For the whiskey side, it again depends if you want a one and done speed machine (plater) or if you want to double distil - strip then spirt run (pot), or you can go inbetween with a thumper setup, seen a few ditch thier platers for a pot chasing flavour in recent times.

A big boiler will help you produce better spirts (more of each fraction is coming off, so cuts are more defined), but then you have to be prepared to do washes that can feed it

[Big L]

And lets face it, running neutral is nowhere near as intresting as brown spirits. It really depends if your trying to fill out a extensive cocktail mixing list or cant be bothered running more than once or twice a year.

If the copper is cheap, make a nice 30G boiler while you are at it.

Haha i think both extensive cocktail mixing list and cant be bothered running it too often are both true.

I am thinking about getting a 200L fermenter to speed up the first run process - i am sick of having to deal with so many 23L buckets

I haven't come across the term 30G before what does this mean? or the 10-11g you mention as well.

Thanks

[Bushman]

Everyone will have a different answer as their experiences are different. With my experience building and using 4 different stills the best one that I have built for neutrals was a 2” VM. The negative to this still was an 11 gallon wash it would take me between 12-17 hours to collect neutrals. The best and most versatile still I have is a 4” CM. I cannot get a neutral but 92% is close enough for any liqueur, vodka, or gin I want to make. Depending how I run it I can get a great Whiskey or Rum collecting at a lower abv. Since I built mine people started making modular stills that also gives more options for set-up thus what product you want to produce.
As for the comment of a 3” diameter vs 4”. I ran my still side by side with Mash Rookies 3” and we both agreed that mine out performed his. Both are great sizes for the hobbyist,

[zapata]

G is a unit of volume originally devised by the American dairy industry to sell large jugs of milk. 1G is roughly equal to 3.78 of the cute little modern European milk boxes, or 2.835 Canadian milk bags.

[Bushman]

I should also state on that side by side test my 4” had homemade mesh and Mash Rookie’s 3” column was plates.

[shadylane]

My ideal still is the one I'm currently using.
17 gallon SS boiler with two 4500w heating elements.
Everything is modular and there's an assortment of different columns
For neutral the 4" x 106" column packed with ceramic rings works best.
Running 6kw and a takeoff rate of around 2lt per hour

[still_stirrin]

My ideal still is the one I'm currently using …

[Deplorable]

I'm pretty new to the hobby but I think the ideal still for a hobbyist is a 3" modular CCVM, and a shotgun condenser on a keg boiler. You can make whatever you want on it by simply reconfiguring the modules, and the compact design of the condenser makes for a small footprint.
I think the 2" I just finished will suit my needs for years to come.

[Boozewaves]

Hi All,

A buddy of mine is an industrial welder - with access to lots of cheap/free copper pipe. He's got the next month or so off and wanted to build a crazy still for me.

If price of copper and level of welding/soldering skill was not an issue what is the best design to go for? I think looking for as clear a neutral as possible - although if we could make it modular with parts for whiskey too that would be ideal

I have a 50L keg which has a 4" triclamp ferrule i currently reduce down to 2" for a VM column still.

All the best

L

sounds like this is a great opportunity . if you could get another similar keg maybe your friend could weld 2 together like in this thread https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... 50&t=74073 use the one thats got the 4 inch ferrule for the top. seems like a big boiler is needed for a 4 from what I have gathered in other 4 inch column builds