Advice on new column?

[Texas Jim]

Looking for some advice.

I have been using a simple pot still with an 8” tall 3” diameter column to make whiskey (no ngs). I’d like to try something new – trying to get a more traditional bourbon profile. I guess, in technical terms, this would imply a better, more controllable, more repeatable separation of heads/hearts/tails? More reflux?

A few options are –
1) Make the current column taller. Cheapest option.
2) Purchasing a flute from a company like Mile-hi.

Does anyone have any comments on how those two options will affect the product? Any other options? Am I even on the right track?

I’m not looking to build anything myself, as I’ve already had to learn plumbing, electrical, construction, and hvac in my retirement, which was supposed to be relaxing. lol

[Chauncey]

Is your current setup using triclover connections or? Pic would help

[Saltbush Bill]

If you can't get a "traditional bourbon profile" with a pot still I'm not sure that another still type is going to help.
You might need to work on your grain bill, cuts , oaking methods or some other part of the process.

[zed255]

A pot still is a good tool for whiskeys. Are you doing a single run or a double run? You will find stripping 3 or 4 boiler charges of your beer, that is run hard and fast collecting all but perhaps a small foreshot, then running the resulting low wines carefully with cuts should be the ticket.

[drmiller100]

You can't do reflux without packing or plates.


Or a VERY small copper diameter column at a very shallow angle at very low power levels bit that is really weird.

[Texas Jim]

Is your current setup using triclover connections or? Pic would help

It's a still from Hillbilly Stills. Uses the triclover to attach the column to the pot.

[Texas Jim]

If you can't get a "traditional bourbon profile" with a pot still I'm not sure that another still type is going to help.
You might need to work on your grain bill, cuts , oaking methods or some other part of the process.

Most bourbon distilleries use columns, not pot stills with lyne arms, right?

[Texas Jim]

A pot still is a good tool for whiskeys. Are you doing a single run or a double run? You will find stripping 3 or 4 boiler charges of your beer, that is run hard and fast collecting all but perhaps a small foreshot, then running the resulting low wines carefully with cuts should be the ticket.

Double runs.

I see a lot of different pot still heads out there - onion, diamond, taller pot still columns. I'm curious how they change the profile.

[Texas Jim]

You can't do reflux without packing or plates.


Or a VERY small copper diameter column at a very shallow angle at very low power levels bit that is really weird.

You get some reflux on any type of column - just not full reflux where you can control the output through the amount of reflux, right?

[Jstroke]

Jim,

I am going out on a limb, but I’m going to tell you its probably a combination of your processes that need tweaked, not the still. A good old fashioned pot still just like the one you and a million of us all have, will, with patience and practice produce world class aged product of many types. The patience and the practice is where rubber meets the road. The challenge here is both finding all the golden nuggets of info that help you, and then having the patience to take notes and experiment. If you do ALL the required reading, research cuts, aging, and basic guidelines of running it. Then apply that to something in the tried and true recipes, run it slow, you will get there a lot quicker. But you will still improve over time. There is no magic. It takes time. It is a craft. The product you make now will be pale in comparison 3 years from now. The swill I made year one I wouldn’t give to a politician today.

[juana_b]

The swill I made year one I wouldn’t give to a politician today.

I would have guessed all of 'em were drinking that stuff...hmmm.

[Yummyrum]

My two cents .
Please don’t call a Pot still riser a Column . It causes confusion .
A column is the name given to a still section that contains either Plates or packing and has a condenser which creates reflux . Without either , it is simply called a riser .

However , you may have seen pictures of Bourbon distilleries and they actually do use a Column , but not the way you think they might .
It is a continuous stripping column . Steam goes in the bottom , beer goes in the top . The collected stripped beer is then run through a pot still in batches for the final spirit run .

Sometimes the continuous Bourbon column still is set up so the beer is feed in halfway up , the waste comes out the bottom where the steam is injected and there are multiple takeoffs ip the top so they can fine tune the blend straight off the still .

328591A3-8AEB-486D-94C8-A36792E602D3.jpeg

The types of stills mostly used by home distillers are Batch stills