Unlike many of you more practical folk, I have fallen victim to the process. I have been ordering bits and pieces for the better part of 3 years. I can finally see the end. Swhmbo is convinced I am going to blow up the house. I hope I'm not the only one who has a 5-gallon pail of leftover spare parts from things you have changed your mind about. Quite a few compromises were made along the way that I can tidy up later but I would really like to turn this damn thing on. Last minute detour to do 110 before 220. Wiring the 60 AMP GFCI subpanel for two 5500-watt heating elements will have to wait. I've gone with as many watts as I can get out of 2 110 circuits for now. I've gone and spent too much money on hole-saw bits and stay-brite #8.,
I had Oak-Still make me a 6.5" to 3" adapter (I would have liked 6.5" to 4" but later - I collected 4" clamps and the PTFE gaskets because on sale). Going to do the keg upside down with the 6.5" hole on top. An additional 3" or 4" fill port ( I bought both). 2 - 1.5" heating TC ports (1 bought one 220 5500 watt element but later). I've posted my column previously ( 3" tri-clamp Lego) that can do reflux or pot or a double/triple distilled kind of thing (gin basket is on my to-do list). Plumbing is mostly sorted out drain to waste and all my hoses and taps are connected. Will probably fill up a 50-gallon bucket first and use my pond pump before draining. I have 2 PTFE barrels so I can use the first 50 gallons for my next batch.
If anyone ever asks me I will tell them to do as I say never as I have done
As long as you've enjoyed this strange long journey, that's all that matters!
But oh my, that is a whole lot of "Spare" parts you've got collected up! (I'd have to hide those from the wife)
Probably enough there to build another column!
I have collected a lot of extra parts over the years. I made a great hall five years ago when a winery was closing and I got a lot of different size tri-clamps, gaskets, etc. Keep them I found a use for some of them when I built my last two 5 gallon stills. One for essential oil and the other for making gin.
Early on I got it in my head to build a continuous stripping still and ordered all the parts. then changed the design, then changed it again, and again... the more I learned and read the more I changed it. I've still yet to fully assemble it because I haven't decided in the next iteration
There are two types of people in this world.
1. Those that can extrapolate from incomplete information.
That's quite a journey. It took me about nine months from deciding I wanted to make rum to gather the info and the components, build a still, do a sugar wash, then make the rum, and I thought that was a long time.
That was three decades ago and I still haven't blown up the house, or the shed and I ran the same still three times yesterday to strip a wash fermented in the same fermenter. Taking the time to get it right the first time pays off in the long run.
