The only info I've been able to find is a cover page stating its a Mk13 BR reflux still made by Spirits Unlimited in NZ.
It's basically a 20L aliminium pot and dome, Stainless column and condenser with external water cooling in plastic tubing. Small hole with grommet in the dome for a thermometer.
At the moment there isn't any packing in the column or condenser.
Can anyone provide a bit more info on this one? I'm thinking I may be able to use it as a pot still.
I'm currently learning with a bog standard copper T500 reflux. Not in a great hurry to change things up at the moment.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
It is one of the earlier CM reflux stills . With the column packed , you could probably expect about 85-90% abv off a Turbo wash and maybe around 80-85% off a Birdwatchers .
The coolant flow through the coil at the top of the column (Tower) acts as a deflegmator . There will be some increase in purity but due to the short column length , not much higher than high 80s.
Without packing , the defleg will potentially hold back tails a bit as a Pot still .
If you disconnect the water supply from the coil and just use the condenser , it would make a little Pot still . However , that condenser is pretty tiny so it would not handle a lot of power . Probably great for a little spirit run but painful fir doing stripping runs .
Also be aware that Aluminium is not the greatest as a boiler due to the high acidity of most washes .
There is also no copper in the still which is desirable .
Simple solution is usually to put small copper pieces in the boiler , but that would be very bad with an Aluminium Pot .
To put it bluntly it's a badly designed outdated reflux still.
Also as others have stated aluminium isn't the best choice for a boiler.
Wash and backset or dunder are acidic, acid and aluminium don't play well together longterm.
