What still to built or buy?

[still_stirrin]

...I own a small reflux still, homemade, looking for pot.

I assume you're looking for a boiler, right? Or perhaps a potstill?

What size boiler does your reflux still have? Could it be modified for service with a potstill head?

I would recommend building a head and using your existing boiler, unless you're trying to upscale...in which case, I would suggest buying a "legal" keg and modifying that. It is the perfect size for the hobbiest distiller.

A potstill head is great for stripping and flavor runs, like whiskey or brandy. The reflux head is great for spirit runs where you're wanting a neutral (also works well for gin and rum).
ss

p.s.- With respect to those retail sales shops, I can't comment. I have no experience with them. But if buying a still, or boiler, they are serialized and the retailers are required to collect and maintain data on purchasers. That info is made available to the government if they request it. I think "building" will keep you off that RADAR screen.

[esther87]

Yes, a pot still.My reflux has a 2.5 gal.boiler.Built it from a afew years ago Want to try something different with flavors, whiskey etc. Time for a new learning curve. Thanx for advise

[Euphoria]

p.s.- With respect to those retail sales shops, I can't comment. I have no experience with them. But if buying a still, or boiler, they are serialized and the retailers are required to collect and maintain data on purchasers. That info is made available to the government if they request it. I think "building" will keep you off that RADAR screen.

I may not be looking in the right places, but I own three boilers, (25,13, and 8 Gal.,) a Lyne arm pot still head, and a 4" flute column, all which I purchased from Mile Hi Distilling. I've looked everywhere on them and I do not see any numbers on any of my stuff anywhere, top, bottom, inside or outside. Where should I be looking to find this serial number?

As an aside, (and no, I don't have any affiliation with them,) but I've been very pleased with Mile Hi's quality and service. Yes, they aren't the cheapest place to buy from, but there is a lot of truth to the old adage that you get what you pay for.

[rad14701]

Euphoria, the boilers sold by most vendors do not come with a serial number on them... I'm not even sure whether they can even assign one for reporting purposes... They are required to report the sales of such items to the TTB upon request, however...

[Euphoria]

Thanks Rad,
I was just curious since I never saw anything on any of my equipment that could somehow track it specifically to me or anyone else who bought/sold it, such as the purported serial numbers,etc. I've seen comments in other posts regarding these "serial numbers", and so I checked carefully. All my stuff is totally devoid of any written words or numbers.

[raketemensch]

All my stuff is totally devoid of any written words or numbers.

What you really need to watch out for is the runes. They tend to conjure up evil spirits who like to rile the local police.

[ljermontov]

People ,could You help me with choice?

I would like to build my own little still ,which I could use in secrecy of my meat smoking shed.

There is a guy who is selling a lot of antique tools,and among them he is offering me this 15 litres (supposedly milk ) keg,made in the year 1915

I can`t check its condition I must trust his words,he says that it is OK with no leaks.
I told him that I need it for milk carry so he lowered price from 50$ to 30$
If I buy what household item could I use to clean it inside up to shine?

P.S.Since I am a novice can someone give me best link on this forum about copper soldering for begginers?
Thank You.

[frodo]

stick a magnet on it, see if it sticks

looks like copper,????? on the lid....

that thing is screaming thumper!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rad14701]

ljermontov, that doesn't look at all like it is made of copper... It looks like rusted metal to me... Could be just bad pictures, but I don't think so...

[john2674]

+1 Rad!
If that is copper that's some serious patina! lol!

[pythonshine]

+2 rad I can see some pitting around the neck.....good for decor but not stilling my friend. Nice find though.

[greggn]

>all which I purchased from Mile Hi Distilling. I've looked everywhere on them and I do not see any numbers on any of my stuff anywhere, top, bottom, inside or outside. Where should I be looking to find this serial number?


The hardware is not physically serialized. Administratively, Mile Hi just "links" your purchase order number to the hardware. Chances are it arrived with a paper tag tied to one of handles which you promptly detached and threw away.

[Euphoria]

No tags or stickers on anything I ordered. Just a copy of the itemized order billing sheet included in the boxes. I know that they, (all mfr's,) are required to record sales for the TTB, but earlier comments alluded to the stills having serial numbers. Rad cleared that up several posts back. Just treated myself to another 4" plated flute section from them which will arrive today. That will set me up with the ability to use up to 6 plates on my flute now. Don't always use them all. In fact, I usually use 2~3 of them for my whiskey and rum, but now I can try to make some good neutral too.

[Mos52]

I'm looking to buy a "stove top" still. Something to learn the ropes on before I go bigger.

Any thoughts on the still at the link below? Made in China, so that's a little scary. I would test the solder for lead if I got it. But otherwise looks nice and the price is right. Thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/Distiller-Moonshi ... hine+still" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[still_stirrin]

I'm looking to buy...Thoughts?...

That thing was made to "sell", not distill. My thoughts...honestly, is that you can build a better still for a comparable cost. And you can certainly buy a better still...if you know what you're looking for. Just look at the classified in this forum.

China is in the "business" of marketing what is in demand worldwide. Distilling is a growing hobby, and there's one heck of a market there right now. I can't recommend you buy anything that is "target marketed" to the uneducated market. That still is. You'd be disappointed with its performance and very soon outgrow its capability even if you could learn how to run it.

I suggest reading a while. The decision of "what to buy" will become apparent to you very soon. Sure...you want to get into the hobby post-haste...but haste makes waste. Do your homework and soon you'll be in the driver's seat. You won't need "opinions" what to buy...or build. You'll know.

Good luck. And be safe, responsible, and discrete.
ss

[frodo]

if your looking for a keg. he is one on crags list

http://jackson.craigslist.org/for/5433812471.html

[rad14701]

I'm looking to buy a "stove top" still. Something to learn the ropes on before I go bigger.

Any thoughts on the still at the link below? Made in China, so that's a little scary. I would test the solder for lead if I got it. But otherwise looks nice and the price is right. Thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/Distiller-Moonshi ... hine+still" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

There is another currently active topic started by a member who recently purchased an inferior Chinese still... You can and should do better...

[muscashine]

No tags or stickers on anything I ordered. Just a copy of the itemized order billing sheet included in the boxes. I know that they, (all mfr's,) are required to record sales for the TTB, but earlier comments alluded to the stills having serial numbers. Rad cleared that up several posts back. Just treated myself to another 4" plated flute section from them which will arrive today. That will set me up with the ability to use up to 6 plates on my flute now. Don't always use them all. In fact, I usually use 2~3 of them for my whiskey and rum, but now I can try to make some good neutral too.

Ask the company what they have to record. I called around several companies and was told different things. One said they had to record everything. Another said they had to record complete stills or flutes, but NOT milk can boilers or parts. A friend of mine called one company in particular and they said they had to record whatever was shipped, but if he walked in the front door and paid for the flute in-store, they didn't have to keep a record because it wasn't being shipped.
IF I remember reading correctly, they have to keep records for three years - but thats a big if.

[flying cowman]

The still I made last year worked very well. I was made from old SS milking parlour equipment. The pot is an old milk "dump" bucket. Full, it holds around 22 litres so I tended to run 15 litre batches. I cut a hole in the bottom for a "Burco boiler" element. Half successfully tig welded a 2" X 3 foot column made from SS milk line tube (leaked a bit but was able to seal with rye dough). It doesn't show in the pictures (pics taken after I started to take it apart to use elsewhere) but the top of the tube had a swage pressed insert with thread and threaded cup. This allowed access into the column. To introduce some copper I wound copper brake pipe into a coil that squeezed in tightly down about half the column height. The take of from the top was copper tube, as was all the tubing in the condenser. I've no idea what the reflux percentage was but my 7.5% Cider would come out initially at around 55% and I'd stop stripping at 25%. From the 15 litres, I'd get around 2.5 at an average of 40%. Once I had enough I put it through again.





I'm now working towards starting a micro distillery as I'm soon to be made redundant (the dairy business is in a dire state here in the UK) so I've just bought a 40 litre Alembic still to experiment with. If my plan works out I'd be looking at a 600 litre version of the same thing, so I thought it a good idea to use the small version first.



I used the new still for the first time last night and have a couple of observations. I did two stripping runs. The first was with the lentil on. I found his just slows things down during a stripping run so I took it off for the next. I also used the parrot just to get a feel for it. Now i'm really not so sure these things are that great? It holds around 350 ml and though it was only a stripping run, I was testing as I went along to see how it might work on a spirit run. I found the volume it holds is too much, which masks the cuts. Maybe if it were of smaller capacity it would be better, but I think it's easier without and to taste test or use the spirit hydrometer in its test tube every so often. I also found the spirit hydrometer bobbed up and down a lot in the parrot anyway, making it hard to read.

FC

[crosscreekmatt]

Anybody have any experience with Veagence? Havent purchased, but leaning toward their 10 gallon pot....very helpful so far

[still_stirrin]

Anybody have any experience with Veagence?...

"Vengeance" has never prospered for me...but then again, I designed and built my stills.

YMMV
ss

[Represto]

...The first was with the lentil on. I found his just slows things down during a stripping run so I took it off for the next. I also used the parrot just to get a feel for it. Now i'm really not so sure these things are that great? It holds around 350 ml and though it was only a stripping run, I was testing as I went along to see how it might work on a spirit run. I found the volume it holds is too much, which masks the cuts. Maybe if it were of smaller capacity it would be better, but I think it's easier without and to taste test or use the spirit hydrometer in its test tube every so often. I also found the spirit hydrometer bobbed up and down a lot in the parrot anyway, making it hard to read.

I have the exact same setup, with parrot and all. I've never used the lentil but will give it a go this harvest season. I've found the parrot to bounce the alcoholmeter if I'm running the still too hot. The design of the parrot creates an air lock....less than ideal. It's not incredibly useful for stripping runs but works well for spirit runs when you want to run it slower anyways.

Another place where I get airlock is on the output of the worm reservoir. If I just directly connect a hose to that, it glug-glug-glugs and can't drain fast enough if I run the still hard. The cure is to put a Y at the output, with one side of the Y going to the output of the res, and the other just a short hose that is above the res. The one above will vent it enough that it'll drain smooth.

[rrhino00]

Has anyone dealt with clawhammer supply from Colorado or Moonshine Stills Company from Ga. I own a small reflux still, homemade, looking for pot

Been running a 10 gal from clawhammer for over 2 years and very happy. Folks at Clawhammer were very helpful when any questions arose.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mulligan]

Apologies for slowness. I've read this thread a couple of times and can't see an explanation of what is wrong with this design. Is it because the cold water goes through the column?

[der wo]

- The downer tube through the column only causes energy loss. The condesation must be at the top of the column to be effective.
- For controlling a cooling management still it is absolutely necessary, that both cooling lines (product cooler and reflux cooler) can get controlled seperately. Two lines, two valves.
- The cooling tube through the column on the top produces little reflux only. So you cannot use this still for neutral alcohol.

[mulligan]

- The downer tube through the column only causes energy loss. The condesation must be at the top of the column to be effective.
- For controlling a cooling management still it is absolutely necessary, that both cooling lines (product cooler and reflux cooler) can get controlled seperately. Two lines, two valves.
- The cooling tube through the column on the top produces little reflux only. So you cannot use this still for neutral alcohol.

Danke der wo. That is very helpful. I have seen a similar version within my budget with a T separating the coolant and a needle valve connected to the water output from top of column. The one I saw has a silicon pipe at the very top but hopefully I can replace it with teflon. It will allow me to get a basic but safe (I hope) still on my very tight budget.

[Aitchh]

The still I made last year worked very well. I was made from old SS milking parlour equipment. The pot is an old milk "dump" bucket. Full, it holds around 22 litres so I tended to run 15 litre batches. I cut a hole in the bottom for a "Burco boiler" element. Half successfully tig welded a 2" X 3 foot column made from SS milk line tube (leaked a bit but was able to seal with rye dough). It doesn't show in the pictures (pics taken after I started to take it apart to use elsewhere) but the top of the tube had a swage pressed insert with thread and threaded cup. This allowed access into the column. To introduce some copper I wound copper brake pipe into a coil that squeezed in tightly down about half the column height. The take of from the top was copper tube, as was all the tubing in the condenser. I've no idea what the reflux percentage was but my 7.5% Cider would come out initially at around 55% and I'd stop stripping at 25%. From the 15 litres, I'd get around 2.5 at an average of 40%. Once I had enough I put it through again.







I'm now working towards starting a micro distillery as I'm soon to be made redundant (the dairy business is in a dire state here in the UK) so I've just bought a 40 litre Alembic still to experiment with. If my plan works out I'd be looking at a 600 litre version of the same thing, so I thought it a good idea to use the small version first.



I used the new still for the first time last night and have a couple of observations. I did two stripping runs. The first was with the lentil on. I found his just slows things down during a stripping run so I took it off for the next. I also used the parrot just to get a feel for it. Now i'm really not so sure these things are that great? It holds around 350 ml and though it was only a stripping run, I was testing as I went along to see how it might work on a spirit run. I found the volume it holds is too much, which masks the cuts. Maybe if it were of smaller capacity it would be better, but I think it's easier without and to taste test or use the spirit hydrometer in its test tube every so often. I also found the spirit hydrometer bobbed up and down a lot in the parrot anyway, making it hard to read.

FC

Nice looking albemic. Looks like the one im thinking about getting from copper-ambelic in Portugal. I too was going to order the parrot and lentil. From your note, you would discourage adding both?

Thanks, Aitch

[Pikey]

.................I'm now working towards starting a micro distillery as I'm soon to be made redundant (the dairy business is in a dire state here in the UK) so I've just bought a 40 litre Alembic still to experiment with. If my plan works out I'd be looking at a 600 litre version of the same thing, so I thought it a good idea to use the small version first................
FC

I toyed with that idea a couple of years ago too. "Much like a micro-brewery" perhaps ?

That Alembic looks really nice - but before you buy the 600 Litre version do look up HMRC rules. As far as I remember the rules about registering as a distiller with them were :-

Minimum still size = 400 Gallons

(Imperial gallons not US) - which means your minimum still would need to be around 1900 Litres and Boy would that need a BIG Plug !

IF I'm wrong or you know different - please let me know.

[Pikey]

As always a lot of knowledge and a lot of room for thought in here.

There are a couple of points I'd like to opine on, which may be helpful (or not)

1) Offset still v Boka is expressed as similar but offset more expensive due to fittings. - Possibly.

a) When running in pot mode, it seems to me that the Boka will still have a significant reflux action, due to the overflowing of the plates, whereas the offset does not and all the vapour is condensed and comes out as product. I'm not entirely sure this is a valid point as the returned product in the Boka simply would seem to get redistilled and returns eventually to the output. However the output is likely to be slower for the same reason ?

2) Pot stills. I read on the main site ( i think it was in this "Rum" section that for a pot still, the higher the neck, the smoother the product. I think it was in this section, but can't locate the actual entry at the moment.

http://homedistiller.org/intro/comm362/ChapterThree-c

[edits] I think that is quite an important point for anyone wanting to build a pot and I think it should be borne in mind. For this reason, it may be that a de-tuned reflux would tend to have a higher (taller) "offtake" than many a dedicated pot still and may actually produce a better product on the first run ?

[rad14701]

a) When running in pot mode, it seems to me that the Boka will still have a significant reflux action, due to the overflowing of the plates, whereas the offset does not and all the vapour is condensed and comes out as product. I'm not entirely sure this is a valid point as the returned product in the Boka simply would seem to get redistilled and returns eventually to the output. However the output is likely to be slower for the same reason ?

This is incorrect... When running in pot still mode there should be no liquid spirits overflowing from the lower plate if the take-off circuit is made from right-sized components... By that I am referring to the needle valve and product tube sizes... A 3/8" needle valve and tube will remove all product without overflowing the lower plate... With 2" or smaller column with a 1/4" circuit the temporary removal of the needle valve will resolve the unintended reflux issue as it is the choke point, not the 1/4" tube...