Pot still - turning a toad into a prince
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 12:21 am
Dear all,
In my zest to distill something useful, I bought myself this cheap pot still -> https://m.vevor.com.au/alcohol-distille ... 0703858271. I had no idea what I was doing…
It features:
- 20 litre pot (pot ok, but lid is wonky and bulges/contorts under pressure; riser is 1/2”) - thumper (too small, 2 litres; no pipe going into the liquid so not really a thumper) - condenser is 3/8” copper coil, about 1.3m/52” in length) - silicone seals throughout.
I did a vinegar run, followed by a water run this week. It took me quite a while to wrestle the rig into equilibrium but I sort of got there. I was collecting distillate at about 0.5-0.75L/h.
I would like to upgrade this thing into a useable pot still that won’t take a century for each run. I’d like to get my hands dirty on brandy, rum and bourbon and I want it to be a pleasure, not a wrestling match every time.
I’m thinking of doing the following:
- cut a great big hole in the lid, and mount an upturned bowl on top (this should be stable enough to hold a reflux column… future upgrade) - cut a 2” hole in the bowl (dome) to accommodate a tri clamp connector.
- pipe sections (all 2” tri clamp): riser (300mm/12”), tee (c/w blanking plate at the top), 90 degree elbow, and 2” to 1/2” reducer
- replace the condenser with a 1.2m/4” liebig, 1/2” inside a 1” jacket)
- heating will be a 1,500W hotplate, SCR controlled
- PTFE seals throughout.
As I said, my first priority to is get a pot still going so that I can play around with brown spirits. In future I’d like to upgrade the pot still to CCVM so that I can do gin (the missus’ poison of choice), hence going for all the tri clamp stuff now.
Are there any glaring issues with my pot still design?
Cheers
RM
In my zest to distill something useful, I bought myself this cheap pot still -> https://m.vevor.com.au/alcohol-distille ... 0703858271. I had no idea what I was doing…
It features:
- 20 litre pot (pot ok, but lid is wonky and bulges/contorts under pressure; riser is 1/2”) - thumper (too small, 2 litres; no pipe going into the liquid so not really a thumper) - condenser is 3/8” copper coil, about 1.3m/52” in length) - silicone seals throughout.
I did a vinegar run, followed by a water run this week. It took me quite a while to wrestle the rig into equilibrium but I sort of got there. I was collecting distillate at about 0.5-0.75L/h.
I would like to upgrade this thing into a useable pot still that won’t take a century for each run. I’d like to get my hands dirty on brandy, rum and bourbon and I want it to be a pleasure, not a wrestling match every time.
I’m thinking of doing the following:
- cut a great big hole in the lid, and mount an upturned bowl on top (this should be stable enough to hold a reflux column… future upgrade) - cut a 2” hole in the bowl (dome) to accommodate a tri clamp connector.
- pipe sections (all 2” tri clamp): riser (300mm/12”), tee (c/w blanking plate at the top), 90 degree elbow, and 2” to 1/2” reducer
- replace the condenser with a 1.2m/4” liebig, 1/2” inside a 1” jacket)
- heating will be a 1,500W hotplate, SCR controlled
- PTFE seals throughout.
As I said, my first priority to is get a pot still going so that I can play around with brown spirits. In future I’d like to upgrade the pot still to CCVM so that I can do gin (the missus’ poison of choice), hence going for all the tri clamp stuff now.
Are there any glaring issues with my pot still design?
Cheers
RM