passiton wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:25 pm
If
I ever get this thing going and cleaned out. Do you guys have a personal favorite vodka style recipe. I have read what seems to be popular, such as the Birdwatchers and the All-brand. But I would love to hear some favorites that would work well with this contraption.
That looks good, thanks shady lane.
PACKING, I have to get some. I could spend more time researching what packing seems best but if anyone has thoughts on the best packing to get for this it would save me some time. I have never used packing before so this is new to me. I’ve read people using everything from copper mesh to lava rocks and everything in between. So please feel free to help me out with what would work good in this. Thanks to all.
Not sure what Structured copper is, is it different than copper mesh? I have read people using lava rock and please don’t laugh when I ask this (lol I’m laughing as I type this) but I’m assuming it’s just that, lava rocks for garden, or barbecue? What crazy person first said I’m gonna try rocks in my still, lol.
So I’m guessing you by them at box store or landscape supply and rinse really well?
I’m just waiting for my heating element and new breaker ( could be a week or so ) and then I can punch hole in keg for it and should be about ready to try some water in this thing. It’s getting cold here in Mi. And and I’m running out of firewood for wood burner in garage. Damit
I used the structured mesh from the Amphora Society. Not sure if it's good etiquette to link to 3rd parties, but it's easy enough to find using your search engine.
Yes, lava rock from landscape supplies. The stuff for your barbecue may be smaller and save you time. I buy mine from Bunnings (hardware store) and it's a bit too coarse. I have to break mine up. Most people say lava rock is only useful in 4'' and up column diameters.
I just picked up some lava rock this weekend for my 4” column. Was sold as Pumice Stone at the landscape supply store. I believe I have seen lava rocks at a BBQ store as well. Only $2 for a 5 gallon bucket full. . The rock came in three sizes, and I chose the medium size. When cleaning the rocks I pulled out some of the larger pieces that were pushing close to 3/4”, which was only about 10% of the rocks.
Lol Otis, Martin, Stuffing the column with rocks still makes me laugh. I actually have some in the back yard I will clean and try. I should also have some copper mesh/structured coming soon.
I did just today get this tri clamp 5500w element. And I splurged for the handy 30a twist lock ends on it. I love the idea of the twist lock ends on this, it should make things easier for me, plus the element won’t have a cord or pigtail permanently attached to it.
Just waiting for my 1.5 tri flange to go on keg and I’ll be able to install it. Getting close now
I just finished a run with my 140 cm (4.6') packed column, in which I use lava rock. Very similar in size to what's in your picture, maybe a bit coarser than yours.
I was interested to see how much flavour I can clean out of my all-molasses (SBB recipe) rum feints. They included heads and tails. It wasn't too bad. Molasses is hard to clean up, but I got a few liters of decent neutral at 95%.
FWIW I use refluxed rum feints for steeping sloes and damsons. They make an awesome liqueur.
MartinCash wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:51 am
but I got a few liters of decent neutral at 95%.
Guessing that must have been the heart of hearts, I'm surprised you got that much that was neutral.
True that .
Rocks that big never worked for me .Found closer to pea size was more effective at getting close to Neutral ... then theres the molasses . That shit takes a beating to get rid of . Neutral .. hmm .. maybe a Bacardi
MartinCash wrote: ↑Tue Jan 26, 2021 1:51 am
but I got a few liters of decent neutral at 95%.
Guessing that must have been the heart of hearts, I'm surprised you got that much that was neutral.
It's not completely neutral, it's still sweet and still tastes a little rummy, but out of 20L of rum heads and tails at 60% I collected ~5L in which the molasses flavour is very slight.
I was wondering whether it will clean up enough in a second run, if I add it to my next neutral run, rather than keep it for my sloe liqueur. I guess there's only one way to tell.
Last edited by MartinCash on Wed Jan 27, 2021 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I see you guys have been around this site for sometime judging by your join dates. Looks like Martin runs a ccvm, what kind of still do you other guys run (yummy & Salt) ?
I’m hoping to get this still fired up late this weekend and distill some water thru it and check for any leaks. Guess I’m gonna have to find a larger reservoir for cooling pump. I have some old 55gal plastic drums I could cut lid off, then cut some handle holes in, might then also double as yard waste container?
City water is to expensive, what do you guys use?
Used a 2” LM/VM Packed with scrubbers for close to 10years ... tried LM but its a pain in the arse ../ just used VM
Been using a VM 4” for about at least 2 years now .
Was using rocks for a while but gone back to scrubbers ... ain’t going back .
So basically all three of you use a vm, a Boka unless I’m mistaken is basically a vm with no valve bust uses cooling coil as the valve. Would one of you want to run this still via zoom or something similar. It would be a chance to make a new friend. So my thought was once this is cleaned and running, some one would pick wash/mash, I would make and ferment it, charge boiler and set up zoom meeting and new friend can basically run this by telling what to do. Could be fun. My iPad has good camera and sound. Anyway think about it..
Update on work. I bought (my gut said no) a through hole bulk head 1 1/2 try clamp that has o rings and nut for heating element. BIG MISTAKE. It leaked no matter what I did, so I ended up soldering it to keg hole and wasted most of the day today. But it’s now water tight and I boiled some water in keg to test fitting and controller, all seems to work good. It’s below freezing here now but I hope to heat garage tomorrow and get cooling system together and try distilling some water and see if there are leaks and condensers actually work as intended.
But seriously give some some thought to babysitting the first run via zoom or alike.
not the best pic, looks better in person.
P.S the zoom thing does not have to be limited to one person. I think that could be fun and a way to meet new friends.
passiton wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 8:53 pm
So basically all three of you use a vm, a Boka unless I’m mistaken is basically a vm with no valve bust uses cooling coil as the valve.
A boka is not a VM ...it is LM. You are controlling the amount of liquid "product" leaving the still at any given time by the use of a needle valve. There are plenty of Boka builds threads on the forum for you to look at to see the difference.
Don’t think I mentioned this but I do have a tri clamp lid to make this a pot still when needed, just though I’d throw this out here.
Also I’m pretty good at making things but when it comes to distilling I’m an absolute newb. So this is where I could really use some help from this community of long time distilling/experienced people.
passiton wrote: ↑Fri Jan 29, 2021 9:39 pm
Don’t think I mentioned this but I do have a tri clamp lid to make this a pot still when needed, just though I’d throw this out here.
Don’t do that . Boom
If you still have the Valve shut , you’ll blow yourself up .
A boka is not a VM ...it is LM. You are controlling the amount of liquid "product" leaving the still at any given time by the use of a needle valve. There are plenty of Boka builds threads on the forum for you to look at to see the difference.
my bad you are correct ( obviously) hope I didn’t make you mad. I did say unless I’m mistaken, and obviously I was. It easy to get the acronyms confused, so I do apologize I was thinking ccvm,.
[It says right on his signature/quote] lol so it does thanks for pointing that out . Cheers mate. I was hitting bottle to much last night.
So today I got things cleaned up, most likely they will never look so good. Got the 55 gal drum lid cut off for reservoir. Located old fountain pumps that I have in storage. Gonna have to make a run to box store for some hose and fittings and hose to complete the cooling system. Problem is it’s below freezing here and any thing with water in it I leave in garage will freeze and break, so I may have to wait for warmer weather. Or disassemble and bring in house, we will see. But here are some pics. Disassembled.
No takers on the zoom thing I guess?
PROBLEM, I tried testing this today with just water. Set up as a pot still with cap on top of the tee, it works great. But when I try it set up with the reflux coil like in this pic, I get no water out of product condenser. My guess is the top coil is just too close to the take off tee and creating a cold zone. I tried turning down flow to coil but it’s a real big big pain to get just the right flow. The bottom of the coil is just under the bottom ferrule of the glass. So that’s 3” away from top of the take off tee. I would rather run coil full blast and not have to mess with the flow. I thought 3” from top of take off to the bottom of the coil would be enough but it sure seems like I need to raise it, or am I missing something, what do you guys think?
P.s. I had the valve off for testing as
pot still and just left it off to test in vm mode.
. The rock came in three sizes, and I chose the medium size. When cleaning the rocks I pulled out some of the larger pieces that were pushing close to 3/4”, which was only about 10% of the rocks. 
