Home Distiller

Good morning to all my fellow still-masters.
I have now got myself a 50lt stainless beer keg and I am in the process of building a new combination reflux – bokabob-column/pot still.
What I would really like to do though is to make my keg into an electric one, like a number of people on this site have done, as I am a bit shy about the idea of using a propane burner and having flammable liquid in close proximity.
I have done a fair amount of reading here, particularly in the Related Hardware and Appurtenances area, and have a good sense of what is necessary to do this.
You need to cut a hole in your keg, to fit the heating element, and then either use a no-weld kit to install it or get a welder to weld in a screw in type port to install your element.
Then it gets a bit more vague to me, when it comes to wiring it up and setting up the heating control unit.
Some of the threads talk about 240 vs 120 volt systems, and then get into how to build a temperature control unit. Then there is the discussion of going from 240 to 120 once your wash is up to temperature.
I am generally a very handy guy and have done some basic wiring round the house, replacing receptacles, hooking up lights, run some wire to new outlets when doing some renovations, nut I have never built power control units, so all that explanation about capacitors and such is kind of Greek to me.
Has some ever put all the treads together and done a simple step by step,” build a temperature control unit for dummies”? That’s what I need.
I have gone over to the Home Depot and sourced all the necessary hardware- elements, wire, etc., and I have even found a temperature control unit. However, there are several settings on it that go 120 to 170.
I imagine that this is temperature control for how hot your water to be coming out of the pipes at home.
Could that be used as a temp controller on the keg, and does anyone know if it can be over-rid to get it beyond 170, say to 180 – 185 as that is the range at which alcohol evaporates?
I will post some pictures of the units here in the next day or so. I will head down with my trusty I-Phone and take a couple of shots so people can see what I am talking about.
Or is there somewhere I could order a controller from?

I just found this element for sale on e-bay.

2200W Stainless Steel Electric Element

Has anyone used one of these? It is priced at $49.00 AU, so I gather it is in Auzy dollars.

It looks pretty slick, with a standard plug-in power cord.

Standard water tank element thermostats won't work for distillation... You need a triac based phase angle controller or burst fire controller to eliminate the cycling that a standard thermostat has... These controllers can be purchased if you don't want to build on yourself and the pricing isn't all that bad if you shop around... They are available in both 120V and 240V...

Thanks Rad for that information.

So where would I find one? Would Home Depot or such have them, or are they more a specialty item that I would have to order online?

I have a friend of a friend that has an electrical motor repair shop, so I might give him a call and see if I could get him to either make me one or order one for me.

The only thing is that he is a tea-toolder, and can't bribe him with product, so have to find an alternative reason for what I need the unit for. Maybe say that I am going into hoem brewing as a cottage industry and I am experimenting with finding ways to do it economicly and do some recycling of old beer kegs at he same time.

Check out this topic as well as about a dozen others in the Related Hardware and Appurtenances forum... You should be able to find several links to vendors who market controllers and components...