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Trying to get into distillin

Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 8:52 am
by rehposolihp
I was bored with all of my liquor a few days ago and decided I wanted to make something that had personality. Cheap liquor tastes cheap and premium liquor doesn't taste like liquor; so inspired by rums early name of 'Killdevil' I decided I wanted to make some.

I've got ~2lbs of organic blackstrap molasses fermenting in 2 gallons of water with some vegemite thrown in (I read that the b vitamins are helpful and decided what the hell).

I've wasted about 10 feet of 1/2" OD copper line by not having a clue how to bend it, and then wasted about 2 feet of another set of 10' before deciding to cut my losses (I was going for a spiral) and now have about 28" of copper line residing inside a 2" PVC pipe. I'm considering getting another length of PVC pipe and going for ~4 feet, but I'm not sure if thats overkill, so I'm holding off on sealing it since I have enough copper pipe to make it work.

I've not purchased a boiler yet... (largely because I drive a VW, and it broke right as I was going to get the starting supplies) but don't really want to get a keg, I think I'd rather start with a smaller still. But I'm not really sure what is smaller, but still sufficiently large (and not expensive).

And my name is Evan. I hope to have some questions in the next few days, but not too many, because that would mean something didn't work. But I'll see I suppose.

Re: Trying to get into distillin

Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:20 pm
by Samohon
Welcome to HD Evan, have a read at the parent site, its full of different stills and boilers...

http://homedistiller.org/static_menu.htm

Re: Trying to get into distillin

Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:42 pm
by kiwistiller
hey mate, just a quick word of advice - don't go under about 25l for your boiler, it'll drive you nuts if you have to do lots of small runs. there is some great advice on rum in the tried and true section of the site, pay paticular attention to 'hook rum'. Speaking of hook, he has a great guide to winding copper around here if you haven't seen it yet. what sort of still are you making?

Re: Trying to get into distillin

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:16 am
by rehposolihp
I'm making a pot still, and I'll have to give that coiling copper guide a look see...

As per 25L or greater, I'll keep that in mind while looking for a boiler. Thanks

Re: Trying to get into distillin

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:43 am
by rubber duck
Welcome aboard. +1 on what Kiwi said on the boiler. a beer keg is the way to go.