Air Still or 5L Pot Still

[chrisando]

Hello all.
I have been reading this forum for the past few weeks and learned alot.
ive recently got into home brewing beer; but want to have a go at spirits.

I did try and built my own pot still out of an only pot, but failed. and since lost interest in building one.
I want a simple beginner still; that will get me started, quicky, cheaply and easily.
I understand i will probably want to upgrade down the track, thats it fine.
I mainly want to make neutral spirits.
5l still will be fine, am happy with the low output for the price, i will not be making much.

I see i have 3 main options for my budget.

Obviously a Turbo Air Still, can get for $200AUD
- its cheap, looks simple. all in one unit. no water usage.
- read negative reviews on forum, but some have said it is fine for a beginner to get you started.

5L Pot Still, also can be had for $200AUD
http://www.gtp.com.au/brewcraft/largeimages/40001.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
- looks decent and should perform well for a small pot still?
- do you think this has a boiler element in it?
- i dislike the amount of water it would use, or the cost of a pump system.

5L Reflux Still, about $300AUD
http://www.gtp.com.au/brewcraft/largeimages/40000.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
- would prefer a 200 option, unless this is significantly better.
- looks like it has a plug for a boiler?
- once again would use alot of water.

Would love to hear opinions on these 3 or alternatives that i can purchase within Australia.

[Austin Nichols]

Where abouts are you?

I have a Turbo 500 still I would be happy to part with, it would be better than anything you've suggested and as good as you can get for a store bought still.

What type of spirit do you want to make tho?

Cheers.

[LWTCS]

Hi chrisando,

IMO, those options are going to make stilling a bit more difficult.

5 liter is so small. Will be very difficult to make proper cuts and you will spend an inordinate amount of time stilling just to aquire a lil bit of likker.

However, your homeland is the very same homeland of a few very good still builders that happen to be members here.

If you really do not feel comfortable building yourself, then I'm sure someone here can build you something that is by far better than anything off the shelf for a compareable price.

I'd start by inquiring about such matters with "Olddog". He'll be by shortly. Or you can PM him.

[chrisando]

im wanting to make mainly neutrals and then flavor with essences.

im in werribee, victoria.

im definitely keen at the idea of a fellow member selling/building one for me if its around the 200 range.

[Austin Nichols]

I hope you can get someone to build you one mate, you could build yourself a bokabob for about $200 if you really try hard but it might take you a while to get the bits you need that cheap.

I thought I couldnt build a still a few weeks ago, but I just said I'm going to try & now I have a pot still and a custom bokabob that I've built myself that I cant wait to use.

Honestly tho, do not buy a shop still for $200, it might be ok for a while, but you will get the shits with it and want to upgrade in a short while like I did.

Keep reading here and see what the guru's reckon about brew shop stills & essences

Good luck.

Cheers.

[hstuurman]

I did try and built my own pot still out of an only pot, but failed. and since lost interest in building one.

Personaly, building is one of the great parts of this hobby. If I've had the time, space, money, (and no family) i'll be building all the time.
But don't get sad for one failure. We all have made failures, but you can learn from it. Try building an easy pot still or something like that at first.
Once you got a succes in building you get infected whith the virus and wanna build the next one.

keep on trying...

[Samohon]

Welcome to HD chrisando...
Just like the guy's say, do a lot of reading here, both the boards and the parent site.
As stated above, 5L is just too damn small to make proper cuts with.
I started with an old copper pot still. The pot was 20L and went to a worm inside a stainless steel flake stand.
It produced some very nice whisky and if cut properly, could produce a clean vodka.
It did'nt have a thumper/slobber box attached, an I made some nice hooch with it. Just run it slow an easy.

Recently I upgraded my pot still, You need three things: a boiler, a vapour tube and a condenser...
Heres some piccies...

Heres a very simple 40L Pot Still...

Heres my Liebig condenser...

Here are some close-ups...

Very simple to make and easier than a 5L pot still to operate...
Gives my some nice whiskey/bourbon. It will strip a 30L wash in 2 hours flat with the right heat and coolant applied.
I even made a nice neutral before I built my Boka/VM still. Took the cuts very slowly, but gave me a very good vodka.

If you dont understand any of the terminology used, you should be reading both places I've outlined.
Good Luck man, HD is the place to learn.

Oh, and one final thing. Plastics, silicons, rubbers and any metal that is not SS or Copper are dangerous.
Be sure that they are not in either the vapour nor the take off path... BE SAFE and you'll make great likker...

EDIT: This was very easy to build... I built it in about 2 hours flat with no prior knowledge of metalwork, only what I read and learned on this site after 5 months of research, reading, and asking questions that confused me. Cost about $100 (£70 here). Try it, you'll get addicted...

[Kentucky shinner]

Damn Samohon, You blow me away with your fancy puter work... very good explanation. You should do the same thing for your bok... That could be very useful to new members... Man that is great.
You are the shit when it comes to photos and labeling...
Kentucky Shinner

[Usge]

chris..welcome!! Having used a variant of an "air still" I would strongly advise you to look elsewhere and also, as others have said, to go bigger than 5L. Those stills just aren't big enough, aren't that flexible..the heat is set, the cooling is set and you can't change it on the basic models. If it's like most of them I've seen, it also probably has plastic in the distillate path that you'll need to fix, etc. So, you are going to be working on it to fix it anyway. They try to make up for the small size, by including "turbo" high gravity wash ingredient kits, etc. There are much better alternative recipes here in the proven recipe section that dont' produce as much nasties as the turbos do.

You may or may not be aware of this...but...a lot of people buy these thinking it will be really easy/convenient to use to make 4 liters of hooch quickly. It just doesn't work that way. A 4L still doesn't make 4L of shine. You'd be lucky to get 400ml or so after cuts — and even that wont' be entirely clean. You could take more..up to 700ml or so..but you'll be including more heads/tails to do it. And to top it off..because of the way it runs, and the fact that its so small..it tends to smear everything together making cuts even harder to discern. They are technically "potstills"..but being sold as kits to produce neutral...and added essences to produce flavors...by using high abv/gravity turbo washes, keeping most of what comes out, and filtering it through charcol to try and mask or get rid of some of the nasties from the turbo...as well as the smearing of heads/tails throughout the run.

Even a 5L alembic would be better.....you'd still have the size/cuts/smearing issue but at least it would be more flexible in that you could vary the heat range and run it much slower as well as be able to vary the amount of cooling through water flow . You can purchase alembics here: http://www.copper-alembic.com/shop/inde ... at&catId=6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

A more reasonable size would be 20L range. This would make cuts more apparent and much easier to make, and actually give you something back for all your hard work.

Another question would be what do you want to produce? If you are mainly looking for high proof neutral/vodka with little flavor...then you'd be better off building out a VM type design still. I had zero experience soldering/brazing before getting into this. It's not "that" hard to learn how to sweat solder a joint. And if you can do that, you can make most of what you need just using common copper pipe/tube, fittings, unions, tees, etc. as Samahon has illustrated for you. The only tricky part would really be how to attach the column to the pot. And there are plenty of explanations, examples, images, and advice round here that might help. The other alternative you have is to buy just the pot with the lid setup to accept 2" copper pipe. From there you could build out whatever you wanted using basic materials. A further advantage of at least having your feet wet making/building is that you can modify and repair it as well!

There is no denying the "stealth" factor and ease of use of those air stills. But, having used one, they are just to limiting and I don't think it would take you very long to outgrow it or become bored with what it can do. I'd buy a small copper alembic instead if you are intent on staying small and not building anything yourself. But, if you can go larger (20L)...I dont' think you would regret it. As far as the amount of water they use..if that's a concern...you can always use a can/bucket, etc. full of rainwater and recycle it. Just get a small fountain type pump to recirculate the water. Add ice if it gets to warm. But, if you use big enough water source...you wont' need to even add ice. It doesn't have to be ice cold...just cool enough and flowing to knock down the vapor. There are many ways to approach this.

[Kentucky shinner]

Welcome Crhis, as you can see there are many folks here to help you out..
Good luck and enjoy
Kentucky Shinner

[acreofcorn]

That pot still looks great. Simple and nice looking and makes good bourbon. What more could a person want? Looks like something that would be perfect for me.

[acreofcorn]

So the lid on the pot is held on by the clips only, and no flour paste or anything? Also, I understand that at the end of the run when you cut the heat, you have to let air in to keep the still from imploding. Which of the joints on this still do you open up for that?

[Ayay]

It must be sealed good an proper. The only way for gasses to get out is through the condenser and the condenser must condense all in it's path. Thus the only escape is in liquid form...but if things ain't right then gasses will go through the condenser and find an easy outlet without building any pressure. Imploding is a disaster far less that exploding.

A 5L still is about the same as an airstill...next to useless.

[blanikdog]

Damn Samohon, You blow me away with your fancy puter work... very good explanation. You should do the same thing for your bok... That could be very useful to new members... Man that is great.
You are the shit when it comes to photos and labeling...
Kentucky Shinner

Yairsss Samohon. Great post. You're the man or woman!!!

[LWTCS]

Imploding with a rig like Sam's is not likely.

More likely to happen with an outfit made from (thinnish) copper sheet. Kinda rig that for sure needs a defuser to keep flame off the bottom.